this is business live from bbc news with rachel home and sally bundock. "the biggest class action lawsuit in uk history" — that's how law makers are describing a case involving the german car—maker volkswagen. live from london, that's our top story on tuesday 27th march. vw has already paid out more than $25 billion in the us— will we see something similar as dieselgate comes to the uk high court? also in the programme: arizona bans uberfrom testing its self—driving cars following last week's fatal accident. and inspired by rises on wall street and in asia, investors were betting on a strong bounce at the open this morning for europe — and it looks like they've got it. significant rises right across the

european markets. and making millions from minions. one of the world's most significant smartphone developers. and 18 pubs in the uk closed every single week in the uk closed every single week in the second half of last, because oui’ in the second half of last, because ourdrinking in the second half of last, because our drinking habits are changing. are you loyal to your local, or are you now going elsewhere and choosing to spend your cash on other things? get in touch, just use the hashtag. hello and welcome to business live. the diesel emissions scandal has already cost volkswagen more than $30 billion, and it could be about to get a whole lot more expensive. that's because a court hearing that's due to get under way in london in a few hours could allow thousands of uk car owners to pursue damages claims against the german car—maker. volkswagen has recalled around 1.2 million cars in the uk

which had software that cheated emissions tests so the vehicles appeared not to be as polluting as they really were. some owners say this has caused performance problems. those people bought brands including seat, audi, skoda and volkswagen itself. and many claim they've lost money because of the scandal. vw denies this. in the united states volkswagen has spent more than $25bn on fixing cars, compensation and fines. but in the eu the company says that the software doesn't breach the law, which isn't so strict. thank you very much, rachel. lincoanopp, strategic director, tantalum is with me. just it splaine what tantalum does so just it splaine what tantalum does so that viewers know where you're

from. tantalum is a company that links emissions produced by a vehicle into the cloud so that they can be analysed. and this is what is crucial to the story, the emissions of the fact that bw has got around the emissions rulings with regard to its devices that it fitted into cars. some 60,000 customers are joining together to try and bring a class action suit here. what will be decided in the next few days? what vw did was that they put cheat—ware into the vehicles which warned the car that it was going to be tested and made it act differently, the equivalent of seeing a copper in your rear—view mirror and driving in a different way. the class—action today will do side on who the lead lawyer is going to be, they haven't

agreed on that yet, and when the deadline is for people to join this class—action. deadline is for people to join this class-action. at the moment we have mentioned 60,000 havejoined.1.2 million people in the uk have got vw cars, so that could become a much bigger number. in the united states, vw admitted guilt and paid out a big fine, $4.5 million, and for half a million us customers, but they bought back the cars. could this be costly in the uk, or is it different because the rules are not as stringent? americans buy fewer diesels, and so those half a million that the 25 billion was settled on, if you put that in the context of the 11 million dodgy diesels that vw did sell globally, if it were replicated over here, it could be an existential crisis for the european carmaking industry. just because of the sheer scale of it in the terms of the cost to vw? what you think

might be the outcome of the case given our restrictions in the uk are different to the united states?” think it depends on the case that is made by the class—action lawyers in terms of what damage has been done. i think where vw are coming at this from is that they have offered a fix, about two thirds of the vehicles out there, the 1.1 million in the uk, have fixed. i think the second argument of those that have been fixed are now underperforming and toa been fixed are now underperforming and to a certain extent may even be and to a certain extent may even be an safe. interesting. lincoln, thank you very much for sharing your expertise. we will keep you across how that progress is today and in the days ahead. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. the governor of arizona has suspended the ride—sharing firm uber from testing self—driving cars in the state. it follows a fatal crash earlier this month. the announcement comes a week after uber itself halted such tests across north america. uber says it will "keep a dialogue open" with officals. amazon is taking a step into the french grocery market by teaming up with one

