hello, this is business live from bbc news with sally bundock and ben thompson. it's a big week for tech results — with twitter and snap kicking us off — with competition on the rise and security at the fore — how are they expected to fare? we are live, we're in london, that's our top story on tuesday 23rd april. the race is on to attract the most daily users — so how are firms like twitter and snapchat trying to get you more engaged? also in the programme: foldable flop — is samsung's

new phone a galaxy away, after the korean tech giant delays the launch of its latest expensive device? financial markets, most are nonplussed today, all markets worldwide are open after a long holiday weekend. also in the programme: people come in all shapes and sizes, so technology is now helping to make braces and prosthetics that are as unique as those who are wearing them. we'll find out how it all works. as samsung faces difficulties with its folding phone — we want to know, is this a product you're excited about and want? is it a must—have or can you live without it? a lot if you already getting in touch on this story, let us know, join the debate, use the hashtag. hello and welcome to business live. we have a packed programme as usual.

let's get cracking. some of you may be excited about 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 sight 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. adam chugg from media agency the7stars is with me now. two big ones that everyone is looking for, twitter, a lot on their plate right now to get right, and history tells us they are slow at changing things. yes, and that has probably been one of their strengths, they carved out a niche for themselves as a news platform, and a conversation platform, and i think that has led to some of their sta ble think that has led to some of their stable user numbers, really. they are seeing a slowdown, in user number growth there, they have seen a reduction in monthly average

users, because they have cold a lot of bot traffic, they are also saying that the good thing is that the daily active users are increasing slightly. when we look at twitter, never far from the headlines, slightly. when we look at twitter, neverfarfrom the headlines, given all we have heard about the spread of fa ke all we have heard about the spread of fake news. -- culled bot traffic. what about unverifiable content, how much is that impacted? in terms of monthly active users, bot traffic, you have seen a decrease, i don't think it is causing the slowdown in daily active user growth, i think potentially, long—term, that could have more a damaging effect, obviously, the quality of the content on these platforms is key. and i think they need to address that issue long—term. they are clearly making moves to do that. addressing the quality issue is what brings in the money, let's not forget, this is where twitter will make its money, from the advertising

on the platform. they have got to get that right. absolutely, actually, they might have even benefited from facebook stealing a lot of the limelight, especially in the last quarter when it comes to brand safety issues. with less of that limelight on twitter, you know, some advertisers might have thought about redistributing their money into social media platforms where scrutiny is perhaps not as great.“ ever there was an example of a tough market to be in, it is that rivalry between snapped and the other players, as sally touched on, facebook and instagram pinching that, being able to live update, stories. —— snap. they have to stay ahead of the curve. snapchat have big problems, decline in user numbers, we picked 191 million users, so we numbers, we picked 191 million users, so we have numbers, we picked 191 million users, so we have seen numbers, we picked 191 million users, so we have seen how that has

decreased to 186 million users. —— peaked. one of the great strengths of snapchat is one of its biggest weaknesses, and that it is very popular with the younger demographic but they are also very fickle, as well as instagram stealing users share, because it is adopting a lot of the same features of snapchat, you also have tick—tock, now, most widely downloaded app in the us last year, already reached 250 million active daily users, so snapchat must make significant changes. —— tiktok. it is amazing when they come from nowhere and they are so prevalent suddenly. thank you very much for joining us. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. tesla boss elon musk says robot taxis, with no human drivers, will be available in some us cities next year. in a presentation, mr musk also unveiled a new microchip for self—driving cars made by samsung. it's hoped the chip will give tesla

an edge over rivals when it comes to autonomous driving. china has detected new cases of african swine fever in six farms across four locations in hainan province, the agriculture ministry says. more than a million pigs have already been culled across china, which has the largest pig population in the world. that has been enough to send pork prices significantly higher. samsung is reportedly recalling all the samples of its folding galaxy smartphone that it sent out to journalists for review. now it's delayed the official launch of the handset after those testing the phones said the screens broke after just a few days. yeah, just took a few journalists yeah, just took a fewjournalists to figure that one out! earlierl spoke to rico hizon in our asia business hub in singapore and asked him what's gone wrong.

the launch of the galaxy phone has been postponed, to "fully evaluate the feedback and run further internal tests. " as you know, in early april, several early reviewers found the display on the galaxy fold broke afterjust a few days, and samsung has said it suspected the damage experienced by some of the reviewers was caused by impact on the top and bottom exposed areas of the top and bottom exposed areas of the hinge. they also said they found substances inside one of the review devices that may have affected its performance. at this point, samsung electronics has not said where the almost $2000 device will go on sale —— when. but a new launch date will be announced in the next couple of weeks. it was supposed to be announced in asia and the united states later this week. great team out there, thank you.

