this is business live from bbc news with ben thompson and sally bundock. italy's showdown with the eu over its ambitious spending plans. it could be the first time ever the eu has rejected a member state's budget. live from london, that's our top story on monday the 22nd of october. italy's interior minister matteo salvini dismisses a credit downgrade by ratings agendy moody's, saying the country won't be intimidated. also in the programme... the war of words escalates between the world's two biggest economies, china angrily rejecting comments by the us secretary of state warning of the hidden risks to developing countries of investment from beijing. the markets in europe all headed

higher at the start of a brand—new trading week. we will explain why. and the man from uncle joins us live. he's not a secret agent, but the founder of a letting agency with a difference. he'll tell us why cutting out the middleman appeals to generation rent. and today, as one firm promises driverless taxis on the roads in london within three years, we want to know, would you trust their safety? would you ride in one? let us know — just use the hashtag bbcbizlive. hello and welcome to business live. my my view is you can't beat the chat with a cab driver in london. the clock is ticking on another deadline in italy's budget showdown with the european commission. the eurozone‘s third biggest economy has until noon in rome to respond to brussels' concerns that its budget for next year is unaffordable.

the populist government wants to spend more to meet campaign pledges such as a lower retirement age, a basic? income?for the poor and boosting infrastructure spending. italy plans to raise government spending by 2.7% compared to last year — something the commission has described as "serious non—compliance" with the rules. the eu and imf both think it's unaffordable? because of italy's national debt of $2.6 trillion — which at more?than130% of the size of the economy makes greece the only eu country with a higher debt burden. moody's downgraded italy's debt rating by a notch on friday. that adds to the problems. italy's government aims to shrink that number by growing the economy. but those hopes suffered a setback last week, when italy's central bank said it expects growth forjuly to september to be just 0.1%. and markets are worried too.

the amount italy pays to borrow money has surged over recent months — and is now at its highest level in about five years. over the weekend the italian government moved to reassure investors it wasn't thinking about leaving the eurozone to solve its problems. and it struck a more conciliatory tone towards the eu, saying it wanted to discuss its budget plans with brussels. joining me now live from rome is lilia cavallari, professor in international studies at the university of roma tre. good morning to you. sally was running through some of the details there, the european commission says it has serious concerns over the d raft it has serious concerns over the draft budget. are they right to be worried? i think there are good chances the commission will reject the plan. this is motivated by two

major concerns. one concern is that the expected fiscal expansion may have a long—lasting effect on the budget. the deterioration of the budget. the deterioration of the budget for quite a long time. the second concern is that the fiscal expansion and the whole plan is based on forecasting that is seen as far too optimistic. so if the plan is rejected, as you suggest it may well be, what happens next? what happens next i think is a long period of negotiation. formerly, the budget will probably be sent back for revision. in case the revision doesn't go well and in case the commission is not satisfied, a long process of negotiation may start with eventually an excessive deficit

procedure, which might happen in spring next year, when the commission is due to reassess the compliance of the italian public debt with fiscal rules in europe. i think there is quite a large room for negotiation. if it is rejected, this would be the first time the commission has ever rejected a draft budget proposal since it got extra powers to do so in 2013. it would be quite a historic moment, to say, we don't think the numbers add up, go away and revise it and bring it back to us. it's not unprecedented. there have been many times where not a fiscal plan has been rejected at all, but warnings have been addressed, to noncomplying countries. so in this case, it would not be the first time. it might be

the first time where an excessive deficit procedure is addressed. but i think both parties have strong common interest in maintaining financial stability in europe. on the one side, italy has sound economic fundamentals, but because of the dimension of its debt, italy is quite vulnerable. but on the other side, europe as well, one third of the italian debt is held, so third of the italian debt is held, so that means around 4000 billion euros. an eventual run of the italian debt would imply large losses for investors abroad, not to say about the consequences for the euro. so i think there will be a negotiation around the timing, the

design and implementation of the fiscal expansion. it's been really good to talk to you, thank you for speaking to us. the clock is now ticking, as sally said, for the third largest economy in europe, and they have until noon today to get that revised plan in. i wonder if the italian budget clock is on the wall next to the brexit clock on the walls of the european commission! let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. investors around the world have pulled $650 million in funds from saudi arabia's equity market over the past week. that's according to the financial times. that trend may continue in the ongoing diplomatic row over the disappearance of journalist jamal khashoggi. a prominent critic of saudi's authoritarian regime, mr khashoggi was last seen entering the saudi consulate in istanbul on 2nd october. rya nair has reported a 7% fall in profits for the first half of this year. the airline made almost $1.4 billion in the six months to the end of september. the company has suffered a series