of the country's biggest brands monoprix. the services will initially be available to amazon prime customers in the paris area. other french retailers have been trying to improve their online offerings so they can compete better with amazon. in paris today, casino shares rising on the news. and facebook shares have shrugged off confirmation from the us federal trade commission that it's investigating the social media firm. they reversed monday's losses to close slightly up. the ftc probe follows the revelations that cambridge analytica had gathered data on 50 million users. facebook could face huge fines, but said it welcomed the opportunity to answer the regulator's questions. a unit of taiwan's foxconn is planning to buy belkin international — a maker of smartphone accessories — for 866 million dollars. it's part of foxconn‘s efforts

to expand into branded goods. our asia business correspondent karishma vaswani is in singapore with more on this story. what is the reaction to this? it is not a done deal. it isn't at all, and it is important to underline that currently it has to be approved by the committee for foreign investment in the united states. just to remind our viewers what is at stake here, it is the cable and connector division of foxconn, and that company, that unit of foxconn which is based in taiwan, is planning to buy belkin international, and that makes smartphone accessories, things like wi reless smartphone accessories, things like wireless charging devices, home network products like your wi—fi route for instance, but given the fa ct route for instance, but given the fact that this purchase is going to be subject to approval from the very powerful american body looking after foreign investments, which recently

if you will remember has been instrumental in representing foreign acquisitions in the united states. just a few weeks ago, the sale of the american firm qualcom to a singapore —based company was investigated, and that subsequently it is said led to the trump administration banning that deal. so there is a lot of speculation about whether this deal will go through, i have been speaking to analysts about this issue. it is these sorts of issues that may be why the taiwanese company foxconn has pledged to build a $10 billion factory in wisconsin. a little money certainly can go a long way, and perhaps that could help it stay on the administration's good side, but we have to wait and see. thank you for that. let's take a look at these markets. it isa it is a sea of green.

we start with the s&p 500 which saw it's biggest one dayjump since august 2015 — why? fears over the us/china trade war haven't gone away but they have eased. and it was those fears which were driving the yen higher. as they eased, the yen has fallen, which has helped the nikkei. europe expected to follow those gains and so far it has done. and kim gittleson has the details about what's ahead on wall street today. on tuesday, investors in america will be paying attention to the schiller has index. most investors expect that the median home price in 20 cities across the us will have risen by 6.2% compared to a year ago. this suggests that not only has the us housing market recovered from the us housing market recovered from the depths of the recession, but that it the depths of the recession, but thatitis the depths of the recession, but that it is now strong enough to also withstand increased mortgage rates. rates here in the us are rising due to the fact that the federal reserve has been increasing interest rates

slowly to keep rises in check as the us economy continues to grow. last week the us mortgage giants freddie mac said that the average rate on a 30 year fixed rate mac said that the average rate on a 30 yearfixed rate mortgage has written 6.5% since january. whilst thatis written 6.5% since january. whilst that is good news for now, rising home prices and rising mortgages could eventually hurt would—be home—buyers. could eventually hurt would—be home-buyers. that is kim, part of oui’ home-buyers. that is kim, part of our team home-buyers. that is kim, part of ourteam in new home-buyers. that is kim, part of our team in new york. joining us is mike amey, managing director and portfolio manager at pimco. a big bounce back, but the ftse has been hit hard. yes, it is down seven 01’ been hit hard. yes, it is down seven or 8% of the year, so there is quite a big move between the relative markets. quite a lot of this i think is related to the currency, because sterling as you know has been doing

pretty well, 1.42 against the dollar, and a lot of ftse 100 companies are international, so sterling being strong puts pressure on their earnings when you put it back into the british pound. so i think that is part of the problem, but the ftse unfortunately is lagging a little to date. we have seen things perk up this morning, and as you said, a lot of this is about trade and the relationship between china and the us, but if it accelerates things get worse, it won't just be china accelerates things get worse, it won'tjust be china and the us, it will be the us and europe, and that is really what people are worried about. it is the global growth story. let's talk about the volatility and the big losses on global markets in february. just remind us, what is the vics, and what is it doing at the moment? remind us, what is the vics, and what is it doing at the moment7m isa what is it doing at the moment7m is a measure of the volatility, so the price changes on a daily basis. markets, so the higher it is, the

