this is business live from bbc news with ben thompson and sally bundock. a scandal deepens at another major japanese supplier to the world's biggest car companies — sending shares in kobe steel tumbling live from london, that's our top story on wednesday, 11th october. japan's third largest steel—maker has admitted to falsifying some of its data. it is the latest scandal to hit the country's manufacturing sector. also in the programme, saving north american trade. president trump and canada's prime minister trudeau meet as tensions rise over the region's $1 trillion pact. european markets are looking like this after the statement from the

cata la n this after the statement from the catalan president. what happens next? well, we've got to wait and see. we'll be talking textiles with a man whose company is reviving cotton making in the north of england. but can it compete with cheap imports from overseas? and celebrity chef gordon ramsay says brexit will be a wake up call to british workers. it was more colourful than that. do you agree? send us your comments. yes, some select language from the celebrity chef there! we will talk about that later. hello and welcome to business live. we begin injapan, where the country's reputation as a manufacturer of quality products seems to be at stake. following a string of scandals from manufacturers including airbag supplier takata, and car—maker nissan, kobe steel is now under fire. japan's third largest steel—maker

has admitted it falsified data over the strength of some of its aluminium and copper products. it's a big deal because kobe steel's products are used in things like cars, aircraft and bullet trains. and it's affecting companies all over the world, multinationals like boeing, toyota and nissan among others are all now checking the safety of their products after it emerged they used metals supplied by kobe. leisha santorelli is in singapore. tell us more because as today has progressed the story has snowballed, hasn't it? that's right. the problems keep getting uncovered sally and scandals are expensive and this is proving to be a big one. shares plunged by more than 20% in tokyo. yesterday they plunged by

20%. injust two tokyo. yesterday they plunged by 20%. in just two days we have seen more than a third of kobe steel's value wiped out. kobe steel is japan's third biggest steel—maker. their products are used in aircraft, bullet trains, globally and by falifying the information about the strength and durability of the products, all the companies are going to have to go back through their supply chains which is complicated and check for safety issues. kobe steel admitted that the data has been falsified for years, but it may have stretched back for a decade which is a long time. now, as many as 200 companies, i believe, are affected, but the five biggest buyers of kobe steel are the car makers. and if they have to replace some parts, one analyst estimates that the cost could be more than $1 million, but ultimately, i think that the reputational costs and any potential lawsuits from the scandal

is going to cost the company a lot more. and taking it even wider than that, being hot on the heels of the airbag disaster as well, this really calls into question japan airbag disaster as well, this really calls into questionjapan as a high quality manufacturing hub? exactly. kobe steel is a 100—year—old company. it is one of the country's industrial giants and it is, this scandal is adding just another dent to japan's battered reputation in this area. you mentioned the airbags company and the fact that these companies used to be known for high quality precision manufacturing. this has been a very big selling point for japanese this has been a very big selling point forjapanese companies and products against china which is a cheaper, factory—based. the scandals keep cropping up. nissan had to recall over one million cars. and another car maker admitted to cheating on fuel tests. corporate japan has a lot to think about. cheating on fuel tests. corporate japan has a lot to think aboutm certainly does. thank you. the canadian prime ministerjustin

trudeau meets donald trump today for talks about the future of the north american free trade agreement or nafta. it comes against a backdrop of increasing tensions over the deal. nafta is designed to cut tariffs on trade between mexico, canada and the us. that trade is worth around $1 trillion a year. but the american leader has called it a disaster and is trying to renegotiate the terms. mr trump is especially annoyed about the $61; billion trade deficit his country has with mexico — that's to say it imports much more than it exports and mr trump says that's hit american jobs. but canada hasn't escaped his wrath. canadian plane—maker bombardier has been hit with import tariffs of 300 percent on some of its planes. that's after the us said the planes were being sold at below cost price due to illegal support

