this is your business briefing with me, sally bundock. fox hunted: comcast makes a $65 billion hostile bid for rupert murdoch's entertainment business — setting up a bidding war with disney. plus in great shape: the federal reserve hails a booming us economy. it raises interest rates — and signals two more increases this year. was enough to not financial markets in asia. you can see these markets down as asia weighs up more movement from the fed and its hawkish position. so once again we start in the us — with a massive hostile takeover bid for rupert murdoch's fox entertainment business. late on wednesday the world's biggest cable tv company comcast made an unsolicited $65 billion offerfor fox.

the move is a direct challenge to rival media giant disney — which had already agreed to buy fox for $52 billion in shares. as paul blake reports from new york, they are both battling to adapt to our changing viewing habits. this $65 billion mega deal would see the merge of some of the world's biggest television and movie brands and it's the first attempt of many to merge content with distribution. many viewers are ditching traditional services for online services. as netflix and youtube become stronger, traditional telecommunications companies see these deals as vital to their survival in the so—called "cord—cutting era". comcast floated the idea of for some time, but like other possible mergers and acquisitions, it was on hold. the company wanted to see the outcome of an anti—trust case brought by the trump administration against telecommunications giant at&t.

that case was dismissed on tuesday by a judge, granting at&t the ability to buy content house time warner but also signalling a green light for comcast to proceed with its bid for 20th century fox. it's important to see that comcast proposal is a proposal, just that. walt disney had made a bid for parts of 21st century fox. comcast and disney could not in a bidding war. let's stay in the us — where the federal reserve has — as widely expected — raised the cost of borrowing by a quarter of one per cent — to a range of 1.75 to 2%. but in a move that surprised many observers, the bank signalled plans to raise rates twice more this year — instead of the one increase most were expecting. fed chiefjerome powell said the us economy is in great shape, despite concerns over growing global trade tensions. the bbc‘s kim gittleson reports

from the fed in washington. this is a high drama in the world of central banking. the federal reserve‘s policymakers surprised observers when projectors were released following a two—day meeting, favouring accelerating the rate of interest rate increases this year. that has adjusted —— that is something because they believe the biggest rest of the us economy is inflation. prices are rising due to a booming us economy. interestingly, this means that the fed is not concerned by the applications of a trade war that the us is fighting with many of its closest allies. in fa ct, with many of its closest allies. in fact, here is what the chair, jerome powell, is said at a press conference. powell, is said at a press conference . concerns powell, is said at a press conference. concerns about changes in trade policy are rising, i think

it is that he said. you're beginning to hear reports of companies holding off on making investments and hiring people. right now, we don't see that in the numbers at all. the economy is very strong. the market is strong. growth is strong. we really don't see it in the numbers. something else that is not in the numbers: the potential disruption that a faster rate of interest rate increases could have on emergent economies around the world. already, india has warned the fed that by decreasing the number of dollars in circulation around the world, is coming economies like india's. but with a booming economy, a favourable fiscal environment, and the prospect of finally ending an era of accommodative monitor policy on the horizon, it is unlikely that the fed, so be present, will be considered with what the world

thinks. so that was kim gittleson that now. let's stay with central bank policy because the european central bank meets later and it could also be at a turning point. the ecb is expected to announce a timetable for phasing out its massive support programme for the eurozone economy. since 2015 it's spent 2.4 trillion euros on quantitative easing, buying bonds in a bid to stimulate the economy. it's currently spending 30 billion euros a month on these purchases — and markets are on the lookout for signs that it's going to scale that figure back. the bank is thought to be encouraged by signs of recovery. last year the economy grew by 2.5 per cent — the fastest rate in a decade. with me is gervais williams, senior executive director, miton asset management. nice to see you. so you take, first of all, on the ecb, and whether they

will start to taper their monthly injection to the eurozone. will start to taper their monthly injection to the eurozonelj will start to taper their monthly injection to the eurozone. i think thatis injection to the eurozone. i think that is expected. i think the market respects this to be happening towards the end of the year and then sit entirely by the start of next year. this is the right time to do that? i think the great advantage of quantitative easing is that it sta rts quantitative easing is that it starts to deal with some of the bad debts. there is more to be done, but it seems they are ready made their decision. so what they think, i think it will happen. there is still uncertainty in europe, italy, the outcome of their recent election, and various other countries, they did have a great 2017, but some concerns about how this you will go. that is right. we have seen a downturn in some emergent markets and export markets for the eu. that is leading to slow growth in the eu this year and that leaves the possibility of extending it into next year. but unthinkable happened. and you are worried about the us and to run power and his team and their thinking. give us more on that.“ they raise interest rates, and it is

only 2%, so much, but they do the opposite of quantitative easing, what typing. that makes that is not much. it is likely to make markets more stable. we saw even in february markets become more tight.“ more stable. we saw even in february markets become more tight. is it a right in saying that the us economy isa right in saying that the us economy is a position, and he was quite caution delay caution with his statement is back. the shaky what is —— he was quite cautious. statement is back. the shaky what is —— he was quite cautiouslj statement is back. the shaky what is -- he was quite cautious. i think he was critically giving guidance on interest rate rises. he might go to 2.596 interest rate rises. he might go to 2.5% by the end of year. relatively low levels. i am not so worried about that. think is quantitative tightening that is the worry. explain what that is. we are familiar with quantitative easing, but what are starting? it is putting

