this is the business briefing. i'm victoria fritz. brexit delayed: the eu gives the uk a new deadline of october 31st. voting gets underway in india's crucial elections — what does it all mean for the world's fastest growing major economy? we'll find out from our correspondent in mumbai. and on the markets... growth worries remain in asia.

the uk and the eu have agreed a "flexible extension" of brexit until 31st october. the move came after marathon late night talks in brussels. the european council president donald tusk had a stark message for britain.. "please...do not waste this time". it's a message bound to be echoed by business in the uk — where uncertainty has been taking its toll — remember the original date for brexit was march 29th. the british retail consortium says all the uncertainty is holding back consumer spending, with sales in march falling 0.5%, compared to the same month last year. uncertainty has also raised costs for businesses. many manufacturers here in the uk have stockpiled goods — and that's been based on a timeline of leaving in march, april or may. the british chambers of commerce forecasts business investment will fall 1% this year. if correct, it would be the weakest since the global economic crisis

a decade ago. mike cherry is the chairman of the federation of small businesses. mike, where do we even begin with this? six months, another six months we have been granted. what does it mean for small businesses in the uk? well, we are not crashing out whether no deal tomorrow and that is a good thing. silver linings. the danger now is that small businesses will now pay an even higher price for the political ongoing debate, dithering and politicking that the parliamentarians here in the uk have been dealing with. for business, it's not good. confidence is at its lowest ever levels and we are already seeing from our quarterly economic surveys that investment is

down, it's stagnating, jobs are not created any longer. this is all at a time massively increased costs around business rates, pensions, wages and small businesses are just having to pay the price of politicians dithering and debating. it appeared that the decision by the eu to grant this extension was on the basis of the eu member states wanting to avoid a no—deal brexit scenario but is that what british businesses want, in your experience? do they just want out businesses want, in your experience? do theyjust want out now regardless of the terms just because it gives some certainty. or are they hanging on or hoping for some form of deal? we need a deal. you need to get through into the transition period and that timeline is now shortening. the problem is, we don't know if october is going to be the date or if we are still going to crush out

if we are still going to crush out if our parliamentarians cannot come to an arrangement and agree what they want by october the 31st. we also hear there is flexibility around this so it could bejune 30. that is creating so much under —— uncertainty that you will probably be seeing more decreases in investment, less jobs be seeing more decreases in investment, lessjobs being created and a whole range of problems for small businesses that they could never afford to comply with. could this be short term in the scheme of things? surely thrashing out that all businesses are happy with? the eu is saying it will be, businesses don't know what it will have to do and when it will have to do it and

uk parliamentarians cannot agree what we have to do. i hope we don't have a further six months where we just waste that time, as task says, uncertainty for small businesses in particular, increased costs and not being able to deal with the domestic agenda. this is the problem. the lifeblood of parliament is being sucked out of everything to do with brexit and we cannot deal with domestic agenda which we need to be getting on with. quite apt that we saw our first—ever pictures of a black hole yesterday. china has seen a rise in inflation — fuelled by rocketing food costs. live now to our asia business hub, and shara njit leyl. what's going on? that's right, victoria. inflation in the world's second largest economy is surging in march. food prices in pork, was driven higher by an outbreak of african swine fever. pork prices

rose about i.5%, the first increase in more than two years after more thani million in more than two years after more than i million pigs in more than two years after more thani million pigs were culled out —— after the outbreak of this flu. china eats half of the world's pork and no surprises consumer prices we re over and no surprises consumer prices were over 2% higher than the previous nonetheless, there was a slight limb of hope towards a recovery in the economy and that was factory prices rebounding. that is as chinese authorities take steps to try to reinflate the economy. they have done all things such as ramping up have done all things such as ramping up fiscal and monetary stimulus to cou ntera ct up fiscal and monetary stimulus to counteract the effects of the trade while with the us. others are saying it may take a few more months of slightly better data and more policy support from beijing to see if a recovery ca n support from beijing to see if a recovery can be sustained. china, we know, is growing at its weakest pace in almost three decades because of wea ker in almost three decades because of weaker demand at home and the

year—long trade war with the united states. sharanjit leyl in singapore, thanks very much. india is the world's biggest democracy — and fastest growing major economy. so there's a lot at stake as tens of millions of voters go to the polls in the first phase of crucial elections on thursday. narendra modi is hoping to be re elected as prime minister and the country's economy has proved to be a majorfactor in the campaign. live now to mumbai and our correspondent sameer hashmi. economic prosperity was the ticket last time, well it work second time around? well, it's interesting that around? well, it's interesting that a lot of promises and arranger modi made when he contested for the first time, a lot of people are talking about that and engaging it. if you look at the last five years, it has been a mixed bag. the economy has