from ottawa and london. christophe bondy is a public international lawyer at cooley llp and former trade adviser to canadian government. you know this extremely well. i would imagine like me, you are assuming that today's discussions between trump and trudeau won't be easy at all. what will they achieve? they will be cordial. they have been cordial to date and i think if anything, they may achieve setting a certain tone. perhaps dealing with some of the higher level issues like the bombardier boeing dispute and the bombardier boeing dispute and the people at the operational level will be rolling up their sleeves and looking at the text and seeing how it can be improved. you mentioned the bombardier dispute. you are thinking they will be cordial? it won't cause too much friction. is it

too big a deal and they have to make headway? typically in trade discussions a the leadership level they try to deal with the thorniest knottiest issues and mr trudeau will be speaking up for the interests of the bombardier and trying to seek resolution. trying to show that it's not really in the us interest at all because this plane is partly manufactured in the united states as well. so there is some irony there. but it is the way these things typically happen. there are a number of things that are dealt with at the technical level and the thorniest things get raised at the highest level. the mexico issue is one that mrtrump is level. the mexico issue is one that mr trump is aggrieved. he says the us is importing more from mexico thanit us is importing more from mexico than it is selling, but we have been discussing that it is not as clear cut? the supply chains are deeply

integrated and in particular in the automotive industry. when you say that something is being imported into the united states from mexico, you can have 40% of that import was originally from the united states and so to say that something comes from one country or the other, the other, the real issue with mexico seems to be wages, trying to increase wages so seems to be wages, trying to increase wages so that more of the benefits of nafta are distributed. so the united states is very focussed on that. that's an issue for canada as well, but canada in turn is saying to the united states you have things like the right—to—work laws that permit workers not to make contributions to unions and therefore, depress participation in unions and therefore, wages. there the united states says well, no, you can't touch that, because that's our sovereign issue. briefly, as well, let's say nafta. it is a disagreement and it falls apart and they have to resort to world trade organisation, wouldn't the biggest

loser be the us consumer? that isn't the outcome of the discussions, falling apart of nafta, they are seeking to update the nafta. president trump said many times he would be willing to tear it up, so we don't know what the outcome will be? that's true. he says that, but he has to get congress to agree and the us congress said the other day that coming out of nafta would be a disaster. 35 us states have da as their single biggest export market. it would, yes, a huge detrimental impact as it would in any situation when it is part of a large market and pulls out of it. thank you for your time. really fascinating and just to say, of course, we'll keep an eye with regards to the two men meeting later on near washington. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. credit agency equifax says many more uk customers were affected by a data breach than first thought.

it says more than 690,000 people in the uk had their details stolen in the cyber attack this year. equifax says it will contact all uk customers affected to offer them help. shares in walmart have surged to a two year high after the retailer projected online sales in 2019 would rise a0%. wal—mart shares were up 4.7% and the firm also said it would buy back $20 billion in shares over the next two years. up up and down like a yo—yo today. this is markets. the nikkei closing at more than a two decade high. we have seen a rally for equities market. the us hitting fresh records. let me show you what's happening in

europe. investors digesting last night's speech by the catalan president. they are trying to work out what it means. the spanish market is up over 1%. a high of relief after the expectation, and the speculation yesterday. we have seen the speculation yesterday. we have seen spanish government bond yields falling after the catalan president stopped short of making that formal declaration of independence from spain last night. but all of that, remember, coming off the back of what was a slowish session yesterday as everyone was waiting for the announce: the spanish market breathing a little bit of a sigh of relief. sally. thank you, ben. joining us is simon derrick, chief markets strategist, bank of new york mellon. good morning, simon. good morning. ben talking about the outcome in spain, we don't know where we are, actually. i was saying to you in the green room, the euro has firmed up a bit thanks to that speech in spain

