this is business briefing. i'm sally bundock. turbulent times for air france. shares take a nosedive as the crisis deepens at europe's second biggest airline. trading places. we'll hear from the only full—time female broker working at the new york stock exchange. and on the markets — trading right now, asia, all higher, as you can see. everybody has a close eye on the white house and its announcement on the iran nuclear deal. later today. the future of air france is in the balance after the company lost nearly a tenth off its value on monday. the markets reacted anxiously to comments from france's economy minister, bruno le mair, over the weekend, who stated the airline could disappear unless a pay dispute was resolved. the french government owns 14.3% of the air france—klm parent group, but has repeatedly said it

won't bailout the troubled airline. the national carrier has already been hit by m days of strikes and staff have rejected the airline's latest offer of a 7% pay rise spread out over four years. workers are holding firm over their demand for an annual salary increase of 5.1%. last friday, the boss of air france—klm, jean—marc janaillac, resigned after staff rejected what the company described as a final pay offer. with me is russ mould, investment director at aj bell. this is coming to a critical point and the question is, what will

happen? the airline flying without a ceo until the middle of may. the first problem is political, you have emmanuel macron and his economic programme to make france more attractive to foreign investment and the airline itself, it has been through a huge period of consolidation and air france klm is one example. you have seen a relatively sensible industry. i know it is bizarre because it has been a terrible industry for investors. we have seen consolidation with the more sensibility about capacity and pricing so what people like other international airlines want to see, they want to see a state backed rival essentially spoiling prices on certain routes. it would seem to pay

dispute is at a stalemate. the workers who want the 5.1% pay rise straightaway. they are not budging. where do we go from here? straightaway. they are not budging. where do we go from here7m straightaway. they are not budging. where do we go from here? it is difficult for the french government to blink because not only are they involved in a dispute with air france but also the national railways. if emmanuel macron sticks to his plan, he will draw a firm line. understandably, the unions do not agree with his plan and they think their way is best. they want better salaries for their workers and they will be reluctant to budge, too, so if they go, their colleagues at the railways will be likely as well. it will be a long, protracted battle. we saw a huge fall in the share price of the back of poor results and the ceo going. they are looking ahead to their statement about future months, difficult indeed. this is about the fact that

these airlines need to become leaner and meaner in the environment. it is so competitive at the moment. i mentioned the italian airlines as well. that it still technically insolvent. there is a bidding process under way for that airline at the moment. i wish anybody who buys it best of luck given its chequered history. but lufthansa, we will see what happens. it could be another leg in is betrayed by gets involved. it will be difficult to get the italian airline in line. there is a weak bargaining position from air france klm. the french government standing strongly in their position at the moment. thank you, russ. we will update you if there is any change in that story. in the last few hours, china has released its latest set of trade figures.

the country's exports rose nearly 13% compared to the previous year and imports grew by over 21%. rico hizon is in our asia business hub in singapore. interesting to get china trade numbers one at it is in the spat with donald trump. it continues to expand. it is now a $28 billion and it was more than what analysts had expected. you might expect some rhetoric from the united states and maybe some tweets from president trump about this growing deficit with china. april exports and imports grew much faster than expected despite worries about an escalating trade dispute with the us and breaking down, sally, the trade performance of the chinese. it has been a strong start to this year, supported by sustained demand at home and overseas. the exporter

outlook is being clouded by this trade row with the us which could disrupt china's shipments and its supply chains. washington and beijing want to avert a trade war, sally, and despite discussions in beijing last week failing to produce an arrangement on a long list of us trade demands, china's top economic officials will visit washington next week to resume negotiations with the trump administration. and let's keep our fingers crossed, trump administration. and let's keep ourfingers crossed, sally, hopefully this second round of talks will lead to a compromise between the americans and the chinese. nice to see you. nice to see you. one of the most iconic symbols of american business has to be the new york stock exchange. but you might have noticed a common trait among the trade on the trading floor. they're all men! well, all but one. enter lauren simmons— she's the only full—time female broker as well as the only african—american. joe miller has more. genetics graduate lawrence evans was

a lwa ys genetics graduate lawrence evans was always an unlikely candidate for a career always an unlikely candidate for a career with the beating heart in the us economy as clients often like to remind her. a woman and you are 23 and you are a minority? what are you doing? how did you get thisjob? lauren moved to the big apple from her soap — state of georgia and thanks to an introduction, was soon working in wall street in an almost entirely male environment. working in wall street in an almost entirely male environmentlj working in wall street in an almost entirely male environment. i fell in love with the numbers and the fast movement and the man in daytrading jackets and everything was moving so fast. i'm loving it. the new york stock exchange is one of the last remaining trading floors to still use human brokers but even as their numbers dwindle, one thing remains true. this is very much a boys club. one wall st veteran who has been on the floor since 1969 of this

