this is business live from bbc news, i'm ben thompson in london, and i'm sally bundock in davos at the world economic forum. optimism about the global economy is at its highest level in years according to the world's top business leaders. live from davos and london, that's our top story on tuesday 23rd january. despite that pick—up in the global economy the us approves controversial tariffs on chinese solar panels and south korean washing machines. we'll get the latest live from shanghai. also today: uk regulators block fox's bid to buy satellite broadcaster sky — it throws the $16bn deal into doubt. and markets power to new highs after the us government deadlock is resolved for now.

we'll assess what happens next. and with india's prime minister narendra modi the keynote speaker here at davos today, we get the inside track from atop indian boss who leads an it services company to find out what he is hoping for. as usual, we want you to be a part of the conversation. as global leaders in politics and business gather here to solve the challenges facing the global economy, what one problem would you like them to solve? use the hashtag bbcbizlive. hello and welcome to business live. the prospects for the global economy

are at their brightest for nearly a decade. that is the view of business leaders and the international monetary fund. they have both launched their latest forecasts at the world economic forum getting underway in davos. it is the get—together of the top business leaders and politicians in the world. what are the latest figures say? the imf has raised its growth predictions for the year to come and next year. they have raised them to 3.9%. it says that reflects growing momentum, and president trump's recent tax cuts have given the economy a boost. imf says that optimism is being felt around the world, 120 countries, representing 7596 world, 120 countries, representing 75% of the world economy, are expected to see stronger growth in 2017. business leaders have noticed that 57% of the world's top bosses think that growth will improve in the next year, according to a

survey. that has been reflected on stock markets oblate around the world, setting new record highs since last year's davos gathering. let's had there now. sally is braving the cold. normally when we're talking about davos, it is about how we repair the world economy, but this time, the message is very much, it is on the men. absolutely. that's definitely the message we've had so far here. you talked about what the imf had to say about the outlook for 2018, on top of that, you have mentioned the survey from pwc about business leaders being the most optimistic they have been for years. here, they are well aware of the challenges we are well aware of the challenges we are facing. in fact, the theme is all about how to create an environment where we are sharing in terms of trade, expertise, in our fractured world. when they talk about the fractures in the world at

the moment, there are lots of issues, of course, but the main one issues, of course, but the main one is the thinking about the us and the actions of president donald trump. today, we have already seen some action in terms of protectionism, you could call it — fresh tariffs slapped on steel products coming out of asia, and pretty substantial tariffs, too. let's get more detail on that from robin brant in shanghai. interesting, donald trump will be heading to davos injust a few days, and here, the talk is all about global trade, and yet, barriers are going up. yes, they are, and president trump is living up are, and president trump is living up to his campaign promises. for the next four years, we have tariffs on solar panel goods going from china into the us, with a 30% tariff. washing machines coming out of south korea, $1 billion a year in trade,

will face tariffs of up to 50% going into the us. this looks like, and it is, the beginning of a trade war between the united states and its long—term ally, south korea, and its rival, as you might describe it, china. the chinese government won't be surprised. a campaign promise, but in reaction, it has expressed its strong dissatisfaction at donald trump, saying it believes the us is i'iow trump, saying it believes the us is now a threat to the international trading system. will it hit the chinese solar panel industry? well, it is their biggest in the world, but there is a glut in supply and it is likely that the slight will be picked up by manufacturers outside of china, perhaps in places like malaysia. it is no doubt it will have an effect on chinese manufacturers. 0ne slight irony, this time last year, china's leader was in davos is trying to be the champion of global trade. that is something some people think he

achieved. some people think donald trump is helping him to achieve it. 0k, robin. thank you very much indeed. add very interesting story developing on that front today. more analysis on that. kamal is with us in davos. robinjust making the point that last year, the big keynote speaker was president xi jin ping. this year, we are talking about donald trump, and the two of them are in a spat about steel. these increased tariffs set up the arrival of president trump on friday. as you say, what a contrast with this time last year, xi jin ping talking about globalisation. he

is the first president to visit the economic forum since 2000 and bill clinton. will he be telling the world comedy with america's wait while we will go it alone? from what we have seen today, it looks like he will be heavy on protectionism and the america— first time. a pretty aggressive message for the delegates. it is interesting, because among the speakers today, we have the prime minister of canada, justin trudeau, and we are hearing about steel tariffs being slapped on asian economies today, but the north american free trade agreement is a big issue, and we know that president trump is talking about renegotiating that completely. it is all about these trade agreements around the world that are being renegotiated or completely changed. you're right. ithink renegotiated or completely changed. you're right. i think from renegotiated or completely changed. you're right. ithink from prime minister trudeau line from the renderer modi minister trudeau line from the renderermodi —— renderer modi —— narendra modi, you will get a different message from xi jin ping last year, which was that

