more now on germany, where its new chancellor — olaf scholz — will be sworn in as leader of europe's largest economy later today. he will be the first social democrat in the job for 16 years and has promised to modernise the country. among the raft of measures to get the german people on side is a promise to raise the minimum wage to 12 euros, which is almost a two—and—half euro increase. this would give some 10 million germans an instant pay rise. he's also announced plans to build 400 thousand new homes a year, which is 100 thousand more than previously planned, and guarantee stable pension levels. so will 0laf scholz deliver and what challenges does he face? carsten brezeski is global head of macro research at ing. your thoughts on the first thing in the in tray? yet the mac first thing he has to do is deal with covid and the fourth wave of the pandemic plus a mcron as we have not had really any government decision of the last couple of weeks so this is the first thing he has to do. the first economic things he should do is start this investment offensive that germany needs. despite everything we said over angela merkel, the economic reforms and agenda was very short and poorso and agenda was very short and poor so we need more investment and the structural reforms. this should be at the top of the in tray. in this should be at the top of the in tray-— the in tray. in terms of that agenda. — the in tray. in terms of that agenda, which _ the in tray. in terms of that agenda, which is _ the in tray. in terms of that agenda, which is a - the in tray. in terms of that agenda, which is a big - the in tray. in terms of that i agenda, which is a big agenda and what she has promised which is why he has been voted in, how would people that often you look at the high inflation currently in germany combined with slower growth, combined with slower growth, combined with covid? it with slower growth, combined with covid?— with covid? it is a very long wish list- — with covid? it is a very long wish list. it— with covid? it is a very long wish list. it is _ with covid? it is a very long wish list. it is a _ with covid? it is a very long wish list. it is a wish - with covid? it is a very long wish list. it is a wish list - wish list. it is a wish list which ticks all the boxes of every economist. the only problem is how to pay for it. an increase in the minimum wage, more housing being built, stable pensions. at the same time much more investment in sustainability, the fight against climate change, education, you name it. so i think we will see that this government will front—load many, many investments. this government will come in the first few years, clearly go on a deficit financed government spending scheme and will have to deliver very quickly. if not we will see cracks within this coalition with particularly the greens and the liberals, the junior partners very often are not on the same page when it comes to economic issues first when it comes to financing these economic plans. aha, when it comes to financing these economic plans. a very difficult political _ these economic plans. a very difficult political issue - these economic plans. a very difficult political issue to - difficult political issue to navigate with pressure from the us to use that as a sanction against russia if they invade ukraine. how will he, within this coalition, navigate that? he seems to stand for a continuation of angela merkel�*s foreign policy agenda so being very cautious, not too outspoken or aggressive but the thing is he will be heading a government which wants to speed up government which wants to speed up the green transition, which means getting away from fossil fuels but to get there and to get these renewables germany will first need to import more of the traditional energy that is gas from russia so he will really have two squareness because i don't know how you will get out of it because in the short run germany will be dependent on russian gas so it will be interesting to see how he would deal with this emerging conflict with russia. we will watch with great interest. we will watch with great interest. amazon and some of the world's biggest streaming platforms have seen their services disrupted by a major outage affecting amazon's cloud services. thousands of users in the united states have been reporting problems on the outage tracking website downdetector. it is the third disruption for amazon this year. netflix — disney plus and the trading app robinhood have also been affected. joining me now is sunaina sinha haldea from raymond james. it is see you. this is not good at all for us on. its cloud services is something you really want to push to its clients. , , ., ., clients. yes. it is a world leader in _ clients. yes. it is a world leader in cloud _ clients. yes. it is a world | leader in cloud computing services including software services including software services associated with the cloud. the issue with this update is that delivery drivers around the world, especially in the united states, sitting idle and they cannot afford a big logjam of deliveries leading up to the ski holiday season which is the biggest for many of its clients who use amazon around the world. this is a real issue. the company did not have an update as to when the outage would actually ease and it is not a good look for amazon in the ski season. aha, not a good look for amazon in the ski season.— the ski season. a critical time for amazon. _ the ski season. a critical time for amazon. one _ the ski season. a critical time for amazon. one of _ the ski season. a critical time for amazon. one of its - the ski season. a critical time | for amazon. one of its busiest periods and yet, if you could call it arrival, and it comes to icloud services and other organisations who want to try to add this to their portfolio of income, for amazon, this is very important, isn't it? indeed. when you think about customers who want cloud services think about reliability and security. with three major outages in the last 12 months alone amazon is starting to dig into its reputation for reliability. some of the best websites use amazon web services but have redundancy built in with other service providers. however, many others including airline apps and more would only use or can afford to use one service and when service starts to fail across network there is a ripple effect across the internet with the need for speed and data and peoples fingertips going up we have seen the internet infrastructure concentrated in a few amazon so there are weak links at those providers you have a ripple through it across the internet. we have a ripple through it across the internet.