hello. this is business live from bbc news with ben thompson and sally bundock. a tough day for two of the biggest names in tech. bosses from facebook and twitter face a grilling from us lawmakers. live from london, that's our top story on wednesday 5th september. sheryl sandberg of facebook and jack dorsey of twitter will face questions over how russia used social media during the us presidential election — and how they plan to stop it happening again. also in the programme — the former boss of the bank of england tells the bbc that the preparations for brexit have been "incompetent" — he's been speaking to our business editor — we'll have that interview. and as amazon brieflyjoined apple as a trillion—dollar valued company — we'll look at what else is moving the markets and why.

distinguished shirts for distinguished gentlemen! including prince charles. we'll be talking to the boss of the clothier turnbull and asser. japan's shinzo abe vows to raise retirement age. what age do you think you'll retire — if at all? let us know — just use the hashtag bbcbizlive. hello and welcome to business live. worry not, sally and i will be here well into our 90s doing this programme, i have a feeling. we start in the us where it could be a difficult day for some of the biggest names in tech. wit the us midterm elections less than two months away, the us government has called tech bosses to washington, to explain what they're doing to prevent foreign manipulation of elections via social media. today, bosses of twitter and facebook will answer questions from the senate intelligence

committee. facebook‘s chief operating officer, sheryl sandberg will say the social media giant has already disabled almost 1.3 billion fake accounts — a staggering sum — and the firm has doubled the number of people it has working to combat misinformation on the site. meanwhile, twitter‘s chief executive, jack dorsey, is likely to address concerns over censorship. he says that twitter does not use political ideology to make decisions in terms of how content is ranked on the site. but what about the other big player in all of this — google? the committee also invited google to take part, but instead of sending along larry page, the firm has decided to supply a written testimony to the hearing. this is set to be the most anticipated hearing since april's appearance by facebook chief executive mark zuckerberg — he testified before two congressional committees. then he argued that social media firms need to take more responsibility for what happens on their sites. with me is our

technology correspondent rory cellan—jones. ben has outlined the day ahead. what is your take on this and in particular google's absence? that's going to be one of them are striking things. sheryl sandberg from facebook, key figure, jack dorsey the chief executive of twitter, next to them, an empty chair because that's what the senate committee says they are going to do. because google said they would send somebody, they wanted to send their top lawyer. the senators said that is not good enough, we need somebody ofa is not good enough, we need somebody of a higher status, either larry page, one of the founders or sundar pichai, the chief executive, so google is in a stand—off with politicians. that doesn't usually end well, companies taking on the politicians in that way and we have to see how it goes. what is at stake for these companies? well, their

whole reputation. from a few years back, rumba how politicians used to talk to the likes of google, twitter and facebook, they were almost switched by them, convinced of their power and they liked them and saw them is good for the image —— remember how politicians. it has turned around and lots of it is to do with the us 2016 presidential election, face but particularly under pressure for that. this morning mark zuckerberg the chief executive has written in the washington post previewing the hearing, admitting once again that they failed to spot what was going on in 2016 and confronting the issue which will be foremost today, what is going to happen in the mid—term elections and how is their technology going to be used. are foreign actors, ie the russians, going to be using it to interfere in american affairs? sheryl sandberg is likely to reiterate the point, we have taken down 1.3 billion fake facebook accounts, we have added so

many more staff members to try and counter this, we have ploughed in lots of money, but are these companies fighting a losing battle on this issue? is the sheer scale which is what makes them suruc which makes it more difficult for them to confront the amount of material, the number of people trying to use their platforms for often malicious ends and they've given the impression of not really being able to cope so far and i'm sure the senators will be zeroing in on that. they will be a huge political battle going on within capitol hill, because there are within capitol hill, because there a re lots of within capitol hill, because there are lots of people on the conservative side who think these companies are biased against them and they will be pushing that point very hard. rory, thank you very much indeed. rory will update us as will others, on our team indeed. rory will update us as will others, on ourteam in indeed. rory will update us as will others, on our team in the business unit, with regards to how this day goes for those companies. absolutely, busy day ahead. these are some of the other stories making headlines. the imf says progress