globalisation was the way to lift people out of poverty and create global growth. president trump is going on a different line. he says that being aggressive on protectionism means that he can protectionism means that he can protect americanjobs. protectionism means that he can protect american jobs. and protectionism means that he can protect americanjobs. and so protectionism means that he can protect american jobs. and so far, the jobs market in america has been very strong. the upgrade of us growth has been strong, though not the strongest in the world. so there is this division in approach, and i think that sets up the big tension, the big debate, at the world economic forum, which we will see played out over the next few days. kamal, thank you very much indeed. that is it from us just for the time being. i will rejoin you in a few minutes. thank you very much, sally. we will be back with you in a moment or two. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. low cost airline easyjet says revenues are up 14% to £1.1 billion — that's just over $1.5bn — for the last three months of last year. its cost per seat — a key measure of performance — had fallen by 1.6% thanks to lower

fuel costs and cutting other costs. passenger numbers were also up at 1.4 million. the boss said that was because they were offering "better quality options" to their customers. the world's second largest retailer, carrefour, plans to cut 2,400 jobs and expand its e—commerce business. the company will invest $3.1; billion in its online platform amid fierce competition with amazon. carrefour has also announced that it will partner with the chinese internet giant tencent. bacardi will buy tequila maker patron in a deal worth around $5 billion as it looks to expand in the us and cash in the growing taste for the mexican spirit. sales of tequila have been climbing in recent years, while other alcohols like vodka and brandy have fallen in popularity. the deal will make barcardi the second largest spirit company in the united states. the uk's competition regulator has ruled that fox's proposed takeover of sky is not in the public interest.

it says the deal would give the murdoch family too much control over news providers in the uk. andrew walker is following the story for us. andrew, we were waiting for this ruling, won't we? it is an interesting one, and they say it is not in the public interest? the competition and markets authority looked at this proposed takeover. 0ne basis was broadcasting standards, and it was happy with the implication standards. but on the question of media plurality, it was not. it takes the view that the murdoch family would have access to about 30% of the uk audience, and it regarded that as excessive. it proposes a number of possible remedies, not coming down in favour of any particular option at this stage. 0ne of any particular option at this stage. one is to prohibit the deal. another is to look at the idea of spinning off sky news, and a third one is what it calls a behavioural

remedy, which would be some sort of system for ring fencing sky news from the rest of the murdoch business. andrew, thanks very much. i know you will stay across that story for us. in the early minutes of trade, sky shares are unmoved by that. tokyo's nikkei index closes at a 26—year—high in tokyo, after wall street powered to another set of records following a deal to end the us government shutdown. investors confident the deal will keep the government funded in the short term, and it's unlikely to have a lasting impact on the us economy. that is the current state of play in europe. we have had an update one networks overnight, saying that subscriber numbers are up even though it has raised its prices. subscriber numbers are up even though it has raised its pricesm you have heard of the crown and

stranger things, they are part of the reason why networks profits are soaring. the streaming service has been investing more money in 0riginal programming, meaning it is short 0n cash. in the last three months, networks added more international subscribers thanit added more international subscribers than it expected, more than 6 million. it added more than 8 million. it added more than 8 million subscribers globally. networks is now worth about $100 billion and has more subscribers than other streaming services like amazon, which means is only a media company with deep pockets could really compete with networks. never a truer word spoken — deep pockets to take on networks. joining us is trevor greetham, head of multi—asset at royal london asset management. things are on the up. yesterday,

markets didn't move a huge amount. they thought, we have seen a us shutdown before, we're not too bothered, but they like it now that it is over. the american stock market is up 25% year on year now. is it just moved market is up 25% year on year now. is itjust moved over the 25% mark. the markets like the strong global growth we have been hearing about from kamal and the imf, so we have a strong global picture, but at the moment, inflation is low. the question for 2018 is whether inflation will spoil the party. let's bring in sally from davos. hello to both of you in your cosy, one studio! i wanted to but in, trevor, at this point. nice to see you. i wanted to ask you about that issue and what kamal was saying, but also, it was surprising how optimistic business leaders are, the