disparity goes back to the way things were done before the computers arrive. trading in a training crowd was a very physical thing. you and i would look at each other and try and figure out how we could do. how aggressively going to be? how nervous did you look. it didn't attract a lot of women. last year, richard hired lauren but she remains the only high—end female broker on the flutz despite attempts to rid —— to hire others. broker on the flutz despite attempts to rid -- to hire others. we hired a new person not long ago and they weren't very many female applicants because they weren't applying. with a few women who do make it to the new york stock exchange, some challenges await. everybody here wears a jacket or a blazer. it comes in men's sizes. when i saw it, i thought i was wearing my dad ‘s coat or something. despite sartorial obstacles, lauren was proud to be inducted into the stock exchange in an eternity and to be the second

african american woman ever to set —— sign her name next to rockefeller. but it means —— it needs more to follow in her way. now let's brief you some other business stories. walmart is buying a 75% stake in india's biggest e—commerce company flipkart for $15 billion. the deal is expected to be announced as early as this week. walmart has been trying to gain a foothold in the fast—growing indian market for a decade. and its purchase of flipkart marks the biggest foreign direct investment in indian history. the uk trade department is reportedly planning to let go of hundreds of officials who work to promote british exports. according to a report by the financial times, staff at the department for international trade have been told up to 10 percent of trade promotion jobs will be axed because of budgetary constraints. the strength of the dollar has

weakened a little bits. this is all in anticipation of what the white house might say later when it doesn't make its announcement —— when it makes its announcement on whether the us will remain a part of the irra nuclear deal or whether it will withdraw. that is the focus, do a great degree, of the financial markets around the world today. i will be back in a moment. radical reforms are needed to stop young

people from having a poor alike than their parents and to ensure the older generation are looked after. that is the conclusion of the special task addressing the growing financial gap between the generations. andy verity reports. afamily a family gathering in staffordshire, on the left, stephanie garden was born into the baby—boom generation that enjoyed higher incomes and more wealth than their parents. her daughter karen who is 48 hoped for the same but her grand dam, born in the same but her grand dam, born in the 1990s has been dealt a far wea ker the 1990s has been dealt a far weaker hand. dan's age—group and no more than the same age group 15 yea rs more than the same age group 15 years ago. they are half as likely to own a home and twice as likely to rent prices leap. while many pensioners are poor, on average, those touring the state pension of higher incomes than they have ever had after housing costs, they are higher than people of working age. yet, if they work, pensioners pay no national insurance. there are inevitable pressures for public

spending to go up on healthcare, and social care. it is reasonable to expect the baby boomers to have substantial part of the nation's wealth to make a contribution towards meeting those costs, especially as it will be for services for which they themselves directly benefit. among the commission's recommendations are 2.3 billion more for the nhs, paid for by national insurance on pensioners' earnings and all 25 —year—olds will get a £10,000 citizens inheritance which could be paid for by scrapping inheritance tax and instead taxing large cash gifts. don't think the young ones today have got it as easy as what some people think. i think it's quite difficult for them. politicians don't like annoying the grey vote but to close the financial generation gap, something has to be done, it is said. this is the briefing from bbc news.

the latest headlines.: the armenian parliament is expected to elect the popular opposition leader nikol pashinyan as the country's next prime minister later today. he led weeks of peaceful protests that forced the governing party's chairman and prime minister to step down. hungary's new parliament will assemble later today for the first time since prime minister viktor orban's right—wing fidesz party won a third consecutive election victory in april. several protests have been planned. now it is time look at the stories that are making the headlines in media across the world. we begin with the new york times, and decision day for donald trump. it reports he will pull the us out of the iran nuclear deal. meanwhile, the first lady's making the news too. the washington post says melania's trolled her husband by campaigning for people to be nicer on social media but buzzfeed accuses her of plagiarising the policy, putting it alongside one released under obama four years ago. the guardian in the uk covers

a proposal to tackle wealth inequality, "give young people a cash handout of £10,000 when they hit 25. to the financial times now, reporting job losses in the uk department for trade. the paper says it undermines claims that brexit will build a global britain. south china morning post covers trade between the two koreas and details the economic plan south korea gave to kim jong—un on a usb drive. and finally, bloomberg, and elon musk, who they say is putting his money where his mouth is, buying almost $10 million in tesla stock. so, let's begin.

back with me isjeremy cook, chief economist at world first. the iran nuclear deal. the new york times says the us will pull out. the us new york times will have its cake and is not supportive of the trump administration. we are aware of this. donald trump is expected to leave the iran deal. this is nothing new. there is not really anyone out there in the us expecting anything different from theirs