more liquidity into the market to give them time to unwind some of the unbalance us. quantitative tightening takes cash out of the markets. basically they issue extra bonds and absorb more cash than they need, meaning that markets have less operational liquidity, meaning that they are more vulnerable to setbacks. all right, we will watch closely. thank you for coming in and giving us your take them atjameis winston. —— gervais williams. let's move to asia now — and there's a lot of economic data coming out of china — it's telling us the world's number two economy is slowing more than we thought. rico hizon is looking at this for us. nice to see you. what has to tell the survey? from industrial output to retail sales, the numbers all fell short of expectations. they we re fell short of expectations. they were a disappointment and the view is that the economy is finally starting to slow under the weight of a prolonged crackdown on riskier

lending that is pushing up borrowing costs for companies and consumers. add to this uncertainty, the the chinese central bank left its interest rates unchanged, surprising markets and analysts, who expected them to follow the us lead in raising interest rates. investment growth cooled during the january to may period. it is this lower spaces 1996. retail sales fell to the loss 01’ 1996. retail sales fell to the loss or is this 2003. good to see the rico hizon. now let's brief you some other business stories. jet engine maker rolls royce will announce later it's cutting over 4000 jobs — mostly in the uk — according to reports. the uk engineering firm is undergoing a major restructuring process aimed at boosting profitability. it's also battling costly technical problems with one of its key engines — the trent 1000 used in the boeing 787 dreamliner. car giant volkswagen has been fined 1 billion euros by german

prosecutors over its diesel emissions scandal — one of the highest fines ever imposed on a company by german authorities. vw said it did not plan to appeal — and had admitted "its responsibility for the diesel crisis". it comes after a 11.3 billion dollar settelement with us authorities early last year. france's parliament has backed a bill to overhaul the country's heavily indebted state railway company, sncf. the vote is seen as a victory for president emmanuel macron and a blow to rail unions. they staged three months of rolling strikes over the bill, which scraps employee benefits such as early retirement and job for life guarantees. that's it for business briefing this hour. up next, newsbriefing.

but first, the antarctic ice sheet has lost about three trillion tons of ice since 1992, according to the most complete, satellite study of the continent ever undertaken. an international team of polar scientists say antarctic ice losses have increased global sea levels by almost 8mm since 1992 — and the melting is speeding up. 0ur science correspondent victoria gill looks at the findings. up close, it's a pristine, frozen wilderness. but viewed from space, antarctica is changing rapidly. it revealed ice loss at the bottom of our planet is speeding up over time. the continent now sheds almost 200 billion tons of ice per year.

we used to think the earth's polar ice sheets were slumbering giants that were not responsive to climate change, but that's clearly not the case. the ice loss we see today is because the ice sheet is melting due to warm ocean around the continent. the concern is how much sea level rise the ice sheet might contribute in the future. globally, sea levels are already rising by about three millimetres per year, and this study estimates as much as 0.6 millimetres of that comes from antarctic ice loss. it's a result that could shift the forecast of how our planet will respond to climate change. at the moment, we have projections going through to 2100, which is sort of on a lifetime of what we can envisage, and the sea level rise we will see is 50—60 centimetres probably, and that is not only going to impact people who live close to the coasts, but actually when we have repeated major storm surges and flooding events, it's going to be exacerbated because of the sea level rise. satellite—based studies continue

to be a critical part of the effort to monitor antarctica as the changes in this remote wilderness begin to flow into the rest of the world. victoria gill, bbc news. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: football fans are gathering in moscow for the start of the world cup today. the first match is between the hosts russia and saudi arabia — the two lowest—ranked sides in the tournament. the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, has said that achieving the denuclearisation of the korean peninsula would be a process, but not an easy one. he was speaking at a news conference in seoul, with the foreign ministers of south korea and japan. commemorations and vigils are taking place today to mark the first anniversary of the grenfell towerfire in london. 72 people died in the disaster.

an inquiry into the causes is ongoing. let us look at how the media is discussing these stories. we begin with the independent — among many outlets marking the grenfell fire anniversary. it says hundreds of homes bought for survivors are lying empty, while many families are still without permanent homes to live in. on to the new york times covering a big sport announcement — that's the winning joint bid by the united states, mexico and canada to host the 2026 world cup. on to the business insider now — and the number of people using facebook for news is down, especially among younger members, who are increasingly turning

to facebook—owned whatsapp instead. staying with social media, the times lead story now it reports claims in the uk that web giants are fuelling mental health problems among children. and we'll end with a look at the front page of the financial times, looking at one of the uk's biggest data hacks — it says six million customers of electrical retailer dixons carphone were exposed. that was a breach that has attracted the attention of spy agencies. that story broke yesterday morning. that is being dealt with in the papers today. back with me is iain anderson, founder of the international communications agency, cicero group. let us get stuck in. anniversaries are always extremely difficult.