this is business briefing. i'm samantha simmonds. now, listen to this. music streaming service spotify will make it's debut on the new york stock exchange later today, but it's not your usual share sale. we'll explain how the company does it differently. and france is bracing for travel chaos, as train drivers and air france pilots go on strike in protest over president macron‘s labour reforms. and, on the markets, there were falls across asia and the us, with china's retaliatory tarffs rattling investors. and, in asia specifically, the sell—off of once—much—favoured us technology shares deepened, as us president donald trump attacked amazon over the pricing of its deliveries through the united states postal service and promised unspecified changes. there's been a sea of red on international stock markets this morning after us technology stocks staged massive drops and volatility

increased in the wake of a possible trade war between the usa and china. let's go to our asia business hub, where shara njjit leyl is following the story. hi, sharanjjit. the markets are really rattled. that is right, somewhat rattled, because we saw the shades of red, as you said, stocks essentially extending the global sell—off following steep declines on wall street on monday and initially we saw the nikkei falling 1.5%, the hong kong hang seng, australian stocks falling to a lesser degree, they have pared back some of the steep losses and they are recovering somewhat. we know that the wall street at one was triggered in part by fears of a trade war between the world's two largest economies, china and the us, but there was a tech sell—off driven like the bands it promotes, today spotify is warming up for its market debut. it has changed the way we experience music. do you ever look to see which songs are getting the

most play? definitely, we see what the top tracks are that might play into my decision—making as far as what songs to play live. spotify now has over 150 million users around the. over the past ten years, spotify has changed the face of the music industry. so, what is a direct listing? essentially a way to sell shares directly to the public. that means spotify will pay less fees to the bankers who usually do the paperwork. and there is something else. normally in an ipo management and inside shareholders are restricted from selling shares for a period of time after the listing. in a direct sale they can sell immediately so it provides more liquidity. for spotify co-founder daniel eck it is expected he could

make $2 billion, impressive considering the company is still unprofitable. and then there is the competition. last year for the first time revenue from streaming music surpassed that of physical record sales, which has made some names you might recognise, apple, google and amazon, eager to get in on the action. those companies have a music streaming service and they don't need to make a dime. spotify is the only stand—alone service in the group. but for now spotify controls 4296 group. but for now spotify controls 42% of the global streaming market. the question is whether or not be music enouh for investors' will be music enough for investors' ears. the press are calling it black tuesday — a show of force by france's unions that marks the start of three months of rolling strikes by railway workers. the rail strikes are a protest against government plans to tackle the special status historically given to railway workers, which guarantees them a job for life and early retirement. they'll be joined in strikes today by refuse workers, students and parts of the energy

sector, all with their own specific demands over conditions and proposed reforms. and pilots and ground staff at air france are also striking in a separate dispute over pay, though the vast majority of flights are expected to be unaffected. let's get more on this story from tomasz michalski, who is professor of international economics at hec intl business school in paris. welcome to you. the unions say that the president is trying to break them. is that what he is trying to do? he is definitely seeking confrontation on this one, but this isa confrontation on this one, but this is a logical step in the entire reform process. he started with some labour reforms in the fall. now he is tackling specific sectors, or companies, that have problems, for example, the railways. he is also

going to try to fix the nuclear company, and then further reforms are going to follow if this succeeds, what we are going to have 110w. succeeds, what we are going to have now. so we are going to have unemployment benefit reforms, retirement reforms, but also, very importantly, the reform of the entire public sector, which i think would be the jewel in the crown of all reforms. president macron campaigned on reforming all of these things, didn't he, and his presidency depends on the success or otherwise. former presidents have failed on the issue. what will determine success on this issue do you think for him? definitely if he manages to get his way on imposing the new status for the newly employed workers, because that is what is on the table, the newly

hired railway workers will not have the same benefits and perks that the older ones do and that also he manages to push through liberalisation and increased competition, which was basically agreed upon at the eu level, so that would be a measure of success. the labour unions are against these or at least against for example they wa nt to at least against for example they want to regard the introduction of competition on the railways. 0k. want to regard the introduction of competition on the railways. ok. we will see what happens in the coming days and weeks. for now, thank you very much. now let's brief you some other business stories. shares of us chipmaker intel dropped by more than 9%, on reports apple has developed its own chips for its computer range and will stop using intel products within the next two years. apple already makes its own processors for the iphone and ipad. electric car maker tesla also had a bad day.

