this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. italy is on a collision course with brussels over it's planned spending spree, but rome says it won't back down on costly election promises. equality in the digital revolution. melinda gates tells the bbc governments need to be prepared and make sure their people are not left behind. a brand—new trading week kicks off on a bad note in asia, with all the main share markets headed lower despite the small bounce seen on wall street on friday. concern is mounting. the italian government could be on the fast—track to a spectacular showdown with the european commission later. it's all because of it's spending plans.

like the other 18 eu countries that use the euro as their currency, it is due to submit its 2019 budget plans to brussels today. the major problem is that the coalition government which came to power earlier this year wants to spend more. it's promised a boost to infrastructure spending and welfare payments and lower retirement age. all this costs money, of course. the eu and imf are already warning these plans are unaffordable, and will only add to the government's $2.6 trillion debt pile. that's more than 130% of the size of the economy. in the eu, only greece has a bigger debt burden. investors are worried that number isn't coming down and the government won't be able to afford it's debt repayments, so as you can see, the cost of borrowing has been rising in recent weeks. that's of course expensive for

italy. francesco lippi is professor of macroeconomics at luiss university in rome. welcome to the programme. give us your take on this situation italy is in and the situation that may occur this week in brussels. yes, good morning. yes, the situation is complicated. the country has plans for further spending and, in my view, these plans were expected because they we re plans were expected because they were pa rt of plans were expected because they were part of the electoral promises. further spending for pensions and spending for this kind of universal income. both measures are transfers. they're kind of support for further sections of the population. in my view what's most worries is not the amount of spending per se, and the

deficit is moving between i% to 296... 2.496, deficit is moving between i% to 2%... 2.4%, and i still think that is sustainable in terms of the primary services the country runs, but the problem is none of these measures are measures that are going to foster growth and help the country to foster growth and help the cou ntry recover to foster growth and help the country recover to a more attractive record of economic outcomes. that's another element, and that's the ultimately important one, the fact the italian economy may or may not grow in the future. but what about this problem with the italian government's relationship with brussels and if it does not meet targets, if it doesn't stick to the rules, there's going to be this confrontation and already the league and the five star movement have talked about the fact they're not so keen on a future relationship with brussels? i know. to me, that's a sideshow. i understand in the press

this is right now at the centre of the attention, but the real gain here is not to make brussels happy or unhappy, the real gain is to get the country on track. the news, if anything, in my view, even if this one government in italy is not moving in the right direction, there isa moving in the right direction, there is a direction of helping the country to get back and stand up on its own, helping firms to be more productive than. productivity has been stagnating at least for the past two decades. the country has been recording small growth over the past again 20 years, smaller than in any other big european country. this government is forecasting that its measures, in particular, you know, more pension transfers and more unemployment subsidies are going to help the country increase the growth. i very much doubt that. and brussels will recognise that, you

know, they're going to be talking about issues. to me the issue is quality, not quantity. we will talk about this again, i'm sure. francesco lippi, thank you very much for joining francesco lippi, thank you very much forjoining us live from rome. morgan's jamie dimon and the chairman of ford will not attend the future investment initiative conference in saudi arabia at the end of the month. both companies didn't say explicitly whether the decision was because of concerns over the disappearance of journalist jamal khashoggi, but the list of business leaders who've cancelled their trips is growing. it includes uber‘s chief executive and virgin's richard branson amongst others. as the international monetary fund and world bank meetings were wrapping up over the weekend, christine lagarde, the head of the imf was asked if she would be going to riyadh. take a listen. human rights, freedom of information are essential rights, and horrifying

things have been reported, and i am horrified. but i have to conduct the business of the imf in all corners of the world, and with many governments. and when i visit a country, i always speak my mind. you know me, i do. so at this point in time, my intention is to not change my plan, and to be very attentive to the information that's coming up in the information that's coming up in the next few days. christine lagarde of the imf. that meeting in bali ended with a renewed call for a multilateral approach to trade tensions and global development issues. another key concern was making sure the digital revolution that's happening everywhere in the world is accessable to everyone. this is an issue close to the heart of melinda gates, co—founder of the bill and melinda gates foundation. mrs gates told karishma vaswani that the answer is greater digital distribution. digital is upon us, so whether we

like it or not, it's coming and it's already there. three quarters of the world's whole population use cellphones today, and what we're trying to say two countries is you need to make investments both in health and education for sure, you have to have a healthy population, and educated population, but you also have to make investments in digital and the right regulatory framework because you can take advantage of digital, and when young people, which 60% of the continent of africa is under 25, when they have access to capital and credit, they'll start to create new businesses and actually start to create jobs in your economy. there's a lwa ys create jobs in your economy. there's always this criticism of the innovative economy or the technology industry that it possibly leaves workers worse off than some of the most vulnerable may not have the right that they should have. how do you address these sorts of issues?