has been made to solve argentina's currency crisis after a meeting in washington. the south american country is seeking advanced payments of a $50 billion loan to use it against a run on its national currency, the peso. but neither side has commented on how much money might be released or how soon a deal should be reached. the japanese car giant, toyota, says it's to recall more than1 million vehicles — including its hybrid prius model — in japan, north america, europe and some other regions. it's due to an issue with the engine which they say could pose a fire risk. the issue affects vehicles produced injapan between june 2015 and may 2018. from manufacturing to agriculture. the united nations is holding an emergency meeting in thailand about the threat of swine fever in asia. it's been a particular problem in china — where thousands of swine have either died from the disease — or been killed by authorities. it's a big problem to the pork industry.

sharanjit leyl is in our asian business hub in singapore. it really underlines how important this is as an industry for so many companies in asia, particular problems in the region that you are. indeed. and completely also a bit example of eyes how important this is for china, it is the world's largest pork producer and any spread of this disease could have damaging implications on its pork industry. to the un food and agricultural 0rganisation china accounts for half of the world's supply of hogs so it may impact pork prices in the weeks and months to come, in fact that un emergency meeting is going on right now with animal health experts in bangkok to discuss this threat of african swine fever including specialists from china and nine other countries close by who may be at risk from the spread of this disease along with experts from

outside the region and participants from the private commercial swine sector. china detected eight cases of this virus early in august and since then chinese authorities have rushed to scramble to contain the virus, shot live markets and also banned transportation of life pegs and pork products in and out of those regions. sharanjit, thank you. particularly important for the region, one of the major producers, and what implications they could be on experts around the world. let me show you what is happening on the numbers. japanese shares down on worries that a tariff war between china and the united states could escalate. in china, the services numbers showed further weakness last month, coming in at 51.5. well below the market expectations. australian gdp hit 3.4% — easing some worries that emerging market turmoil could spread to developed economies. in the us — amazon's soaring valuation pushed it through the trillion—dollar level for the first time — albeit briefly. eddiejones apple at being $1

trillion valued company. —— itjoins apple. in europe, it was a tough session for markets yesterday given those emerging market worries. later today we'll get the services pmis for spain, italy, france and germany — painting a similar picture to the disappointing manufacturing numbers seen earlier this week. but the focus likely to be on words from the former bank of england governor lord king — who has condemned brexit preparations as "incompetent". the supporter of brexit said it "beggared belief" that the world's sixth—biggest economy should be talking of stockpiling food and medicines. he was speaking to our business editor, simon jack, here's what he had to say. if a government cannot take action to prevent some of these catastrophic outcomes, whatever particular take on the eu, it illustrates a whole lack of preparation. it doesn't tell us anything about whether the policy of staying in the eu is good or bad.

it tells us everything about the incompetence of the preparation for it. that is the former bank of england governor. joining us is richard dunbar, investment director at aberdeen standard investments. nice to see you, richard. morning. yet another voice today adding to the many arguing this process is not going well at all. what do you make of what mervyn king said's i don't think many people would disagree that the process is not going particularly welcome he describes it as incompetent, or at least the preparations for the process as incompetent. looking at the parliamentary arithmetic it is not obvious what the competent process is. the alternatives in front of theresa may, none of them look particularly obvious, or particularly obvious, or particularly attractive in themselves. it looks like we're choosing between the least competent process , choosing between the least competent process, perhaps. it was never going to bea process, perhaps. it was never going to be a smooth path. is it surprising that a supporter of brexit is saying this? you'd expect

somebody supporting remy, eight remain, would want to have a critical view of the process. but somebody who is a supporter of brexit —— supporting remain, a remainer. he's talking to civil serva nts remainer. he's talking to civil servants about this as well and is not surprising he has come to this view but the choices are not attractive ones and theresa may is navigating a difficult way at the moment. the department for exiting the european union has rebounded dharma responded. we have their comments. we're making further progress on the outstanding separation issues. you can read more on their response to mervyn king. what else are you watching on markets? there is lots of focus on emerging markets. more particularly how the emerging market, those problems feed into developed markets. some of the problems are specific to the countries we have

