this is business live from bbc news with sally bundock and rachel horne. trump's travel ban gets stuck in court. another hearing brings further delay and confusion. live from london, that's our top story on wednesday, 8th february. whilstjudges grapple with the arguments for and against the trump travel ban businesses move into damage limitation mode. we will talk you through what is at stake. also in the programme, softbank,the japanese tech giant sees a big turnaround thanks to its investments in the political hotspots of the united states and britain. our team in the region will have the latest. and this is how markets are faring in europe at the moment — several key companies have reported earnings. we'll talk you through the winners and losers.

she has been described as the uk's most influential black person and is chair of the country's biggest media agency. but how tough was it for karen blackett to get to the top? she'lljoin us shortly. check this out! and as barack obama's been spotted kite surfing in the caribbean, we want to know — what would you do to unwind after eight years in a toughjob? just use the hashtag bbcbizlive. is hanging out with richard branson on your bucket list? thank you for your thoughts. some of which we can't mention on the programme! we start with president trump's travel ban which has faced its toughest test yet. lawyers for the us justice department have been slogging it out with those for states of washington

and minnesota who want the ban repealed. the appeals courtjudges court in san francisco are expected to give their decision later in this week. let's recap. president trump has been trying to temporarily ban people entering the us from seven countries. he says this is about terror and keeping our country safe. whilst a stricter vetting system is put in place. but as you know, there has been widespread protest against this ban. 127 companies have signed, put forward their legal arguments and you can see some of the most influence companies on the list. apple, google, microsoft, tesla, levis. they have filed court submissions. in the documents they

have argued multinational companies will have strong incentives to base their operations outside the united states. at the moment, many of the companies use a visa programme called h 1 b. this grants entry to 85,000 skilled foreigners a year and the tech industry relies heavily on this visa programme. there are approximately three applications for every visa. that's granted. that's some of the background. rack to rachel. moira benigson is the managing partner & founder of mbs group which is an executive recruitment agency based here in london. one of trump's key campaign pillars was about bringing jobs back to america. are your clients concerned about this? we're working for many of those companies because we have a

very big tech and digital division and fashion. they will become concerned. not right now because we're ina concerned. not right now because we're in a transition period. but if you look at digital and tech companies in particular, their top teams are very, very diverse and from all over the world. you can't hold back progress and these days particularly at the mbs group all of oui’ particularly at the mbs group all of our short lists are extremely balanced and come from all over the world. they're not particularly from one country, even though we are here in the uk. now in terms of global recruitment, as you say, you can't hold back progress, it is a very different market, i imagine now than perhaps when you first started out when companies are drawing up their short lists, it is from more than one country, isn't it? absolutely. so you know, in the, i would think

ten yea rs so you know, in the, i would think ten years ago, if you were looking for a role in the uk, everybody would probably be from the uk. but we're all connected digitally, everybody is, socially, and in the workplace and therefore, people don't look at that anymore. and we find that in our fashion clients and in our tech find that in our fashion clients and in ourtech and find that in our fashion clients and in our tech and digital, ceos are getting younger and younger and their world is completely different. they're not their world is completely different. they‘ re not interested their world is completely different. they're not interested in borders. they're not interested in borders. they want the right people in the rightjobs, with the right teams. moira, with this potential travel ban in the us, also with the issue of brexit, what sort of concerns are ceos are these executives that you recruit coming to you with or what is potentially shaping their decisions that wouldn't have shaped their decisions a year ago? well, i

think until, i think brexit kicked it off where the world was just becoming one place and is one place especially for very senior people and we recently were bringing over a ceo from france to the uk and he had signed his contract the day before brexit. brexit happened. he phoned me the next day it say, "will i still be welcome in the uk?" it was a great shock for me and there i found myself as an immigrant telling him everything would be ok. and from the us have you any similar situations? not yet, but recently for one of ourfashion situations? not yet, but recently for one of our fashion clients, in fa ct, for one of our fashion clients, in fact, just going back, it's generally been easier to get europeans to go to the us than the other way round. americans are quite

