30/12/2015 World Business Report

Cuba's experiencing a rush of entrepreneurship since

President Raoul Castro eased the rules on private enterprise.

We'll take a look at how this is changing Old Havana.

And just when you thought it was dead!

Secondlife, an almost forgotten icon of the early "dot-com boom,"

is back, with a new purpose and new business propositions.

In just a minute, our team in Singapore will explain

One country that can expect quite radical change

The reestablishment of full diplomatic relations with

the US earlier this year after more than half

a century has helped fuel reforms and led to a surge in tourism.

Since President Raul Castro eased the rules on private enterprise,

scores of Havana residents have moved into the private sector,

opening restaurants and simple accommodation.

Will Grant reports on how private businesses are helping to shoulder

Old Havana, the heart of Cuba's at risk decaying capital city is

perhaps the most popular destination on the island. -- beautiful. It is

in the grip of a tourist boom. The decision to ease tourism bands has

brought many. -- bans. They wanted to come before it becomes overrun.

Official numbers showed 3 million visitors in 2015, a big rise from

2014. The government is trying to build more infrastructure, but for

now they are turning to the general population to pick up the slack.

Along the private enterprises are allowed our restaurants, and

breakfasts, and even hotel is, all appearing at a dizzying rate. --

hotels. One of the most successful restaurants is this one. They put a

modern twist on Cuban cuisine. It is a small business owned by

experienced Cuban entrepreneurs. They told me they are even expanding

by building over the old parking lot next door. TRANSLATION: There are

many people opening private businesses. Many are doing well. But

others are not succeeding. That is because of the number of tourists

grow, you have to improve or they will never come back. That has

happened to many across the city in general. The other main private

enterprise to flourish in Old Havana is accommodation. Many people, like

this man, half modest apartments they rent out to tourists for and

authentic Cuban experience. The lack of Internet is one of the many

challenges they have. But he says that they love the destination.

TRANSLATION: Been in the old town is an advantage. The colonial part, the

historic path, there is a lot of, bars, restaurants, experience, they

don't want modernity, they have sat at home. They want to see the real

Cuba. -- that. Old Havana has struggled to cope with a record year

for tourism in Cuba. But while tourism has sustained the private

enterprise in Cuba, private business has also kept the tourism trade

afloat. Will grant, it is in use, via. -- Grant. -- BBC News. --

Havana. Oil prices are continuing

their decline in Asia this morning. To deceive. We saw it rebound

slightly during European and American trading, did are we? --

Good to see you. But it has fallen again. That was because of the

forecast of colder weather which got traders to think there would be more

demands. But, the underlying concern is there is too much oil and supply

in the market. All prices are falling 1.5 -2% in Asian trade. That

is mainly because of the announcement by Saudi Arabia on

Monday which you reported on the programme, which of course,

indicated that the world's biggest exporter is preparing for the oil

prices to remain low for the foreseeable future, and of course,

we have run, which will start to exports once again once the

sanctions are lifted. -- Iran. That means more oil in the market. That

is why we are seeing them to continue to fall in Asian trade. We

will have to get used to the new normal of oil prices in quite low.

In the. We will look at the figures at the end of this session. --

Indeed. For now, thank you. Marika Oi in Singapore.

Remember Second Life, the online parallel universe that ten years ago

was the hottest thing since the invention of the internet?

Everyone lost interest and left, right?

Not only that, it's still profitable!

Now, Second Life's developer Linden Lab is working on

"Project Sansar," which aims to integrate virtual into the game.

Theo Leggett caught up with the boss of the firm behind

In Secondlife today we make most of our money through renting the

servers or simulators that people build their experiences on top of.

But we also do tax some of the virtual goods in the world. There

are many sales of that. Everyone wants their avatar to look good.

Clothing, air, as well as home and garden and vanishing, homes,

vehicles. -- hair. -- furnishings. When people sell these things to

each other we take a piece of the action. Now you have the second life

of Secondlife, if we can call it that, how will you make and take

steps forward that the first one failed to take? --. There will be a

huge demand for content experiences because you will get new hardware

from Microsoft and Google and Facebook, a website that many people

can create themselves these days. But with 3-dimensional interactive

experiences, that is in the field of the few. We can solve that. Almost

anyone can participate in creating that with us. We see so many

extremely useful and successful uses of Secondlife Given today. We have

incredible users around education. -- even. Universities are using

Secondlife to teach. They outperformed their physical students

at the university level. We also have physical health, therapy,

treatment of post- thematic stress disorders, phobias of all kinds. It

is extremely useful and you cannot do it outside of that.

Barclays investment bank is to pay more than $13.75 million

over accusations it let US customers make unsuitable mutual

The US Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said Barclays Capital will

pay more than $10 million in compensation to

It will also pay a fine of $3.75 million.

Barclays has not admitted wrongdoing in agreeing to the settlement,

Brazil's deficit jumped in November to one of the highest levels

on record as state finances came under increasing strain

The public sector deficit, the difference

between what the government spends and what it receives in revenues,

This was worse than expected and much higher than October's number.

A federal judge has certified two shareholder class action lawsuits

accusing Facebook of hiding concerns about its growth forecasts prior to

the social media company's initial public offering in May 2012.

The judge said retail and institutional investors who

claimed they lost money by purchasing Facebook shares

at inflated prices may pursue their respective claims as groups.

A quick look at the markets. For the most part, in the Asia-Pacific

region, markets are low, after a brief mourning rally, as the slump

of oil prices is making its mark. -- morning. From me and the team, that

is the business report for this hour. See