16/02/2016 World Business Report

Britain wants changes that include curbs on welfare

Those are the latest headlines from BBC World News.

Now for the latest financial news with Sally

The EU outlines its energy strategy for the coming years,

And, we take off to find out what's on offer at the Singapore Air Show,

where industry's major players meet to wheel and deal.

The price of oil spikes on rumours

Saudi Arabia may be meeting with Russia today to talk about supply.

It's that time of the year when people in Eastern Europe get nervous

What if Russia's Gazprom closes the gas pipelines,

Guaranteeing secure gas supplies is one of the European

The EU imports more than half of all the energy it consumes.

For oil, it imports more than 90% and

The total import bill is more than one billion euro per day.

Many countries are also reliant on a single supplier, for some,

Russia is their only gas supplier making them highly vulnerable

Today, the European Commission will announce its long-awaited

Jeremy Howell looks at what it's likely to contain.

One of Europe's greatest fears, freezing in winter. Almost all of

the gas is piped through Ukraine. When Russia has cut it off in the

past, other countries in eastern and central Europe have also been left

in the cold. The European Union wants to counter this by opening up

the gas market,. In the Ukraine's gas problem locking out other

countries where it is the dominant supplier. The EU says we used to

much anyway. By 2030 it wants us to be burning one quarter less than we

do now. By the EU has to strike the right balance. Energy firms say if

it falls too far they may not bother exploring new gas reserves. -- But.

That, in turn, would put gas supply of Europe in jeopardy. -- the gas.

With me is Tom Marzec-Manser, the Editor of the Daily Gas Report

We think it will have four key parts. Advice on intergovernmental

agreements, a strategy on storage in LNG, and a strategy on heating and

cooling, energy efficiency. Eastern Europe is very exposed, as we

explained. In terms of its supplier, where it is coming from, future

shortages, it is getting both sides of Europe on the same level playing

field? It is about giving central and east then Europe and Iberia in a

sense a leg up in terms of risk management. Northwest Europe has

liquid active wholesale markets. That is a tool to manage those

potential crises. Whereas these new strategies will give a tool in the

box for these countries to do that. Looking at new pipelines and

regulations to help a co-ordinated approach. It sounds expensive, new

pipelines. Is there the funding? There is already 5 billion euros out

there for the infrastructure that joins countries together and for

building these terminals. Some of that will be used and some is

already being used to link up parts of eastern and central Europe in a

north-south route rather than East-West. This comes on the heels

of the climate change talks last year in Paris. We need to talk about

how much we consume. Exactly. Part of the energy union is energy

efficiency. That is included in the package as well. The commission

would like us to move to a greater use of renewables. Therefore gas is

part of that transition. Nevertheless, it has to come down,

demand. They believe for every 1% made it could fall by 2.6%. That is

something we should consider. Watch this space. Thankyou very much for

coming in to explain what is coming out in that review later today. We

will let you know. Oil prices are

on the rise again with Brent Crude This time prices are being pushed up

by speculation some of the world's Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister is said

to be planning a meeting with his Crude prices have tumbled 43% over

the past year due to oversupply. The European Central Bank chief

Mario Draghi has sought to calm fears about the health of European

banks after a European banking stocks have lost

almost a quarter of their value But, Mr Draghi said banks were now

better protected from a collapse Individual banks

and the financial system as a whole are more resilient, he

told European Parliament members. Japanese telecoms group, SoftBank,

has announced It's aimed at boosting investor

confidence after its stock price fell nearly 30%

since the beginning of this year. The firm will buy up to 500 billion

yen, or over $4 billion Now, Asia's biggest commercial

aerospace and defence airshow has opened

in Singapore today. It's a chance for the industry's

major players to gather in one of In fact in south-east Asia Boeing

expects to sell almost four thousand new planes, worth $550 billion US

over the next 20 years. Karishma Vaswani is at the show

for us. SILENCE. Clearly we cannot hear her

at the moment. Technical difficulties. Apologies for that.

Hopefully we can speak to her soon. In the meantime, let me just give

you some insight from one of the top chief executives we talked to hear

at the BBC. It is called CEO Secrets.

Today, we're going to hear from a woman,

who has managed to succeed in the male-dominated world of football.

Isha Johansen is president of the Sierra Leone Football Association

and one of only two female Football Association chiefs in the world.

I am the first female FA president in Sierra Leone and the only female

president in Africa. And I am one of two in the world. Now, if that isn't

a challenge, what else is? The more challenges that you are able to

overcome, the better and the stronger that you get. Challenges

should be the main focus for any successful business. I think that

this is our time. Women should be able to make up their minds as to

whether they really want to push the barriers. There is nothing now in

this day and age that is a man or woman's roll. -- role. The financial

markets. I am sorry, we cannot talk to Karishma for now. Here are the

financial markets. Japan, that is after yesterday's 7.2% gain. And

look at Brent. We will talk to Russia's Oil

Minister to talk about production. Two key OPEC members talking about

production. I want to move these screens on. Even these market boards

and working! -- aren't. No action on Wall Street last night.

Closed for a holiday or public holiday. No action to steer Asia

which is often the case warn World Business Report. -- on. That is it

for now. Thankyou very much for watching.

More than 2,000 sheltered housing units have been delayed or cancelled

because of plans to cut housing benefit,