and you disagreed with me, simon. what's going on? i think what is happening in the last 2a hours has been about dollar weakness. the dollar is down against everything. that said, it is no question that over the course of the last six to nine months european politics has played an important role in the euro and therefore, we will be keeping an eye on what happens in catalonia and elsewhere. i think that's going to remaina elsewhere. i think that's going to remain a strong story for everybody, not just for the foreign exchange markets, but for the bond markets as well. before we move on, because we we re well. before we move on, because we were all saying at the beginning of this year that political risk in europe is the biggy. we are in the middle of october, spain and catalonia and all the elections have been and gone, have you moved on mentally? no, i think it been and gone, have you moved on mentally? no, ithink it has been and gone, have you moved on mentally? no, i think it has come back! i think it has come back. i think the markets... a boom rang? exactly. once the market went through the french presidential election we started ignoring again. the interesting bit is once... we

had germany. there has been a return to concerns about populism and i think what we have seen with catalonia has reinforced the concerns and probably what you're seeing is people thinking the italian next year and the uncertain outcome of that. no, i don't think it has gone away. i think it will come back stronger. this should prove to us we should never predict anything on this programme! that's the spain issue. the us is still there, what else is on the radar?|j think there, what else is on the radar?” think the us issue is the big one for the markets today. we had some wea k for the markets today. we had some weak employment data on friday and that matters because today we get the minutes from the last central bank meeting, the federal reserve, they are talking about raising rates in december, we have got several rate hikes in and we have started reducing the qe, people rate hikes in and we have started reducing the oe, people want to know how strongly they feel about the december rate hike. is that really

boiled in? are we going to talk about another three next year? if it is weakish, that could be a negative story. i can't believe that's a phrase, qan tative tightening. ot, get on it. we all know about ot, thank you very much, simon, he will be back to talk about what gordon ramsay had to say about lazy british workers! you have to have good quality bedding. so we will speak to a man who is hoping to revive the art of fine weaving and it is about reviving the cotton industry in the uk. we will speak to the boss of that company in a minute. you heard it here, ben thompson is a bedding snob! you're with business live from bbc news. i have been accused of many things!

bedlinen snob. not bad snob, we. rumours! moving on... in the uk we are onlyjust in autumn, but a new study indicates already millions of households are in debt to their energy supplier, even before the real cold snap begins. research from the energy comparison and switching service uswitch has found 2.6 million households are heading for winter debt owing a collective £318 million. so how do you control of all of that? it might be easier than you think. let's find out how from claire osborne, energy expert at uswitch.com nice to see you. explain this, why are people in such debt already? this year we saw on unseasonably cold august, meaning people put their heating on a lot earlier, soak for the cost of heating their homes, it started earlier for many british families. at the same time, a raft of price rises, meaning one third of people saying they will have to

ration their energy use. all of that adds up to the amount of debt people are into their energy supply is up 90% year—on—year. this is worrying because this is the time of year people should be in credit to their energy supplies that they can use that credit overwinter. but there is lots that can be done. what can we do? if you are worried about being in debt to your energy my first advice is contacted them. they should be able to help you out with a repayment plan to help pay for. if that doesn't help, there are plenty of good charities that can help. charities like step change can help. in any case, it is important to take control of your energy bills. if you switch today, customers switching through uswitch are saving 200— £300 on average, some as many as £600. you can often switch if you are in debt if you are having a debt of less tha n debt if you are having a debt of

less than £500 or a payment plan less than £500 or a payment plan less tha n less than £500 or a payment plan less than 28 days. good to talk to you, thank you for explaining that. some useful tips, from claire osborne at uswitch. and we have this story on our web page. no energy bill price cap this winter says ofgem. ofgem saying they cannot deliver on that promise from the prime minister. click on that to find out why. you're watching business live — our top story — shares in kobe steel have plunged after the japanese steel maker revealed it falsified some of its data. usedin used in all sorts of applications, cars, trains and all sorts of things, causing a problem around the world. and election year the financial markets really quickly. we're not showing you financial

