this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. stock markets give the fed a thumbs down as it raises interest rates, despite warnings from president trump and slowing growth. plus, losing more friends on wall street. facebook shares slump as washington's attorney general sues the social media giant over data misuse. these are the markets trading in asia. lorgat backdrop forjapan, over 3% lower. —— look at that drop. the dow closing at its lowest level in more than a year. we start in washington, dc, where the us central bank, the federal reserve, has raised the cost of borrowing for the fourth time this year. it has upped its main

interest rate by 0.25% to a range of between 2.25% percent and 2.5%. the move comes despite recent turbulence on financial markets, and signs that growth is slowing, not to mention ongoing criticism by president trump, who wants cheaper borrowing to support the economy. the fed has now raised rates nine times since 2015. it says it expects to raise them again twice next year, not three times as it was previously predicting. this has been thejustificiation, as far as the fed's concerned. us growth has been recovering strongly since the financial crisis, with unemployment now the lowest in almost half a century. but the recent slowdown means there is a growing debate about where interest rates should be, as michelle fleury reports from the federal reserve in washington, dc. the us economy just the us economyjust got the thumbs up

the us economyjust got the thumbs up from policymakers inside here, america's central bank, when they decided to raise its key interest rate by 0.25% and signalled they would raise interest rates a couple more times next year. fed chairman jerome powell explained the decision at his press conference. over the past year, the economy has been growing at a strong pace. the unemployment rate has been near record lows and inflation has been low and stable. all of those things remain true today. since the september meeting of the fomc, however, some crosscurrents have urged. those crosscurrents include slower global growth and a downturn in financial markets. as a result, those who set monetary policy are now projecting two rate increases next year, that's fewer than the three they were predicting when they last met in september. and as for the pressure from the fed's loudest critic, president trump, well, jerome powell said political considerations played no part in their decision—making. we're always going to be focused on

the mission that congress has given us. the mission that congress has given us. we have the tools to carry it out, we have the independence, which we think is essential to be able to do ourjobs in a nonpolitical way. and, you know, we at the fed are absolutely committed to that mission and nothing will deter us from doing what we think is the right thing to do. so, for now, it appears more rate increases are on the horizon, even if the pace is not predetermined, as the fed tries to ensure the economic expansion continues and that inflation remains in check. the shelf flurry, bbc news, outside the federal reserve in washington. paul kavanagh is ceo of patronus partners. —— michelle fleury. give us your reaction to what girona powell had to say. we all expected the rate rise, but what about his comments? he was dammed if he did, dammed if he didn't. i don't think the stock

market was going to react positively last night, the trend is down at the moment and the market is fretting about economic growth globally around the world and that's why we are seeing declining prices. last night he put his rates up, but he didn't talk about 2019 and 2020 in the sort of terms with the caution one would want to see with the said being combo to give. he talked about data points, he talked about the data points, he talked about the data points, he talked about the data points —— the fed being combative. he didn't prejudge. that's what he should say. the market was hoping he would be more accommodated. —— accommodative. that's why we have the sell—off this morning. is your glass half full or half empty when it comes to the outlook for the us economy? when we stand back and look at 2018, the balance sheet of the us fed topped out in march this year, that's when

they drew down on the balance sheet a bit. it was noticeable how economic growth particularly around the emerging economies fell off almost immediately that happened and that's really accelerated in the second half of this year. the question was, will it pull down the us economy? we've seen weakness gci’oss us economy? we've seen weakness across europe but the us economy, which has been fired up this year, 396 which has been fired up this year, 3% and forecast of 2.5% next year, is going well but there's indicative signs at the moment the us economy is coming under pressure from the rest of the world. when you say under pressure, does that mean recession in 2020, which is what some are predicting. no, but what we're saying is 2019 and 2020 look more likely to underperform. my suspicion is while he was talking about two rate rises next year, it's going to become more accommodative text year. paul, thanks very much, nice to see you. let's stay in washington,

because the city's top prosecutor, the district of columbia attorney general, is suing facebook. karl racine says the social media giant failed to protect the privacy of its users and deceived them about who had access to their data. it's the first major us move to punish facebook over the scandal involving the political consultancy cambridge analytica, which was able to access personal data from tens of millions of users. on wednesday the new york times reported that facebook had also done deals with some 150 companies, including amazon, netflix and spotify, giving them access to users' detailed personal information. gabe dance from the paper told the bbc the company is heading for a lot more trouble with regulators over its use of personal data, which is central to its business model. there's a good chance that british lawmakers could put a stop to it in a certain respect. there's the opportunity for the us federal

government to put a stop to it. facebook under a consent agreement 01’ facebook under a consent agreement or practices in 2011 that were misleading to its users. it seems there is potential here for that agreement to have been violated, and that could lead to further regulations and fines here. europe clearly has put in place the gdpr redactions, so i don't think facebook is going to do it on its own. i don't think facebook‘s partner companies are going to do it on their own, although we have seen some device makers, including apple, certainly try to distance themselves from facebook. so it certainly appears the onus is on governments both here and the united states and abroad to rain in these big tech companies. let's go to asia now, and news that renault boss carlos ghosn may soon be out ofjail, after a tokyo court decided not to extend his detention. ghosn has been indicted for allegedly understating how much