of strikes by pilots and cabin crew demanding better pay and conditions. ryanair is also facing a public backlash this week for failing to remove a passenger from a flight after he racially abused a woman in her 70s. canadian airplane maker bombardier is suing mitsubishi aircraft in the united states over the alleged theft of trade secrets. bombardier says some of its former employees passed on documents containing insider information to mitsubishi before going to work for the company. a spokeswoman for mitsubishi said the firm believed bombardier‘s claim was "groundless". one of the world's biggest tobacco firms, philip morris, has been accused of "staggering hypocrisy" over its new uk advert urging smokers to quit. the tobacco giant says it's "an important next step" in its aim to "ultimately stop selling cigarettes". but the charity cancer research said the firm was simply trying to promote its smoking alternatives, such as heated tobacco. there's been another angry exchange

between the united states and china over trade. this time beijing has hit back at the us secretary of state over his suggestion that chinese involvement in developing economies doesn't always help the local population. sharanjit leyl is in our asia business hub in singapore. yet more evidence to show that any progress in these talks between the us and china are nowhere near at the moment. absolutely. essentially it all moment. absolutely. essentially it a ll started moment. absolutely. essentially it all started when us secretary of state mike pompeo said china is engaging in what he calls predatory economic activity in re reference to china's one belt, one road programme. he said in latin america last week while meeting heads of state ‘s in panama and mexico, he

said when china comes calling its not always good for your citizens, and he said when beijing shows up with deals that are too good to be true, they often are. it has prompted chinese media to lash out at him with several editorials in chinese state dailies calling the comments disrespectful and not based on truth orfax. comments disrespectful and not based on truth or fax. all of this, taking place during these tensions, and has taken those tensions up several notches. they are both embroiled in a tit—for—tat trade war with billions of dollars of tariffs being slapped on both sides on goods from both sides. china seeming to be on even more tenterhooks after growth there fell to its lowest level since there fell to its lowest level since the 2008 financial crisis. thank you, sharon in singapore. markets in asia today, a strong jump in shanghai and in turn in hong kong, the two are intertwined. markets in shanghaijumping the two are intertwined. markets in shanghai jumping more than 3.5% at one stage in the trading session,

and bringing them back to where they we re and bringing them back to where they were in 2006, albeit extremely volatile still. but today was very positive. earnings kicking off in earnest in japan positive. earnings kicking off in earnest injapan this week so all eyes on corporate results forjapan this week. looking at europe quickly, a positive start to the week in general. a big mover in london, ryanair shares up nearly 4% despite a fall in profits, not as bad as some thought it would be given the summer we have experienced. looking ahead to wall street. and kim gittleson has wall street. this week on wall street, earnings season will continue to keep investors busy. this time around, attention will be turning to the us defence sector. all five of the big us defence contractors are set to report earnings this week. that's companies like lockheed martin and boeing. the question for investors, of course, is what rising tensions between the us and saudi arabia could mean for these firms. saudi arabia is america's biggest export market when it comes to defence and president trump has said there could be over $100 billion worth of current

and potential deals that us defence contractors could strike with saudi arabia in the coming years. the question is, if these companies have a plan b if that market dries up. tom stevenson, fidelity international investment directorjoins me now. nice to see you. let's start with italy. investors will be keeping a close eye on that midday deadline today. yes, and investors have been pretty nervous about what has been going on in italy for good reason. as sally mentioned before, it has that feel of greece about it. and it's a much bigger economy as well. the third biggest economy in europe, and it has loads of bonds outstanding, a heavily indebted country, so it really does matter. i

think the key development was the downgrade, tojust think the key development was the downgrade, to just above junk, think the key development was the downgrade, tojust abovejunk, the market taking it pretty well with bond prices rising and bond yields falling a vital bit. that was good for the stock market because italian banks on loads of government bonds saw the rise in price helped their profits. in china, market is doing well in shanghai today, but it is so volatile right now. why today's positivity? is it to do with the chinese government saying they will help out? it's all about that, yes. the chinese government giving a hint it is prepared to step in and support the economy. we have heard some talk of income tax adjustments for individuals, which would be a positive. but the chinese market has been really shocking this year. last year, fantastic growth. this year it has lost all of that, down more than 2596, in has lost all of that, down more than 25%, in bear market territory. on

friday there was a big jump, and this morning and overnight there was another big jump, so the chinese market is up six or 7% in two days. and moving on to oil, the tensions with saudi arabia. the tendency is to think saudi arabia does well with high oil prices, but it isn't always the case. arguably, saudi arabia could be the biggest victim of a hike in prices if demand then falls. there is a lot of focus on the oil market, again for good reason because it's such an important commodity for the global economy and global growth. with iranian sanctions ticking in next week on the 4th of november, any further disruption from saudi arabia could affect that oil price. tom will return when we will talk about d riverless return when we will talk about driverless taxi slater. still to come... the man from uncle willjoin us live. the founder of a new rental startup will tell us how he spied opportunities in providing what he describes as a "kinder,

