this is business live from bbc news with sally bundock and jamie robertson. six more years! vladimir putin is re—elected as russia's president. live from london, that's our top story on monday 19th march. president putin is promising an increase in the standard of living and big spending on health, education and infrastructure. but can he keep his promises? we'll get an expert view. also in the programme... the boss of facebook, mark zuckerberg, faces a backlash over the company's use of data during the us presidential election. and markets are open and trading in europe — it's another week packed with central bank action. we'll tell you all you need to know. also in the programme, here's a story to get the heart racing! we'll be getting the inside track on fighting the flab with an entrepreneur

in the booming fitness sector. and following that story about facebook, today we want to hear your thoughts about how the tech giants use your data. let us know. just use the hashtag #bbcbizlive. hello and welcome to business live. as usual, it's jam—packed. as usual, it'sjam—packed. we begin in russia. vladimir putin's re—election hands him another six years as russian president and extends his grip on the world's 12th biggest economy. this economy has had a tough time of late. as you can see, growth was stronger when mr putin came into office at the turn of the century — but the economy has suffered in recent years as global oil prices fell, with russia dipping in and out of recession. that is something that many around

the world would envy. andrew foxall is director of russia and eurasia studies centre at the henry jackson society. it's extraordinary that in a country which has seen declining wealth for the average person, to get such a landslide majority. one can say what one likes about the election, but on the other hand, he is still very popular. he is indeed. it is important to say that president putin's popularity was, during his first two presidential terms between 2000 and 2004 and 2004—2006, very much based on russia's economic performance. as your graphics are suggested, these were the boom years based on oil and gas - 9% or reverse his economy? the economy hasn't crashed.

it hasn't crashed. it is struggling, it's fair to say. gdp growth last year was 1.7%. that compares pretty favourably to 2015—2016, when gdp fell by 4%. many russians remember when the economy was an awful lot

worse in the early 1990s, when it fell by 40%. so it is all relative. since president putin returns to the presidency in 2012, he has demonstrated an inability to generate any degree of domestic legitimacy in the context of economic stagnation without foreign policy achievements. so that might be crimea, it might be ukraine as a whole, it might be syria, mib the fifa 2018 world cup. so you're saying in order to achieve political legitimacy, he has to go outside russia? he legitimacy, he has to go outside russia ? he has legitimacy, he has to go outside russia? he has to continue being aggressive to maintain his political superiority at home? precisely. he has political superiority anyway because it is effectively an authoritarian state. but he has been unable to generate any legitimacy without foreign policy goals, because the economy has been stagnating. andrew, thanks.

let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. melrose industries has stepped up its fight to snap up uk engineering firm gkn, with a promise to pump around $1.4 billion into the firm's pension fund. the hostile takeover bid by melrose, worth some $11 billion, has attracted opposition from politicians, customers and some shareholders. apple is designing and producing its own device displays for the first time at a secret plant near its california ho, according to bloomberg. the ipad maker is reported to be making a big investment in the development of microled screens, which use different technology to the current oled displays, and could replace those made by samsung. the g20 gathering of finance ministers kicks off in buenos aires against a backdrop of global trade tensions. there are concerns over a potential us—china trade rift and president trump's steel and aluminium tariffs.

facebook and a us data firm, cambridge analytica, have been accused of gathering information from 50 million profiles without consent. although facebook has suspended cambridge analytica from its platform, the social media giant's chief executive, mark zuckerberg, is facing mounting pressure on both sides of the atlantic. dave lee reports from silicon valley. facebook may be something of a tourist attraction here but for many, this place now represents something else. the company that has enabled the collection of personal data that was then used for political propaganda. its latest problems are because of information allegedly obtained by cambridge analytica — the firm widely credited with helping donald trump win the presidency. reports claim details of around 50 million profiles were gathered without the users' explicit consent. both facebook and cambridge analytica deny any wrongdoing. but now prominent lawmakers

are demanding that facebook‘s founder mark zuckerberg address the concerns about his company in person and notjust through his own facebook page. mark zuckerberg needs to testify before the senate judiciary committee, demanded one democrat, who said her office was launching a fresh investigation. former presidential hopeful marco rubio had this to say on sunday morning. these companies are growing very fast. within the span of less than ten years they have gone from being a novel idea to a major corporation. and i'm not sure if the sort of institutional knowledge about responsibilities both legal and ethical that come with that have kept pace with the growth. similar calls have been made in the uk and investors are perhaps beginning to show some signs of concern. if mark zuckerberg hides behind the walls and is not front and centre, this has potential to grow into something a lot more onerous for the facebook model. so it is trying to get ahead

