this is business live from bbc news with vishala sri—pathma and samantha simmonds. the italian impasse — another deadline imposed by brussels for rome to get its financial house in order, with costly penalties waiting if it doesn't. live from london, that's our top story on wednesday the 21st of november. after rejecting italy's budget because of too—high spending plans — a first in the history of the european union — the eu could now impose fines worth billions. also in the programme... british prime minister theresa may heads to brussels to try and finalise a divisive brexit agreement ahead of sunday's summit. fifth c all of those stories will be affecting markets —— let's sleeve.

the us market opening in the green at the moment. could this be music to students' ears? an award—winning songwriter has launched an app that sets lessons to melodies — and it appears to be a hit. as us glamour announces it's going online, we're asking do you need your glossies to be glossy? does online have that fashion—feel? let us know — just use the hashtag bbcbizlive. hello and welcome to business live. another day, another deadline in europe. this time for the european commission, as it mulls over how it will respond to italy on its 2019 budget. the proposed italian budget has a target deficit of 2.4% for 2019, despite promises from the previous government to reduce borrowing. the italian coalition says this deficit is needed for public spending in italy. but the european commission says

this budget will push the italian deficit to 3.1% by 2020, breaching the commission's limit of 3%. this could also trigger the excessive deficit procedure. doesn't sound too healthy that. which means massive fines for italy. and, yet, polling from monday shows the right—wing league party of matteo salvini — who is leading the fight for this budget — currently have around 33% of italian voters, and that's up from i7% in march. so is this budget more about economics, or politics? alessio terzi is an economist for economics think—tank bruegel, in brussels. welcome. let's start with the question charlotte post, is this more about politics than economic says far as the italian government is concerned? this is all about politics. this is a budget plan that

makes very little economic sense thatis makes very little economic sense that is likely to have surprisingly contractionary impacts on the economy, which is a first. the government is spending more but because it is losing its financial markets' trust, it is going to have a negative impact on the economy and it is all about politics and ready pandering to its eurosceptic electorate, looking for a clash with the european commission. the italian government argues it needs to spend its way out of the economic troubles. what are the solutions are therefore the country to deal with debt? —— what other solutions. keeping interest rates low is of fundamental importance when you have such a high debt level and this government has made very little effort in explaining its fiscal plans to financial markets in premise, and we are seeing interest rates rise, which is very concerning. yesterday, there was a

bond auction which went partially deserted in their millions, when usually it is in the billions of demand for italian bonds and this is very concerning. if they push forward with this plan, they could face huge fines from the european commission, nor .2% of gdp. do you think that is a possibility that could happen? right now, it is very likely, it is a matter of understanding when this will happen. the commission, either it can escalate the finds early, as beginning as —— early as the beginning as —— early as the beginning of next year or played slower, see how the budget plays out, see how gdp plays out in 22019 and fines would arrive after the late spring, so after the european elections, which is probably the smartest thing to do. what kind of response due expect today from the government? right now, the government, because it is a very

political budget, the government is just going to push ahead with its budget plans because it wants to show the italian electric that it is, you know, fighting with brussels over this —— the italian electorate. the anything that could lead them to change their plan is if there is a major financial market panic and hopefully then, economic reality will bite and rationality will prevail in this. we will see, thank you per your analysis this morning. the interesting to see how that impacts the euro later today. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. software firm sage this morning warned of slowing growth in the short term as it accelerates a plan towards cloud—based subscription services. the accounting, payroll and human—resources firm has said it will invest more heavily in shifting customers away from packaged software and it may sell parts of the business. us trade representative robert lighthizer has accused china of unfair and unreasonable trade practices. the move raises tensions ahead of a meeting later this month between us president donald trump and chinese president xijinping

at the g20 summit in argentina. renault has appointed a temporary deputy chief executive, thierry bollore, who was the chief operating officer, to take over the running of the french car firm following the arrest of carlos ghosn. japanese authorities have extended mr ghosn‘s detention by ten days but the renault boss remains as the firm's chairman and chief executive. we'll look at that story in more detail in the papers to india now, where china's smartphone maker xiaomi is setting up 5,000 stores in rural areas across the country by the end of next year. the company already opened 500 brick and mortar stores in india, breaking records for the most retail openings in a day. sameer hashmi is in mumbai. welcome, that is an awful lot of stores in a short amount of time, how are they going to do it? well,