spoken about, tariff barriers etc, but more general, us interest rates, the tariffs have impacts on poorer markets. brexit has an impact on the developed world and we are looking at whether the spill—overs spilled over to any greater extent. thank you for now, richard will be back later. we are going to talk amazon being $1 trillion company among other stories as well. stay tuned for that. still to come. a matter of style. we'll talk to the man in charge turnball and asser, the maker of posh shirts — for stylish men. your kind of shirt, then! you're with business live from bbc news. the archbishop of canterbury has called for a fundamental rethink of how the economy works, including more public spending and higher taxes on technology giants and the wealthy. to mark the launch of a major report by the commission

on economicjustice, of which he is a leading member, archbishop justin welby told our economics editor, kamal ahmed, that the present economy was "unjust" overall, the answer is no, it is not a just economy because it's not just for everyone. people suffer from injustice in the economy. the need to go to a food bank even when you've got two adults in the household living reasonably tightly and both working. people sufferfrom being in a debt trap because they can't replace a basic bit of equipment they need, new stove, a washing machine. let alone have luxuries. do you think that public spending should be cut more, or should now be increased? do we need more money to be spent in key areas,

particularly housing, education, health, the armed forces would say defence and other areas? yes, we do, because we care about human dignity. so that when someone falls into mental illness that they don't get discarded, that when someone who has worked hard all their life and paid their taxes and needs help at the end of their life the nhs is there to help them. to pay for that extra spending that you say is necessary, is it necessary for the wealthy and the businesses to pay more tax? what is clear is that tax should be a fundamental part of being a citizen and that those who have the most should pay the most. and that no company, through being multinational, being global, can evade the responsibilities of paying its proper amount of tax

based on the revenues it earns in this country. so, yes, some people will need to pay more. the archbishop of canterbury there. more detail on that conversation on the business life page. your're watching business live — our top story. bosses from facebook and twitter appear before us lawmakers today. sheryl sandberg and jack dorsey will be asked about russian attempts to use social media to interfere with the us elections — and how they plan to stop such interference in the future. now, can you put a price on style? the fashion industry is booming, despite a slowdown in consumer spending in many parts of the world. sales of fashionb are expected to triple between 2016 and 2018. but according to the mckinsey

global fashion index, shoppers are increasingly demanding a personalised experience, rather than mass market fast fashions. well one brand offering that — is bespoke shirt maker is turnbull & asser — a gentleman's shirt—maker, clothier and tie—maker established way back in 1885. and we rejoined now by its managing director, jonathan baker. nice to see you. you have been in thejob a nice to see you. you have been in the job a relatively brief time. we talk about going back to 1885, quite a responsibility to be at the helm of such an established firm. a responsibility to be at the helm of such an established firmm a responsibility to be at the helm of such an established firm. it is. it's obviously a privilege. it's an institution and it is a privilege to be given the opportunity to really ta ke be given the opportunity to really take it to the next level and really look at how we modernise and survive in the current environment.” look at how we modernise and survive in the current environment. i wanted to ask, when you come into an organisation with so much history

and tradition attached, is it easy to make your mark? do you need to tiptoe around and work out the lay of the land before you make change? i think that's that's a sensible approach to any new opportunity you ta ke approach to any new opportunity you take on, but in particular, to a business that is established as turnbull & asser, change is difficult in a lot of these companies. it's really reminding eve ryo ne companies. it's really reminding everyone as well that the business has always changed and that is... it would not have survived unless it had changed and modernised and been releva nt. had changed and modernised and been relevant. when you look at the history, it's quite a history, it has a royal warrant, prince charles is the man that wears the shirts in the royalfamily, is the man that wears the shirts in the royal family, but is the man that wears the shirts in the royalfamily, but also is the man that wears the shirts in the royal family, but also the company providing shots for the likes of winston churchill, ronald reagan, daniel craig in the bond movies. it's quite a long list. it is. and it's a british brand, you

