this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. losing friends in europe — facebook disappoints on revenue and user growth as it battles security breaches and worries over fake news. and the chinese currency falls to its lowest level against the dollar in a decade. so will it fuel allegations of currency manipulation? and on the markets... look at the us, it was a bounceback but how long will it last? lets dig deeper into the numbers from facebook. facebook‘s revealed its lastest numbers, which show it's user growth has slowed, as the world's biggest social media site has been hit by security breaches and worries over fake news. in september an average

of 1.1i9—billion people used facebook every day. that's an increase of 9% on the same month last year, but it's a smaller increase than analysts had expected. and in europe it's losing friends, with one million fewer people logging on. facebook says revenue rose by 33% to $13.7 billion in the three months to the end of september, but this also narrowly missed forecasts. taking a look at facebook‘s share price — we can see it's lost about a third of its value sincejuly, after it warned of slowing user growth, following scandals including security breaches and worries over fake news. james erskine is director of social circle. nice to see you. looking at the numbers, give us your first

thoughts. the numbers are big, it seems the silliest and most comprehensive thing to say. 2 billion users across the core platform 1.9 billion users but it is more in the direction they are going when you start to dig deeper that things get more intuitive and exciting. the boss, mark zuckerberg, is talking about stories. what is the most eye opening about stories is that it is an instagram product which has moved to facebook so, forgive me, sally, if we as old people are posting status update, younger people want more comprehensive content, video, thinks that looked better than text. not just steals, as in photographs and

quick comments but videos, creating a story. i understand this is short and sweet and it disappears and a nalysts a re and sweet and it disappears and analysts are wondering how they will monetise this. what is fascinating and the other key focus mark soberg talked about —— mark zuckerberg, is that the users are ahead of the advertised dance. there is an ad product that allows to target people but it is about optimisation server chief operating officer has come out and asked how can we automatically optimise and reach the right users. we have seen a reduction in regular users in europe but growth in asia and india and those parts of the world where they want to see growth.

2 billion makes it the biggest country, community in the world. india had 240 million did users on the core platform of facebook. you can look at europe and see the decline but it can be misleading on the global context. thank you so much. also so many of you have an in touch and many saying you are coming off facebook and using it less and using other platforms. now onto the other big tech earning news: ebay has beaten expectations, reporting a profit of $721—million for the three months to the end of september. the retailer has been spending big on product developments, marketing and making its website more userfriendly. shares in ebay rose in after—hours trading. samsung has posted a record quarterly profit, as strong demand for its memory chips helped to cushion slowing smartphone sales.

the south korean tech giant reported a profit of $15.4—billion for the three months to september — a 21% increase on the same time last year. but it has warned earnings will decline in the next three months. shares in general electric have hit their lowest level in nine years amid investor worries about the turnaround prospects of the once industrial giant. ge says us civil and criminal authorities have widened investigations into accounting practises at the firm. ge also reported worse than expected finacial results. official numbers from china show its manufacturing sector expanded at its weakest pace in more than two years. it's all signs of slowing domestic and external demand, amid an intensifying trade war with the united states. staying with china, all these signs of weakness

in the economy are hitting the value of the yuan. it's flirting with the 7 mark against the dollar — a level it hasn't seen since the global financial crisis. our asia business correspondent karishma vaswani takes a look. the chinese currency does not work like other currencies. the chinese central bank sets a guiding point to eat every day and that sends a signal to the market where it expects the yuan to go. these days it is edging closer to the seven mark. this shows how much one us dollar buys. this is the last time it hit seven, ten years ago during the global financial crisis. and this is where it is now. now, there

is no magic about the number seven, it is just is no magic about the number seven, it isjust a is no magic about the number seven, it is just a psychological point for traders. the yuan weakness is down toa number of traders. the yuan weakness is down to a number of things. partly the strength of the us dollar and the fa ct strength of the us dollar and the fact that the federal reserve has been hiking interest rates recently but it is also because the chinese economy is slowing down. worries about the trade will pushing the currency lower. —— the trade wall. but it can help to boost growth by making china more attractive to the rest of the world so beijing is caught ina rest of the world so beijing is caught in a bit of a bind. if it allows that to happen, it risks the idea of president trump and escalate the trade war. he and president xi are expected to meet. any weakness could derail those talks and make