thatis how are they going to do it? well, that is right, it is a massive expansion plan. there are two reasons why they are going so aggressive in such a short amount of time. if you look at the indian smartphone market, it is the fastest growing market in the world right now, around 350—a00,000,000 users and they have seen rapid growth in the last few years and xiaomi is the largest player, it has the largest market share when it comes to smartphones. the next wave of growth, the next boo—400,000,000 users, who will switch to smartphones from feature phones, are going to the people who reside in small villages and towns and that is what xiaomi is looking at capping. they think if they open brick and mortar stores in the next couple of yea rs, mortar stores in the next couple of years, they will be able to get these people who are switching from feature phones to smartphones, on the bandwagon and that will give them the edge compared to other players, who haven't reached or plan to open brick and mortar stores in these areas. thank you, sameer. let's have a look at the markets in

asia. that was from yesterday, but thou, there was a sharp usl. but we on record lows —— a sharp sell—off on record lows —— a sharp sell—off on the dowjones. textile and stocks, we will talk about that later on. and samira hussain has the details of what's ahead on wall street today. it's the day before american thanksgiving, so many people will have already begun their holiday all will be begun their holiday or will be working a bit of a shorter day. trading volumes on us markets will likely be pretty light, as many already have turkey on their mind. that said, there are still some companies reporting earnings on wednesday, including the heavy equipment maker deere and co. investors will be paying close attention to the company's outlook for the following year of 2019. the trade war between the us and china could have an impact on the agricultural sector, which would make for a bumpy road ahead for deere.

thank you for that update about what is ahead in wall street today. joining us is jane sydenham from rathbone investment management. didn't get the memo, orange blazer today. i am feeling left out. so, jane, it is interesting, i was speaking to an investor yesterday about the market sell—off, about equities, yesterday and they were saying that the us economy is really strong at the moment and it has been shielding markets from this deep that was kind of anticipated for some time, because of the concerns over trade wars between the us and china. i think that is right and, also, we have had masses of good news in the form of tax cuts and the benefit that will have to be us economy and so on and i think investors are now looking ahead and beginning to think we have had the benefit of the tax cuts, that has

produced a huge earning servers or profit company growth and what is coming next, markets are all about what the next thing is, rather than where we are today, even though the us economy is quite strong. and it is not just text stocks, we us economy is quite strong. and it is notjust text stocks, we have heard about that being impacted but across all other sectors, there seems to be a bit below. and the tech stocks carried on rising one many of the industrials and other parts of the economy were not doing as well, some of those share prices had started to fall while tech was still rising, so the rest of the market has already performed quite poorly. let's talk about theresa may, on her way to brussels, she may be there already to meet with jean—claude juncker, to try be there already to meet with jean—claudejuncker, to try and cross the keys and rbis with this deal we heard so much about, but what of the markets want to hear to steady their nerves? this is the political framework alongside the withdrawal agreement. i think what the markets want to feel is that this is a deal that actually back

home is going to be politically acceptable, and therefore isn't going to force a hard brexit. i think it is all about managing the politics at home, that is what markets will worry about. we have heard that over the last few years, all they wanted certainty, business markets want to know what is happening. does it feel in the markets that they have a bit of that now? i think there is a sense, talking to lots of different people, that probably good deal will go through but we are still not at that stage of certainty and looking at what happens to sterling and markets last week, it indicates the nerves are still there. sterling appears to be the one sort of factor that has been influenced by these brexit negotiations and lack of progress. do you expect that have moved today? if there is a sense that this is something that will be acceptable at home, you will see sterling rally. it is actually pretty undervalued compared to most currencies, the dolly has been incredibly strong, so if there is a sense it will be

acceptable, i wouldn't be surprised if we saw sterling pick—up. acceptable, i wouldn't be surprised if we saw sterling pick-up. jane, thank you, we will see you later to look through some of the business stories in the paper. still to come, the songwriter trying to help kids learn with music. he's written smash hits for stars like lisa stansfield and des'ree, and now he's teaching your kids math with a music app. you're with business live from bbc news. telecoms carrier talktalk has released results for the first half of the financial year, showing revenue grew around 4% and core earnings rose to £101 million, up from £75 million a year ago. late yesterday, the company confirmed it would move its headquarters from london to salford, in an effort to simplify its operations. ernest doku is telecoms expert at uswitch.com. hejoins us now. moving operations to salford, what is the thinking