markets really quickly, we are moving on! they are a bit mixed. you carry on! i'm talking about my favourite subject, good bedlinen. the british cotton industry. once the area around the northern english town of manchester was the centre of the british cotton weaving industry... so much so that the town had the nickname cottonopolis. but for years no cotton has been woven there. after the lancashire cotton industry collapsed in the 1980's, all woven cotton cloth has been imported. but our next guest is about to change that. he is the managing director of peter reed, a firm founded in 1861 that primarily makes bed linen. now he's teaming up with spinner english fine cottons to revive the lancashire weaving industry and produce cloths from american cotton fibres in manchester. so will we ever see a return to the

cotton making hay day in northern england? sean clayton, managing director of peter reed joins us now. let's start with a history. your company has been around for a very long time and it was the heyday, it was when lancashire, the north of england was the hub for textiles industry. it has changed a lot. you are hoping to bring that back, is that correct? what we are trying to do in partnership with english fine cotto ns do in partnership with english fine cottons is to produce a luxury bedding cotton again, which we have done. we started the project about a year ago. we've been working with partners on the actual manufacturing of it and we've now produced our first samples. here they are. you talk and i will show them off. we launched about a month ago, the first bedding out of manufactured england. peter reed can get his hands on the fabric and we can

convert it with the team in lancashire to our luxury bedding. sally is wasted, she needs to work, home shopping channel! laughter we do know what a pillow slip feels like, you have to feel it, it's about the quality. we spoke earlier about the difference in quality and also... we saw a lot of production go overseas, partly because it is cheaper, because labour costs are cheaper and we don't really have the infrastructure in the uk to sustain it. what makes you think you can do it. what makes you think you can do it now in the uk and do it well? to be honest, the reason we wanted to bring it back or part of it back... we will never bring it all back because we just can't compete but in the market we are in, luxury bedding, clients want to pay what we need for the english cotton. so to get the made in england, where it is truly made in england, there is a market for it. we're talking to retailers who are interested in it. does that mean you can get it faster? if you orderfrom china or

india, you have to order a lot of it to make it worthwhile and it will ta ke to make it worthwhile and it will take quite a while while to get his. correct. in the market we are in, lead time is shorter but we also don't have two by the a0 foot containers and we don't have to wait for things to come in. we are quite lucky we can buy it very much just in time. if there are any issues, theissues in time. if there are any issues, the issues are you jump in a car and you are there in two hours rather than spending a day to go somewhere. for you, the strong selling point is the story of quality. absolutely. that made in britain bandwagon you arejumping on, as it were, and you have the royal warrant, which helps? if you look at the things we're trying to do, if you look that made in england, it takes a box, royal warrant, takes a box, bespoke and made for you takes a box. is this what the queen has on her bed? you shouldn't ask questions like that. chuckles why not, it's what we want to know?

this... not being led down that one. if you lived in a manor house, how would you work out who the lord of the manor‘s bedding was under chambermaid? this one has four stripes, so do not might be able to make out that has four stripes, it means it is posh, really thick quality. this one still looks pretty cool but only with two stripes. so that means that was probably for the chambermaid. that is how you distinguish good bedding from bad bedding. the original laundry mark. i want the one with four stripes.” will see what i can do! how important is this, to the lancashire area? has important is this, to the lancashire area ? has it important is this, to the lancashire area? has it brought a lot of new life and optimism? i think it's brought the interest back now. we will never go back to the heyday of how it used to be, and i don't think as an industry in the uk that's

really what we are looking for. we are looking for quality, being special, short lead times, the things that go with the made in england manufacturing quality thing. the volume will store be done overseas. because we can't compete with the price. thank you. i reckon she goes for that. nice and colourful, the queen. or maybe it's a bit garish... maybe she's very classic, just plain. chuckles speculating! this is how you stay in touch with us. the business live pages where you can stay ahead with all the day is now breaking news. we will keep you up—to—date with all the latest details, within sight and analysis from the bbc‘s team of editors right around the world. and we want to hear from you, around the world. and we want to hearfrom you, get around the world. and we want to hear from you, get involved on the business live web page. you can also get in touch on twitter and you can