of this storm before it turns into a hurricane. facebook became a multi—billion dollar industry because it made advertising more effective by knowing more about each and every one of us. it seems that same innovation has given added power to political propoganda as well. are you concerned about what facebook or any other platform, google, twitter, instagram is doing with your data? are you worried or have you got the most incredible privacy settings? are you worried about them reading what you have to say? ijust assume about them reading what you have to say? i just assume what i put out there is available to everybody must i don't write much. do get in touch and we were so i don't write much. do get in touch and we were so your comments i don't write much. do get in touch and we were so your comments later. there's a new boss in charge of the central bank in the world's second largest economy — the people's bank of china has

appointed us—educated economist yi gang as its next governor. let's go to our asia business hub in beijing, where stephen mcdonell is following the story. we say he is new in the top job, but he has been there quite a while. well, one of the most interesting things about the unexpected appointment of yi gang to head up china's reserve bank is that we don't really know whether it will be him or the newly appointed vice premier in charge of china's economic policy. the vice president is already powerful. he went to washington in a failed attempt to stave off those us steel tariffs, but either way, yi gang will be one of two people pulling the levers here. he is on the record as saying here. he is on the record as saying he was to open up the chinese economy to more foreign investment, especially in the finance sector, but his other two headaches will be controlling the ballooning debt in

this country and working out how to deal with the potential trade war with the united states. whichever way you look at it, he has what is probably one of the most important jobs in the world. thank you. so thatis jobs in the world. thank you. so that is one of the central bank stories which has kick—started a week that will be dominated by central bank news, because as stephen was saying, yi gang has been appointed as the head of the people's bank of china, but we also havejerome people's bank of china, but we also have jerome powell's first meeting as governor of the us federal reserve. that takes place tomorrow and wednesday. and we have the bank of england, so there is quite a bit going on with central banks. but also in terms of how markets did today, you can see that is how things ended on friday. this is australia and hong kong, but it is important to note that japan closed down by almost 1% at the end of

today's trade. a lot of the losers today's trade. a lot of the losers today our suppliers to apple. for example, samsung shares were hit. these companies are the companies which make the displays for apple products, the iphone and the ipad. that is huge in terms of revenues, but could be lost if apple starts to make their own screens. let's look at europe quickly so you have a sense of how the european day is going. iam sense of how the european day is going. i am hoping we will get the european numbers. we are trying to change them, but we can't, so i will hand over to jamie. it works over here. the dax is down sharply and the ftse is down sharply. lawrence gosling is with me — he's the editor in chief of what investment. let's start with that apple story. it is because of the ramifications for all the other countries. it is great for apple, presumably, for all the other countries. it is great forapple, presumably, but for all the other countries. it is great for apple, presumably, but not for the companies supplying apple.

no, and a spot of the tariffs are given we are having as well. some of these companies may be subjected to tariffs into the us. so you can see apple shoring up its production, which will increase its margin if it can do it cheaply compared to suppliers from asia. do you think this has anything to do with the environment we are in with president trump at the helm? if they make their dispose in california down the road, it is a lot easier if you have ta riffs road, it is a lot easier if you have tariffs going on. you are spot on. politically, it looks very good. we have seen general motors doing similar things. partly, it is to curry favour with the presidency.” can understand the emphasis being on the big companies and big manufacturing, and that is what trump's home ground is. whereas the tech companies, i feel they have slightly gone their own way. we are ina slightly gone their own way. we are in a slightly different environment. the tech companies are not the darlings they used to be. people see

them as being more sinister. big week forjerome powell. a very big week forjerome powell. a very big week forjerome powell, the new head of the federal reserve in the states. we a re of the federal reserve in the states. we are looking forward to listening to him. the market is pretty much priced in a rate rise on wednesday. this is the first of four rate rises this year. that is the prediction, not a given. never a given, but it is the prediction from the markets. then we have the bank of england, the eu and a new governor in the central bank of china. so if you love central banks, this is a big week. i love them. but iam missing this is a big week. i love them. but i am missing janet. i think she misses you too! on the russian election, any thoughts on that? the russian stock market hasn't moved much in quite a while, ironically. but the economy is where the big problem is and president yeltsin dr idid say