behind that? i think the numbers released today really show a story thatis released today really show a story that is largely positive for talktalk. i think two thinks consumers have been looking for is good value and reliability and, really, the shift for talktalk to deliver that in spades, they have offered low—cost talk plans that enable consumers to have affordable deals and also really reliable service, but when you are gaining those customers, you are not necessarily seeing that benefit in terms of average revenue per user, so broadly across the spectrum, talktalk is looking for cost cutting and efficiencies everywhere they can see. growth is great from a consumer perspective, the numbers are positive but the move to salford, it is great to consolidate your business in one part of the land and moving away from london is a step towards that. what about talktalk attem pts towards that. what about talktalk atte m pts to towards that. what about talktalk attempts to roll out broadband to millions, talks have stalled. how is that going to impact them?” millions, talks have stalled. how is that going to impact them? i don't think it is a wholly negative story.

a lot of talks with fi the nation plans, having an independent body that enables them to deliver that by the two 3-5,000,000 that enables them to deliver that by the two 3—5,000,000 homes over the next few years, but the issues they have had with prudential has slowed things down. it is exciting to see talktalk sort of battling with the larger providers that are on a retention plan at the moment and fibre is really key to that. ernest, we will leave it there, we will see the share price today. just having a look at the business live page on the bbc website and the stories making headlines. kingfisher results, uk sales rose by 1.4% in the last quarter as it tried to transform its business. it is doing quite well in the sales department, however screwfix posted a healthy ten points 6% increase in sales, so it is interesting how competitive

that area is of retail and it will be interesting to see how they do with black friday. you're watching business live — our top story: italy and the eu in a budget standoff — with rome refusing to budge on its spending promises and brussels preparing to take unprecedented measures to make the italians fall in line. a quick look at how the markets are faring. european markets are all in the green, looking fairly positive but fairly flat. be interesting to see how the pound does today, as theresa may is in brussels with her european cou nterpa rts may is in brussels with her european counterparts talking about that trapped brexit agreement. take an award—winning producer who's worked with the likes of lisa stansfield and des'ree and the latest teaching tools — put them together and you may have an innovative way of learning. the studytracks app — which sets lessons to music — has been downloaded over 370,000 times in the last two years. there are over 1,200 tracks on 45 subjects and works

with schools in the uk, us and france. and this is potentially quite a growth market. in 2016, the global e—learning was worth $165.36 billion and is projected to surpass $243 billion in the next five years. we'll speak to the founder injust a minute — but, first, let's listen to what one of these lessons sounds like. romeo and juliet, summary part one. # the play is set in verona in italy. # the capulet and montaguw families are enemies. # prince escalus tries to stop the violence between them. # by threatening them with execution. # the play is set in verona in italy. # the capulet montague and families are enemies. george hammond—hagan, the founder of studytracks, is with us now. good morning, lovely to see you. we we re good morning, lovely to see you. we were just talking a few moments before we came on air about how this came about, it is an interesting story because it inspired maka that

it was inspired by your son. yes, trying to get him in gauge the in his studies and moving away from the more traditional books and bedroom and he wasn't really enjoying that and he wasn't really enjoying that and asa and he wasn't really enjoying that and as a songwriter and producer, i thought, he loves music and why don't i put them together and allow him to study what he wants. how do you decide what piece of music those with which bit of learning?m you decide what piece of music those with which bit of learning? it is funny now, because he is now our sound supervisor so when we are putting something together, let's say for history, we need a lot of drama in the music so i was say we we re drama in the music so i was say we were doing world war i, so something with a lot of orchestration and big drums so we can deliver something really engaging on top of it and really engaging on top of it and really memorable, so i think the subject dictates where we go. what about maths? we try and keep that simple and repetitive because you are simple and repetitive because you a re really simple and repetitive because you are really trying to drill the formulas and the processes in for this student and if you can get that locked in and the student can do that formula a million times over, it is really trying to get that locked in, so week week weight keep

