Session, a bit of a lukewarm day in asia and a retreat on wall street. Also coming up. An idea thats got the Agricultural Industry buzzing. A company in canada is using bees to deliver biological Disease Control to crops as they pollinate the flowers. Well find out how bee vectoring technologies is using the power of nature. And as amazon announces a new service to unlock your front door, we want to know, would you give a courier access to your home when youre not there in order to avoid a missed delivery . Just use the hashtag bbcbizlive. We were talking about that, alice said, i could let someone in if you needed me to. I would not trust alice iam needed me to. I would not trust alice i am onlyjoking of course welcome to business live. Is twitter facing a crisis of confidence . The micro blogging site is releasing corporate results later and many will be looking to see if its popularity is waning. This is the number they need to beat 328 million monthly active users. That was the figure for both the first and second quarters this year. In may, the chinese micro blogging site weibo overtook twitter in active users 340 million up 30 from 2016. The once champion of free speech, twitter, announced earlier in the month that it will implement new rules to make the platform free from hate and abuse, targeting unwanted sexual advances, hate symbols and tweets glorifying violence. And of course, twitter, like other social media, has pledged to be more transparent about advertising who is paying and to what end. But is that all enough to restore trust in twitter . Samira hussain has more from new york. We will not cross over to new york because instead i have got Emma Robertson in the studio. The ceo of the digital consultancy transform is with me now. There are many challenges facing twitter, it is still not making money. This has been an ongoing story for too long. One of the key things this year is they have started to see quarterly declines in revenue rather than just the profitability question. You cannot turn a profit if revenue is declining. The monthly userfigure will be really important but all of these things echoing the same narrative twitter have been putting up narrative twitter have been putting upfora narrative twitter have been putting up for a long time, increases in monthly users are important to the story, but we need more of a step change in, what does it mean to its users and how can it be attracted to the brand is paying to advertise on it . As was mentioned, there is the double challenge facing twitter. They need to make more money from advertising but they are under huge pressure to be more transparent in advertising. Who is advertising on the platform . Advertising. Who is advertising on the platform . Particularly advertising. Who is advertising on the platform . Particularly in the wa ke the platform . Particularly in the wake of the us election. It will be a challenge that twitter and other social media platforms. The ongoing tension, are we a platform supporting a free user base to disseminate information or are we a media player with an editorial and regulatory responsibility . We are seeing a lot of the news twitter have announced this week, a threat that the honesty act being tabled by us congress, if you do not regulate yourselves, we will regulate for you. At the same time as trying to balance an open platform where advertisers and users can express themselves how they want to, they are having to get much more into the uncomfortable space of editorial and judgment. We might see a new icon if a politician tweets so we know it is political. Political adverts will have to carry an explicit icon saying it is political. Most of that disruption is not paid for advertising, it is issue based content associated with users. Twitter have introduced features to try to grow the number of active monthly users. If you were given a phone call by twitter and they said, what should we be doing to ward off the challenge from the likes of weibo . One of the things they need to do is look more radically at how they can monetise their user base and the brands that work with them already. Advertising has been a really big theme for them, but also the question of, how do you keep users on longer . Things like Live Streaming video. Customer service, one of the biggest ways brands engage with the platform, someone tweets they have had a bad flight, those brands can get to the point very quickly, monetising the Customer Service and follow with things, that would be radical play for them. And also, it has been suggested that were brands have multi million numbers of followers, should a brand start to pay for that, rather than it being something twitter supports . So much we could have talked about the trump bump. Good to talk to you. Those results from twitter coming out in a few hours. Lets take a look at some of the other stories making the news. Deutsche bank has agreed to pay 220 million to resolve a us investigation into its manipulation of Interest Rates. It is the latest settlement stemming from banks involvement in the rigging of the benchmark libor rate. The sum is more than twice the 100 million British Bank Barclays agreed to pay last year to end a similar probe. China will no longer set a target to double Gross Domestic Product from 2021. The government will now focus on the quality of growth rather than pursue Economic Growth exclusively, a Senior Communist Party official said on thursday. Australia and new Zealand Banking Group ltd reports an 18 jump in annual profit on lower bad debts and cost cuts. It warned that finding Revenue Growth is getting harder, as it retreats from asia and instead is focusing in its domestic market. Japanese company kobe steel has been giving more details of the data fabrication scandal that has rocked the industry. Monica miller is in singapore. What more details did we get . Company officials spoke to reporters in tokyo and said they have law certification on some of the Copper Products they make at the plant outside of tokyo. This news is another major blow to the countrys Third Largest steel maker which was already feeling the pinch as customers switched orders to their competitors. Kobe steels shares lost i. 5 competitors. Kobe steels shares lost 1. 