this is business live from bbc news with ben thompson and sally bundock. another record high on wall street as the american economy continues to do well. so will the federal reserve deliver what everyone is expecting — another interest rate rise? live from london, that's our top story on wednesday, 13th december. banking on a rate rise, markets say the fed will raise interest rates, but are they right and what could it mean for the global economy? we will have the details. also in the programme, clearing its debts, toshiba settles a lengthy legal dispute, finally allowing it to sell off its prized chip business. and after a surprise rise in uk inflation yesterday and ahead of the latest unemployment data this is what european markets look like. we'll hear from the bank of england and european central banks tomorrow.

and we'll be getting the inside track on how to feed a hungry planet. we hear from one woman who believes she has the solution to the issue of limited resources and it involves bugs. and as facebook fights backs against claims by a former boss that the site is "ripping society apart", we want to know do you agree or is facebook right to defend itself? send your comments to hashtag bbcbizlive. lots of comments from you already. so keep them coming in. is facebook ripping society apart? facebook says no. many of you disagree. we will talk about that later. the world's most powerful central bank — the us federal reserve — will today announce if it plans on raising interest rates for the world's biggest economy. any rise will be seen

as an endorsement of not only the strength of the american economy, but also the global economy. this is ten years on from the financial crisis. there have been three rises since december 2016 and markets are already factoring in another rise later. us economic growth has hit an annualised rate of more than 3% in the past two quarters, while the unemployment rate in the us is at its lowest since 2000. us jobs growth was better than expected in november with the number of newjobs rising by 228,000 with the unemployment rate holding steady at 4.1%. and in october, the imf upped its forecast for the global economy and now predicts growth of 3.6% this year and 3.7% in 2018. we're joined by karen ward, chief strategist, jp morgan asset management. hello karen. good morning. i am

assuming that we are going to see a rate rise today. is this the right medicine? that's right today. it is largely expected to see another quarter point increase. the question really is what they tell us about next year and how many more they think are in the pipeline. so what do you think they will say and let's remember thatjerome powell takes overin remember thatjerome powell takes over in february from janet yelland so over in february from janet yelland $03 over in february from janet yelland so a new year with a new boss? that's right. we have heard a lot from him in recent months and it doesn't sound like that's going to deliver many changes at the fed in the terms of their thinking or the policy. the question is about tax reform and what that is going to deliver and if it passes and how much it will boost the economy and how monetary policy fits into the shift into fiscal policy. the news overnight about alabama, it might be more difficult for the trump

administration to get through the tax reform in the way that they wa nted tax reform in the way that they wanted at least? exactly right. so the marredin is 19—51 so that does add to the uncertainty of what that final tax package could look like and what a stimulus it will be. so what will be on the mind do you think of the fed in 2018? given the year we have had with a strong surge on wall street and good steady economic growth in the us. what are we looking like in 2018? notjust the fed, but all the central banks are walking this difficult balance at the moment of trying to continue to foster the recovery, generate a little bit more inflation. if anything, wage growth is still a little bit low in the us as it is in most of the developed world. so that suggests, you know, keep some stimulus in the pipeline. but at the same time, they are not wanting to stoke up any asset bubbles, you know, make the mistakes of the 2000s when at the peak of the crisis in 2007, they were criticised for doing

too little, too late. so that's the difficult balance they will be weighing up. that still points this them being fairly cautious and fairly gradual, but continuing to get to some sort of normal rate over the course of the next two years. what is the normal rate? in textbooks it says it should be around 4%, but what is the normal now? is there a new normal? it's the big debate. a lot of the things that made us think that it was a lot lower we re made us think that it was a lot lower were factors like very low productivity, perhaps a global savings glut still continuing, some of those signs look a little bit better. we do see trade picking up. we see investment picking up. that could maybe help with productivity. so maybe that old concept of normal hasn't completely gone away. karen, thank you very much indeed. the chief strategist ofjp morgan asset management. it is a story we will be watching throughout the day. of

course, it is affecting markets as they trade in anticipation really. we will talk more about that a little later. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. the financial times reports that walt disney is close to confirming a deal to buy 21st century fox's entertainment business for around $60 billion. the sale would include the 20th century fox film studio and the sky and star satellite broadcasters in the uk, europe and asia. facebook has responded to a former executive who said the social network and other services like it, were "ripping society apart". chamath palihapitiya made the comments last month but what he said only hit the headlines on monday. facebook said the company was different no to when he had worked there six years ago and "as we have grown we have realised how our responsibilities have grown too." that's our twitter question today. sendin that's our twitter question today. send in your xhevenlts