it quite simple. -- we keep it quite simple. i remember revising my gcses, i was listening to hip—hop in the background, partly because i got interested in the study by listening to the music but it can be quite distracting, the lyrics of the songs. you touch on an interesting thing because when you have the music in the background, it can be distracting but what we have done is created something that makes the content the foreground and when you bring it front and centre, it actually enhances the learning. we have seen spikes in retention around 88%, we have seen recall up by 77%. we are able to move the test results for kids from seagraves to a grades in less than eight weeks, so it is really powerful. —— c grades.|j in less than eight weeks, so it is really powerful. -- c grades. i can remember in the 1980s and 1990s, wordperfect, the only thing i learned in school. as a business, had you make it work, if you are

having to create content for different schools, different subjects, different material? we are quite lean business. we have the music creation side down really tight, so the content creation isn't expensive. we monetise in two ways, the b— expensive. we monetise in two ways, the b- c expensive. we monetise in two ways, the b— c model for students, it is based on the freeman model and then we have got a whole package that we sell to schools and that is where we we see a lot of impact, because it allows teachers to really take their heavy lifting out of the classroom, off—loaded onto a platform like ours and they free up more classroom time to do more engaging, higher—level stuff, so it does move the needle. so how does it work alongside traditional teaching? so how does it work alongside traditionalteaching? i'm so how does it work alongside traditional teaching? i'm guessing you're not saying throw that out the window and just listen to these songs? definitely not, we are not trying to replace the teacher, what we're trying to do is find a new way to engage the student but also change the learning environment because one of the big hot buttons in education is the learning environment and how we can move away

from the stand and deliver message and toa from the stand and deliver message and to a way that is more engaging for teens today, because everything is about getting information quickly and instantly. in terms of your roll—out in the uk, are there plans to go forum and use foreign language music? -- to go foreign? absolutely, we have talked to countries in africa about rolling out there, latin america, brazil. we are currently in france, uk, us, so there is a lot of scope for this project. it is notjust available in schools, anyone can download the app and had they find the material that is relevant for them ? and had they find the material that is relevant for them? is it easily accessible? we have a library, they can scroll through, once they select the exam country and the exams they take, like uk gcse, they can find all of the content and the library has 1,500 tracks. very interesting. george, good luck with it, thank you for coming in. president trump's approach to international trade has been controversial.

his administration imposed new tariffs on steel, aluminium and a vast swathe of chinese goods. he's also renegotiated trade agreements and made it difficult for the world trade organisation to arbitrate in disputes. kevin hassett is chairman of trump's council of economic advisers and told the bbc the us could consider evicting china from the wto. we never really envisaged that a country would enter the wto and then behave the way that china have. they have, it's very well documented in the economic report of the president, their intellectual property theft is a major concern to the uk, the eu, the us. we estimate $300—$500 billion a year of theft from the us. that's kind of a new thing for the wto, to have a member that that is misbehaving so much and i think that i guess the question is can we fix that with bilateral negotiation with china? if not, can we fix that with reform to the wto? if not, should we pursue evicting china from the wto? i think these are all things that are being studied and considered. jane sydenham is back to look

through some of the papers. 0ne one of the ones that court our attention, us glamour magazine is going online and it is interesting, glossy magazines, it was the premium models of magazines, you wanted to buy it, feel the adverts, look at the models but it is going online. uk glamour have been doing this for a year now, so they are following that model. you think it will be a success in america? as you say, it is the trend, it is what is happening. iam is the trend, it is what is happening. i am kind is the trend, it is what is happening. iam kind of is the trend, it is what is happening. i am kind of into camps, i like online, i find happening. i am kind of into camps, i like online, ifind it good for keeping absolutely up—to—date but, on the other hand, that random walk of just flicking through on the other hand, that random walk ofjust flicking through a magazine or newspaper is quite good, you come across things you wouldn't necessarily choose and haven't been chosen to you, so maybe i'm just too

old—fashioned, i probably am but i like both. in terms of subscription models and online, that tends to be a way that papers are adapting now to try and be profitable, because ten yea rs to try and be profitable, because ten years ago, there was a huge threat to traditional print papers and know they are finding ways of surviving. as you said, the subscription model is working the music, newspapers, magazines, so they are learning to monetise, you know, the attention of readers and so on and i can't see that changing. it cuts print costs and distribution costs a nd it cuts print costs and distribution costs and all sorts of things, so it is unlikely to reverse. quite a few tweets on this, ian calvert said magazine to newspapers are great to feel and plus i noticed some printed stories never appear in online versions, a good example he says is the metro uk, who don't share print articles fully. i much say, i don't know if it is generational, but i