1300 that pwc optimistic business leaders are, the 1300 that pwc spoke to all over the world. they spoke to those business leaders before the us tax reforms we re leaders before the us tax reforms were cleared and agreed upon, and yet, they are talking about hiring and investing. the majority of them are extremely optimistic. your take on that? it's not that surprising, because you have very low interest rates, and you have this big tax cut in terms of the headline corporation tax rate, the biggest in american history. at the moment, it looks like this expansion can continue. it is an eight and a half year expansion, making it the longest in history, and if inflation doesn't pick up this year in a big way, interest rates will stay low and it will carry on. it could even challenge the 1990s, which was a 10—year expansion. the question is whether tax cuts create inflation, and whether the slowdown in china, which is not getting much coverage,

pulse commodity prices down again and gives us a breather for another year or two. it will be one to watch, how long that sugar rush can continue. trevor, thanks very much for now. sally, you've got a guest there in davos. i do. for now. sally, you've got a guest there in davos. ido. indeedi for now. sally, you've got a guest there in davos. ido. indeed i will be talking to the chief executive of a company. we have got the prime minister of india as the keynote speaker here today. it is the first time an indian prime minister has been here for a few years. we want to know what are the top bosses in india looking forfrom to know what are the top bosses in india looking for from those in charge of india? see you soon. you're with business live from the bbc. uk bookmakers are bracing themselves for a hit later when the government concludes a review into tackling

problem gambling. shares in bookmakers william hill and ladbrokes coral slumped yesterday on reports that the maximum bet on some gambling machines could be cut from £100 to just £2. richard hunter is head of markets at interactive investor. richard, talk us through this. the government says we need to clamp down on problem gambling. this is the way they think they can do it by reducing the amount people can spend. it is around fixed odds betting terminals which are in place in shops around the country. at the moment the maximum stake is £100. there has been a government consultation is it will be curcts but it could be anywhere between £2 and £50 which is an extremely large spread. there was a report in a newspaper at the weekend suggesting that actually it was the £2 end of the spectrum that we should be

expecting and so the share prices of the likes of ladbrokes and coral and william hill took a beating. the estimation is should this go through, ie the £2 level it could ta ke through, ie the £2 level it could take around 25% of both of their revenues. it is an emotive issue this, isn't it? clearly the betting firms are ones that really cash in on people that maybe shouldn't be spend that money, can't afford to spend that money, can't afford to spend that money and that's where they make their profits? yes, that's right. there has been similar moves in australia which is of interest to william hill for example where the ability to lend on credit so that you could gamble is now a loophole they are trying to shut. 0bviously from the bookmakers point of view in the uk, what they are arguing is that should the £2 levy be introduced directly that will affect a great number of betting shops around the uk, they will need to close which obviously will result in the loss of a number ofjobs and a

lesser tax take for the treasury. richard, thank you for explaining that. it is one we will watch closely and shares actually in the two biggest in the uk actually opening up marginally at the moment. i want to show you news on the business live page. there is further deals about the sky deal. it raises questions too for the proposed deal with disney. the full details are there on the website. you're watching business live. i'm sally bundock. i'm ben thompson in london. our top story: the united states has approved controversial tariffs on chinese solar panel and south korean washing machines. both countries have criticised the tariffs. sally talking about the growth forecast for the world economy being

upgraded off the back of the tax cut in the united states. a quick flash at how the markets in europe are faring in early trade. the boost on wall street after the deadlock in the united states was broken with a last minute deal yesterday. we see markets following the lead of wall street and indeed, asia, opening up pretty sharply. now, let's take a look at today's events in davos. the keynote speaker today, in a few hours, is the prime minister of india. how critical is it to indian businesses that he is present here at davos? well, i'm joined by it the chief executive of an it services company in india. welcome to business live. so, how important do you think it is that the indian prime minister does come to davos, the first time for many, many years that an the first time for many, many years thatan indian

the first time for many, many years that an indian prime minister has been here. i think prime minister modi represents the new set of ambition for india, aspirations of india and he is now the leader of almost 300 ceos and politicians and ngos and different parts of the indian society, 300 plus people who are here in davos today. who better than prime minister modi. now, he has been very sort of proactive since he has come into power as prime minister in terms of talk talking about trade with many global leaders, notably the likes of theresa may and others. clearly, he's keen to do global trade deals. to what extent do you feel his presence here this year is overshadowed by that of us president donald trump who is coming in a few days' time and of course, trump

today announcing new tariffs? you know, the reality is that i think the two book ends of davos, the beginning has been done by prime minister modi and the closing would be done by president trump. we couldn't have had a better davos, so the delegates, i can only say, getting president trump here, talking about his own tax reforms, his own policies and the road ahead and particularly as we know he's going to do a lot of investment in infrastructure, he is coming in towards the end and prime minister modi... towards the end and prime minister modi. .. you are a towards the end and prime minister modi... you are a global towards the end and prime minister modi. .. you are a global company. towards the end and prime minister modi... you are a global company. i mean you work over the world, in sweden, in switzerland, the united states, italy and israel to name a few. how concerned are you about the actions of the united states in terms of putting up tariffs. today we are hearing about tariffs on asian steel products, but are you