its shares slumped 5% as investors await production numbers for the closely watched model 3, a cheaper electric car that analysts see as crucial to the company's long—term profitability. that's it for business briefing this hour. but before we go, here are the markets. and ijust and i just want to tell you about uber, planning to sell southeast asia business to grab, which might have hit a roadblock. singapore regulators are looking into whether the marriage could violate competition laws. malaysia and the philippines are following suit and putting grab on their watchlist. anthony tan was in contact with our correspondent and he talked about if that deal is going to be scuppered. so far there are zero issues, specifically on the deal on how it is done. of course there are ways we can make

it better and there are ways we can manage how to serve our customers better. 0k, well, that is it for me. but before we go, here are the markets. we have already shown them to you briefly, they are all down at the moment. stay with us here, we will look at the stories making headlines right around the world. goodbye for 110w. local councils in england will have a legal duty to offer more help to anyone at risk of homelessness, as part of a new law coming into force today. previously, authorities only had to provide housing if people were judged to have a priority need. 0ur correspondent lisa hampele reports. the plight of england's estimated

4750 rough sleepers, more than 55 yea rs 4750 rough sleepers, more than 55 years ago, was starkly highlighted by the winter snowstorms, but it is not just rough by the winter snowstorms, but it is notjust rough sleepers on the increase. the charity crisis says there are now around 160,000 homeless households, including those in temporary accommodation. today the homelessness reduction act, aimed at cutting the numbers, comes into force. it places legal duties on english council so that everyone who is homeless or at risk of homelessness will have access to meaningful help. councils are now obliged to start assessing someone who is at risk of being made homeless 56 days in advance will stop it was 28 days. today is a massive step forward. it won't solve rough sleeping and the causes of homelessness overall. what it means is that those who are affected by it, that homelessness can be prevented and, crucially, no longer

will some people be entitled to help. all people will be entitled to help. all people will be entitled to help from their local council in england. similar measures came into force in wales three years ago. it reduced the numbers of people needing to be re— homed radically. scotla nd needing to be re— homed radically. scotland has been doing the same thing since 2003. the government is giving english councils £77 million to fund the measures. critics say welfare cuts and a lack of affordable homes are the real problem. coming up at six on breakfast, naga and charlie will have all the day's news, business and sport. they'll also have more on new one—stop shops being introduced in england in an effort to speed up cancer diagnosis. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: president ramaphosa of south africa leads tributes to the anti—apartheid campaigner winnie mandela, following her death at the age of 81. france prepares for months of disruption as unions strike over president macron‘s labour reforms.

a pledging conference for yemen is getting underway at the united nations in geneva today. the un says yemen is the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with 22 million people now in need of assistance. and the music streaming service spotify will make its debut on the new york stock exchange later today. now it is time look at the stories that are making the headlines in media across the world. we begin with the guardian, which like many front pages shows winnie mandela, who has died aged 81. with her husband, nelson mandela, she was a figurehead of the anti—apartheid movement in south africa. the china daily reports china has imposed new tariffs on 128 imports from the us, valued at around $3 billion, in response to washington slapping a 25% tariff on steel imports and aluminium. the telegraph warns monetary indicators in the us, europe, japan and china are flashing signals of an economic slowdown later this year, raising fears of a global recession in 2019. in the gulf news, facebook boss

mark zuckerberg has said it will take a few years to solve the issues plaguing the social media company. the social media giant's shares have recently taken a nose—dive, dropping around 14%. and, finally, on the mashable website, tech—savvy millennials have created new guidelines for a variant of written english unique to social media. their rulebook states that deliberately misspelled words and misused grammarcan convey tone, nuance, humour, and even annoyance. their goal is breaking the constraints of written english, and to be as expressive as you can be in spoken language. so let's begin. with me is henry bonsu, who's a broadcaster and international conference host. we will go through the stories in more detail and test you on how you tweet and text. i am too old expat both of us, both of us! let's start

with the guardian, and a front—page on winne mandela. what are your thoughts about her, because she was a controversialfigure. thoughts about her, because she was a controversial figure. not so much among african women —— winnie mandela. strong, fiercely bread and intelligent, defiant african woman. this is someone pitched into the battle against the most repressive government in the african continent at the time