france's president emmanuel macron is in germany for talks to bolster the european single market

says the bank is ready to start cutting rates. musicians cope with stage fright. welcome to business today, i'm mark lobel. is on the second day of a state visit. he's there to meet chancellor olaf scholz for talks aimed with the us and china. the two european heavyweights want to advance plans for an eu capital markets union. that's to get investments and savings flowing across member states. however negotiations have stalled for nearly a decade because eu members do not want to relinquish control of national financial rules. so how close is the so—called single market for capital to becoming a reality? let's get the thoughts of vim mice.

he's ceo of the european banking federation in brussels. this, like many things in europe, it doesn't come with a big bang. it is usually part by part by part going forward. but it is so important that there is talk. it's not only the talk of macron and schulz, there are several high—level reports that really want to make this real. what's so important is that we really get a move on and the practical side, because we've done all the analysis, we've done all the regulation, and now we need to move onward. future, which is billions and billions of money needed, we want to keep bright people in our digital transition in europe rather than have them move to other parts of the world. we need to spend more on defence. you really need to invest.

sticking with europe, the european central bank has suggested it will cut interest rates from historic heights next week.

the worrying thing — the bit he was concerned about, is what happens if we have what we had last year which was problems with supply chains, some of those base costs going up, because we are in a rather strange position where governments were pushing up interest, or central banks were putting up interest rates, to fight inflation. that inflation would normally be for the consumer if there was a consumer boom. we didn't have a consumer boom. that is why it was so strange last year. almost putting up interest rates for the wrong reasons. however interest rates should come down now. they can easily come down by a quarter or 0.5%. they won't do half. they could easily do a quarter percent and that would actually have a direct impact on the ability to go out and spend money. africa faces its worst debt crisis in a generation, according to the charity

christian aid. a majority of african nations are spending more on servicing debt than on health or education — or sometimes both. that's partly down to soaring interest rates and a strong us dollar. this week, the african development bank's annual meeting takes place. decision makers will consider how financial institutions can and should support economic growth and transition on the continent. our africa business correspondent jewel kireeungi has more. one of the key things that will be discussed at these meetings is the issue of debt. a majority of countries in africa are facing significant financial challenges and they will be discussing how to alleviate some of these debt scenarios that they have been seen playing out. issues such as global economic issues have had a direct impact on african economies. we've seen global high interest rates being translated into the loans that african countries are taking from these countries.

we have seen issues such as the covid—19 pandemic still having ripple effects in many economies across africa. so, it's a myriad of challenges, both at the global economic level as well as individual country—specific issues. in other news... elon musk�*s ai startup xai is now being valued at $24 billion dollars after raising another $6 billion from investors. xai says the funding — from silicon valley investors including sequoia capital — will be used to take its first products to market, build advanced infrastructure and accelerate research and development of future technologies. women make up a smaller proportion of top earners in uk finance than before the pandemic, according to research by the london school of economics. the study looked at the top 1% of earners between 2020 and 2023

and found 19.4% were women — down from 19.7% in the previous three years. lse researchers blame "lack of progression "to the most senior roles." qatar airways says it has launched an internal investigation after six passengers and six crew were injured during severe turbulence on a flight from doha to ireland. the qatar airways boeing 787 was met by emergency services when it landed shortly after midday on sunday at dublin airport. the incident comes just five days after a 73—year—old man died during severe turbulence on a singapore airlines flight. here are some reactions from passengers on the qatar airways flight after their arrival in dublin. the food trolley was coming down the aisle, and it was just past our seat, bending down asking us what we wanted for lunch when that went up in the air and then toppled over. so there was food coming out of all of the little trays there

all over the floor, food of people that were already eating, theirfood had got thrown up into the ceiling on the plane all over the floor. quite a mess left after that. a number of the staff had severe injuries. it was for 10—15 seconds and that was the worst 15 seconds of my life. like, by the god, we are safe. the food was everywhere on the plane because it was the taxi time and i have seen a few people, they were, like, literally flying and they were standing, so they were on the top of the plane. it was so scary at the time. you just don't know, is this it or not? - like, to actually get up i and have to look after us and they're going around - with bandages on their hands like, anybody else, - they would be sent home, but they had to continue -

for the rest of the five hours. now, have you ever suffered from stage fright? with hundreds or maybe thousands of people staring it can be a nerve—wracking experience. but, deep breath, new technology may soon help control nerves on stage and help artists prepare for the big moment. click�*s spencer kelly visited the royal college of music to see how a new performance laboratory is putting musicians through an emotional roller—coaster. vocal warm-up. places, please, places. ok, they're ready for you. good luck. thank you.

your heart is racing. the adrenaline is flowing. this is your moment. it's time to conquer your nerves, face the crowd and let all that practice pay off. some say it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert and, forjosephine shaw, this performance is part of thatjourney as she blows our socks off with a rendition i've always loved singing. my parents say i was a bit of an annoying child growing up.

i was making lots of weird noises and apparently would hum myself to sleep! and got me some singing lessons. talk to me about nerves. yeah, i get nerves all the time. getting over them, it's always a tricky balance. sometimes the adrenalin helps you, but also you don't want the nerves getting all tense. researchers here at the royal college of music in london say that practising performing. so, while it's difficult to get regular access to the real theatres and venues, they can simulate the experience here in their performance laboratory. that simulation begins before they step out into the lights. one of the things we've learned from our research is that our body's stress response to performance can

be as, if not more powerful backstage than it is on stage. it's that anticipation of performance where anxiety can really hit. this helps us tailor our training to make sure we're not only preparing them for what happens on stage, under the lights, in front of the audience's eyes, but also how they're coping backstage. how do they manage that anxiety? how do they get themselves physically and mentally into a place where they're ready to walk out on stage and give their best performance? once the students are on stage, george waddell can control everything. he can change the venue. he can change the reaction to make the night go as well or as badly as he wants. the performance laboratory is running in unreal engine, each member of the audience is an individual video games character. they all behave independently and they don't all always show up. i got lucky tonight! what's really interesting about this space as well is there are 64

the venue, that changes the acoustics, which forces you to change your performance. iowa's feel few nerves are good, but not too much. stay with us here on bbc news and up to date with the latest business news at bbc.com, where you can find out more about the perils of home ownership at the moment. there's also more on the boss of singapore airlines reacting to the severe turbulence on board his carrier's flight last week and the reaction of the on board crew. that's all on our digital platforms. that's all your business for now — you're up to date.

hello again. south africans have had to live with an unreliable energy grid for years. scheduled blackouts have already cost the country thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in lost business. but in the last few months something has changed. the country has experienced an unusually steady supply of electricity.

as south africans prepare to vote in a general election, some critics believe this could be simple electioneering,