this is business briefing. i'm sally bundock. judgement day — europe's car industry is on tenterhooks as a court is set to decide whether diesel vehicles can be banned from german cities. share markets from wall street to asia drop as the us central bank sends a strong message that multiple interest rate hikes are on the cards. this is how markets are trading now injapan and hong kong with last nights close on the dow — shortly we'll be live to our team in singapore for the latest. europe's car industry is on tenterhooks today, awaiting a german court ruling on whether cities are allowed to ban diesel cars. if it's approved, other big european

cities are likely to follow suit. in fact some have already made moves. the leaders of four major global cities pledged to ban all diesel—powered cars and trucks by the middle of the next decade. paris, mexico city, madrid and athens all say they're doing it to improve air quality. london's mayor sadiq khan has introduced a $11i"toxicity charge" for older petrol and diesel cars. and two of london boroughs have banned petrol and diesel cars during peak times. oslo is going one step further. it plans to ban all cars from its city centre by 2019. nearly three—quarters of all the world's diesel cars are driven on european roads but other highly polluted cities and countries are also making big changes. last year, india's government vowed to start selling only electric cars

by 2030, saying not a single petrol or diesel car should be sold after that. and seoul's metropolitan government will ban old diesel—run vehicles within the city from 2019. i would imagine this is a very important decision for you. what are you expecting the court to decide? we are very nervous. we do not know what their position will be but we are optimistic. all the decisions we re are optimistic. all the decisions were for equality, clean air in europe cities, mainly in germany and, today, that this is an will be about whether germans will allow

cities to ban diesels. the quality in 70 cities missed the quality standards of europe so we have to do something and it would be easy to label but they want to avoid every kind of (inaudible). the decision will allow the government to make a ruling for cities being able to ban diesel cars within six months. the car industry is watching this extremely closely and are concerned this could lead to job losses in germany. carmaking is very important

to the economy. to what extent is the car lobby group able to influence the decision—making in germany? up to now, all the politicians are driven by the car industry. it has been a decade that they have not been any decisions against the car industry. but i do not think it is a danger for car industry is because it will force the industry to fulfil regulation. the problem is, in the last year, you could save £500 in reduction costs by implementing and not in inaudible so if they would be forced to show that the quality of the emission reduction is the same in

the past is on the street, to not see a problem forjobs. thank you for joining see a problem forjobs. thank you forjoining us from the environmental group, de you age. where we hear about the ruling made in germany we will up the u. markets have fallen in asia — following the us after the federal reserve gave an upbeat view of the economy — fuelling fears of more interest rate rises. that could have a big impact in asia. let's go to our asia business hub where rico hizon is following the story hike is india's home—grown there could be a lot more

volatility. 0ne there could be a lot more volatility. one day it is down, the next trading day is up so investors right now are spooked. they do not know where to position themselves in this current market environment as they might get trapped in this wild market swings. many are currently raising cash and moving to the sidelines for now and it will wait and see what happens next. analysts are speculating the fed will be looking at three in creases, as many predicted, orfour in looking at three in creases, as many predicted, or four in the light of the strong economic reports. also nervousness that interest rate hikes when the fed moves again, stifling strong asia exports and consumption which sustains the rapid growth throughout the region in 2017. backed by softbank and tencent —

it's used by millions of indians. hike plans to target internet users with a new system to message, make payments and get sports scores without a data connection. but it's an ambitious plan for a firm that's burning more cash than it makes — that's something i put to the firm's chief executive. hike is different in the sense that it is we have a team and most of our cost goes into our services and people so that is not a concern with respect to hike. 0thers people so that is not a concern with respect to hike. others say it is a concern. very unlikely. at the end of the day, if you have an internet

business, at such an early stage, when you look at all the other businesses in india, we are all in an investment phase. do you think you will have to raise money soon? it is likely we will go through two more rounds of funding. it is so early in the journey that we still believe a lot of work has to be done. have you had any approaches, people interested in buying your company? i cannot comment on that. facebook have had difficulties penetrating the indian market so people will see you as an attractive option. no doubt. ithink people will see you as an attractive option. no doubt. i think that is the case for all local companies. the simple idea when i founded the