loathe and many don't even have passports as we know, but in this particular instance the ceo said his wife did not want to raise her children for the next four years in america and they would be extremely happy to come to europe. so i think you might see the reverse in america where they might get a brain drain. 0k. where they might get a brain drain. ok. moira, thank you very much for your time this morning. a pleasure. in other news, the world's second biggest producer of iron ore, rio tinto, has returned to profit after a 12% jump in earnings. the mining giant was given a boost by the recovery in commodity prices. iron ore has nearly doubled in value over the last 12 months. rio tinto raised its dividend by more than expected to $1.70 per share. walt disney's chief executive, bob iger, has warned that a trade war between the us and china would be bad for business. the entertainment company's boss

told cnbc he was also critical of an executive order signed by mrtrump barring migrants and refugees from several muslim countries. the company reported a surprise drop in sales to just under $14.8 billion despite a strong performance from its theme parks and movie divisions which now includes the star wars franchise. let's talk about japan's softbank. it snapped up arm holdings and it has been chummying up with the united states and president trump in particular. it is doing well in terms of profits. 7196 year-on-year rise. what's the reaction? now, softbank

said it made $2.63 billion for the quarter after sprint added more subscribers than expected. this was the first full quarter since softbank coming pleated a $32 billion acquisition of britain's most valuable technology company, arm. we know the founder and ceo of softbank has got big, pliing plans to make the company a company with technology investments, moving away from the telecoms business to becoming more diversified. it has got stakes in alibaba. there is the $50 billion investment in the us that he pledged when he met with donald trump in december which would create 50,000 newjobs all of which will aim to transform

softbank into a technology firm with a difference. so much to take in there. thank you very much. we have heard from softbank. we've heard from the likes of disney, general motors, for the us yesterday alone, i think 80 companies reported earnings that are listed on the s and p500. earnings that are listed on the s and p 500. it is keeping traders extremely busy. this is how things went in general in asia overnight and the night before on wall street. let's look at europe right now. so again, earnings are dominating. we've mentioned rio tinto and rio's shares up 3% in london. you can see the markets fairly flat, but we've had carlsberg out, brewing up a better profit as well. the danish brewer carlsberg has reported a rise in full—year profits to $645 million. the company says its expects a modest increase in earnings next year. and samira hussain has the details about what's ahead

on wall street today. company earnings continue on wednesday. we will be hearing from time warner. the company is being bought by at&t, but the sale has been opposed by us president donald trump. during the election campaign. so investors will be looking for comments on that. now us coal miner, arch coal will be reporting earnings. this comes at a time when the donald trump administration has been looking to undue regulations and support more mining. investors and support more mining. investors and analysts will be watching for broader comments on deregulation. finally, the grocery store chain whole foods market will be reporting earnings. they are grappling with competition and they want to shed their nickname of whole pea cheque. it has been lowering prices and experimenting with its new value

orientated grocery brand. joining us is richard hunter, head of research at wilson king investment management. we will talk about commodities, aren't we? we have seen a bounce backin aren't we? we have seen a bounce back in commodity prices. do you think it is sustainable? it could be. on the one hand you've got the demand from the likes of china and indeed india as you were mentioning. so demand is very possibly going to stay there, but the other thing that the commodities companies have had to do over the last couple of years is really start running themselves asa is really start running themselves as a business. so they have been cutting costs sharply. they have been divesting assets that they don't consider core to what they're doing and in terms of the likes of rio that's so diversified across so many metals, it could very much be sustainable now they've cleaned their books up a bit. it is interesting you say that. we've got rio tinto's results today which are

better than expected and also they've boosted their dividend by quite a bit which is very welcome, isn't it, having had a rough couple of yea rs ? isn't it, having had a rough couple of years? it is. of course, particularly in the interest rate environment we find ourselves in at the moment. any boost to dividend income is yet another attraction for shares as against other investments. that follows on from bp yesterday and some other mining companies and commodity companies. are they back in favour now, do you think, these stocks for portfolio managers, the commodity companies? it is fair to say that they are a good hedge against inflation if we get to that point, inflation could be coming to us point, inflation could be coming to us a bit later in the year because if we get inflation that will be uk—focussed, commodity companies do 99. 9% of their business outside the uk. that's an interesting one. but whether investors, they still tend to be towards the higher end of the risk scale so your common investor may not go towards the mining

stocks, but they're more popular than they were 18 months ago. richard hunter you will be back to discuss the papers. and what he would do after eight years in a toughjob! we've got mr obama. mark said you'd burn your suit! i'm with you there. i'd sell it. you'd put it on ebay. it depends how long you wore it for! still to come, the inside track on diversity in the media from the chair of the uks biggest media agency. you're with business live from bbc news. a day after the government launched the housing white paper, one uk house builder seems to be going from strength to strength. redrow has just published it's half—year results showing revenue rising 23% to £739 million and they completed nearly 2,500 homes in the last six months.