5 after announcing the news. They also say they suspect there may be four more cases of inappropriate data at there. It should be said up until now they have about 525 customers and none of them have reported any safety concerns. They did also say they have a third party, there are three lawyers that will independently look at the data, and they expect the data should be at the end of the year, the end of the report. Company officials tried to get ahead of this. Earlier this month, they had a notice on the website saying what had happened with the false data but it sent shock waves through the pipe chain from everything from auto makers to trains, even the famous bullet trains, even the famous bullet trains injapan. Again, no instances of safety concerns have been reported at this point. Thank you very much. Looking at the markets now. Asian markets were largely muted thursday, tracking a retreat on wall street as fears over the progress of us president Donald Trumps tax cut plans dampened investor sentiment. But tokyo edged up slightly, bolstered by positive corporate earnings and a weak yen that boosts japanese exporters. Us stocks closed lower after hitting several records in the last month, with disappointing reports from Companies Including at t and boeing prompting a sell off across the market. Let us show you how the european markets look, mixed picture at the start of the day. In currency markets, the euro added to overnight gains to reach a six day high against the dollar. That was prompted by expectations the European Central bank would cut back its bond buying stimulus and take the biggest step yet in unwinding years of loose Monetary Policy. We will find out what they will do when they meet later, around lunchtime. We will keep an eye on that. Looking ahead on wall street today. Three big names in tech will be reporting earnings on thursday. Amazon, microsoft. Amazon has been getting a lot of attention lately as more than 200 cities across north america have put in bids to be home to the compa nys america have put in bids to be home to the companys second headquarters. Look out for any updates on amazons 13. 7 billion purchase of whole foods. The continued push to the cloud will help microsofts revenue for the quarter. It is being led by its flagship Cloud Computing programme. Finally, googles Parent Company alphabet is expected to report a rise in revenue. People searching on their mobile phones was a boost for their mobile phones was a boost for the company. Its non search businesses like youtube were all bigger than expected moneymakers. Maike currie, investment director, at fidelity international. The tech earnings in just a moment, but let us roll back to what ben was talking about, the big meeting later today of the European Central bank, high expectation they will unwind the years of loose Monetary Policy we have been seeing. What are you expecting . It is a key moment for Financial Markets on the continent because what the market is expecting is for them to give some indication of how the ecb plans to roll back the bond buying programme. They will not reduce it, buying 60 billion euros of bonds a month this year, but come 2018, the expectation is this will come down down possibly to 50 billion, a0 billion. Once they have completely tapered the bond buying, they will start raising Interest Rates. When he has the press c0 nfe re nce Interest Rates. When he has the press conference later this afternoon, he will be pressed on what it means. Interest rates will only rise after quantitative easing, bond buying is stopped. But how long will it take . It means an Interest Rate rise in europe will probably only happen in the second half of 2019. Still a way ahead and any Interest Rate rise would be incremental. Gradual, rather than liftoff. Across the pond, bit of a disappointing day on wall street, but tech results out today. All eyes will be on the tech giants today because they are the companies that have been leading the market, Companies Like amazon and google, pa rent Companies Like amazon and google, Parent Company being alphabet. The key thing with tech results, investors always look for growth, but what the companies have been doing, ramping up spending to find the next big things. Amazon is moving into grocery, google is moving into grocery, google is moving into grocery, google is moving into hardware, and the cloud, so moving into hardware, and the cloud, so the focus will be on costs. Spending a lot, are they getting the reve nu es spending a lot, are they getting the revenues increasing for the increased spend . Revenues increasing for the increased spend . The revenues increasing for the increased spend . The expectation is reve nu es increased spend . The expectation is revenues will increase because the tech giants are leading the pack and there is a narrowing in market leadership, few companies, counting them on one hand, leading the market and that is making investors nervous. Usually the precursor to a Market Correction is when we only have a few Companies Leading the pack. Good to talk to you. You will ta ke pack. Good to talk to you. You will take us through the business papers later on. We will see you later. Still to come. Bee power yes, one company is using bumble bees as a Disease Control transport system for crops. Well find out how it all works in a few minutes. Youre with business live from bbc news. Barclays has announced a 19 rise in pre tax profits to £3. A billion for the three months to 30th september. The company has called it an encouraging set of results. Andrew walker has been going through the figures for us. So that we dont have to thanks, andrew. Profits are up quite strongly, on the face of it. What was driving that . It has been a trying year for ba rclays it has been a trying year for barclays management and shareholders. The share price since january, started the year at around 2. 20 per share, now january, started the year at around 2. 20 pershare, now trading january, started the year at around 2. 