simpler rental experience". you're with business live from bbc news. let's get more on that news from ryanair of a 7% fall in profits over its key summer season. that reflects the rising costs of fuel and also of dealing with striking staff. but also the fact it was so hot in many countries, we chose to stay at home and not fried to a warmer climate. home and not fried to a warmer climate. airline expertjohn strickland joins us now. ryanair shares ryanairshares up ryanair shares up nearly 4%. give us your take on the numbers. they are comparatively strong. we are talking ofa comparatively strong. we are talking of a profit over 1 comparatively strong. we are talking of a profit over1 billion euros, a profit margin of 25%. they have had

a rough summer, but they think they will be a medium—term winner with short—term pain. they are negotiating with the unions and pilots. it is a long and rocky road, but it is one they will take in their stride. michael o'leary is on us, he does not like accepting the unions, but he has got to. he has put it off for as long as he can, but they will get down that road. they have seen fuel prices rising and they have hedged against that, much better than their competitors. they are still a very large and strong airline and they are not in the weaklings‘ league, such as those airlines that have failed in recent weeks like cobalt. why do people keep flying with ryanair? when you think about the road issues, they had to cancel hundreds of flights and the strike action and the story over the weekend of how they did not handle a woman being abused by

another passenger on a ryanair flight? the news flow is negative. it is negative because michael o'leary relishes that. he thinks bad news is good publicity and they will ta ke news is good publicity and they will take action over what we have seen this weekend. they have to be seen to be responsible and caring. but they offer substantially lower fares than any other competitor and they are flying about 140 million people are flying about 140 million people a year on routes no other airlines are a year on routes no other airlines a re interested a year on routes no other airlines are interested in operating. they generally fly on time. they have had a worse performance this year, and they are working on that, but it has affected all their lives. but lower flights, punctual flights and affected all their lives. but lower flights, punctualflights and people use them like a bus around europe. great story, doc martens are in profit as they say they are favoured by the fans since the 60s and profits and revenues are up pretty sharply. your're watching business live, our top story:

the showdown between italy and the european union over its ambitious spending plans is coming to a head. now, let's get the inside track on housing. it's been dubbed "generation rent", a whole generation of young people unable, or unwilling, to buy a home, choosing to rent instead. and that's led to a boom in the private rented sector. around 20% of all uk households are privately rented. but it's notjust the younger generation who are renting. a record 1.1 million—over 50's are also renting from landlords, that's up from just 651,000 a decade ago. compared to last year, the number of private rental properties is set to rise by nearly a quarter by 2021, meaning nearly 5.8 million households. that's one in four wanting to rent. but renting is often a minefield with unreliable landlords and overpriced properties. our next guest says they do things differently. he is the man from uncle. with me now is ryan prince,

founder and chief executive of rental start—up, uncle. that is your normal name. first of all, let's talk about the name. really the idea was lots of people have an uncle that is reliable, straightforward, trustworthy, so thatis straightforward, trustworthy, so that is all the attributes in the brand that we want to bring forward. we think the rental system is largely stuck in the dark ages in feudal times and the word landlord itself is pretty backward. the idea is to take the lord attitude out of being a landlord. you say you cut out the middleman. traditionally a firm would build a block of flats and then sell them to individual people and they would choose to rent it out. so you have a building with 50 different landlords who do not speak to each other. you say you are the only landlord. if you think

about your experience when you go to about your experience when you go to a hotel, and i come from a hotel background, and the service is much more holistic. you go to the front desk, you have got check—in and they know your name and they look after you and when you go down the next morning and when you come back it is the same people offering you the same service over and over again. the idea behind us is if we own the whole building, we can offer that whole service to people. you have four tower blocks in london and one in manchester and another one on its way in wembley. there is a lot of capital out and it is extremely expensive, one of the reasons why developers do not do what you are doing. it is more profitable to sell off the flats individually. how is it working for you financially? we are looking for a long—term, stable income stream and the returns are much lower early on, but unlike a developer, when you

sell, you do not have to find a lot of new things. we want to grow the brand and create a chain over time. in the future we want to create a global business beyond london and the uk to other cities in the world. we talk about the rent generation and there is a tendency to think about young people not being able to afford to get on the property ladder and that is true for a lot of young people. but a lot of people want flexibility and they want to move around and do it easily. how do you make money off their flexibility? there is a stigma about generation rent, it is not viewed as a positive time when it is thrown around. but to bea time when it is thrown around. but to be a buyer today in london you would question the idea of taking and 95% mortgage and pinning yourself down to one location and all the costs when you may change jobs in two years. the idea of having flexibility and a chain in uncle is you can move around our