the big winners are energy stocks worldwide, the price of oil is surging. in a moment we'll talk about oil prices some markets have been closed for a break over the easter weekend, friday and monday, this is how they are all trading at the moment, one trader in london told us at the bbc, eve ryo ne trader in london told us at the bbc, everyone is a bit lacklustre at the moment, taking them time to get back into the swing of things following a lovely weekend with gorgeous sunshine, it does impact us all. let's talk about the price of oil and why it is at a six—month high, the us, the trump administration, has announced that from may one, all waivers when it comes to those who buy oilfrom waivers when it comes to those who buy oil from iran will actually come to an end. companies likejapan, china and others who by their energy

from iran. international sanctions, us sanctions on iran will be in place in full from may the 1st. mike pompeo. before sanctions went into effect, $50 billion annually in oil revenue for iran. overall, today, we estimate that sanctions have denied them well north of $10 billion. the regime would have used that money to support terror groups like hamas and his in defiance of us security council resolution 20 —— his brother. will saudi arabia step in? emma—lou montgomery, associate director, fidelity international. saudi arabia says, don't worry, we

will step in. they can see the negative effect on iran but also the global supply problem, so they have said, we will work here to make sure there is supply available. saudi has there is supply available. saudi has the power to do that. it can step in. that will help to stabilise investor fears. it will definitely do that and, interesting, if it has an effect on the price of crude as well, that has been soaring, went up to its highest since november, so it will be interesting to see, it has been keeping prices, the idea that the supply is so limited, that has made prices rise higher. in terms of what else is going on this week, we have mentioned twitter and snap but it is also amazon, facebook, microsoft, big week for news. and it'll be interesting to see what they come up with, all eyes are on whether there is a sort of a bit a global slowdown and whether these

companies will see earning slightly starting to fall. and a really high oil price will not help a global slowdown. definitely not. we often see those do not go hand in hand, one is a lagging indicator, where are we in the scale of things, how worried are investors about where there are pockets of slowdown, the real fear is that all those pockets join up. at the moment, the oil prices separation to the earnings and profits, but people are cautious at the moment, consumers are not really sure, investors are not sure what is happening, whether companies are reaching their peak. we saw oil go to new peaks, our company profits going to new peaks, earning trimming back. that is the question people wa nt back. that is the question people want to know. we might get and idea of that, earnings from twitter are coming back for profit is expected to be buoyant. interesting insight. really good to see it. thank you. she will return to look at some of the stories in the newspapers later.

we really have a tech theme today, talking about digital meeting 3d printing for a very unique experience. that's giving people who wear back—braces an experience that's tailor—made. we will speak with a boss of a company that is doing exactly that. you're with business live from bbc news. if you have a smartphone, i'm sure most of you have a smartphone, you may have a smartphone with one of the three big operators. vodafone, ee and 02 — who are are failing to offer adequate levels of service and support, according to new research. the consumer group which?

says this was despite the big operators often costing more than smaller rivals. natalie hitchins, is head of home products and services at which, shejoins us now. should we really be surprised, a big firm not doing great customer service. we have run mobile satisfaction surveys every year, this year, vodafone came last, they also came last last year but not too far behind them were ee and 02 and the consistent theme of how the major networks are failing is technical support, value for money, customer service, we don't see this with some of the smaller lesser known networks, in our research, the likes of utility warehouse and snap and plus net, they got resoundingly positive customer satisfaction figures and they seem to be delivering where it counts for consumers when it comes to value for money. but will we move, presumably, vodafone, ee, they will dominate despite this. they are big

companies, they have been around for a long time, possibly suffering from a long time, possibly suffering from a touch of complacency creeping in, huge customer basis, however, customers are speaking loud and clear, they are not happy. with the newer lesser— known firms, such as giff gaff, really getting it right. vodafone have lots in their favour, they have big networks, they own the wireless communications infrastructure, they have physical stores, they have customer service centres. a company like giff gaff does not do that but is still able to deliver. very interesting, thank you very much. a quick look at the business live page. this is a description of more than 350,000 people who are self—employed. .. than 350,000 people who are self-employed. .. what is slashies!? it is the idea that you can be a