more nervous it means the markets are atany more nervous it means the markets are at any kind of level. it has been called the fear index if you wa nt been called the fear index if you want a nice catchphrase, so the higher it is, not more nervous people are. we have seen daily changes, snp was up 3% yesterday, down 3% the day before, and that is what people look at, that volatility, and it gives them a sense of how edgy they are about the level of the markets, so people are nervous, because we have gone steadily up for a long period of time. now, be thinking about your drinking habits, mike. at this time in the morning, it is probably strong coffee! we are talking dredging habits, because apparently they are really changing, and the pub is proving to be a victim. that's right. still to come. playing around, but not messing around. later in the programme we'll be speaking to a top exec at one of the world's biggest smartphone game developers. you're with business live from bbc news. while many of us love sweet treats,

we know they can be bad for us. next week, the government's sugar tax comes into force as part of a wider anti—obesity strategy. confectionary companies have been asked to do their bit, and today nestle is unveiling a new chocolate bar that has 30% less sugar after a redesign. our business correspondent nina warhurst is in the york lab where it was developed. you won't meet many people who are not fans of the sweet stuff, includingjan, not fans of the sweet stuff, including jan, despite the fact that he has worked if a 20 years.” including jan, despite the fact that he has worked if a 20 years. i still love it, ie did everyday. but we know it is a problem, childhood obesity, one in 511—year—olds are obese, and that is why public health england is calling on chocolate makers to reduce sugar by 20% by

2020, and nestle are bringing out a product that is 30% lower in sugar, still tastes sweet but doesn't have any artificial sweeteners in it. doesn't it sound too good to be true? how does the science work? the science starts with challenging white sugar needs to be crystal, and basically what we have done, if you think about candy floss which is very aerated sweet when it hits the mouth, what we have been able to do with the sugar is aerated together with the sugar is aerated together with milk so it is a very natural product, and that is what goes into out product, and that is what goes into our product. so can you commit to this target of 20% reduction in sugar by 2020 for all of your product? we are at the forefront, and leading the work on reducing sugar, the 20% target is incredibly challenging for the whole industry, but we certainly will be doing our pa rt but we certainly will be doing our part in that. amelia, lots of chocolate company say they are doing their bit. you are a dietician. is that good enough? it's a start, but we need a

systematic change, we need to change having sugar as the default product, it's not unusual, but maybe this is the start of the change but we have a long way to go. we spoke to mars and cadbury, they said part of their strategy is a constant reminder chocolate is a boast to be a trade, not something we have all the time, all day every day. but in the interest of balance, jess is insistent i tried this bar alongside lower sugar products and that is what i will be doing. you're watching business live. our top story, today the volkswagen emissions scandal reaches britain's high court. the three—day hearing is expected to decide whether to approve a group litigation application, which — if it goes ahead — could lead to the biggest class action lawsuit in uk history. a quick look at how markets are faring...

as we said at the start of the programme, europe bouncing this morning following strong trade overnight in asia and new york are fears easing over the us china trade issue, we've just lost the fears easing over the us china trade issue, we'vejust lost the markets, i was going to point out despite the surge is the footsie needs 7000, you can see it. 6981, a rise but let's put it in context. we're doing more and more on our smartphones these days — especially when it comes to gaming. our next guest is the boss of one of biggest players in that burgeoning field. he's one of the bosses at gameloft — which creates games for mobile devices. it partners with some of the biggest names in entertainment — including universal, disney and hasbro. and says it has 140 million unique users around the globe. it's proved so successful it's been bought by the french media giant vivendi. alexandre de rochefor is the chief financial office at gameloft.