network whenever you want. if you wa nt to network whenever you want. if you want to move out and if you do not like it, you can tear up the lease. think of all the problems and complaints people think of when they think about renting and find ways to address those problems. really good to talk to you. time is tight. thank you for coming in. ryan prince, the founder and chief executive of uncle. we have a lot more to discuss, including driverless cars. it is all happening in 2021. here is how to stay in touch. stay up—to—date with all the news as it happens on the bbc news business life page. there is information and analysis from our team of editors around the globe. we want to hear from you as well. get involved on the bbc news web page. we are on twitter and you can find us on facebook. business live, on tv and

online. what you need to know when you need to know it. we as you at the beginning of the programme if you would jump into a driverless car and tom is back in the studio. somebody says by 2021 in london d riverless ca rs somebody says by 2021 in london driverless cars could be a reality. 2021 sounds very soon for something thatis 2021 sounds very soon for something that is pretty much unproven. what they are doing is they are setting up they are doing is they are setting up with a tech company to digitally mapped the whole of london. that means knowing exactly where every ca rd means knowing exactly where every card is and every traffic light. that sounds fine. those are the bits that are fixed. what worries me is there are lots of things moving on there are lots of things moving on the road, other vehicles and people. three years sounds quite soon. like ben this morning following off his bike on the way to work. iama bit bike on the way to work. i am a bit battered and bruised on my elbows and knees. it is a trust

thing that given all the distractions and how busy the cities are, you can see how they might work on big, wide roads, but the city is difficult to navigate and you want to make sure the technology is right. you would not start in a busy city, but clearly there is a lot of momentum behind this. it is notjust addison lee, all the big car manufacturers are getting involved. the momentum behind this is very significant. this will take out a lot of jobs significant. this will take out a lot ofjobs in the system and we are talking about automation removing jobs in the economy. this is the idea that food and packages could be delivered by drone and amazon have talked about it. there is a story in the wall streetjournal, what do you make of it? this is all about the planned flotation of uber. in order to justify the cost, given their car

business is loss—making, they really need to talk up the potential for new things and drones is an exciting area. we are going to have to leave that. we have not got much time left. we have got about 40 seconds. it is fascinating. it is totally fascinating. we must mention what the viewers have been saying. bernard says we do get into a d riverless bernard says we do get into a driverless taxi? he says absolutely, even with software not finished they are safer than human taxi drivers. phillips says i would miss the ba nter phillips says i would miss the banter with a taxi driver. one serious problem is keeping the taxi is clean. especially on a friday night. very true. thank you for your company, we will see you very soon. we saw some lovely weather over the

weekend, lots of sunshine, temperatures reaching 20 celsius in a few places. we start this week on a few places. we start this week on a cooler note. we have got high—pressure influencing our weather, but this weather from across northern scotland will bring across northern scotland will bring a lot of cloud and outbreaks of heavy rain, particularly in the far north and the northern isles. a breezy day generally further south. and it will be dry. a lot of sunshine around central, southern and eastern areas. but notice the temperatures, highs of 14 and 15. tonight it will be largely dry, quite breezy and if anything the wind will pick up. more cloud further north and we hold onto that ring in central and northern scotland, some of it will be quite heavy. further south it will be a

chilly start to tuesday. high—pressure again dominating the scene on tuesday. a lot of dry weather around, this weather front still bringing rain too much of scotland. we could see some of that rain pushing south into the far north of england and it will be a windy day across the board, but especially in scotland. getting the best of the sunshine in central, southern and eastern parts of the country where temperatures will reach 15 or 16 degrees. onto wednesday and it looks like things calm down a little bit. we lose that weather front and the breeze becomes lighter. a fine day for many. variable cloud in northern and western areas. those temperatures may be a notch higher at 16 or 17. the big change is to end the week with an northerly airflow from the arctic and it will bring much colder airto all of us arctic and it will bring much colder air to all of us throughout the weekend. some wintry showers in

northern hills, but central and southern part should be dry with sunshine. hello, it's monday, it's 9 o'clock, i'm joanna gosling, welcome to the programme. journalist jamal khashoggi was murdered when he visited the saudi embassy in turkey. saudi arabia has blamed a "rogue operation" and apologised to his family. the individuals who did this did this outside our authority. there obviously was a tremendous mistake made. there's been international condemnation but there's evidence that this may not be an isolated case. there have been a string of abductions of dissident members of the saudi royal family. we'll have the latest.