chef/ blogger/ dog walker, that kind of thing. check out the business live web page for that. your‘re watching business live — our top story — tech giants twitter and snap report earnings later today in what's the beginning of a big week for the sector. the world and his wife are reporting, as the week progresses! laughter that is one way of looking at it! laughter markets were closed for the long easter weekend, this is how it was earlier, pretty sluggish trade, investors getting back to their desks, trying to work out what is going on. they are at the desk but their brain is still on the beach. some of us... were working the long weekend! you were, indeed. some of us have not

had a big long leisurely break! lets move on! laughter when your product has the power to change a life, it's pretty important that you get it right and give your customers exactly what they need. and few things can have as much of an impact as an artificial limb. with medical advances and longer life expectancy, the world health organisation says 35—40 million people around the world need prosthetics and orthotics. and it's big business, too — prosthetic limbs can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $50,000. unyq is a company that customises prosthetics and back braces — eythor bender is ceo and co—founder of unyq. you have brought in one of these prosthetic limbs, you can describe ita prosthetic limbs, you can describe it a little more for us, you said in the introduction, this is digital technology, meeting what is an age old problem, and you are coming up

with the solution, to make these things fit better. yes, and what is so things fit better. yes, and what is so exciting about this is, it is serving a big leap, 1 billion people in the world have some form of disability, and many of them live with medical devices like prosthetic limbs, braces, and so on. sometimes for months, sometimes for a year, sometimes for a lifetime, like people who have a prosthetic limb. personalisation and customisation is so personalisation and customisation is so important to make that, so that people actually want to wear it in the end. as you say, it has to be bespoke, absolutely right for the user, but also doing it in a cheaper way, because this is printed on a digital 3d printer. everything we do is digitalised, it is biometric, we ta ke is digitalised, it is biometric, we take pictures, of the body part, that we are trying to make, it is simple with an app, you can use your

smartphone, wherever in the world, very affordable, and the process, it goes to the printers, we print it and we ship to 50 countries in the world, we have been doing that for four or five years. how much do something like this cost? clearly big differences depending upon the complexity, traditionally this would have been made by hand. yes, lots of fittings and adjustments need to be made, whereas this, because it is 3d printed, the price will come down and it is much more affordable? yes, what is good about this technology, against technology we have introduced in the past, robotics to help people with wheelchairs, that was extremely expensive. what is good about this, not just affordable but also very accessible, you can place printers as close as possible to people, and make it so that they can engage in the process. very inclusive. for children who are growing and changing rapidly, this is fantastic news for them, we have

covered it, a story here, at the bbc, young children just covered it, a story here, at the bbc, young childrenjust cannot covered it, a story here, at the bbc, young children just cannot get the new limbs they need because of the new limbs they need because of the cost, partly. yes, what is great about this, this is covered by insurance companies in most countries. here in the uk we are working with the nhs on getting it cove red, working with the nhs on getting it covered, already available for private insurance and so on. since la st private insurance and so on. since last year, we have had people working, very nice. we have been saying back braces, so far in the programme, but that is not the correct term. we like to rebrand the whole thing, because really it is about allowing people, we call it spinalwears, prosthetic wears. the optimal goal is to blend the lines between these wearables and the clothes that you wear, so you do not even see clothes that you wear, so you do not even see that it is a medical device ora even see that it is a medical device or a cool gadget. when you talk

about blurring the lines, you have a partnership with ikea, and working with integration between people who require these because they have specific disabilities and just for eve ryo ne specific disabilities and just for everyone else, making life more co mforta ble, everyone else, making life more comfortable, more user—friendly, stopping us injuring ourselves at work with ergonomic design. yes, personalisation is in general important, it is coming out also to hardware. companies like ikea are looking at ways to personalise things, using our platform to do that, and it is about also eliminating waste, because it is on demand, so there is no inventory, you can place the manufacturer very close to the customers, so it is very environmentally friendly. thank you forjoining us, great to see it in action, very interesting. worries about a warming planet mean global agriculture could be

facing a tough future. 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, the uae is one of the leading producers in the world, global demand is growing but experts say too many farmers here over irrigate their crops. what we are doing is, we do the research on the water consumption. so, we are investigating how to reduce the water footprint of date palms in the region. at this research centre in dubai, researchers are looking at how to boost incomes, their work is

already producing results, particularly in developing salt tolera nt particularly in developing salt tolerant crops. food for thought for any country faced with a hotter, drier future. emma-lou is back to look through some papers. welcome back, this story in the financial times, about berkeley is cutting bonuses for investment bankers, what it says essentially is it should be tied to performance. i thought that was the whole point of a bonus, that it is tied to performance! but not necessarily the case. generally that is the way it is put to people but the thing with bonuses, they have become more and more of an issue as time has gone on, so more of an issue as time has gone on, so many more of an issue as time has gone on, so many ftse 100 more of an issue as time has gone on, so many ftse100 companies today, bosses are scrutinised when it comes to bonuses, how much they are paid, it is all tied to performance. take someone like a massive global consumer company like