—— comments. ryanair passengers face disruption to their christmas travel plans after pilots and crew announced industrial action in a bid to win union recognition and better conditions. in ireland, pilots based in dublin will strike for one day on 20th december. meanwhile ryanair pilots and cabin crew in italy are to strike for four hours on 15th december. the american computer data storage company western digital has settled its long running legal dispute with toshiba. the dispute could have prevented the $18 billion sale of toshiba's prized memory chip unit. monica miller is following this from our asia business hub in singapore. finally there could be an end in sight? yes. it has been an ugly, bitter divorce. yes, it's finally over. both toshiba and western

digital have agreed to resolve disputes which now paves the way for the sale f toshiba of‘s $18 billion unit. the global investment firm has partnered with south korea's sk hynec. the legal battle started this year. it was toshiba after said it would have to sell the chip dftion in order to recover big losses it had accrued. the us partner, western digital, threatened to block the sale, but now it's over, western digital can now pursue other pursuits including investing in a new product line of memory chips. toshiba can shore up its balance sheets by the end of the fiscal year in march and avoid being delisted on the tokyo stock exchange. monica, thank you. relief all—round

especially for all of those who have had to talk about it for so long. markets in the us seeing new record highs last night, on reports that policy—makers could push through that tax deal which would see the us corporate tax rate cut to 21% next year. it's not yet a done deal yet, but was enough to push markets higher. up up 0.5% yesterday. but that's not feeding through to this morning's open in europe. there are a lot of questions that need answers as far as policy is concerned. we might get some answers from today's fed meeting as well as tomorrow's bank of england and european central bank rate meetings. in the uk, they'll be looking closely at what yesterday's rise in inflation data means, hitting 3.1% in november, the highest level in five years. not welcome news for consumers.

we will get an update on employment. it is expected to fall to 4.3%, that would be a 42 year low. more on that in a moment, but first samira has the details about what's ahead on wall street today. many will be watching what happens with the us federal reserve at the end of their two—day meeting, but taxes will also be the focus on wednesday. us president donald trump will deliver a speech on the plan to overhaul the american tax code. and this comes on the same day lawmakers in washington will host the one and only open conference on tax legislation. republicans are planning to have a final agreement nailed down by the end of this week. and finally, the us labor department will release data on consumer prices for november. the low rate of inflation has been a persistent economic mystery in recent months, as falling unemployment and rising economic growth have failed to push up prices.

but new figures on wednesday will shed light on where we are with inflation, and if it gets any closer to the fed's 2% target. that was samira, of course. joining us now is tom stevenson, investment director at fidelity international. we have talked about markets and what's going on. from your point of view, is it one game in town and that's the fed? it is one game in town and that's central banks. lots of central banks getting their final meetings of the year out of the way before the holidays start. i mean, here in the uk, we've got an interesting meeting tomorrow, you mentioned it, ben, we've had inflation figures which were pretty high. today we're going to get unemployment data which will show a 40 unemployment data which will show a a0 year low for unemployment, but the important thing is that wage growth is not there. so i think

that's what the bank will be looking at. it will say, well, inflation is high, wage growth is low. it will stifle the economy. there is no incentive for us to raise interest rates in the uk unlike will the us. i think that gap is going to widen between the us and the uk. how concerned are you as far as the uk economy is concerned. there is a lot of doom sayers about the situation at the moment? well, it is a mixed bag actually. growth is low, but it is positive. i think the gap between wage growth and inflation is a real problem for the consumer side of the economy and of course, that's a big, and important part of the uk economy and important part of the uk economy and of course, you know, hanging over everything is the uncertainty of the brexit negotiations. you know, so we had some good news last week, you know, we maybe edging towards a deal, but for the next year, at least, there is going to be a lot of uncertainty. tom, a quick word on oil. it is a long time since we've spoken about oil. $65 for

brent, up 2.a% and that's because of the explosion? yes, well, there are two things. there is the shutdown of the fortes pipeline which caused a short—term spike, the direction of travel for oil is upwards. there is discipline from 0pec and russia in terms of curbing production. that's keeping a floor on the oil price and i think that's likely to continue. i think that oil will stay in the $60 to $70 range. you say it is a while since you talked about oil. we talked about it yesterday! ben wasn't listening. we have got that story we just talked about, we had other issues regards with supply from gas from italy to russia. gas exports in britain's north sea, they will be halted untiljanuary, 2nd due to the shutdown of the fortes

pipeline. knock on effect with gas exports affected by this as well. which, of course, is a critical time of year with it being winter, our demand for energy is going up at this time of year. so, interesting to keep an eye on that. it shows how vulnerable we are to some things like that. a little crack in the pipeline can have such an impact on prices. we will have more for you later. still to come: it's a bugs life. we speak to the man who is using insects to make animal feed — freeing up crops for humans to eat. you're with business live from bbc news. first, let's talk about dixons carphone. pre—tax profits at the tech