worried that this could sort of set a wave of protectionism across the globe? that global trade a wave of protectionism across the globe? that globaltrade has a wave of protectionism across the globe? that global trade has always had some entry barriers. i mean wto has succeeded, but not fully succeeded. that we have always seen is anti—dumpling duties in the previous regimes also. that current president trump wants to use his muscle to negotiate better agreements in global trade. they are being upfront and they are more vocal about it. i am concerned, but i would not say that it is not in the best interest of the us to allow indian visa holders. and what are you hoping to gain from being here yourself? what does this event mean

for you and your company? many things. number one is being able to interact and you know, make sure that the vision is alined with the other powerful, if not, all, but at least 100 odd ceos that i will interact with. all right. so there isa interact with. all right. so there is a lot you want to achieve and we must let you get on with that, but thank you for taking the time to talk to us on business live. the ceo ofa it talk to us on business live. the ceo of a it company. trevor greetham from royal london asset management is joining us again to discuss. this is a backlash against social networks? the big tech companies, they are used to being the disruptors of the status quo, they have become so big now that they have become so big now that they have become so big now that they have become the status quo and they

are having to spend money on removing offensive content and there area removing offensive content and there are a lot of things that are challenging them, but they are growing rapidly. i suppose the backlash is on so many sides. it is about what we use the social networks for and whether people are using them for the wrong reasons, spreading extremist content, but things like tax and that's where it really hits them? it does. the fact that most of the big entrepreneurs of big tech say things like, "i don't let my children use facebook." they are going through an interesting phrase of development, but there is more to come from them. a quick look at this we work. it has become central london's biggest occupier. this is people just wanting to hire a desk and these companies like we work are buying up office buildings and renting out desks. you can't tell how much spare

capacity there is in the office market in london because these guys buy it up and maybe their buildings are half empty, we don't know. trevor, todd for explaining that. it is one we'll keep a close eye on. sally, we have been asking what people like to see changed in davos. bob says climate change and i bet you feel that in the cold there. another viewer says inequality. what are people talking about there? inequality is a big issue on the agenda particularly when it comes to women empowerment and getting more people in the workforce, but you will hear from people in the workforce, but you will hearfrom me in the hours ahead soi will hearfrom me in the hours ahead so i will talk some more about that later. stay warm. nice to see you. see you back here very soon. from all of us on the team, thank you for watching. have a great day. bye—bye. good morning. cast your mind back

only a couple of days ago when we had snow and temperatures in the low single figures. this morning, a change in conditions. a milder start to the day. that's weather coming in from the south—west. it will be with us from the south—west. it will be with us for the next couple of days or so, but it will bring quite a bit of cloud and rain today and it is going to bea cloud and rain today and it is going to be a breezy day too. now that rain will clear away from eastern areas this morning before another batch of rain comes in towards northern and western parts. but you notice that rain starts to break up this afternoon and even the cloud breaking from time to time to give us breaking from time to time to give us bright spells. for east wales, the midlands and up into the north—east of england, staying cloudy, some outbreaks of rain on and off. showers for northern ireland and through western areas of scotland, but there will be some brighter skies from time to time, particularly in aberdeenshire. but it is mild. for most of us,

temperatures getting up into double figures. perhaps 1a or 15 celsius across the south east with sunshine. through tonight, it will remain breezy. more rain spreads into northern ireland, scotland, and into england and wales with that rather strong wind. it stays mild in the south—east. temperatures staying in double figures. elsewhere, a bit chillier compared to today, but still, a mild start really. but we've got this area of low pressure on wednesday which is moving its way across scotland. the isobars there close together. that's indicative of some strong winds on wednesday. there will be gales, if not severe gales, around these coastal areas of the uk. and rain which will linger on in the south east of england into the afternoon. elsewhere, temperatures down a little bit, but there will be sunny spells and showers. the cooler air will move into the south east as the rain clears away through wednesday night and into thursday, but for thursday, we are back to this regime of the

aircoming infrom we are back to this regime of the air coming in from the north—west and that means temperatures back down to where they should be for the time of year. a mixture of sunny spells and showers, mostly across the western areas. temperatures about six to ten celsius. by the end of the week, it will turn cooler compared to today and wednesday. quite windy for a time on wednesday with gales and severe gales, but there will be a good mixture of sunshine and showers by the end of the week. bye—bye. hello. it's tuesday, it's 9am, welcome to the programme. an extra £1 million a week for the nhs — that's what foreign secretary boris johnson is said to be calling for. but is the money there? just piling in some extra cash without thinking about the workforce won't work. we have to look at the whole system and we have to start doing that now. as members of theresa may's cabinet prepare to meet, we'll have the latest from westminster. also this morning: from baywatch star to global activist — pamela anderson speaks to us exclusively about politics, feminism and harvey weinstein.

i don't know if they knew what they we re i don't know if they knew what they were getting into, but again, i have been offered to go to hotel rooms to doa been offered to go to hotel rooms to do a private audition. i have gone toa do a private audition. i have gone to a hotel where i thought i was meeting someone in the