hello. this is business briefing. i'm samantha simmonds. the political crisis in italy sends shockwaves through financial markets worldwide. and, swapping rice for apples — we travel to kashmir to find out why farmers think the investment will bear fruit. and on the markets asian shares extended a global sell—off in early trading wednesday as italy's political crisis provoked a heavy retreat on wall street, sent the euro to a 10—month low and pushed up borrowing costs for the government in rome. so it is a big day for the eurozone‘s third biggest economy — which is due to try and raise billions of dollars from financial markets. but investors have been rattled by the deepening political crisis in italy. the italian treasury is selling up to $7 billion in bonds — essentially it's borrowing money from the markets — which is then used to help fund

government spending. but the price italy is now having to pay to borrow has surged. in an auction yesterday the price or yield — the amount of interest italy is charged — reached its highest level in three and a half years. it's rising because investors worry any new election could potentially become a referendum on the euro — which would raise questions about the future of the single currency. let's get more on this story from nicole nobile senior economist, oxford economics, whojoins me from milan via webcam. thank you for being with us here on bbc world news. we have seen a knock—on effect on world markets overnight. how damaging are the italian bond yields suffering their biggestjump italian bond yields suffering their biggest jump in 26 italian bond yields suffering their biggestjump in 26 years, do you think? thank you very much. the first question we have to ask ourselves now is where we are getting in terms of political situations. as you mentioned before,

one option was a elections again this year after the inconclusive election in march. but in very recent hours, what we have seen, we have seen probably be 5—star movement and la liga stuttle began, because they thought that the mandate start to talk again, because they thought that the financial markets were 0k. they thought that the financial markets were ok. but the country's markets were ok. but the country's markets need stability. and if the populists will form a government finally tell we might see some stability there. but what the markets are also asking is some sort of commitment to stay in the

eurozone. and then we have been question marks. we don't know what the populist parties are actually thinking. their view keeps on changing on the subject and they keep on being ambiguous, but at some point they need to fix it before the situation gets ugly. how long do you think of it will take them if there could be a elections injuly. the italian markets will have to stumble on in the interim. i don't think they have a lot of time, to be honest. in fact, the very recent news suggests that we might have some government after all, which, of course, is going to prevent the country from not having two months without a government. so i think politicians need to realise the

situation as quickly as possible. thank you for being with us here on bbc world news. again, send us through your thoughts on the situation, there. donald trump has made a surprise announcement that he plans to move forward in applying trade sanctions against china. let's go to our asia business hub where rico hizon is following the story. rico, weren't those sanctions on hold? what is going on? you know what? the united states has been so fickle, in terms of whether or not to impose ta riffs terms of whether or not to impose tariffs on china. but now the ta riffs tariffs on china. but now the tariffs are back on from today. they plan to impose 25% tariffs on $57 billion worth of chinese imports, shortly after mid—june. the us administration also announced that it will restrict chinese investments in chinese companies and limit the number of goods that us companies can sell to china. you know, cement,

critics accuse donald trump of going soft on china after steven mnuchin said tariffs were on hold while the two sides continued their trade negotiations. but china's commerce ministry called on the us to act in the spirit of belligerent comments and not to go contrary to the agreement reached not too long ago. the chinese have been pledged —— have pledged to buy more us agricultural products, but no firm commitments. are these just threats to extradite the ongoing process?m could all be changed by the time we come to tomorrow. an increasing number of farmers in the northern indian state ofjammu and kashmir are swapping their rice

crop for apples. once a field is converted, it takes at least a few years for an apple tree to produce its first harvest. even so, farmers think it's worth the investment. yogita limaye travelled to the village of tral in southern kashmir where the majority of farmers have made the move. preparing to sir rice on a small patch of land. all of this used to be paddyfields. but now most of it is covered in young trees, a changing picture of kashmir. samir painted his saplings just recently. he is trying to grow fruit on more than 80% of the land he owns. translation: winner get a good price for rice. it is less than a third of what we used to get earlier. that is because rice from other states is cheaper. the fact we don't get a good price for rice. you can make good price for rice. you can make good money from apple ‘s said.

good price for rice. you can make good money from apple '5 saidm good price for rice. you can make good money from apple 's said. it is unusual switch. the case if years before an apple field yields a harvest. until then, there is no profit. about 80 apple trees were painted here and lusty they produced their first painted here and lusty they produced theirfirst group. painted here and lusty they produced their first group. so started a few yea rs their first group. so started a few years ago, but it is really gathered stea m, years ago, but it is really gathered steam, especially after the monsoon last year. to grow rice, water is essential. of late, there has not been enough of it. last year, streams ran dry because it into sufficient rainfall and the government advised against selling paddy. it is around 2500 to 5000 litres of water to produce one kilo of rice. there is a huge difference for apples. the water in kashmir is receding. rice continues to be a