retailer have slumped more than 60% in the six months to the end of october. it's warned that the mobile phone market remains "challenging", with customers hanging onto handsets for longer. let's speak to eleanor parr, a retail analyst at globaldata. it isa it is a familiar tale, we have heard from the boss of dixons carphone that people just aren't changing their technology as quickly as they used to. absolutely. in times of austerity that we are going through at the moment, peoplejust austerity that we are going through at the moment, people just can't afford to upgrade their mobile phones. there has also been an indication that consumers are less inclined to upgrade their phones, iphonein inclined to upgrade their phones, iphone in numeric severn, 6, numeric i , people are not seeing the difference. but there is a difference. but there is a difference with the very new iphone by. and the less money that they are

making when they go overseas with the phone, because with the roaming charges being knocked down, tha nkfully charges being knocked down, thankfully and eu wider decision, but it hits dixons. yes they said this could cost them up to £a0 million. what we talk about consumers having less money in their pocket, we're talking about inflation rising quickly, it is that familiar tale again, people just don't have the money right now. yes, electrical is has been very hard hit by this. retailers have seen big increases in cost prices, and although some has been passed to the customer, retailers themselves have had to take a hit. eleanor, thank you very much. digging deep into the dixons carphone figures that were out early today. it is that time of year. google has told us what are the most searched for terms on the

uk website. no surprises, meghan markle is the top one on the list, and fidgets spinners also up there. you're watching business live. our top story: us interest rates are expected to rise by 0.25% later today. it would be the third increase by the federal reserve this year. but with inflation still relatively low, there's a big debate about whether raising rates is the right answer. a quick look at how markets are faring. the markets are digesting some corporate news stories that are out there. but also treading water ahead ofa there. but also treading water ahead of a fed announcement later today. that is how europe is trading at the

moment. i like it when it changes from red to green like that while we are on it. it doesn't happen! little things. now, here's a question — how do you feed a rapidly growing world which has limited resources? the un predicts that by 2050 the global population will have reached almost ten billion, raising big questions over food security. will there be enough to go around, and where will it come from? well, one french start—up thinks it has answer. by reducing agriculture's dependence on traditional animal feed, it would free up food like soybeans, corn and oats for human consumption rather than animals. it's secured more than $1 million of funding, and produces animal feed from insect larvae using waste fruit and vegetables. syrine chaalala is co—founder and chief operating officer at next protein. that is the company behind all of

this. good morning. syrine, you and your husband co—founded this, you used to work at the un and your husband is a chemist, so put the two together and you end up with this company. exactly, and it works out great because we both have our own skill sets, and it allows us to work and live together, because i was working in the un in the field, and asa working in the un in the field, and as a professional woman it is not a lwa ys as a professional woman it is not always easy to work away, so it is a great opportunity. say you are both based in tunisia but you also have offices in paris, so you are between the two? our headquarters is in paris, but the production plant is in tunisia, because the insects we have chosen, insects in general have to have certain parameters in place would include lighting, temperature, so for us it made sense to have our production plant in tunisia where the temperatures are ambient audio

long. we are looking at pictures here of what appeared to be bugs. just explain this for us. to give you an idea of what a day looks like at baulk, we start receiving some fruits and vegetables that would have ended up in landfill, and they have ended up in landfill, and they have already gone through triage, but we also make sure they are clean and authorised fruits and vegetables by the european commission. then we have our own recipe, puree that we have our own recipe, puree that we have created through lots of research which is the optimal puree from the insect growth. we grind the fruits and vegetables, we take it, we feed the lava, which are placed in their own chamber, and once they reach a certain size, we take 95% of them, which are processed into three main products, we have our protein

powder, oil and the next grow, a natural fertiliser. it sounds quite expensive and labour—intensive. is it expensive forfarmers expensive and labour—intensive. is it expensive for farmers who will be buying this feed, and to what extent will it help with the issue of food security in the future? it will help in many ways. the product that we are putting on the market is very competitive. currently as you may know the what is used as a source of protein, the traditional protein sources that are used are soy bean and fishmeal. we know that the fishmeal is depleting, and soy beans are resource intensive. what we are doing is offering an alternative thatis doing is offering an alternative that is sustainable and that has close to no carbon footprint. and also has a nutritional value that is

