We start in washington where congress has passed a last minute bill to stop the government running out of money but only for two weeks. Now President Trump and the house have until december 22nd to thrash out long term deal on spending. Its all about whats known as the debt ceiling the countrys Borrowing Limit set by congress. Its a huge number around 20 trillion at the moment but apparently not huge enough. The government spends more than it makes in taxes and the treasury is very close to hitting that limit. If its not raised, bills will go unpaid, from medicare to salaries of federal employees like the armed services, to interest on the debt itself. That last ones a big problem as it would also dent confidence in us debt which investors regard as among the safest. When the us inched toward its Borrowing Limit in 2011, Standard Poors cut the countrys triple a rating for the first time. And if all this sounds familiar it should. Since 1960, congress has acted 78 times to raise, extend
To find out whether those that it owes money to will throw them a lifeline or claw the money back at any cost. Steinhoff may not be a household name to you. Let me give you a bit of background. Its origins are in the furniture business in germany in the 60s. But its now a global giant, with brands across europe and the us. Alarm bells were ringing last week when it failed to publish its financial results. What we did learn is that its grappling with a seven billion dollar hole in its finances. Little wonder that the regulators are now taking a look. The value of shares is down 80 since the news broke, as investors stampeded for the exit. The scandal has claimed the scalps of both the chairman and the chief executive. Those that gave the Company Money to help it expand are now exposed lerato mbele has been following the story from johannesburg. Lerato, this is a huge corporate scandal, lots of people are saying this is perhaps the biggest thing we have seen on thejohannesburg stock exch
Global debt to trade talks, will be getting the inside track with Business Correspondent Andrew Walker. Airbnb is stepping up the threat to Traditional Hotel operators by announcing purpose built apartments in florida. Today we want to know. Do you rent out a room in your home . And if not why not . Let us know. Just use the hashtag bbcbizlive. Hello and welcome to business live. We start in iran where focus today will be on us President Trump. In a few hours time hell give a speech outlining his new strategy towards iran. He has strongly hinted he will remove his support from the 2015 deal that lifted sanctions in return for iran halting its nuclear programme. Congress would then have to decide whether to reimpose sanctions that could put the us at odds with europe. The uk, france and germany are firmly in favour of keeping the iran deal in place. European firms like peugeot and airbus are all doing business in iran the big prize of course is energy. Iran has the worlds second largest
Aimed at confronting what it calls tehrans aggression and preventing it from acquiring nuclear weapons. Her uber launches its appeal against london transports decision can keep using the app for now also this hour more than 30 people have died and hundreds more are missing as wildfires sweep through parts of Northern California. Windy conditions hamper the work of thousands of firefighters as officials warn conditions could worsen this evening. And bookers best well speak to short listed author ali smith on her novel autumn, partly set around last years Eu Referendum. My world change when the Eu Referendum happened. So i went with it and the book, to some extent, is about the surface reaction. Good morning, its friday 13th october. Im annita mcveigh. Welcome to bbc newsroom live. More public figures have spoken out against hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein in a sexual allegation scandal thats dominating hollwood. Actress rose mcgowan has become the fourth person to allege she was rap
World business report. Over a barrel. Can opec fire up the price of oil without fuelling its us shale rivals . Plus no rupee regrets. Indias Finance Minister defends his decision to scrap the countrys most popular banknotes. He tells us why the days of cash in hand are over. Welcome to World Business report. Im sally bundock. Also coming up a record close again on the s p500 how are markets trading in asia . Well be getting the latest from the region. We start with the price of oil. It affects us all and its future direction could be decided later today at a meeting of the worlds top producers. We are talking about opec, the organisation of the Petroleum Exporting countries. Thats the Gulf Countries led by saudi arabia, as well as others including iraq, iran and nigeria. They have been joined by non opec member russia and they are expected to announce a deal later today to try and push Prices Higher. Lets show you the details. In December Opec and non opec countries agreed to cut produ