this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. twitter unveils it's latest numbers, but will efforts to increase security and stop trolling damage its bottom line? foldable failure — is samsung's new phone a galaxy away after the korean tech giant delays the launch of its new expensive device? let's look at financial markets. you can see it is flat. a long weekend around the world. the price of oil is pushing up the energy stocks.

some of you might love the fact that it is tech tuesday. the start of a busy week of results in the sector — with twitter and snap kicking us off later today. so what are we likely to see? first is twitter. it has about 126 million daily active users as of the end of last year and investors will be keeping a close eye on whether that number goes up. the micro—blogging site upped its security at the beginning of the year and added new features aimed at decreasing the amount users are being trolled on the platform. and those changes may have an impact on user engagement. snap — snapchat‘s parent company — will give numbers after the bell. it currently has about 186 million daily users. and while it's proving popular with younger people it's having difficulty drawing in an older demographic. the app has faced a number of setbacks — an android redesign is taking longer than it was supposed to — and features like stories that have become mainstays on rival

platforms like instagram. james erskine, chief executive of the social media and content business, the big shot, joins me now. good morning. good morning. let's start with twitter. your thoughts on what it might have to tell us today? it is funny, across both of them it is all about context and about measurement, and twitter, you reported the number of daily active users because it no longer talks about the number of monthly active users and the reason for that is they have two ideas, two metrics they have two ideas, two metrics they can focus on, one is how long they can focus on, one is how long they get on the platform and the others how long they spend on the platform and they will keep the daily active users around the same,

may a slight increase, but i think the key thing that the markets will respond to is the level of profitability and whether they can hold onto the level of profitability. it seems they are in quite a good place to that at the moment. however they turn things around? just a few years ago we were talking about twitter becoming a thing of the past. people like you andi thing of the past. people like you and i were on there. not many others. since then we have a us president who uses it all the time. i that would have increased its press profile to a degree.” i that would have increased its press profile to a degree. i think it has found its identity which sounds crazy for such a big business. it went through a phase of trying to do everything. it still has four sports rights and long—term content. you have to look at the platform. it is the least personal social network. on occasion i put photos of my children up, normally i see it as a news digester. and around the hashtags, to use that

turn of phrase, around key subjects, there is nowhere better defined digester around a particular subject. so twitter has found its feet if it can make more money and more profit to think of other ways of making money out of its users, thatis of making money out of its users, that is the key for twitter. exactly, sourcing its content, sorting out its commercials. briefly, snapchat, snap, i don't get it, but i am not the person they are after. they are after a very young audience, and they love the fact that the content does disappear after a certain amount of time. they have launched a number of things during the last month or so that have been the nice side of social media, partnering with the un, they have launched a partnership with the ad council and they have launched a new ar thing and a gaming community as well. they are going for it. they

are as well. they are going for it. they a re really as well. they are going for it. they are really going for it. their last partner conference three weeks ago, not their words, the executive summary was, we are not not their words, the executive summary was, we are not instagram and we are proud. they are looking at ways to drive the point of difference. what we will keep an eye on that. the numbers come out later. thank you for coming in so early. when we hear from twitter and snap we will update you. samsung is delaying the release of its folding smartphone just days after reviewers said screens on the devices had broken. rico hizon is in our asia business hub. rico, this is not the headline they wanted. just before they were supposed to launch. the foldable phones, the issues with foldable phones, the issues with foldable phones, sally, the south korean telecommunications giant said the launch of the galaxy fold has been postponed to fully evaluate the

feedback and run further internal tests. as you know, sally, in early april several early reviewers found the display on the galaxy fold broke after just a few days and the display on the galaxy fold broke afterjust a few days and samsung said it suspected the damage experienced by some reviewers was caused by impact on the top and the bottom exposed areas. the tech firm said it found substances inside one of the reviewer devices that might have affected its performance. so at this point samsung hasn't said when the almost $2000 device will go on sale but a new launch date will be announced in the coming weeks. it was supposed to be launched in asia and the united states later this week. it was meant to showcase samsung as an innovative and forwardthinking gadget maker. now it is turning into a bit of an embarrassment, and bringing back bad memories of 2016 when samsung

recalled its galaxy note 7 smartphone because of overheating batteries that began to catch fire. one take analyst i spoke with earlier said that maybe they are in a hurry to get ahead of the game because while they will also be launching —— because huawei will be launching —— because huawei will be launching a foldable phone in maybe the second quarter of the year. the race to have the first foldable phone. thank you very much indeed. for now it is out of this world. now let's brief you on some other business stories. global oil prices have continued to rise after the us demanded buyers of iranian oil stop purchases by the beginning of next month. america says it will not renew exemptions granted to buyers of iranian oil last year. lawyers for the embattled former chairman of nissan, carlos ghosn, are hoping that a tokyo court will decide to release him on bail for the second time later today. it comes afterjapanese prosecutors indicted him with another charge of financial misconduct. he was detained in november