problem is and president yeltsin dr i did say yeltsin! i am showing my age! mr putin. you only read about him in history books. that is a blast from the past. the economy is back in president yeltsin's age, even though it is president putin now. still to come. healthy body, healthy mind! later in the programme, we'll be getting the inside track still to come. on the business of staying in shape! you're with business live from bbc news. stay with us. travelodge has released full year results today. total revenues grew 6.6% to £637.1 million in the 12 months to december. and it has also announced the

expansion plans including something called the superbly. joining us now is peter gowers, the chief executive of travelodge. huge expansion, you're going to employ a lot more people. britain is becoming a nation of hotel budget travellers. as we have attracted more and more people it gives us different kinds of groups to target and for some of the longer staying business customers we have introduced super rooms. talk about costs a nd introduced super rooms. talk about costs and employees from the eu and in particular. something like 30% come from the eu. is that a problem for you? well there are no real cost pressures right now, the national living wage, the apprenticeship levy, these are bigger things but medium—term brexit is a factor. we are taking measures now to try to

protect ourselves against a shortfall of labour post brexit. supporting staff to apply for residency if they are already here and widening up apprenticeship schemes. also attracting back working parents. you say in the uk that we are seeing a build in the budget hotel industry. how long do you think that this will continue, what is your long—term forecast for travelodge? today in the uk roughly one in five hotels is a budget hotel for the friends it is one in four hotels and one in three in the united states. so plenty of room for expansion. we hope to open 100 hotels in the next five years so future expansion plans focused very much on the uk. thank you very much indeed. those results announced today. one interesting story on the business page, betting machine wages

are to be cut to £30 alas, that is the maximum amount you will be able to bet on these fixed odds betting terminals. by some thought it would come down from £100 down to just £2 but it is £30 so somebody for the bookmakers for top that some relief for the bookmakers. you're watching business live — our top story. vladimir putin has won the presidential election in russia. so he is in charge for another six yea rs. he is in charge for another six years. he received more than 76% of votes in the election on sunday. he served as either president or prime minister since 1999 now. many of us want to be healthier — and increasingly there are services to help us achieve that goal. the fitness industry in the uk was estimated to be worth $6.5 billion last year — up 6% from a year earlier. and that's just for people who go to the gym. but if you're short on time you can

download e—guides to give you a bit of support. london muscle has sold 130,000 of these guides since 2013. and the company also dabbles in clothing, a supplements range, and last year they launched a fresh food delivery arm. tom exton, co—founder of london muscle is here. welcome to the programme. and that was used in that video behind us. —— that was you. just tell us about how this started. clearly you are someone this started. clearly you are someone who is really into this, in the gym and busy trying to get fitter. it began as a hobby back in 2012, myself and my twin brother and some other browsers as well used to be in the gym all the time. and we

thought that we would set up a website just as a hobby. and thought that we would set up a websitejust as a hobby. and itjust spiralled from there. we did not really need to start a business. you have grown pretty fast. i find this extraordinary. it must‘ve been a very competitive market. no one is going to say to you that is a great idea because everyone would have the same idea about doing fitness video on youtube. what makes you different? and getting this particular growth. i think when we started we capitalised on the growth of twitter back in 2012 and then is to grant came along and we really utilise social media. and then fitness became more and more popular and social media. we just advertise our website articles on twitter, we put on recipes, workouts and answer questions as well. most of the

people who download your health adviser by, do they also go to the gym, do you know that kind of information? or maybe just at home. well the guides have been gym —based but recently we have introduced home work—out alternatives as well so people can train anywhere they like. so you could do them at home as well. the downloads, you pay to download them. the current guides, it depends how long, you can choose up it depends how long, you can choose up to about 20 weeks. that is in the region of £60, £80. and basically it is like having a personal trainer for about 20 weeks. a personal trainer, and give me an idea of what you get. they will tell you when to