things the china much worse. making sense of the decline of war. australia has ratified a huge pacific trade deal, meaning it will come into force at the end of the year. the trans pacific partnership covers more than $200—billion in trade. president trump pulled out of the pact last year, but the remaining members have pressed ahead. let's go to our asia business hub where shara njit leyl is following the story. another milestone reached 7 another milestone reached? that's right. it was among the first things that president trump deed as soon as he took office, pull out of the tpp leaving ready match every member thinking it was dead in the water but here we are, it has been revived and renamed the comprehensive and progressive agreement the trans—pacific partnership. progressive agreement the

tra ns—pacific partnership. australia has become the sixth nation to ratify the deal. literally hours before an administrative deadline. it was japanese led diplomacy and frantic behind—the—scenes work that kept the pact alive in the hopes that eventually washington would change its mind or its government and rejoin. you may not include the world ‘s largest economy but the deal is still described as a huge game—changer and covers rapidly growing economies that make up 30% of world trade. its main aim is to slash barriers in some of the fastest growing economies in the south pacific. it was also designed to counterbalance china's growing influence within the global economy as well. let's show you the markets again... and celebrate the fact they are

going up again. we have had such a time of it lately. japan up. i think what is going on is that investors are bargain—hunting following the dramatic falls we saw the last fortnight people are now looking at stocks that seem to be cheap. facebook‘s chairs were up 2% in after hours trade and other stocks we re after hours trade and other stocks were in favour yesterday. the trend continuing right now in asia. in tokyo, 20 minutes left in the trading day. that's it for the business briefing this hour a zero—tolerance approach to violence against nhs staff is being promised as figures show attacks in england have reached a five—year high.

the government says offenders will face quicker prosecutions, and staff will receive better training to deal with violent situations. lauren moss reports. these are just some of the shocking incidents recorded against frontline nhs staff — kicking, hitting and sometimes worse. this nurse was taken hostage when a patient became hostile, trying to leave the board. she became quite distressed. she was using this plastic part which ended up using this plastic part which ended up next to my neck. she robbed much me out of the board. she escaped unharmed but no one noticed she was missing and, despite reporting what happened, it was not lodged properly. a recount is by no means unusual. over 15% of nhs workers

experience violence in the last 12 months. that is the highest figure in five years. from next month, the maximum prison sentence for assaulting an nhs worker will double toa assaulting an nhs worker will double to a year in england and wales. the union, unison, is welcoming plans to zero tolerance to violence against staff. later, the health secretary will announce better training and support, and new monitoring system and fast—tracked prosecution for offenders, to try to protect those who face violence like this every day. you can hear more you can hear more on you can hear more on that story on bbc online, including an interview with ex— chancellor george osborne saying the tories were wrong of the immigration. —— over immigration.

this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: seniorfigures in the us government have demanded a ceasefire and peace talks in yemen within 30 days. pakistan's supreme court has overturned the death sentence against the christian asia bibi, who had been convicted on blasphemy charges, and ruled she should be acquitted. president trump, his family and advisers have visited the scene of the massacre of 11 jewish people in pittsburgh. hundreds of protestors say he is not welcome. now it is time to look at a few stories making headlines around the world. we begin with a bit of reassuring news for the financial sector, less than five months before brexit. the financial times says the european commission will allow european traders to access london's capital markets on a temporary basis if there is no brexit deal.

and, staying with brexit, the london times says 150,000 britons have taken up irish citizenship since the referendum — more than double the usual rate of applications. on bloomberg, the chairman and chief executive ofjpmorgan chase, jamie dimon, has said that boycotting the saudi investment conference because of the killing of jamal khashoggi was pointless. a story from brazil next, where the folha de sao paolo is reporting that the newly elected president, jair bolsonaro, plans to merge the country's environment ministry with its agriculture ministry. conservationists think that will open the door to environmental destruction. and, since it is halloween, a story from graveyards in the philippines. the philippine star says the country's bishops have warned their congregations to beware of fake priests offering to say prayers for the departed

in exchange for money. you can do it yourself. with me is fiona cincotta, who is a senior market analyst with the financial betting company city index. so the financial times, they headline story, brussels tells traders it will not slam the door to city clearing. are we breathing a sigh of relief? this is fantastic news, it is great news, but thinking about the sense of it, the london clearing house,