company was that people will come online for the first time in their lives. it has not happen in china, japan and the us say things will be different and messaging can simplify things. hike has content, news, live cricket scores etc. i think that is where we are today. now let's brief you some other business stories shares in amazon have reached a new milestone — soaring above the $1,500 mark for the first time as it rose by over 2%. technology firms poised to benefit from us corporate tax cuts have been attracting fresh investor attention on wall street. greece's parliament has approved a probe into whether a dozen senior politicians received bribes from or helped promote the swiss pharmaceutical firm novartis while in office. all the politicians involved

deny any wrongdoing. novartis says it is cooperating with authorities — and is conducting its own investigation. ford says its president for north america — raj nair — will leave immediately. it says an investigation found his behaviour was inconsistent with ford's code of conduct but it wouldn't say what the inappropriate behaviour involved. what is trending in business... they are talking about the us regulator issuing new guidelines are warning against executives trading shares before announcing security issues. last year, there were reports of such sales. chinese researchers have shown up their design for an

aircraft which could travel at more than five times the speed of sound. beijing to new york in just two hours. keep in touch with us and i will see you in just a moment. university lecturers across the uk will go on strike today following a dispute over pensions. it's the start of two weeks of industrial action which will affect millions of students. the union representing academics says as many as 42,000 staff at 61 universities are affected by the changes. elaine dunkley reports. thousands of lectures counselled

across campuses. the strike in response to plants by vice chancellors to make changes to the private pensions of university staff. we are going to see people really lose probably in their retirement up to 40% of what their pensions were before. the union says lecturers will lose up to £10,000 a year from lecturers will lose up to £10,000 a yearfrom their lecturers will lose up to £10,000 a year from their pensions. as lecturers will lose up to £10,000 a yearfrom their pensions. as many lecturers will lose up to £10,000 a year from their pensions. as many as 42,000 starts at 64 universities will be affected. universities uk which represents vice chancellors say changes are essential due to the deficit. if the dispute is not resolved, exams could be cancelled. stu d e nts resolved, exams could be cancelled. students outside a petition calling forfees students outside a petition calling for fees to be students outside a petition calling forfees to be reimbursed. students outside a petition calling for fees to be reimbursed. the impact it will have on education.

myself and other student unequivocally support the lecturers. how much money we are paying every year, i do not know whether we will get that time back especially with exams coming up. 14 days of actions are planned but it could go on longer. it could have a significant impact on the careers of millions of stu d e nts impact on the careers of millions of students and the pensions of thousands of lecturers. coming up at 6 o'clock on breakfast — charlie stayt and naga munchetty will have all the day's news, business and sport. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: at a meeting broadcast live from the white house, survivors of school shootings and relatives of victims have told president trump of their pain and anguish, appealing to him directly to bring in new gun controls. mr trump said he was considering arming teachers. with concern growing over the syrian

government's bombardment of the rebel—held area eastern ghouta, on the outskirts of damascus, diplomats at the un are considering a new attempt at a 30—day ceasefire. venezuela's president has proposed holding a "mega—election" after the opposition coalition said it would boycott a planned presidential poll in april. nicolas maduro said he wanted to add legislative, state and municipal votes together. 0pposition parties said the elections will be fraudulent. let's delve deeper into some of those stories and look at how the media is discussing the issues. we start with two takes of the white house meeting. this is the new york

times. and their coverage of an emotional listening session in the white house, with survivors of the florida high school shooting. here, the father of an 18—year—old girl killed in the massacre made an impassioned plea to president trump to protect schoolchildren in the future. the meeting also made the front page of foxnews.com. fox reports the trump administration will strengthen background checks for gun purchases and "put a strong emphasis on mental health" after a gunman killed 17 teachers and students with an ar—15 rifle last week. the situation in eastern ghouta is dominating.