grown at 7% or more, quite impressive on paper. on the ground, there is a jobs crisis and despite india growing at a rapid rate, unemployment rate has been at a 45 year high. more than 50% of indian population depends on farming but they have been facing a lot of problems and the government has been trying to provide them subsidies and other measures that really hasn't helped bring down the problem is that the agriculture sector is facing. these other two big talking economic points. mr modi is saying —— narendra modi is saying that the cot —— economy is growing at a rapid pace and things will only get better if he gets re—elected for the second time. second time around, many more people in india have smart phones and there has been a rollout of tech across the country. what role will

tech play in these elections, do you think? the election has been dubbed as the whatsapp election because you have close to 250 million people using what's up in the country. talking about smart phones, india is the fastest growing market with close to 400 million people using smart phones in the country so that is nearly half the size of the voters. all the political parties are using the smart phone and the technology to reach out to potential voters. whether it is whatsapp, facebook, twitter, instagram, all of these different apps are being used to send out to vote —— send out m essa 9 es to send out to vote —— send out m essa g es to to send out to vote —— send out messages to voters. also there is a fa ke messages to voters. also there is a fake news. there is wrong information being circulated on smart phones. the election regulator has come out and said that voters need to careful with regards to what they read on the phone and there are a lot of guidelines that have been

put in place. whatsapp and facebook have taken measures to make sure that they can is not circulated with influence towards voters as they go out. as they go out. now let's brief you on some other business stories. more signs of progress in efforts to ease the trade war between the china and the us. the us treasury secretary steven mnuchin says the two sides have largely agreed on a mechanism to police any trade agreementthey reach. the two countries have slapped billions of dollars worth of tariffs on each others goods. talks are due to resume in washington on thursday. us lawmakers are proposing new laws to force major tech companies to detect and remove any biases embedded in their computer models. companies would be required to examine if algorithms were underpinned by race, gender, or other biases. facebook, amazon and other big firms have been accused of featuring algorithms that result in discrimination.

up next — newsbriefing — we'll take you through ther stories making headlines in the global news media today including. more on brexit and black holes. jack shepherd, the british man convicted of killing a woman in a speedboat crash, is now back in custody in the uk, and will appear in court later. the 31—year—old fled to georgia and in his absence, was found guilty of the manslaughter of charlotte brown. sarah rainsford was on shepherd's plane, flying from the georgian capital, tbilisi. this was the flight carrying

jack shepherd back to britain from georgia to face justice, and we got on board. after months on the run, he was here in handcuffs, escorted by metropolitan police officers. he's never spoken publicly before, so i asked what he had to say to the family of charlotte brown — killed in a crash on his speedboat. i'm terribly sorry for my involvement in charlotte's death, and furthermore, my subsequent actions which i see have only served to make things worse, and i'd like to make amends for that. it's over three years since jack shepherd's boat was found capsized in the thames after a first date ended in tragedy. this footage was filmed by charlotte brown shortly before the crash that killed her. at some point, jack shepherd handed her the controls. the boat hit an obstacle at high speed and overturned.

charlotte brown was discovered in the icy water. she died later in hospital. it wasn't until january that he turned himself in to georgian police after securing the right to appeal against his conviction. the trials which will take place in great britain... in court here, jack shepherd described charlotte's death as his greatest regret. but he has since made clear that he doesn't believe he is solely responsible for the crash. but charlotte brown's family want jack shepherd to take responsibility for charlotte's death, saying his appeal will only prolong their pain and suffering. sarah rainsford, bbc news. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: eu leaders have agreed to extend the brexit deadline to the end of october — following an emergency summit in brussels. theresa may said she still believed leaving with a deal was the best option, and again called on mps in westminster to back her withdrawal agreement.

now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. we begin with the daily telegraph and brexit. it shows theresa may cutting a lonely figure as the eu — of course — agrees to delay the brexit date until halloween. next we look at the bbc website and our leading technology story this morning. the founder of chinese smartphone—maker, xiaomi, has been given a bonus of 7.54 billion hong kong dollars which he says he will give to charity. le figaro is among many of the papers covering the black hole. and this amazing picture of the black hole seen for the first time, using a network of radio telescopes from around the world.

now to india and the business standard, which marks the first day of polling in india in the first phase of a general election where tens of millions of people will cast their votes. and finally we return to the daily telegraph, which reports on a new study into irritable bowel syndrome that says ibs can be controlled through the mind rather than by mainstream drugs, more on that later. with me is nina trentmann, from the wall streetjournal. let us begin, shall be, with brexit. another six months, what does this achieve, wesley britton? a similar place than before. i guess. past the deadline and without an agreement —— where does this leave britain? again