01/09/2014 World Business Report

expected to appear in a Spanish court late on Monday. Those are the

latest headlines from BBC World News. Now, for the latest financial

news. Tougher sanctions within a week. The EU prepares to increase

pressure on Moscow with a new blacklist to

financial sector. And better together. India's prime

minister starts talks in Japan as the two countries look to do deals

on energy and military spending. Welcome to World Business Report.

I'm Ben Thompson. Also in the programme, we take a closer look at

how countries struggling with Ebola are fighting economic isolation. But

first, as fighting in Eastern Ukraine intensifies, so Vladimir

Putin has called for talks on the "statehood" of south`eastern

Ukraine. The provocative line has heightened fears that Moscow is

seeking to partition Ukraine. These comments from the Kremlin come as

European leaders prepares to impose tougher sanctions on Russia this

week. The EU will begin drawing up a comprehensive blacklist of people

and companies involved in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. But,

there is still disagreement amongst European leaders ` Britain, France

and Germany want tougher measures against the Russian financial and

energy sectors by the end of the week, but many eastern European

countries fear that a trade war with Moscow could cripple their

economies. Steven Blockman' s Senior Analyst at the Centre for European

Policy Studies is in Brussels. We spoke about the timeline than the

proposal of when this could take place. Some suggestions are that if

leaders act now, it could be October when these take place? It seems too

little, too late. Giving Russia one week of grace, that is like giving

it a lifetime to change the course of the game. In the upcoming days.

The European Union is again being put on the back foot, with the

announcement by President Putin that he aims for statehood in eastern

Ukraine. Is this a case of tightening up the existing sanctions

which are in place? Looking at the comments from a number of European

leaders, calling for different levels of severity, what it comes

down to is making sure the existing sanctions that are in place are

enforced? Yes, that is right, as far as I gather from comments from

Chancellor Merkel, existing sanctions will be sharpened up.

Restrictions on loans from state`owned banks in Russia,

restrictions on the dual use technology, in exports for oil

drilling, that technology and alike, and as you mentioned in the report,

the widening of blacklisting of people and entities involved in the

separatists in eastern Ukraine. Sorry to interrupt. It seems there

are concerns about the effectiveness of these sanctions. They don't come

without a cost for the countries that are implementing them because

it could backfire on the strength of their own economies. For example, in

places like Germany. That's right and that is why many European Union

member states are against implementing top perceptions. Many

analysts have claimed that energy embargoes might change the calculus

of the Kremlin. Others have said that with the total of 17 to 25

billion euros going into exports against the EU, this won't change

the mind of Putin. Armed support for the Ukrainian government may change

it but again, there is no unity amongst member states to provide

that kind of military support. In fact, Germany and France have spoken

out against such an idea that was floated around by the Latvian

president. Thank you. In other news, talks between the new Prime

Minister of India and the leader of Japan are taking place today in

Tokyo as part of the Indian litre's five`day trip to Japan as he looks

to strengthen ties with the country. India is hoping for a deal on

defence collaboration between those two nations. More on this from our

correspondent who is covering this from our business news hub. What is

the significance of these talks? It is all about cooperation in key

areas? That's right. It is Narendra Modi's first bilateral trip outside

the subcontinent since winning the elections in a landslide victory in

May. As you mentioned, joint production of rare earth metals and

economic ties are all on the agenda. Today is the day that they

are really going to get down to the details, especially when it comes to

the economic benefits. Narendra Modi and Shinzo Abe are expected to sign

many agreements and in terms of nuclear energy, India has been

pushing for an agreement with Japan without giving up its nuclear

military programme. This is part of a deal that they had with the United

States under which India was allowed to import nuclear fuel and

technology. They are also interested in chemically similar elements

crucial to the manufacturing of many high`tech products. Japan is

currently very reliant on China for this but they are looking to make a

deal with India instead. They are hoping to start importing from India

in 2015. It is likely that they will agree on joint production at the

meeting in Tokyo on Monday according to many reports. These reports also

say that annual production is estimated to be roughly 23,000 tons

which would be about 3% of the demand from Japan. Thank you. Now to

the mounting concern about the effect of the Ebola outbreak which

the World Health Organisation has said could cost millions of dollars

to tackle over the next six months. A number of airlines have suspended

services to Freetown and Monrovia, leading to criticism that these

countries are becoming increasingly isolated. From Johannesburg, our

correspondent reports. Many feel that the airline industry is

overreacting. There is no reason not to come to Sierra Leone. There is no

reason not to go to Liberia. Provided you follow the

instructions. There is no reason to close shipping to this country.

There is no reason for airline companies to stop coming here. Many

airlines have seen a significant drop in ticket sales for flights to

Liberia and Sierra Leone and so it is no longer profitable to continue

with these roots. On land, traders and farmers cannot move their goods

due to border restrictions. Regional economies are starting to feel the

pain. We must continue to implement measures but we must not implement

measures that ostracize the affected countries. Excessive restrictions on

travel will adversely affect the economies of the subregion. The

United Nations is concerned that the border closures will make it

difficult to provide access to much`needed supplies let food and

water. `` like. Foreign exchange levels are down and markets are not

functioning. Businesspeople have left. It is very damaging. The

governments of these regions are now diverting funds meant for other

projects to the fight against Ebola and the world food programme is

scaling up its operations to provide food for the affected people across

these regions. The rapid consolidation of Spain's banking

sector took an important step forward over the weekend with news

that a merger is taking place `` and acquisition. China's manufacturing

industry took a hit this past month which indicates the country may

require more stimulus in this area. The PMI is a key gauge of the health

of the sector. Markets in Asia are ending mixed today. More coming up.

We will take a look at the newspapers and a moment but first,

whether you are downloading the latest application or surfing the

net, it is all because of a piece of computer code written by someone

somewhere in the world. Today, coding will be taught