their ceo john tutte joins us from the london stock exchange. john, thank you very much for your time this morning. as sally said, yesterday we heard government ministers calling the uk housing market broken. what's your reaction to that? well, good morning everyone. i think perhaps it was an u nfortu nate title everyone. i think perhaps it was an unfortunate title for the paper. i don't think it's broken. the industry has increased its output by 50% in the last three years. what was your response to the white paper? there was mixed reaction.

most say they were quite disappointed. the one thing to put in context is it is a consultation document, and that consultation is open until the beginning of may. the important thing is how it moves on from here. there is a whole raft of measures proposed in there and that needs detail. it is good news that local authorities, there will be more pressure on them to allocate their housing and put their plans in place because 60% of local authorities have not got plans in place yet. to put them under pressure to do that will be good and to test the delivery of those plans will be good. the measures they are proposing on speeding up the planning system by putting more resources into planning departments, having fewer conditions on planning permission, is all good news and should help us bring outlets forward

and assist our growth. l'oreal is selling the body shop potentially. their results are out on thursday and they could be reviewing their ownership. you're watching business live. our top story: president trump's travel ban has had its latest outing in the us courts. they are grappling with both sides of the argument. the conclusion will be batted to the supreme court anyway. lawyers for the justice department told a hearing in san francisco why it should be upheld whilst those for washington state made the case again the ban. a decision is expected later this week. it isa it is a really busy time for earnings. depending on whether you are rio tinto allred row will depend on how you are doing today.

in the advertising and media world, diversity remains a challenge. karen blackett's father told her as a black woman, she'd have to work twice as hard to get anywhere. she now heads up the uk's largest media agency. it manages more than £1.2bn of advertising spend for firms including audi and gsk. let's get the inside track with a media executive who's been voted the uk's most influential black person, overcoming hurdles to rise to the top of the advertising tree. karen blackett started her career in 1993 at cia media network. she then joined the media business group and was promoted to the board of directors in 1999 when the group merged with mediacom. after climbing the ranks, karen was promoted to chairwoman of the company in 2016. the firm now employs more than 1,000 people in the uk. karen isjust a karen is just a little karen isjust a little bit older than me, so i feel a little bit inadequate listening to that. when we realised you were coming in, i said we would be talking to you about advertising, diversity and apprenticeships. you have knowledge ona apprenticeships. you have knowledge on a huge agreement of subjects.

what is the most important?” on a huge agreement of subjects. what is the most important? i love my industry and i love what i do, so advertising is top of the tree, but pa rt advertising is top of the tree, but part of being good at advertising is about having an inclusive workforces, and inclusive content that you create, so diversity and inclusion goes hand in hand with that. it is the buzzword in management school at the moment, diversity, how to feel diversity in an organisation. why is it so important? there are so many studies that show when you have more inclusive workforces and cos it benefits both economic play and socially. those companies which are more diverse tend to be those which are more financially stable and successful. it is a buzzword because it is common business sense. it is not for altruistic reasons, it is business sense. if you have to sell a brand to consumers in any country

you need to reflect your consumers in the advertising content you create and in the workplace. being called an influential black person, does it annoy you that that is still a label? it is not something that annoys me, it is something ifind embarrassing but brilliant. but it is something that is important because i know when i was growing up in reading! because i know when i was growing up in reading i did not have many role models. my role models were immediate family and friends and in a business context i was not aware of roles i could go into because there were not people like me who worked in those companies, or so i thought. the powerless, the list that i topped, they are really important because it provides role model opportunities for people in the uk. your dad did say you would have a tough time ahead getting on because you were black and a woman. was that the case? it is true. my

mum and dad came overfrom barbados in the 60s and he was concerned because they came over to a country that they did not know and they had to try and navigate it and they had to try and navigate it and they had to make sure that we would have a happy and successful life, me and my sister. it was tough because people do discriminate and people hire in their own images. at that time the advertising world was quite close, nepotism did exist, and there were not many people like me who worked in the advertising industry. however, when you look at the black population in the uk and you look at the economic contribution of that population, we are worth around £300 billion in terms of financial ability to spend. it is an incredibly important sector that we have to tap into, because people in the uk by brands and products.