welcome to the programme. i'm intrigued, what is a unique user? what does that mean, that sounds like this mr adams? technical question to start, we have 140 million people who every month play with one of our games, it's one person playing one of our games, the total of all of this as up to 140 million people. let's talk about you, you started as a research a nalyst you, you started as a research analyst at schroders in the uk in london, you were covering tech stocks and you decided to make your way at the financial markets and get involved in the business end.” way at the financial markets and get involved in the business end. i was a lwa ys involved in the business end. i was always a big fan of video games and at schroders securities i was covering video games so i started to meet all the executives at a time companies, like you remember, game

loft was founded in march of 2000, i was asked tojoin loft was founded in march of 2000, i was asked to join some weeks after the creation of the company. since he had been the industry has changed, talk us through how many games a year changed, talk us through how many gamesa yearand changed, talk us through how many games a year and you would have been making say five years ago and where you are making your money and how much that has changed today. the main challenge for game loft and its competitors is we are in a quickly evolving market, we have to reinvent the company every year for every couple of years. technically speaking, there have been a lot of changes, technology has changed over the years, we started with java games on phones, went to smartphones, high end devices allowing us to do 3—d games, the business model has changed significantly, when we started the company we were selling big game for a couple of euros, now you were able to download the games for free, we make money via what we call virtual goods that you can buy within the game or with advertisements that be

shall within the games. in order to survive we had to reinvent and loft five or six times. i wrongly assumed when we were researching your company that a lot of people playing the games would be children, a lot of women, the only reason i say that is because minion rush, one of your games, my kids love it and i am being pestered all the time to make in app burgesses and i say no to that. in terms of women or adults playing, that's keeper you, kids are not spending the money. you need to make profits? absolutely correct. we would like to focus more and more on the woman audience because that is one thing that we lack. the idea was to create a console like games on mobile phones, most of the audience was mel, aged between 25—40, then we moved on to kids games and now we are starting to change the company,

to do more casual games, we are targeting the female audience because that is where the money is. when it comes to advertising, in some ways you have helped the advertising industry to come full circle, we've gone from people watching advertisements on tv, we are able to stream and skippered now you, but in a way of trapping the audience and that is how you are selling your audience with the games. explain that. advertising of mobile games is interesting for brands because it allows them to show the brand without being too intrusive, in the sense that, you actually choose to what the brand, the ad, in order to earn a view coin is in the game are to have a revived and progress more rapidly in the game. it's never done in an aggressive, negative way that the user. really briefly, why do women spend more than they are playing games than men or children? why do

you think, that's a tough one?” don't have the answer, we know they do. we see that... mobile gaming is 45% of the video game space, a fewer yea rs 45% of the video game space, a fewer years ago no one would have believed that and a key reason for that is that and a key reason for that is that the woman has started playing games on mobile phones which is not the case on a pc or console. the emergence of mobile gaming, is due to the emergence of women starting at last to play games and there's no reason why at last to play games and there's no reason why women at last to play games and there's no reason why women wouldn't play games, they have finally found the right device to do that. do you lay games? no, nor do i. were not really the ones! so good to have you here, really interesting. i keep coming in. thank you. 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 the business news as it happens on the business

life page, there is inside analysis from our team of editors ride around the globe and we want to hear from you too. get involved on the business life web page. on twitter... and you can find us on facebook. business live, on tv and online, what you need to know, when you need to know it. many of you have been in touch about your drinking habits, pubs, except but let's dig deeper into one of these stories. the fact that the state of arizona has banned uber from progressing with driverless technology. another blow for the company? yes the accident last week,

obviously, the state responding. the issue with arizona, some of the rules protesting driverless cars we re rules protesting driverless cars were not quite as tight as say, california, a lot of the tech companies, if they were looking for a slightly less strict regime were going for arizona and what this has done is highlight the challenges today that the industry faces and the difficulty of getting the technology over the line. what could that mean for them, if they can't test in arizona? again, as with a lot of tech companies, the challenges you need to be at the forefront of the development. i think the challenge uber has, they may be behind some of the technology than for example, google. they are trying to catch up but obviously becomes much harder if you cannot test the cars. uber is in one of those situations, they are under pressure in a lot of different angles, obviously a tragic accident