he was being paid while chairman of renault‘s partner nissan over a five—year period from 2010 let's go to mariko oi, part of our tea m let's go to mariko oi, part of our team singapore who's been looking into this —— team in singapore. it's fair to say this came as quite a surprise. it's quite unusual a court has rejected prosecutors' request to extend his detention. as you mentioned, carlos ghosn has been held since the 19th of november and injapan you can be held without charge for 23 days and then the prosecution requested the extension of his detention, which was granted, and tomorrow that will expire. a tokyo court has rejected that and that's why some are speculating whether he can be released on bail

as early as tomorrow. it's probably too soon to jump to that conclusion just yet because of course he was charged on the 10th of december with financial misconduct or allegedly understating his income by some $41; million between 2010 and 2015, allegations he denies. through his lawyer, we learned what he didn't declare was what's known as deferred income, something he would have received when he retired, and some experts have been saying japanese rules on future compensation leaves some room for interpretation. it will be interesting to see if he gets released the letter from his lawyer. thanks a lot, mariko, in singapore. let's see what's trending in business, analysis from cnbc about what spoke to the markets with the fed, saying they were ready to pull back from its tighter path. it is

asking why anyone should believe facebook any more, saying the new york times story of facebook selling personal data to companies like amazon for years... it calls its apology to cambridge analytica into question —— for. bloomberg says the global auto industry is likely to be in its first recession since 2009, that's what it's predicting. this is how to get in touch. let's look at the financial markets, japan has got 20 minutes to go. 20 more minutes and you can see, look at that, down over 3% at the moment injapan. at that, down over 3% at the moment in japan. losses at that, down over 3% at the moment injapan. losses across the board in asia. policymakers have been meeting at the bank ofjapan as asia. policymakers have been meeting at the bank of japan as well today. they maintained their monetary policies at things for now. that is the latest business news. up next, news biefing.

cuts to fire and rescue services in england could pose a serious safety risk, according to a new report. her majesty's inspectorate of constabulary, fire and rescue services says fire safety checks have fallen by 42% in ten years. tom symonds reports. firefighters, few jobs firefighters, fewjobs attract as much public support as they enjoy. and the number of urgency is they deal with has been falling steadily, at this, the rest, worse residential fire in living memory showed disasters can still happen. spruik firefighting firmly in the spotlight. meanwhile, the system for inspecting fire services has been revamped. chedjou of a is one of 1a services to be scrutinised as part

of the new system. it got a good rating. for its emergency service and the fire safety checks it carries out. but today's report says when it comes to protecting the public by a inspecting buildings, eight out of 1a fire services required improvement. in fact, the number of safety audits carried out by fire services across england has fallen by 42% in eight years. ifa fallen by 42% in eight years. if a fire services don't know where their high—risk premises are, and if they haven't been and done safety audits of those high—risk premises, then there's clearly a danger that there are risks that aren't being addressed and therefore the public are at risk. the reason it's not happening, she says, is funding fire services have prioritised to be emergency response over the fire safety checks. but there are other issues, general shortage of on—call firefighters able to interrupt their daily lives to respond to fires, and what was

described as an outdated working culture where fewer than 6% of firefighters are women and fewer than 5% from an ethnic minority group. more inspections, including big city fire brigades, are planned. tom symonds, bbc news. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: delays and diversions. gatwick airport warns passengers to expect more disruption because drones were flown over the airfield. us forces are being withdrawn from syria, with president trump claiming the islamic state group had now been defeated there. the white house decsision has been criticised by many. facebook has defended its conduct after the new york times reported that the company had given major technology companies more intrusive access to users' personal data than previously disclosed. now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. we begin with the new york times, and the trump administration who have announced us troops are being withdrawn from syria.

this comes after president trump claimed the islamic state terror group had been defeated. of course, the new york times has its take on that decision. the guardian reports the us federal reserve has raised borrowing — as we've been discussing — costs for the fourth time this year, defying pressure to hold off from president donald trump. the fed also gave weaker projections for economic growth in 2019. city am says uk city leaders are feeling relieved after eu officials confimed the bloc will formalise grace periods for key parts of the financial servies industry in the event of a no—deal brexit. the independent, like many other papers, is following the current saga of whether uk labour leader jeremy corbyn was filmed uttering the words "stupid woman" whilst taking part in a commons debate

with uk prime minister theresa may. mr corbyn has denied using the sexist slur and insisted he said the words "stupid people" instead. and finally, the vox celebrates 175 years of charles dickens' a christmas carol. over the years, the book has been renacted for the stage and screen countless times making it an iconic christmas favourite. and i recently saw it at the old vic, playing the a christmas carol, it is superb. with me is nina trentmann from the wall streetjournal. let's look at the new york times,