equivalent. and why is this better than animal standing equivalent. and why is this better than animalstanding in equivalent. and why is this better than animal standing in fields eating grass? what difference does it make? our product will not be consumed by cows, for example. the main animals that will consume our product are fish, aqua culture, authorised in europe, poultry and pigs. and as you may know, we are going back to nature. chickens eat insects naturally, fish eat insects naturally, and pigs are omnivores. so it is betterfor their naturally, and pigs are omnivores. so it is better for their health. naturally, and pigs are omnivores. so it is betterfor their health. it is so much more to talk about, as usual. time is getting the better us. usual. time is getting the better us. syrine, thank you very much, and your new adventure starts in a few months with your first baby. yes, we are already preparing for succession! you will have to figure out how to run the country —— the company and be parents! in a moment we'll take a look through the business pages, but first here's a quick reminder

of how to get in touch with us. stay up—to—date with all of the day's business news as it happens on the live page. there is insight and analysis from our team of editors right around the globe, and we want to hear from you, right around the globe, and we want to hearfrom you, too. get involved on our web page. bbc live, what you need to know, when you need to know it. do get in touch with us. that's talk about some of those questions at the start, whether facebook is indeed caring society apart, that is the accusation. people saying yes and no, both positive and negative influences on me. we have pink bag

lady, who says i am largely housebound, facebook is my window into the world, my life is poorer without it. and then queen caffeine says negative, i left facebook in favour of twitter and instagram, much less drama, messages are to the point, although the characters are getting more and more, are they? and one here, facebook totally negative, young people and students waste their time taking of posting pictures. i pictures. ,tom, pictures. , tom, what do you think? there are pros and cons, and they? everything in moderation. i'm always reminded, when we do these stories, we have certain demographic watching us. let's talk about disney and 21st—ce ntu ry let's talk about disney and 21st—century fox, this was breaking yesterday afternoon when the news that comcast had pulled out came through, and we also saw disney and 21st—ce ntu ry through, and we also saw disney and 21st—century shares up on wall street, too. this is an interesting

dealfor disney, a reflection of street, too. this is an interesting deal for disney, a reflection of the changing face of entertainment. clearly strea m i ng changing face of entertainment. clearly streaming services, the likes of netflix and amazon, are a re really are really taking over from traditional television, cable, satellite subscriptions. and i think the disney is very much in that latter camp, and it needs to move into that streaming world. so this would be a very interesting deal. so much consolidation and working out what bits might need to be sold off to make the deal go through. what it looks like is the murdochs will keep whole of the new things, which is their main interest. thanks the company today. we will do it all again tomorrow. are you here tomorrow? i'm not. iam here. goodbye. good morning. yesterday morning we

got down to —13 celsius. this morning, temperatures from any above freezing, primarily because we have these weather fronts clearing through the uk, giving lots of cloud, outbreaks of rain and a strengthening wind as well. but where you have some lying snow this morning, still the risk of ice, but for many of us quite cloudy and there will be rain around at times, too. through this morning, rain clearing towards the south—east of england, and there will be brighter weather and sunny skies coming through towards the south—west. and across scotland, some sunny spells, but showers feeding in, and quite a strong west to north—westerly wind, and with that there will be snow over the higher ground, too. wintry flurries across the north pennines, but for much of northern england into the midlands and wales, looking largely dry and bright with some sunshine. the king called where you

have wintry snow into the afternoon. pretty mild in the south—west, temperatures may be up to 11 celsius, a story for the south—east. wintry showers into northern ireland, and through tonight they will continue, another band of showers pushing through which could give some snow over the higher ground of the pennines and across wales and the midlands, but even down to low levels there might be some snow. again, frost free from any of us, ice free as well because the breeze and temperatures for many above freezing, but pockets of frost and dies first thing on thursday morning. during thursday a lot of dry weather around, showers particularly in the north—west where there will be snow over higher ground, and just there will be snow over higher ground, andjusta there will be snow over higher ground, and just a little colder on thursday compared to today. temperatures drop away even further as we go into friday. as you can see

if you track the isobars back, they come all the way from the arctic, so going into friday, it will turn significantly colder. that cold air coming from the arctic, and in that cold northerly wind, expect to see some showers, wintry showers, especially towards northern and eastern parts of scotland. for most of us, friday is dry with some sunshine, these are the temperatures but it will feel colder than that with the northerly wind. goodbye. hello. it's wednesday, it's 9 o'clock, i'm victoria derbyshire, welcome to the programme. a baby — whose beating heart developed on the outside of her body — has had it successfully put back inside her chest in what is believed to be a first for the uk. atjust three weeks old little vanellope wilkins has already undergone three operations at glenfield hospital in leicester but she is doing well. she came out kicking and screaming.

and then she gave the surgeons aggro. over a hundred under—performing schools are continuing to fail their pupils year after year despite money and outside help. a new report by the chief schools inspector has revealed.