— the internet. we how they get on. the internet. we how they get on- thank _ the internet. we how they get on. thank you _ the internet. we how they get on. thank you for _ the internet. we how they get on. thank you for filling - the internet. we how they get on. thank you for filling us - on. thank you for filling us in. thank you for filling us in. with just 17 days left before christmas and the 0micron variant spreading, many are thinking of doing their shopping online. but be careful because retail fraud is surging as we head into the festive shopping season. according to an fbi internet crime report globally we are expected to spend around 207 billion dollars this christmas with shoppers in the uk alone set to be scammed out of 20 million dollars. 0nfido is an internet verification company that has been working with interpol recently to investigate the problem —it�*s report is out today. sarah munro is director of biometrics at 0nfido — sarah tell us about your findings. did tell us about your findings. did tell us about your findinqs-_ did tell us about your findinus. _, ., ., did tell us about your findinus. ,., ., ., ., findings. good morning. fraud is not dropping. _ findings. good morning. fraud is not dropping. ford - findings. good morning. fraud is not dropping. ford has - findings. good morning. fraud is not dropping. ford has not i is not dropping. ford has not drop since pre—pandemic levels. it is up 44% since 2019 and as you said, we link id fraud to organised crime and other nefarious activities. we see things like document fraud is on the rise and 3.5% document fraud and biometric fraud. we are constantly being warned about scams. we are becoming more savvy when it comes to fishing e—mails being sent and random links from e—mails that sort of thing. while recent falling victim.— sort of thing. while recent falling victim. the only thing that is interesting _ falling victim. the only thing that is interesting is - falling victim. the only thing that is interesting is the - falling victim. the only thing that is interesting is the wayj that is interesting is the way that is interesting is the way that fraud is changing. we is to find fraudsters worked five days a week and their patterns are changing so they now work seven days a week and will work all cancer they'll find is at her most relaxed and comfortable and the other thing we found is that where their heating is different. these to try to attack bank accounts or personal finance and now we find retailfraud has grown by 36% year—on—year and so fraudsters are going with the money flows over there with the loopholes are and it is a case being constantly vigilant. what ou mean being constantly vigilant. what you mean by — being constantly vigilant. what you mean by retail— being constantly vigilant. what you mean by retailfraud? - being constantly vigilant. what you mean by retail fraud? for you mean by retailfraud? for they shopping online for christmas?— they shopping online for christmas? ~ , ,., , , christmas? absolutely. it is thin . s christmas? absolutely. it is things like _ christmas? absolutely. it is things like i _ christmas? absolutely. it is things like i don't _ christmas? absolutely. it is things like i don't know - christmas? absolutely. it is things like i don't know if i christmas? absolutely. it is. things like i don't know if you remember during the pandemic, they're a text saying didn't know these details so you can pay for your delivery. there was something that was happening during the pandemic and they were asking for my name, address, date of birth. under that very genuine. things like that. you might get an e—mail asking for a deal that isjust too good e—mail asking for a deal that is just too good to be true and things like that so shopping genuine sites if you get a phone call asking you to confirm delivery, all those things, justine unfortunately you've got to be constantly vigilant. you've got to be constantly viailant. . ~ you've got to be constantly viailant. ., ~ i. ., ., vigilant. thank you well aware for the reminder. _ thank you well aware for the reminder. next to new york where starbucks has lost its bid with the national labor relations board to delay a union election at three of its branches. if successful, the workers would form the first union at starbucks—owned stores in the us michelle fleury is in new york with the details. starbucks is known as a progressive brand. it heralded training on racial bias and recently said it was raising wages by next summer but the fight to form a union has been pretty ugly with potential ramifications for its reputation. back in august employees in several locations wrote a letter to the company saying that they wanted to form a union to address problems such as understaffing, unpredictable scheduling and insufficient training. they get the go—ahead to vote in union representation from america's federal labour authority. for its part, starbucks has asked its part, starbucks has asked its staff to vote against unionisation. the ceo warned it could disrupt the company's relationship with its workers but its efforts were dealt a blow on tuesday after the bid to delay the vote failed. the drive comes at an interesting juncture for us workers. the labour market has emboldened many to demand higher pay and better conditions after the risks and sacrifices they enjoyed during the pandemic. such efforts have yielded mixed results. pay is gone up many american companies but a recent attempt to unionise as an amazon warehouse failed. attempt to unionise as an amazon warehouse failed. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: a plant—based recipe for success — we speak to the boss of frozen vegan food specialist strong roots to find out how his firm stands out against the healthy competition. this is bbc world news, the latest headlines. borisjohnson is facing renewed criticism after a video emerged showing downing street staffjoking about holding a christmas party during last year's lockdown. australia hasjoined the united states in staging a diplomatic boycott of the beijing winter olympic games over human rights violations. china's social media giant weibo has made its stock market debut in hong kong and it's had a disappointing first day. the firm's shares opened 6 percent lower as chinese tech companies remain under intense pressure at home and abroad. joining me now is nick marsh from our singapore bureau. this is the other way around. this is the other way around. this is the other way around. this is a chinese tech company so you can add them to the list of those feeling the pain right now. this is china's and they have over have a billion active users valued at billions of dollars but even they cannot escape this general cloud hanging over the chinese tech stocks right now. remember, this is a secondary listing so they are listed in new york and have been there for some time now and global investors which is given a chance to really stick or twist with this and they have decided to stick which is understandable when you look at other tech companies. their values of religious plummeted. there are companies that are listed in both hong kong and the united states. they are being squeezed from both sides, essentially. the us wants to scrutinise these foreign data holding companies and to pass legislation to make it very easy to do this then it will they don't comply and you have beijing who have launched a crackdown on the tech sector with all kinds of regulations which are very hurt these companies so even though it is a big company hasn't done anything wrong, there is a general pessimism surrounding the industry and obviously the market today hong kong is a further reflection of that. thank you. to india next where its central bank will be announcing its decision on lending rates later today. this comes after a three—day meeting of the bank's monetary policy committee and amidst renewed concerns over covid19's 0micron variant. arunoday mukharji takes a look at what might happen....(take sot) it is always very hard to predict exactly what the result will do but the majority of analysts expect rates to remain unchanged. if that is going to happen then it will be the ninth consecutive time the reserve bank of india will have kept rates on hold. the last time rates were reduced were in may 2020. these are essentially rates at which commercial banks borrow from the central bank and pass it the end consumer, increasing their ability to spend. new worries brought on ijy spend. new worries brought on by the omicron variant are expected to influence the bank's decision. cases of the new variant in india the rise, triggering concerns at a possible spike could impact economic activity. the central bank has kept rates unchanged so far despite inflation concerns because the priority has been to keep liquidity in the system and drive up private consumption. india had only recently started to see economic activity i had the following daily infections. the economy grew at 8.4% in the last quarter compared to the -7.4% in last quarter compared to the —7.4% in the same period last year. india is fully vaccinated 50% of its population and 80% have received at least one dose. experts are hopeful that the vaccinated population will not just the vaccinated population will notjust be able to protect itself but also extend the same protection to fudge as well. now, working in a telephone call centre and being the chief executive of a global marketing firm might seem worlds apart, but according to one ceo, it was the skills he learned cold calling customers for a double glazing firm, that were the making of him as a business leader. working call centre trained me to be a global ceo. at 16 years old and took a job in a call centre. i was selling double glazing, conservatories and kitchens and myjob was to call phone numbers out of the blue and persuade somebody to buy thousands of pounds worth of double glazing that they didn't necessarily need. what it does is teach you that the personal skills and verbal skills and the persuasive skills and the persuasive skills that i ended up needing the rest of my life and it is funny because ten years later there are tricks and tips that i learned in that call centre that i'm using in some of the biggest boardrooms in the world and we are discussing multi million—dollar deals. when you are a ceo, selling is everything. persuading someone to work for your business or investors to invest in your company. persuading clients that the thing you're trying sell us valuable and worth their interests. selling is everywhere. when i was in the call centre i did not realise how transferable and valuable the skills i was learning would be for the rest of my life. now before we go how about we dish up for you a plate of plant—based foods — apparently the appetite is growing. so much so that it's estimated the vegan foods market will be worth 162 billion dollars by 2030 — that is five times bigger than the current market according to bloomberg intelligence. 