this is business briefing. i'm sally bundock. here are the headlines. turbulent times for facebook — shares in the social media giant slump as it faces heavy criticism about how it protects peoples personal data. uber suspends all tests of its self—driving cars after a woman in arizona was killed in a collision — a potential setback to the technology expected to transform transportation. and on the markets: the tech sell—off continues in asia. investors weigh up what is in store for the likes of facebook and uber. facebook slumped as the social media giant faced more questions from us and uk politicians about its privacy rules. there are calls for boss mark zuckerberg to explain how cambridge analytica acquired and used facebook users' information.

the british firm is accused of using the personal data of 50 million facebook members to influence the us presidential election in 2016. investors are concerned — facebook shares closed down almost 7% lower, wiping almost $37 billion off the social network's market value. in the uk, the information commissioner, elizabeth denham, is seeking a warrant to look at the computers used by cambridge analytica. the firm insists it followed the correct procedures in obtaining and using data, but it was suspended from facebook last week. now, facebook has hired independent forensic auditors to inspect cambridge analytica systems, part of a "comprehensive review to determine the accuracy of the claims that the facebook data in question still exists."

cambridge analytica denies any wrongdoing. bbc‘s newsnight‘s emily maitlis asked chief executive alexander nix whether he thought his firm had influenced the outcome of the brexit vote or us presidential election. of the brexit vote, in the trump victory, we were involved in the trump campaign as i made clearfor very many months now author we manage everything from research to date data analytics to all the digital marketing and also the television marketing that was undertaken so we had a role that was caught some of the functions that we re caught some of the functions that were being delivered to the campaign. do you feel that you have skewed democracy by playing a part in that? by providing campaign services to a candidate who had been fairly nominated as a republican

representative of the united states? how is that possible? so you think that hillary clinton is allowed to have a that hillary clinton is allowed to havea campaign that hillary clinton is allowed to have a campaign team and donald trump isn't? that was the chief executive of cambridge analytica. we will look at more in the fallout of this story in the news briefing. that is late on in this programme. now let's focus on another tech giant, uber. uber has suspended all tests of self—driving cars after a woman in arizona was killed in a collision. at the time of the accident, the vehicle was running in autonomous mode with an operator at the wheel. uber said it was fully cooperating with local authorities. our technology correspondent dave lee reports from san francisco. it was late sunday night when, according to police, elaine was struck by a uber‘s self driving car. she was crossing the road but not using the pedestrian will zone.

there was a driver behind the wheel but uber said the vehicle was in full autonomous mode, meaning it was handling all aspects of the driving. the woman was taken to hospital but died from her injuries. taking to twitter, the chief executive said the news from arizona was incredibly sad, adding, we are thinking of the family as we work with local law enforcement to understand what happened. as part of its licensing agreement, uber must keep detailed logs in case of an incident like this. although this woman is the first pedestrian to be killed by an autonomous vehicle, her death comes autonomous vehicle, her death comes a year after uber temporarily took its self driving cars off the road following an accident which left a volvo suv on its side in arizona. the programme was later reinstated. there are so mini motor vehicle deaths in the united —— the us. we wa nt to deaths in the united —— the us. we want to eliminate those entirely. these are complex systems that are just starting to navigate the roads.

arizona has positioned itself as a testing ground for this new technology. incidents like this will no doubt concerns those who do not believe these systems are yet safe enough to be on our roads. many of you have been in touch about that story. we will look at your tweets late in the show as well. chinese president xijinping has given the closing speech at the national people's congress saying china's development was at a critical stage and the country could not be complacent. china is still the world's second largest economy, but it's suffered a slowdown in recent years. beijing is worried that businesses are taking on unnecessary risks. last month, the government took control of the fast—growing chinese insurance group, anbang, overfears about its financial health. meanwhile, china faces other threats — us president donald trump has called for a better trade deal with the china, and announced a 25% tariff on imports of steel and a 10% tariff on aluminium. with me is dr yujie,

head of china foresight, lse ideas. thank you for coming in. what you make of his today, which was extremely high profile, and there is also this issue of him being now president for life. explain how that works and what you made of his speech, his message to those listening in china and outside?” think the message is very clear. he is trying to say everything must change and therefore everything keep the same. that is the key argument for him. he is a safe pair of hands and that is what he is trying to do. he also tried to tell the foreigners or even the westerners only the chinese themselves how to resolve the problem with the economic slowdown. there is a mixed message

and he is trying to give. he is trying to justify himself, why he has to stay in power. that is the key message. does it really mean that question much of it literally mean that? president for life. what a huge burden to carry. that is a huge burden, but don't forget where he has come from. it comes from the so—called communist party of family. he has the sense of natural burden, he wants to share the burden so that i wouldn't necessarily argue he will stay for life because they wouldn't really allowed to do so. that's a look at the comments he made with regards to the economy. very stark differences between what he was saying and also what the premier was saying and also what the premier was saying later compared to the message we're getting out of the us from president trump. i think he is trying to listing which himself from president trump in this case and try