sta ble receding. rice continues to be a stable in get very kitchens. but for many like samir, it is no longer a favourite on the farms. let's brief you on some other business stories. india's federal police have raided local offices of airasia as investigators accused the airline's boss tony fernandes of illegally obtaining operating licences. airasia has denied any wrongdoing and says it's working with "all regulators and agencies to present the correct facts." sir martin sorrell is set for a return to the london stock market just weeks after leaving advertising giant wpp. he is taking charge of a shell company, derriston capital, and plans to turn it into a new advertising venture. sir martin stepped down from wpp in april after the board investigated claims of misconduct. that's it for business briefing this hour, but before we go, here are the markets — asian shares extended a global sell—off in early trading wednesday as italy's political crisis provoked a heavy retreat on wall street, sent the euro to a io—month low

and pushed up borrowing costs for the government in rome. on wall street on tuesday, the dow jones industrial average fell i.58%, the s&p 500 lost 1.16%. investors fear that repeat elections in the eurozone's third—largest economy — which could come as soon asjuly — may become a de—facto referendum on italian membership of the currency bloc and the country's role in the european union. a quick look at sugar. here it is. there is gold staying steady, as is sugar, brent crude down 0.52%. up next newsbriefing, where we'll take you through the stories making headlines in the global media today. an independent report has accused

kensington and chelsea council of being slow and lacking direction in the weeks following the grenfell tower disaster. the research commissioned by the muslim council suggests that the authorities relied on voluntary organisations to help those in need — and says the disaster should be a wake—up call about how to deal with future emergencies. ben ando reports. in the chaotic aftermath of the blaze at grenfell tower, everybody wa nted blaze at grenfell tower, everybody wanted to give. clothes, food, supplies. and hundreds of local people stood forward with something just as precious: their time. according to a report from muslim

aid, the response from the authorities, especially the councils, was weak and lacked direction or co—ordination. that, says the report, left local volu nteers says the report, left local volunteers with no experience with aid work trying their best to cope, but often overwhelmed. it was com plete but often overwhelmed. it was complete chaos. been too many disasters around the world as an aid worker, and they did not expect to find this level of chaos, the chaotic response, in west london. so what we need to reflect on is that the locals are the ones that are pa rt the locals are the ones that are part and parcel of that provision and that response. in response, the council said... the council said it could not comment further until the main public enquiry had concluded. but the charities say the lesson of the report is clear: in the aftermath of

the disaster, the community itself should be put at the centre of the first response, not considered as an afterthought. ben ando, bbc news. coming up at 6am on breakfast, charlie stayt and naga munchetty will have all the day's news, business and sport. that's brekafast — on this channel — at 6am. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: one of russia's best—known investigative journalists has been shot dead at his home in the ukrainian capital, kiev. arkady babchenko — who was an outspoken critic of president putin — left russia last year, saying he feared for his life. the bbc has used a covert network of dissidents to put questions to citizens inside north korea. they talked of the regime's increasing tolerance of market trading and a recent reduction in propaganda against the united states. the american television network abc has cancelled the hit comedy roseanne, after describing online remarks

by its star as repugnant. in a late—night tweet, roseanne barr described a former advisor to president obama as the baby of the muslim brotherhood and planet of the apes. the headlines in media across the world. we begin with the entertainment industry magazine, variety. it covers the canning of roseanne's sitcom over a racist tweet and takes a closer look at the tv executive behind the move. the washington post has the latest twist on the potential north korea—us summit. it likens the uncertainty to a ‘carnival ride' and says officials are hurriedly working towards the original date. from the big political story of the moment to the big financial one. the ft says italy's political uncertainty‘s now spooking international markets and looks at how the eurozone may handle the crisis. there is a good—news business story around though — it's in the independent — among many others. the £1000 payout each member of staff working for coffee chain pret a manger is set to receive on its sell—off. and you might need a coffee

to get your head around this article in vox. scientists have estimated the mass of all life and put it into a chart. the website says it's mind—boggling. thankfully tom's here to explain it all to us. no pressure, tom. lets a easy wind with an easy. looking at variety's ta ke with an easy. looking at variety's take on the canning of the road ban that make roseanne barr show which was brought back a few months ago and was doing phenomenally well bringing in tens of thousands of viewers. that she has now posted a racist tweet and they have acted swiftly. that is the easy story? interesting. this is... this is a clash between the commercial interest of abc and doing the right thing. for me it does not seem to be that difficult a decision. clearly what roseanne barr had to say in this tweet was unacceptable and what

is interesting is that abc brought heran, is interesting is that abc brought her an, brought her back knowing that she had a history of these kinds of outbursts. this is what the variety article is saying. the mistake they made was bringing her backin mistake they made was bringing her back in the first place. in the circumstances, what else could they do? there is a picture of the woman who made this decision, the boss, the first black woman to head up a big tv network and she reacted swiftly as you say. it talks about her position and also whether she should have brought roseanne back in the first place.