0ne beneficiary has been plant based frozen food company strong roots. today its announced a 55 million dollar investment from mccain foods to take a minority stake in the business. so what's their recipie for success? well we have the founder and chief executive of strong roots to tell us more — samuel dennigan welcome to the programme. what will the $55 million from mccain foods mean for your business? tell us how this partnership will work. tell us how this partnership will work-— tell us how this partnership willwork. ,, , ., ., , will work. six years ago we set out to that _ will work. six years ago we set out to that company _ will work. six years ago we set out to that company and - will work. six years ago we set out to that company and we i out to that company and we wanted something sustainable, creating great products, and was profitable at the same time and that is what we are. we did that by delivering tasty plant —based food designed for busy lives like sweet potato fries, cauliflower hashbrowns, spinach bites which have been a big hit with uk consumers. after having built across the uk we wanted to have a bigger stage and is thatis to have a bigger stage and is that is where the strategic partnership and investment comes in. it allows us to bring their products to every corner of the world and fast so that we can build sustainable food products to freezer aisle. were food, products to freezer aisle. were feed. your _ products to freezer aisle. were food, your how _ products to freezer aisle. were food, your how hashbrowns - food, your how hashbrowns piloting the package that is a mccain product? how will that work globally so that you get beach? it is minority investment so the strong roots brand still remains intact which is an important part of the dealfries and which is an important part of the deal fries and an important part of the investment for them as well. we have been developed over the last six years. first is an island in the uk now the us but we also work in the middle east, asia at the same time at all the parties under the strong roots brand so we are trying to develop their product under a plant —based label for a consumer looking for something different alongside the consumer looking for mccains at the same time. this is exciting new venture for you. you could see you grow significantly in a short period of time. are you ready for that, given the supply chain problems everyone is experiencing currently? talk a steel supply chain, is it mainly uk based?- steel supply chain, is it mainly uk based? the supply chain issues _ mainly uk based? the supply chain issues are _ mainly uk based? the supply chain issues are widespread l mainly uk based? the supply i chain issues are widespread and consistent across all markets especially food. we've been lucky enough to even able to localise our supply chain over the past few years so that we can make sure there is no in a shelves. 0ne can make sure there is no in a shelves. one of the reasons for the strategic partnership to benefit from their supply chain in relation to some of these countries. foras in relation to some of these countries. for as it is a huge positive the other type of partnership. that said, things equipment availability, further difficulties around borders with brexit and import duties increasing our reading into problematic supply chain which is going to, you know, last fall, you know, at least the next year or two.— fall, you know, at least the next year or two. good luck. we shau next year or two. good luck. we shall see how _ next year or two. good luck. we shall see how it _ next year or two. good luck. we shall see how it goes _ next year or two. good luck. we shall see how it goes with - shall see how it goes with mccain. a very exciting new venture for you. thank you for being on the programme. the cameras are on the move so i will say goodbye and have a good day. hello. it looks like we have probably seen the worst of storm barra for now, the worst of the winds along coastal areas, the top gusts in west coast of wales, 86mph. around inland areas it was typically a0 or 50mph. as well as those strong winds, we had a spell of snow, briefly, over the pennines and into the southern uplands before the snowy weather moved into the highlands and grampian region. that now moved away. all the cloud that has been swirling around the centre of the storm that's crossing northern ireland and heading towards the north of england and southern parts of scotland. it's just going to sit around during wednesday. the storm continuing to weaken, the winds lessening all the while with stronger winds means it will be a milder start to wednesday. typical temperatures, 3, 4 or 5. still windy for many on wednesday, just not as windy. the strongest winds likely to be across the west and south of wales, south—west england, around 60mph on the coast for a time, showers and longer spells of rain, the wettest weather with strongest winds will be in wales. maybe cold enough for some snow over the higher parts of scotland, maybe the tops of the pennines, typical temperatures are 6 or 7. by thursday, the storm is no more, continuing to weaken, pressure rising and the wind is dropping, instead we find a weather front nosing from the atlantic. we are left with one or two showers around on thursday, lighter winds by this stage and we find some sunshine but there will be a weather front bringing cloud and rain into northern ireland, parts of wales in the south—west of england. ahead of that, temperatures showing little signs of change. the wetter weather will continue eastwards overnight, there could be more snow over higher parts of scotland, it looks like it will move fairly quickly, out of the way by friday. instead we have a north—westerly wind, probably a stronger wind as well but essentially it is a day of sunshine and showers. many southern and eastern areas are dry with the best of the sunshine, most of the showers in the north and west of the uk, could be wintry over the hills. again, temperatures not changing very much, typically 6 or7. good morning, welcome to breakfast withjon kay and sally nugent. 0ur headlines today. more pressure on the prime minister to explain a downing street christmas party last year, after video emerges showing senior staff laughing and joking about it. number ten maintains there was no party, at a time when tight coronavirus restrictions were in place, but grieving families say the video has left them shocked and angry. we put our trust in the government of this country. and, you know, we expect higher standards, quite frankly.