to somehow encourage a foreign investor, investing more in china, and at the end of the day, i think it is the economy that will be judging by the reputation, how well they manage the economy and run the country. we had to leave it there but thank you so much for coming in and sharing your thoughts on that. there is more detail on our website as well. now, let's brief you some other business stories. the company has announced any big i’u ns the company has announced any big runs of all witnesses to mr joachim's alleged sexual misconduct will be released from nondisclosure agreements. —— weinstein. saudi arabia is scaling back its ambitions for a public offering for oil giant aramco, moving ahead with a listing next year solely on the saudi stock exchange while taking more time to decide if an international venue is worth it. that's according to government officials. to rowen powell host its first

meeting today with investors concerned that —— president trump would impose measures. analyst say them to raise rates three or four times this year. let's show you the financial markets. i mention some of the big losers are the technology shares. that was the case yesterday as well. it is not just that was the case yesterday as well. it is notjust because of facebook and uber. it is also the report out yesterday that apple is looking to make its own screens in a factory in california. that is still playing out today in asian trading time in terms of shares on the way downwards. also, we had other stories in technology after the bell in the us. oracle reporting sales that underwhelmed investors. we saw

a heavy sell—off with technology stocks with the nasdaq down quite a bit as well as the s&p 500 on the dowjones industrial average. ricky dire day for financial markets. add to that the expectation of the federal reserve meeting as well. this is how things ended in europe. the european trading day will get under way in the european trading day will get underway ina the european trading day will get under way in a few hours time. i would imagine nerves will continue. we will talk about that in the news briefing injust a we will talk about that in the news briefing in just a few minutes. as bad as some of the other stories in the media. stay with us. i will see you injust a the media. stay with us. i will see you in just a second. another story about a real move

forward in terms of medical research. surgeons in london have restored the sight of two patients with one of the most common forms of blindness. the team at moorfields eye hospital inserted human embryonic stem cells in the back of the patients' eyes to treat age—related degeneration. fergus walsh reports. now the left eye. for his pioneering stem cell treatment, douglas waters was completely blind in his right eye. now, he can see. everyone wa nted eye. now, he can see. everyone wanted to go outside when the rain finally stopped. that is perfect. so this is an amazing improvement.” just couldn't believe it. each morning, i would just couldn't believe it. each morning, iwould pick just couldn't believe it. each morning, i would pick things out to look at, in the garden i would do this, andi look at, in the garden i would do this, and i was really chuffed, you could say. so is his surgeon. two patients with age—related macular

degeneration had the sight restoring treatment at moorfields eye hospital in london. we were able to show that we have taken someone who could not read at all that could in fact see the book they were supposed to be reading and taken into reading around 60 or 80 words a minute with their normal reading glasses. for us, this is a fantastic rate through. and it could help other patients with age—related macular degeneration. so what causes amd? if we open the eye, the macula is at the back. it is the part of the retina responsible for central vision. if we pull out a section, here are the light—sensitive cells, the rods and cones. amd is triggered when a crucial layer of support cells seen here in green dye. as a result, patients gradually lose the ability to read or to recognise faces. douglas, who is 86, says... this is the briefing from bbc news.

let's remind you of the headlines. 23 russian diplomats are expected to leave their embassy in london later in the aftermath of the nerve agent attack on a former spy and his daughter. the uk authorities are seeking a warrant to investigate a company accused of using millions of facebook members data to influence the us presidential election. residents in parts of australia hit by bushfires have been told it's still not safe to return home after more than 70 properties were destroyed in new south wales and neighbouring victoria. let's ta ke let's take a look at some of the stories in more detail. and how the media is discussing these today. we start with the financial times and it is looking at facebook and the massive $35 billion wiped off its value. the backlash continues over claims profile information was misused, other tech companies also

down. the paper looking at investors fear of a clampdown by regulators. the san francisco chronicle with the latest on the fatal driverless uber crash. it reports early investigations say the self—driving car was not at fault, so is the technology back on track or not? we have a "brexit breakthrough". that's the headline on london's city am. its lead story says businesses are celebrating the uk's deal with the eu on the transition period — a warning, though, that the irish border issue remains a hurdle. the new york times looks at sex and the city's cynthia nixon running for governor. so do screen stars have more power in politics? it asks that question. and then the final story

in the china daily? why the country's craze for cats is fuelling big business in beijing. thomas james roby here, james hughes, he says he does not like cats at all but let's not hold that against him. let's look at the times's front—page. they are dominating, facebook shares hit extremely hard, no surprise really? no, on this story probably has a lot of lex to go. there is a lot going to happen before we see the end of this.