prefer know if it is generational, but i p refer to know if it is generational, but i prefer to hold things in my hand, the ability to click through and easily find what i want when a lot of websites or apps aren't as user—friendly and we have had this one in saying i think magazines should be... should exist, i guess? it is holistic and i personally prefer paper. it is nice to have that point of reference. you can cut a magazine article out and out if it is releva nt to article out and out if it is relevant to someone you know. another story we looked at in papers was the appointment of the new interim chief of renault. no surprises, we knew that was going to happen yesterday. yes, it will be interesting to see what happens here because carlos ghosn was a pretty unusual phenomenon, being ceo and chairman of three different businesses, it is hard to believe thatis businesses, it is hard to believe that is possible going forward and there may need to be three different leaders or some kind of merger, but it seems as if what we have had

isn't going to continue. but he is going to remain as chairman and chief executive of renault. for the time being. were you surprised by that? in some ways, yes, i thought it might be an initial and clean sweep and depending on how the investigation goes, that may or may not continue. he has certainly been a linchpin in that alliance and credited with turning nissan and renault around, it will be interesting how they replace him because he has been such a big figure in the industry and the company. thank you very much, jane. do keep your thoughts coming in about magazines or online. do you have a preference? i quite like touching a magazine, the sunday papers, it is a treat after the news. we will see how that goes down, us glamour going digital. great to have you with us today, thanks for watching. bye for now. hello, though, good morning. it

really was a cold day yesterday and it was called up even overnight and through this morning to give us a bit of hill snow over the hills of southern england, wales, the pennines and across scotland. today, we continue with the cold wind and quite wet start but the rain is easy way towards the north. so it will stay quite wet across northern parts of scotla nd stay quite wet across northern parts of scotland this afternoon. elsewhere, something a bit dry and brighter going into this afternoon but across scotland, we continue with some snow over the higher ground. in southern areas, something dry and brighter developing, still a few showers across northern ireland, still quite strong winds across these northern areas, making it feel quite chilly. northern england through much of wales, the midlands, east midlands, eastern areas, some sunny spells, so some showers in the south—west of england and south—east of wales as we go through this afternoon and temperatures are 5—8dc

would lighter winds than yesterday for england and wales, perhaps not quite as cold out and about. through this evening and overnight, some lengthy clear spells through these western areas of england and wales and you can see blue is returning, so that means we will see a widespread frost into thursday morning, away from those eastern coasts, where it will be quite cloudy and temperatures stay up at two or three celsius. through thursday, the clouding eastern areas may give us a few showers in north—east england and the north and east of scotland. sunshine to start of the day in the west but the cloud will gradually increase as the day goes on. for many, though, in the west, it will stay dry, any showers limited towards the east and maximum temperatures, a degree also higher than the last few days, eight or nine celsius. friday, fairly quiet but this area of low pressure in the south—west with a weather front giving some cloud or rain but it will still remain quite chilly as we go through friday and into the

weekend. that is the air mass picture, those blues there. lots of dry weather on friday, showers in the far south—west, maybe a few showers across the north—east of scotla nd showers across the north—east of scotland as well. temperatures by a degree also, 8—11, more akin to what we expect for this time of year but it will still feel quite chilly as we go through the weekend, 11 or 12 celsius, some cloud around, there could be a few spots of rain, some uncertainty in the forecast but some brighter spells as well. that is all from me. you're watching bbc news at 9 with me annita mcveigh — the headlines... theresa may heads to brussels today, under pressure to secure further brexit concessions ahead of a summit this weekend. here at westminster, a cabinet minister has dismissed the threat of a no—deal brexit, saying it could never happen. the parliament, the house of commons, will stop no—deal,

as damian collins already said earlier. there is not a majority in the house of commons to allow that to take place. the number of children treated for stab wounds in england more than doubles over the past four years. new moves to end the conflict in yemen as one charity estimates 85,000 children underfive have died from hunger since the war began. survivors of terror attacks say victims are being let down by a crisis in mental health services.