20 per share, now trading a touch below 1. 90, decline of 15 . The finance director describes the latest results as encouraging, they have been doing restructuring and there is a big charge on the figures here for the disposal of their africa operation. It is the uk business where there has been the most striking improvement. Smaller provisions in the accounts for problem loans and a marked decline in the amount they are having to put aside for past misconduct issues, notably the selling of payment protection insurance. Important progress there and they see this as the basis, i think, for trying to improve returns to shareholders in the future. In the uk business, there were a couple of areas where things were not quite so good, income was down, but that was more than offset by declines on the cost side. And hard times in international Financial Markets . Absolutely, the market is a bit of the business, their income was down 1496 the business, their income was down 1a because of lower market volatility. So somebody does gain when the markets are relatively unstable. Also an increase in the amount they have had to set aside in the International Business for problem loans, so two very different stories for ba rclays problem loans, so two very different stories for barclays home and away. Andrew, many thanks indeed. Reuters news agency are saying londons canary Reuters News Agency are saying londons ca nary wharf Reuters News Agency are saying londons canary wharf Railway Station has been closed because of a fire alert, that is the station closest to many banks and Financial Services close to london docklands. So the canary wharf docklands Railway Station was closed and a stretch of the dlr between canary wharf and west india key is that affects your commute this morning. Youre watching business live. Our top story twitter reports earnings later, as the micro blogging site hopes to grow user numbers in the last three months. Quite often here on business live, we feature groundbreaking new technology that aims to disrupt one industry or another. And to do that, sometimes, you just have to look to nature. Thats the case with our next guest. Hes the boss of bee vectoring technologies a Company Using bees to deliver biological protection to crops heres how it works. The company places its special powder made of fungus and light adherent in a special dispenser. You will see that in a moment. Commercially reared bees are then directed to walk through the dispenser as they leave the hive. When the bees leave their hive and fly around their natural foraging area, they deliver the treatment to each plant they visit. One man knows everything about there. Road one man knows everything about there. Road ashish malik is ceo of bee vectoring technologies and joins us now. Many thanks. You have brought one of your hives into the studio, demonstrate how it works. This is a commercial bumblebee hive and there is no live insects inside here. Delighted to hear that what you see inside the box is where the bees normally nest. You have around 200 bees inside a full mature beehive. As the bees leaving the. Turn it this way, these holes. You see the bees come in through this whole and they nest inside and when they leaving, they walk across this tray and this tray contains the beneficial planned treatment agent. It isa beneficial planned treatment agent. It is a powder that sits inside the tray. As they believe the beehive, they carry that beneficial fungus to they carry that beneficial fungus to the crops. This is a biological treatment that is good both for the pla nts treatment that is good both for the plants and the bees. Absolutely, the beneficial fungus reaches the plant and colonisers it in a sim by artic relationship and helps the plant by the diseases. Through the use of this technology, farmers reduce chemical pesticides they are using on the crops which is good for consumers. A quick question. If i we re consumers. A quick question. If i were a farmer and if i were spraying a Crop Protection agent across minefields, i would a Crop Protection agent across minefields, iwould know a Crop Protection agent across minefields, i would know which areas i have covered, with this, how can i be sure the bees have covered the entire area you need them to work on . This is backed by many years of Research Study and field trials and we have determined through the number of bees inside a beehive how many hives we have the place in a crops field. At the pens. The number is different. The breeze and su nflowers is different. The breeze and sunflowers it depends. The way bees work, that is their food source and they are good at finding flowers with the nectar and pollen they need to bring back to the hives and successive to bring back to the hives and su ccess ive waves to bring back to the hives and successive waves of bees visit hives, flowers with the food source. Asa hives, flowers with the food source. As a layman observer, there are lots of bees around in the summer, not as many in the winter, presumably this only works for seasonal crops that need protecting in summer . The concept of using commercial bees to deliver a biological treatment of pla nts deliver a biological treatment of plants can be adapted for different species of bees. I have brought a system that works with bumblebees which tend to work in colder temperatures, wet climates. But then you have got other seasons whether temperatures warm up or dryer and honey bees are better suited in those seasons. We are now adapting this system to work with honey bees as well so over time, we will have a system for different species of bees. You have been undergoing months of testing and it still has to pass through approval in the states and in europe, but throughout the testing, how many of these to you need per hectare or ache of farming if one was a farmer and what do they cost and how successful has it been in terms of fruit yield . The key to this technology, we have to find a way to increase the profitability for the farmer so if we are not able to improve the economics for the farming operation, we do not have a viable business model. We have been