u nfortu nately we have the uk by brands and products. unfortunately we have to leave it there. thank you very much for joining us. you can hear more from karen online, she is on twitter. we are all having a twitter chat. the rise of the robot is featuring again and the impact of automation is fast becoming one of the biggest challenges bob governments around the world. the online retailer ocado is increasingly turning to automation. let's have a look at what is happening in their warehouses. this warehouse is stuffed full of algorithms and machines learning, controlling 8000 of these boxes. welcome back. this is from bloomberg. explain this to us.

welcome back. this is from bloomberg. explain this to usm welcome back. this is from bloomberg. explain this to us. it is what is happening in australia and it might ring bells here. how individuals are piling on debt, mainly in mortgages and they are getting mortgages up to the hilt, to quite high levels, which is ok at the moment, but interest rates might go up. where are they in australia? they are about 1.5% at the moment, but they could be on the way up. if you are highly indebted, each time interest rates go up, they could cause problems. they have got some bad debts and it is not crisis point yet, but keep an eye on it. let's ta ke yet, but keep an eye on it. let's take a look at barack obama kite surfing. that is what he has been up to on surfing. that is what he has been up toona surfing. that is what he has been up to on a nice little two weeks away at sir richard branson‘s private

caribbean retreat. there he is in action. what would you do if you needed to take a break after a very demanding job? i am not sure i would get on the speed style to richard branson. we will put it out there. you never know. it could be water—based. i fancy the you never know. it could be water—based. ifancy the idea if you had nothing to do for a month, a long cruise going to different cities. that is not really kite surfing. what would you do, sally?” have a long bucket list, i have got three little boys. the world would be my oyster. a little sleep. sleep would be good. we have got a lot of tweets. some of you said you would head to the caribbean. if richard branson was offering, you would not say no. we have not got time to do

the next story. thank you to richard. that's it from business live today. there will be more business news throughout the day on the bbc live webpage and on world business report. we'll see you again tomorrow. it will not be asked tomorrow, we will be having our cat naps! it will not be asked tomorrow, we will be having our cat naps! good morning. it has been a cold start this morning and temperatures will not rise a great deal today and it will get colder over the next few days. a lot of cloud on the way and temperatures will be lowering and it will feel cold as the easterly wind picks up. we saw at the beginning of the week a band of rain moving across from the west, but it has now got stuck on the east side of the

uk. it is a very weak feature, but behind it there is cold air that will be coming in on an easterly wind. some sunshine in western fringes of the uk, but for many central and eastern areas it is cloudy, grey and misty and there will be some showers around as well. the wind is not too strong just yet. sunshine in devon, cornwall and west wales as well with highs of eight or nine. but across the rest of wales, the midlands and southern england, cloudy skies and there could be some wintry showers in northern england. in northern ireland brightening up with some sunshine, sunshine in the north west and the western isles of scotland. snow in the showers over the grampians. a few more wintry showers coming in on the breeze overnight. frost almost anywhere.

even under the cloud it could be cold enough for temperatures close to freezing. there will be a fresh breeze as we head into thursday and it will freshen many parts of the country, blowing in cloud. a hint of sunshine in sheltered western areas. a bit more sleet and snow, no great amounts of snow, most of it on the hills of eastern scotland and the north east of england. but temperatures will be lower than today. nothing is coming in from the atla ntic today. nothing is coming in from the atlantic where it is milder. we have got a big block of cold air coming in from the east. the wind picks up on friday and it will feel colder. cloudy skies across the board and temperatures at three or four at the very best. good morning. it is wednesday. it is 9am. i'm victoria derbyshire. today

attem pts 9am. i'm victoria derbyshire. today atte m pts to 9am. i'm victoria derbyshire. today attempts to bring together health and social care seen as crucial to easing pressure on the nhs in england, are failing to either save money orfree england, are failing to either save money or free up hospital beds. that's according to the government's own spending watchdog. you've got to have a long—term solution for this. it's notjust about this year or next year, we will have many more older people and many people who will need care in hospital and who need good care when they get out of hospital. it is not suitable for them to stay in hospitalfor a long time. suitable for them to stay in hospital for a long time. we will explain why a toy gun like this, led toa explain why a toy gun like this, led to a headteacher to call the police to a headteacher to call the police to her school. the mum of the boy who owns this toy tells us anonymously, it only happened because her son isn't