make shirts in britain, that's very important. it is very important, made in england, that element and owning our own manufacturer is incredibly important, part of the dna and history of the brand. in particular it mentioned in your piece the move towards more personalisation and spoke, 35% of the shirts we make our bespoke, and for that you need a level of control to make sure you can deliver the level of product and the level of quality. so, making them in england gives us the proximity and control over the man fracturing process and that's why it's such a key element of the brand for now and obviously going forward. shirts, such big business. particularly of late because it strikes me there has been a sort of backlash, maybe our pa rents a sort of backlash, maybe our parents generation which was increasingly casual, there was a formality to the 50s and 60s and thenit formality to the 50s and 60s and then it got increasingly casual, and now there's a sort of young backlash against that and people getting much

smarter. do you see that? generally, the trend is more dressed down at the trend is more dressed down at the moment, you see obviously lots of open collar shirts, but our business is growing. but still shirts. few t-shirts, for example. exactly, ultimately it is a trend business and whatever the trend, the impeccably dressed guy in the room will always stand out. that is unchangeable and there is a timeless element to that which is at the core of who we are as a business. despite the history and the strength of brand and the names you can affiliate with it, you can't ignore what's going on in the world and this trade is back between china and the united states among the world's producers of cotton, that could affect the price of cotton on world markets. there's also the issue of brexit as well. tell us what you are watching and why. you mentioned two elements there but the number of

myriad instabilities and volatilities in the market we have at the moment, cotton is one of those concerns. it is our core raw material and the us is our biggest export market. we just work very closely with our suppliers and particularly with cotton, they are incredibly diversified in terms of where they source their cotton to allow them to ride the peaks and troughs of the global cotton trade. similarly, with brexit, as we have touched on before in your previous piece, we don't really know what's going on. we have tojust try piece, we don't really know what's going on. we have to just try and plan as best we can. we work very closely with our suppliers and our networks to understand various scenarios and how it will impact supply chains and how it will impact the markets we sell into. we look to diversify our business as best as possible, to instigate ourselves. and that is your costs, what about

prices? these shirts don't come cheap. £190, 200 something like that. not cheap. can you afford to make them more expensive? obviously we have, as a business, a certain level of margin that protects the business. 0bviously, level of margin that protects the business. obviously, we are co nsta ntly business. obviously, we are constantly looking at ways we can make ourselves more efficient on the supply side of the business, to offset that. but there is an inevitability if... if your costs go up, obviously. you need to maintain a level of margin. that ultimately ends up with more expensive prices on the market. we must leave it there but thank you so much, jonathan baker. amazon has done it. the e—commerce giant become the second us—listed firm to have a market value of a $1 trillion. its shares rose nearly 2% in early morning trade before slipping back.

apple reached the same milestone in early august. kim gittleson reports from new york. the $1 trillion milestone is all the more remarkable because for the nearly two decades that amazon has spent as a public company it generally reported losses or negligible profits. each quarterjeff bezos, the compa ny‘s founder, would say that he was reinvesting all the revenue the company generated into amazon's future. and as of this week that strategy seems to have paid off. and for amazon, frankly the future seems quite bright. that's because even more so than the other $1 trillion company, apple, of course, amazon's business is geared to the future of how we will live both online and offline. what other business stories has the media been

taking an interest in? richard dunbar from aberdeen standard investments joins us again. what do you make of the amazon story? 0nly briefly, but psychologically important. it's a combination of many years of success. they provided a great product that people like. it's been ubiquitous, we will use it, it has driven prices down. in so many aspects of life. that's the diversification thing, it's notjust selling us stuff but we can now buy videos and music. think back to when it started, we thought it was just for books, a threat to the high street book—sellers. now it's been a threat to everyone. with the acquisition of whole foods in the us, it's gone back to buying bricks and mortar and selling products on the street so it's almost come full circle. let's talk about our twitter question today, when did we think we may retire? never! ben says we may be doing this into our 90s, i'm