today only i2% of people in low money countries have the internet, we need to make sure the price comes down across the world and you need phones in the hands of women equally as much as men. they need to make sure the regulatory environment is there. for instance, when you open up there. for instance, when you open upa there. for instance, when you open up a sector like the cellphone sector, people need mobile wallets, that's a good thing, but you need regulations around that, the poor, who like to save, they do a dollar a day, which is great, but you don't need to bash you need to make sure people don't get overcharged for taking money out so you need regulatory framework to protect the citizenry but to open up digital technologies —— you need to make sure people don't get overcharged for taking money out so you need regulatory framework to protect the citizenry but to open up digital technologies. china's internet and gaming giant tencent is feeling the squeeze and it's largely down to a change

in regulation in beijing. let's go to our asia business hub where shara njit leyl is following the story. sharanjit leyl is in singpore. chinese regulators have put this freeze on new releases from video game makers earlier this year and tencent, and others, who are game makers and cater to the world's largest gaming market, they're expecting that frees to remain in place until at least next year. we know tencent has lost $200 billion in market capitalisation this year largely due to a stagnant growth in games sales, which make up most of its revenues, and the reason for freeze in new video game titles. there's a reason, i'm sure, sadly any perry parent of kids who play for hours on end would sympathise with, the chinese call for it to be strictly controlled hash any parent. pa rt strictly controlled hash any parent. part of a drive from xi jingping himself to combat shortsightedness in children —— any parent. there's a mr undercurrent in that regulators stop approving lots of commercial

licenses for games as a result of a shakeup licenses for games as a result of a sha keup that put licenses for games as a result of a shakeup that put regulation under communist party control —— sinister undercurrent. this has led to a share price fall for tencent, a dip in profits, which has pushed tencent out of the list of top ten companies in the world by market capital. thanks a lot, sharanjit. good to see you. now let's brief you on some other business stories. business leaders frustrated by the news of... there's been no breakthrough at the latest brexit talks in brussels. the eu says there is still no resolution to the problem of how to avoid the reintroduction of customs and security controls in ireland. both sides are gearing up for a key summit on wednesday. us department store sears could be brought back from the brink of liquidation by the compa ny‘s chief executive. eddie lambert is reportedly prepared to contribute between $500 million and $600 million to keep the doors open until the lucrative holiday season. once the largest retailer, sears,

is likely to file for chapter 11 bankruptcy as early as monday. that's it for the business briefing this hour, —— that's it for the business briefing this hour. fracking for shale gas is expected to begin for the first time in the uk this morning. a final legal attempt to prevent work starting at the site in lancashire failed on friday after concerns that tests of the process were linked to minor earthquakes seven years ago. linsey smith reports. undeterred, undaunted and united.

protesters have maintained a co nsta nt protesters have maintained a constant presence at this lancashire fracking side, and this weekend's stormy weather didn't change that. a legal bid to stop the energy company cuadrilla from beginning operations failed last friday. ajudge said there was no evidence for campaigners' safety concerns. early attem pts campaigners' safety concerns. early atte m pts to campaigners' safety concerns. early attempts to stop fracking on environmental grounds were also u nsuccessful environmental grounds were also unsuccessful but campaigners say they won't give up. we will continue to resist this industry with every fibre of our being. we're not going to go anywhere. if they think putting us through the legal system and the legal system failing us is going to the deter us, it won't. the process of fracking sees these pumps for the liquid at high pressure deep underground to fracture rock and release gas. it was temporarily banned in 2011 after it was linked to minor earthquakes. cuadrilla chief executive francis egan says he is delighted fracking

can finally commenced. he says the gas harnessed here will provide an alternative to expensive imported energy. protesters say they're deeply concerned about the impacts of fracking on the environment, and the focus should be on renewable energies. linsey smith, bbc news. more on that story and 6am. that's breakfast, and dan walker and louise minchin will have all the day's news, business and sport. the latest on dominic raab‘s attem pts the latest on dominic raab‘s atte m pts to the latest on dominic raab‘s attempts to see a brexit breakthrough. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: pressure is mounting on saudi arabia almost two weeks after journalist jamal khashoggi disappeared while visiting the country's consulate in istanbul. the uk, france and germany have issued a rare joint statement demanding answers and saying they're treating the incident with the utmost seriousness. donald trump's defended his relationship with kim jong—un.

speaking to us broadcaster cbs, president trump said the two had good chemistry and that his approach to the north korean leader had seen an end to threats being made to the west. the eu's chief negotiator, michel barnier, says some key brexit issues are still unresolved including the backstop to avoid a hard border in ireland. he hosted unscheduled talks with his uk counterpart to try and make progress just days ahead of a crucial meeting of eu leaders. remember to check how the news app where we have many other stories including the fact that the duke and duchess of sussex have arrived in sydney. this is theirfirst duchess of sussex have arrived in sydney. this is their first official tour since they got married so they have much ahead of them. they have,

however, arrived in sydney. if you would like to read more about that, have a look at the bbc news app. mallets have a look at other story is in the global media. —— let us look at other stories. we begin with the guardian, which reports on the eu and uk's latest failure to reach an agreement over the irish border issue ahead of a crucial brexit summit later this week. next to germany's deutsche welle and bad news for german chancellor angela merkel‘s sister conservative party, which has suffered significant losses in bavaria's state elections according to provisional results. let's now look at the times which has an interview with author lionel shriver about her criticisms of the #metoo movement,