and denies any wrongdoing. the boss of tesla, elon musk, says robot taxis with no human drivers will be available in us cities next year. ina will be available in us cities next year. in a presentation he unveiled a microchip or self driving cars made by samsung. it is hoped it will give tesla the edge over rivals when it comes to autonomous driving. worries about a warming planet mean global agriculture could be facing a tough future with lower rainfall and drier earth. one research institute in the middle east is looking for ways to increase profits for farmers working in arid regions and they‘ re producing some surprising results. vivienne nunis reports from dubai. home to more than a0 million date palms it is one of the leading

producers with global demand for the fruit growing. experts say that too many farmers over irrigate their crops. what we are doing with the date palm which is a major tree in the uae is research of water consumption per tree throughout the cycle. so we are investigating how to reduce the water footprint of date palms in the region. at this research centre scientists are looking for ways to boost farming incomes in harsh desert climates. their work is already producing results, especially in producing salt tolera nt results, especially in producing salt tolerant crops. quinoa originates in the mountains of peru but this variety is thriving in sandy, salty soil. crops like these have been selected for the harsh environment here in the gulf. extreme heat and high salinity. as we face a warming planet, they could be adopted much more widely. the

varieties developed are already across africa and central asia. the aim is to make it more viable on arid land. in the old days we had lots of land, so we didn't pay attention to the harsh environment. what we know with climate change and global warming is many arable lands will become harsh environments. so we have no choice but to produce those environments and to produce those environments and to produce those harsh environments you need new crops. food for thought for any country faced with a hotter and drier future. let's country faced with a hotter and drierfuture. let's quickly country faced with a hotter and drier future. let's quickly show you how financial markets are going today. in asia, the price of oil, brent will cost you over $7a. if you are filling up vehicles you will feel it at the pump. this is how it is going in asia, a very flat beginning to the trading session. i

will see you soon. steph willjoin me in will see you soon. steph willjoin meina will see you soon. steph willjoin me in a moment for the news briefing. there's a warning that a lack of english classes for migrants will harm integration, and fuel right—wing extremism. the muslim council of britain and the association of colleges have condemned a halving of funds over a decade. leigh milner reports. this woman from syria is one of three quarters of a million people in the uk that speaks little or no english. it is up to her 1a—year—old daughter to help her. when she has an appointment in the doctor or dentist or anything i go with her to help her because she doesn't know

the language. and when she goes sometimes shopping i go to help her. the government is spending £50 million to help women integrate better. here at this doctor's surgery better. here at this doctor's surgery 80% of appointments have to be translated. we have taken people from the local community, trained them up and up skilled them to communicate with patients, translate and deliver healthca re. communicate with patients, translate and deliver healthcare. find the word. bbc research shows a 1296 and deliver healthcare. find the word. bbc research shows a 12% rise word. bbc research shows a 1296 rise in the number of people taking official english classes in the last three years, but that is still much lower than it was more than a decade ago. the city is one of five places across the country the government has identified as needing help with integration. this month more english classes has darted across england after an extra £6 million of government funding. but the association of colleges says that is simply not enough. the funding has dropped by over £100 million per

year from over dropped by over £100 million per yearfrom over 200 million to under 100,000,007 or eight years and it is hundreds of thousands of people missing out on their chance to be integrated into society. the government says it recognises the pressures facing colleges and it will assess the funding in the next spending review. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: a day of national mourning is taking place in sri lanka — the official death toll from sunday's bomb attacks has risen to 310. the us threatens sanctions on any country importing oil from iran after the first of may. tehran calls the move illegal. north korea confirms its leader kim jong—un will travel to russia for his first summit with vladimir putin. now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media

across the world. we begin with the front page of sri lanka's daily mirror, with the simple words: "in remembrance of all those who lost their lives" with the date of sunday's bombings. inside it looks at the latest lines on the investigation. on to the times. it covers president trump withdrawing waivers for some counties to buy oil from iran, in a bid to get tehran's exports down to zero. the telegraph — and british politics is back in the news. it says theresa may will be forced out over her brexit failure if she doesn't name her departure date. let's look at the financial times. it reports on an efficiency drive at barclays as it curbs its bankers bonuses. and finally, bbc news

online are among many with these snaps. it's prince louis who is celebrating his first birthday with photographs taken by his mum. he is looking extremely gorgeous, thereat1—year—old. back with me is independent analyst stephanie hare. we start with this very dramatic front page but it does do the job, doesn't it? the daily mirror which is one of the few papers in sri la nka is one of the few papers in sri lanka in english and itjust says in remembrance of all those who lost their life. the number is going up. it is going up. the casualties are around 319 and over 500 wounded and in hospital so we can expect that number to rise over the next few days. there is also the political