already there! it's all the make up! let's have a look at the financial times article talking about japan's challenge, shinzo abe bowing to raise the retirement age. it's around 65 when people can draw on their pension, they want to move up to 70. a big issue. japan have had this problem for years, they have seen this problem for years, they have seen it coming decades. they are at the vanguard of trying to deal with it and they are dealing with problems we are all going to have to deal with. trying to get more people into the workforce, older people, women into the workforce, they are dealing with exactly the same problems we are dealing with and are going to have to address. we have pushed the age up here, for a man 67, 60 eight. late 60s for all. japan are going to push it to 70 by the look on it but it's an inevitability. in distinct contrast, we worry about emerging markets at the moment but they have young workforces, young populations, turkey, argentina, south africa,

brazil, the complete opposites of ourselves and japan. great opportunities for them despite turmoil. thanks for all your m essa g es turmoil. thanks for all your messages about this. adele says i just turned 73, still working on x—ray. kevin says i don't think i will be in a position to retire. pippa says when i am dead! stephen, i can't afford to retire. that's the problem. by putting away money mall... now, how much we think we need to save to get an income we wa nt need to save to get an income we want from we are older. also putting money away is easier said than done. but at the price of houses. it's pretty difficult. thank you, richard. he is a pro, he knows when he hears the music! that's it from business live today. we'll see you again tomorrow. brighter skies for many but a shift

of something more autumnal feeling as we move towards the end of the week. two weather fronts as we move towards the end of the week. two weatherfronts influencing our weather, wanted the south and east bringing more cloud the south england and east anglia, one or two showers. the north—west, increasing amounts of cloud and outbreaks of rainfor amounts of cloud and outbreaks of rain for northern ireland and north—west scotland. elsewhere, into north—west scotland. elsewhere, into north—west england and wales and central parts of england, plenty of dry, bright weather. good spells of sunshine, more cloud lingering, one or two showers. temperatures in the mid to high teens, a maximum of around 20 or 21 degrees. through this evening and overnight, there are outbreaks of rain that continue to spread eastwards, pushing into shetland, in the early hours. largely fizzling out by the time it moves into north—west wales and england and the midlands, but patchy outbreaks of light rain and drizzle. elsewhere clear spells, temperatures

in the north slipping into single figures, more like ten or 12 in the south. tomorrow, a bit of a shift in our weather. more of a northerly feed, there will be a good deal of sunny spells around, a scattering of showers and we could see the showers in the south—west merging to form a longer spell of rain for a time. temperatures generally mid—to high teens tomorrow, could reach the low 20s in the south east. into friday, we see that area of low pressure fully formed out towards the east, we hold onto that northerly feed, in fa ct i we hold onto that northerly feed, in fact i think we will see the wind picking up a touch in the north. fairly blustery feeling here. friday comes with a good deal of sunshine, good spells of sunshine, again a view showers and quite hard to pinpoint exactly where they will be at the greatest chance of seeing some showers further north and east you are. brighter weather in the south—west. temperatures down a

touch, struggling into the high teens. a maximum of 19 degrees. looks like low pressure remains in charge as we move into the weekend, so it will stay fairly unsettled, further showers in the forecast as well, and i think on balance, sunday probably looking like the better of the tee days. hello, it's wednesday, it's 9am, i'm victoria derbyshire, welcome to the programme. it's been called the most exciting cancer treatment for decades — and a deal has been done to let the nhs give children with a type of leukaemia this expensive new cancer therapy. this is the beginning of a new area of cancer treatment where cells from your own body can be reprogrammed to provide treatment for previously untreatable conditions. how much of a game changer could this treatment be? we will find out. should misogyny — sexism or prejudice towards women — be a hate crime? today mps will vote on proposal which could make that happen. we'll talk to the labour mp

campaigning for change and also ask, what about hatred towards men? and what's in the meat you buy from supermarkets or order in restaurants?