last week as well, we should not lose sight of that, the pressure continues. let's talk about the story online, pubs in danger, six charts on how the british drink, it's on bbc online, talking you through quite pubs are seeing the fa ct through quite pubs are seeing the fact that many of them are closing, the british beer and pub association with some statistics. we were talking about this, we are changing, a p pa re ntly talking about this, we are changing, apparentlyjim is a much in favour, craft beer but many find it expensive to go to the pub.” craft beer but many find it expensive to go to the pub. i think there is a number of things. —— a p pa re ntly there is a number of things. —— apparentlyjim is very much in favour. —— gin. it's notjust the price of the goods itself, its the total cost is the challenge. you know, people's finances are squeezed, you are seeing pub consumption going down, i think,

total beer sales was hired outside in supermarkets which tells you what. .. in supermarkets which tells you what... really interesting chart, alcohol consumption, percentage of adults who drank in 2016, really interesting, look at that. lots of people have been in touch, haven't they? hanky in seattle says i love our local pubs, it's fun to find new ones. colin and hertfordshire says he goes to the pub four times a week but another viewer says it's cheaper to have your friends round and but another viewer says it's cheaper to have yourfriends round and drink at home. mike, great to have you. thanks for a much for watching. that's it from business live today. there will be more business news throughout the day on the bbc live web page and on world business report. we'll see you again tomorrow. hi there. a wet start to the day,

rain moving from west to east, the rain moving from west to east, the rain should clearfor rain moving from west to east, the rain should clear for most of us, it will brighten up into the afternoon. across the far north of scotland things staying cloudier and wetter. we have this area of low pressure bringing these weather fronts, bringing these weather fronts, bringing these weather fronts, bringing the rain this morning, as you can see, moving eastwards, they will pivot around the area of low pressure. scotland, remaining cloudy and damp, some hill snow across scotla nd and damp, some hill snow across scotland but further south, the rain clearing, could be the odd shower here and there, brighter skies for northern ireland, eastern and southern areas of england. temperatures between 7—14dc, further north much colder converter yesterday. through this evening and tonight we will see some showers, the far north of scotland, in the meantime rain spreading from the

south—west of england in the early hours, temperatures tomorrow, tonight, between 3—7 celsius. it will feel quite chilly again, we go into wednesday, elsewhere the wind coming from the west, less cold conditions but with its outbreaks rain. rain initially across the south on wednesday, gradually clearing, looking at some brighter weather further north, still some showers around, those could be wondering across the north and west, temperatures on wednesday down for all of us, about 6—7 celsius. feeling colder than today. on thursday, we have this area of low pressure and with it another area of rain starting to move its way from the south. earning some heavy showers or longer spells of rain across wales and the south—west of england. further north and east, looking largely dry and pride into

thursday. we will see some showers, good spells of sunshine, temperatures year—round five degrees. those temperatures may come up degrees. those temperatures may come up by degrees. those temperatures may come up bya degrees. those temperatures may come up by a degree, it will be chilly. into the easter weekend, it will be quite chilly at times, unsettled, lots of cloud, some sunny spells throughout the week, we are into late march, the early part of april, you get some sunshine, and it is quite strong. goodbye. hello. it's tuesday, it's 9 o'clock, i'm tina daheley, welcome to the programme our top story today: the russian president vladimir putin has said the fire at the russian shopping mall which killed 64 people was caused by criminal negligence. also on the programme. following yesterday's demonstration outside parliament byjewish groups, we discuss anti—semitism in the labour party. mp naz shah, who was suspended from the labour party in 2016 for what she calls "anti—semitic language", tells us it's right

labour builds bridges. i think we are on the right track in terms of having those conversations, and i think it's really, really important thatjeremy has come out with a stronger statement, with his apology. and protecting your privacy. in an exclusive report, we've learnt that more than half of police forces in england and wales are now routinely