testing this for many years, the technology is about 20 years old, the concept of using bees for biological treatment has been studied for a while in the academic community. We have been doing studies in a replicated environment for a couple of years and in strawberries, the Research Suggests we need about one hive and a half per acre, which is three hives petzer, we still deal in acres in the united states, but for other crops, the density is different. We we re crops, the density is different. We were talking about this earlier, does it hurt the bees . Of course not. We have done studies to show that the particular product we factoring is totally safe for the bees, it is a natural organism which does not have any effect on the adults. And on the law. And we have been able to demonstrate that the yields the farmer gets from using this technology are much higher than conventional methods. We have run out of time, but really good to see you, from a bee vectoring technologies. In a moment, well take a look through the business pages, but first, heres a quick reminder of how to get in touch with us. You can stay ahead with the breaking Business News on the business live page and we will keep you up to date with the latest details with insight and analysis from the bbcs team of editors around the world. And we wa nt to editors around the world. And we want to hear from you, editors around the world. And we want to hearfrom you, get editors around the world. And we want to hear from you, get involved on the bbc business live web page. And on twitter. And you can find us on facebook. Business live, and tv and online, whenever you need to know. Maike is back to look through the papers. In the New York Times, amazon have this new technology that could allow a career to access your home, unlock your door and leave a parcel and go, we have been asking for your messages. This says, ludicrous idea, next, they will come into on packet. Dangerous, somebody could hack the codes and get in. David, yes, others, certainly not. I wouldnt want to know the expected time of the driver beforehand. I love tracys, she simply says, is it april one . and tim says, they cannot even manage to shut the front gate, never mind the front door what did you make of this New York Times article . It is interesting, in terms of how it works, it does make sense, at you by a kit from amazon involving a smart lock and Security Camera and the lock helps the driver verify if they are at the right address and that opens the door and the Security Camera records the delivery of the package. This is usually convenient if you have been at work or you have missed a package 01 at work or you have missed a package or the package has been left out in the rain. And it sets the trend for things like letting in a cleaner or a dog walker. There is a bigger question around trust and technology. Technology has strayed has changed who we trust and where we trust, Companies Like abbie ab, staying in a strangers house. Uber, a strangers car. We trust strangers because of technology and this is the next step in that revolution. Thank you. Thats it from business live today. Goodbye. Good morning. A much cloudier day compared to yesterday. For england and wales. The Northern Areas, we will see some good spells of sunshine. One thing many others notice today and over the next few days, it is going to turn much colder. For the day across scotland and Northern Ireland, temperatures we re and Northern Ireland, temperatures were they should be, 11 12d. We have sunshine here with showers. Cloudy skies for england and wales. Patchy rain moving north in the Northern Areas. This is apm today, showers in the far north of scotland. Temperatures 11 13. Sunshine in Northern Ireland and the far north of england. Around lancashire, merseyside, Greater Manchester and east yorkshire and lincolnshire, patchy rain continuing. Elsewhere, cloudy with outbreaks of rain. Sunshine across south wales and South West England during the afternoon. Through the night, the cloud is chased away to the south by a strengthening northerly winds and with clear skies tonight, it is going to turn chilly. These are the temperatures in towns and cities, in the countryside, it is lower than that with a chance of frost in Northern Areas. After a chilly start on my day, many of us having a dry and sunny day and looking decent for many. You will notice temperatures starting to come down a touch. 11, 12, 13 degrees starting to come down a touch. 11, 12,13 degrees in starting to come down a touch. 11, 12, 13 degrees in northern parts of the uk. Further south, temperatures down to 15 celsius in london so a couple of celsius lower than today. For the weekend, on saturday, dry for many with showers in north west england and western scotland. A bit ofa england and western scotland. A bit of a breeze throughout the day. Temperatures about 11 16. In the sunday when things change, look at the isobars, we can track them to where they come from, to the north. Towards greenland and iceland where we see this air coming again across the uk, cold air spilling across many areas. Noticeably colder by sunday, especially with that northerly wind across eastern areas. Sunday is a dry day and sunny for many, but quite chilly, maximum temperatures in Northern Areas only single figures, 13, a0 degrees further south. That is it for now, goodbye. Good morning, its thursday, its 9am, im matt barbet, welcome to the programme. People could be offered up to £1,000 a month to rent their spare rooms to those being discharged from hospital in a scheme being considered by the nhs. The airbnb style plan is aimed at tackling the chronic bed shortage in the health service. Thousands more families are needed to foster children and there is more pressure to find carers from different religious backgrounds than ever. We have a special report on the people who foster and the care leavers, as they share their experiences, good and bad. The principle of fostering which makes it a success is not because you put two together because they are the same religion, if you are foster
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