work—out, what to do, repetitions, tempo, what movement to do. what and when to eat. but within a flexible structure. i could go on and on. just one quick answer, what stops people giving up after one year of doing this because that is the problem, but people give up. doing this because that is the problem, but people give upm doing this because that is the problem, but people give up. it is motivation all the time and there is an online community, lots of people doing the same thing and people sending in their results. you can see a letter from down the road has got amazing results. it is kind of peer pressure if you like. thank you for coming in, really interesting. this is how to stay in touch. we will see in a moment. stay up—to—date with all the business news as it happens. and we want to

hear from you. news as it happens. and we want to hearfrom you. get news as it happens. and we want to hear from you. get involved on the bbc business life web page. lawrence gosling has returned and we have been looking at this facebook story. this is extremely interesting because it has been the concern about these organisations that are now huge, 2 billion active monthly users around the world. absolutely and a piece of legislation is coming m, and a piece of legislation is coming in, the general data protection regulations and this falls into this. how these companies use data and how and if we have given them permission. this is europe wide. and

there was a harsh penalty, 4% of the company turnover. so for facebook that could be the story. it is about how we and our data over to them and how we and our data over to them and how they then use it. this is a political story, or is it business or both? where do you think it will have the maximum impact, politically or in terms of business.” have the maximum impact, politically or in terms of business. i think largely it is a political story but we could see the facebook share price drop later. but really here in the uk we are driving away the story, and you can see the kind of power of the mps on this. story, and you can see the kind of power of the mp5 on this.” story, and you can see the kind of power of the mps on this. i tell you what strikes me about this story, the idea, how little we as individuals feel affected by this because who would say i feel i have been manipulated by these people. no one feels that, they do not feel it

isa one feels that, they do not feel it is a personal affront to their abilities. i think it depends what the information was, and it could affect future decisions for example medical insurance and your data has been passed on to other companies. but we must state both facebook and cambridge and alaska are denying any wrongdoing at all in this case. — cambridge analytica. exactly and i think we feel upset as consumers is suddenly someone tries to take something from us but in this case there was no suggestion that anything like that could happen. couple of messages, one saying they need to be made far more accountable. another saying i came off facebook, best thing i ever did. thank you for coming in and thank

you for your company. we are back at the same time tomorrow. we will see you then. goodbye. the so—called mini beast from the east brought some heavy snow at times this weekend. and after a cold night we have a frosty and icy start. but mostly dry today with increasing amounts of sunshine. we are still firmly in that racially cold air mass. so after the early snow clears we have a mostly dry day with increasing amounts of sunshine across england, wales and northern ireland. a bright start for the north of scotland. the crowd perhaps a bit thicker across the northern isles. — cloud. but we still had a

breezy north—easterly wind for the south. staying breezy overnight in the south, with the cloud increasing from the north as we move through the night. brimming with that the chance of some more wintry showers. and the potential for some chance of some more wintry showers. and the potentialfor some mist and fog patches to form. another co—starred to the day tomorrow with some patches of ice. some sunny spells across england and wales. some showers in the east. and a bright start for northern ireland and southern scotland, cloud increasing from the west with temperatures at a maximum of 9 degrees. moving into wednesday high—pressure largely dominating the weather we have this feature moving into the north west which brings some outbreaks of rain. so for wednesday we see a bit of a split developing, the best of the brightness in the south—east, the sunny spells here but some outbreaks

of rainfall or the amount and scotland. just some in the loss of england dashed the north of england is love about moving into thursday again some outbreaks of rainfall parts of scotland and northern ireland but some dry weather on thursday. the rain starts to push in later in the day. gradually working up later in the day. gradually working up east. damage just up east. damagejust creeping into double figures, a maximum of 12 degrees by thursday. so largely dry start of the week sunny spells. turning my older and we have rain later in the week. dashed telling my older. hello, it's monday, it's 9 o'clock, i'm victoria derbyshire, welcome to the programme. our top story today — highly addictive fixed odds betting terminals should have their maxium stake reduced from £100 to £30 or less — that's the verdict of the gambling commission, who're calling on the government to act now. and ijust went

and i just went to the counter and and ijust went to the counter and i debt, 500. i lost that in the space ofa debt, 500. i lost that in the space of a few minutes. 1000, lost that. 1000, lost that, another thousand until i had no more money in my bank account. we'll speak to one man who's lost 250 grand on fixed odds betting terminals. also on the programme — a british woman who went to syria to fight against islamic state has been killed — anna campbell died in the town of afrin, which has been the target