rakish kapoor's, his bonus is tens of millions of pounds but he has boosted profits and share price has gone up accordingly. when those situations occur, people do not mind it so much but it has to be in line, it so much but it has to be in line, it has to be a suitable amount to recommend somebody. —— reckitt benckiser. — — recommend somebody. —— reckitt benckiser. —— rakesh kapoor. recommend somebody. —— reckitt benckiser. -- rakesh kapoor. just keep ticking the boxes when there is a sign for keep ticking the boxes when there is a signfora keep ticking the boxes when there is a sign for a car. lets talk about foldable phones. really interesting, samsung told the world, we will be the first, it will cost $2000, coming to market quite soon, no, at the time we discussed whether this thing would break, and if a toddler got hold of one whether it would be demolished, it would seem they are not that robust. and it is a beautiful piece of tech and it seems

a shame they have been breaking, i think people may be peeling off the layers instead of leaving it intact. i'm quite excited about a foldable phone. what would you get from one which you cannot get from a normal phone? it is bigger! and you can watch different things in different parts of the screen, but then you have four small screens instead of one big one! text messages from your children along the bottom... television here... that is what it is going to look like. television here... that is what it is going to look likelj television here... that is what it is going to look like. i think it is a great piece of tech, it is the way forward , a great piece of tech, it is the way forward, maybe it is the new flip phone, it is the new of the old.|j think it is a fad, like 3d television. on that note, really nice to see you! robb says, i would buy a foldable phone, i like

updating every 12 months. buy a foldable phone, i like updating every 12 monthslj buy a foldable phone, i like updating every 12 months. i would rather have something that works, thatis rather have something that works, that is the idea, they have delayed the launch as a result. we will keep you across that. goodbye. hello, good morning, if you like whether warm and sunny, i hope you make the most of it over the long weekend, temperatures on easter monday got up to a record—breaking 25 celsius in wisley, in surrey, but throughout this week, some changes in the weather. turning much cooler by the end of the week, temperatures 13 to 16 degrees. this is the satellite imagery through the morning, quite a bit of cloud coming up, the wind is still from the south—easterly direction, some clear spells towards northern and western areas. could be the odd shower, west

wales, far south—west, the area of cloud in the south—east, it is high level cloud, making the sunshine hazy. for many of us, bright, if not sunny afternoon, still fairly warm, temperatures foremost getting up into the 205. but for parts of the north sea coast, temperatures may struggle, 13 or ia degrees. in aberdeen and newcastle. through the evening, and tonight, for most it is dry, clear spells, you notice some showers moving away into the far south—west of england, overnight lows down to nine to 12 degrees, fairly warm and mild to take us into wednesday morning. some changes on wednesday, you will see we have this weather front moving its way in from the south—west, that is going to bring in showers, and some thunderstorms. initially, just showers to south—west england into south wales, gradually drifting north and east throughout the morning, but as we go into lunchtime, and the afternoon, they will start to get that little bit heavier. as they push through the

midlands, into northern parts of england and north wales, some thunderstorms mixed in. the wind coming in from the south, relatively warm for england and wales, temperatures 18 to 20 degrees, staying dry for scotland and northern ireland, here, temperatures more like 13 to 15 celsius. then it is from late wednesday into the rest of the week when we start to bring in much cooler north—westerly wind. you notice the blue is now taking hold, by thursday, those temperatures will be 12 to ia degrees, the weekend, 13, ia degrees. you notice, quite a lot of rain and some showers in the hmmfi rain and some showers in the forecast from thursday and into the weekend. very different to the weekend. very different to the weekend just gone. goodbye.

you're watching bbc news at nine with me, annita mcveigh. the headlines... a national day of mourning in sri lanka, as the first funerals take place for some of the 310 victims of easter sunday's bombings. sri lanka's leadership is under further scrutiny about how much was known about the immediate threat from a local islamist group blamed for the attacks. police arrest a 57—year—old woman in connection with the murder of the journalist lyra mckee. as mps return to westminster, talks are due to resume between the government and labour as they try to break the brexit deadlock. the swedish teenage enviromental activist greta thunberg urges politicians to listen to scientists when it comes to the impacts of climate change. this is an emergency, this is an existential crisis,