find us on facebook. business live on tv and online, whenever you need to know. pillow talk with simon who is back with us. we're talking about gordon ramsay and what he has to say about wrecks it. i'm not going to read out the headline... instead of calling in flash gordon we are calling him crash gordon, what is he talking about? he is arguing that basically brexit is a wake—up call for lazy british workers. in the restaurant injured history, we must qualify. absolutely. he argued over the course of the last ten or 20 years —— in the restaurant industry. an influx of workers from overseas who are prepared to work half as hard, he claims, as british restaurant workers and for less money. he says brexit will therefore act as a wake—up call for british workers. several bits about this really

weird. he understands the restaurant industry. their leisure restaurant industry. their leisure restaurant industry in general is extremely concerned about what it means for them because they rely heavily on european workers. i'm not quite certain how taking away that competition of overseas workers is suddenly going to make british workers work for less money. i'm not certain by that logic. and i'm not certain by that logic. and i'm not certain calling any british people lazy is a good marketing thing. chris says if british people don't wa nt to chris says if british people don't want to work on farms or in restau ra nts want to work on farms or in restaurants brexit will make no difference because it will raise prices. another says he agrees with gordon ramsay. where are you contacting us wrong, i wonder? thank you simon, nice to see you. don't say we don't discuss everything, bedding, brexit, what the queen sleeps in. we'll see you soon, bye—bye. good morning, a rather wet and windy

day for some of us today, particularly towards northern and western parts of the uk. in fact, for some parts, the rain isn't going to stop all day. not all doom and gloom, towards the south—east of england and we will see some drier and brighter weather. it is this weather front towards north wales, north—west england that is going to pretty much stall. you will see that rain persisting well into the ceiling. by the end of today, possibly 80—100 millimetres in parts of the pennines and snowdonia. it could cause some disruption and a bit of localised flooding. away from that, rain in scotland and northern ireland, that will clear away. some

sunny spells developing into the afternoon. a few showers coming in here. i think across east anglia and the south—east of england, not going to see much in the way of rain. bright skies in patches as well. midlands, north england on the south—west, the rain will move in. through this evening and overnight, this area of rain will continue to clear away to the south—east. behind it, some showers into scotland. for many of us, clear skies to take us into the early hours of thursday morning. those that temperatures in terms of cities, in the countryside a few degrees well and there could even be a touch of grass frost in the north. thursday, starting on a bright and fairly sunny note for most of us. not a bad day at all. lengthily spells of sunshine, fairweather cloud developing is the day goes on. a bit more cloud in the far north of scotland and some rain. still quite breezy around the irish sea coasts but for many the winds will be lighter than today and feeling a bit more pleasant. friday, the return of some wet and windy weather, particular scotland, northern ireland, through western areas of england and wales. notice those temperatures creeping up a little bit. as we go into the weekend, certainly with warmer air coming in from the south, temperatures in the south—east could

reach 23 degrees. but further north, not as warm. still that boundary between the cold air and warm air, with this weather front here. it will be quite cloudy in these northern parts on saturday. outbreaks of rain expected as well. that rain will gradually clear to the north. things i suspect improving a bit, temperatures 15—17. towards the south, widely temperatures in the high teens and getting into the low 20s as well. more details on the website. that is it for me, bye—bye. hello. it's wednesday, it's 9 o'clock, i'm victoria derbyshire, welcome to the programme. our top story today — angelina jolie and gwyneth paltrow are the latest hollywood stars to claim they were sexually harassed by hollywood producer harvey weinstein. i think harvey is finished in hollywood. i really do. i don't see how anyone can work with him. his lawyers released a sometime

suggesting the incidents were consensual. yes. i hope he's watching. say that to my face. , harvey. that was actress zoe brok. former us president barack obama and his wife michelle have expressed disgust about allegations.