this is business live from bbc news, with maryam moshiri and sally bundock. hanging in the balance — 5,000 workers at british steel await their fate, as its owners call on the government for help. live from london, that's our top story today, on wednesday 22nd of may. what does the future hold for the thousands who work for british steel and its many suppliers? it's reduced by half the amount of money it says it needs in emergency support from the government. we talk you through what's at stake. also in the programme... is japan feeling the effects of the us—china trade war? its exports have fallen

for a fifth month in a row. and the markets have just opened in europe. later today, the focus will be on the health of the world's biggest economy, with the minutes from the last meeting at the us central bank coming out. and we'll be getting the inside track on the luxury watch market, as one very british band takes on the traditional swiss watchmaking giants. today, as a un report says female voiced assistants like alexa and cortana reinforce gender bias, we want to know — do you agree? should personal digital assistants be gender neutral? let us know — just use the hashtag bbcbizlive. hello and welcome to business live. we start in the uk, where the future of the country's second—largest steel producer —

british steel — hangs in the balance. the steelmaker — which employs 4,500 people, mostly in the north of england — is seeking an emergency loan from the uk government. now, british steel has blamed "brexit—related issues" for its difficulties, with one source saying orders from european customers — increasingly anxious about potential tariffs — have "dried up". it comes just two weeks after the uk government gave british steel an emergency $153 million loan to cover an unexpected eu bill for its carbon emissions. it wouldn't have been liable, had britain left the eu on march 29th. the european steel sector generally is struggling, with weakening demand from china. at the same time, prices have been pushed down by a flood of imports from turkey, because its steel is no longer being exported to the us. sally. thank you. with us now is jason kaplan, an independent commodities analyst.

welcome to the programme, what you think might happen in this story, will the government come to the rescue of british steel? it is clearly a very difficult situation andi clearly a very difficult situation and i think they have to weigh up what they want to do in terms of how much do they want to bail out a private industry? it is very clear but they have a very difficult decision to make. it is difficult because eu will say they cannot give companies in such dire straits state aid? very much so, you cannot support your industries. potentially, there is a way of coming into emergency funding which is what they need to curtail their emissions, but their hands are tied. should british steel be rescued? that is a much bigger question which we have to answer. and we see a state where this deal industry is possible in the long run competing against china and india and other big steel producing nations? it is a very difficult question to answer. the private equity company that took over british steel a few years ago

has had to try and make some changes and make it profitable if possible. the real problem is the margins are so the real problem is the margins are so squeezed at both ends for steel companies globally, they are all having to rethink what they do. very much so, when you think about where these materials are coming from, we are shipping very expensive dirt from australia and brazil and trying to make a very low profit commodity at the end of it, it is difficult for any company to make profit under those situations. some are arguing that looking ahead, british steel, if it were to change what it does, it should look at more high steel quality rather than quantity. very much so, steel can be very cheap or very expensive. the uk has always excelled in developing very high spec steel specifically for aeronautic or automotive applications but those are much lower volume and need less people and investment in solutions to make it happen. but maybe that is the

direction british steel need to think about going on. jason, thank you for your time and analysis and we shall keep a close eye on any developments on this story today. yes. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. japanese wireless firm ymobile, the discount carrier from softbank, says it would delay the launch of the p30 lite smartphone, which is made by chinese telecoms giant huawei. the smartphone was due to go on sale on friday. the delay follows the imposition of trade restrictions on the chinese manufacturer by washington last week. boeing is facing more claims for compensation over the troubled 737 max. china eastern airlines is formally requesting compensation for the losses it is suffering because the plane has had to be grounded whilst a safety upgrade is being worked on. that follows the ethiopia airlines crash in march. meanwhile, a french woman whose husband died on that flight is suing boeing for more than $200 million. some of the world's biggest footwear firms are urging donald trump to end the us trade war

with china, warning of a "catastrophic" effect on consumers. in a letter signed by 170 companies, including nike and adidas, they said the president's decision to lift import tariffs to 25% will disproportionately impact the working class. let's focus on the japanese economy, the well‘s number three. when it comes to how much it is exporting, good shipping out of the country, the volume has gone down for the fifth month in a row. yes, the effects of the us trade war with china and a slowdown in the global tech cycle continue to weigh onjapan‘s economy. sharanjit leyl is following the story from our asia business hub. she had a look at the numbers to explain what is going on. certainly a lot more signs that the us—china trade war is having an impact on many of the world's biggest economies.

japan, of course, is the world's third largest, no exception. its exports, as you said, contracted for the fifth month in april. they were down in worse—than—expected 2.4% for the month from a year earlier. exports to china, crucially, fell 6.3% in april from the previous year. it was a slump in shipments of ship—making equipment specifically to china that's been blamed. now, the trade war between the us and china has also exposed japanese exports, particularly of cars to the us, which may raise president trump's ire, ahead of us—japan trade negotiations this week. and of course, there's a summit this weekend as well between the two leaders, president trump and shinzo abe. and certainly, not helping will be data revealing that japan's trade surplus with the us actually rose nearly 18% in april from a year earlier, to $6.5 billion. and this will putjapan in a really tough negotiating position, as trump's government tries to rehash trade agreements to try to lower the us trade deficit and address what it considers to be unfair trade practices. we also had that reuters survey that

you mention which is not the official figures, but you mention which is not the officialfigures, but all you mention which is not the official figures, but all of that pointing to worries ahead. thanks. let's take you through the stock markets. asian stocks really struggling to find some sort of direction this wednesday, investors still worried about trade tensions between the us and china. in the us, we await the release of us federalreserve's minutes from the last meeting on may 1st. we'll be looking for more clues on the direction of monetary policy in the world's biggest economy. in europe... they just opened theyjust opened a0 minutes ago, the london market is up. brexit uncertainty with us much more which has pushed the pound lower. and the world market is higher as a result. and samira hussein has the details of what's ahead on wall street today. the investments target is making continue to pay off. the big box retailer will be reporting earnings on wednesday and the expectation is sales will have risen for the quarter. the company has been pumping money into remodelling its stores

and improving its delivery services. it's also been investing pretty heavily in its online business, while still trying to draw customers to visit its brick and mortar stores. investors, however, will be really keen to hear from the company about how growing us—china trade tensions and a possible increase in duties on all chinese imports would impact the retailer. also happening on wednesday, minutes from the federal reserve's last meeting will be released. remember, at that meeting, america's central bank held interest rates and signalled that it really didn't have much appetite to adjust them anytime soon, citing the continued strength in the labour market and steady economic growth. joining us is laura cooper, head of fx solutions and strategy at rbc wealth management. good morning, you were listening to samira and the fed minutes are out

later, what are we seeing? markets will be looking for any subtle shifts in guidance from the fed because the fed has signalled it is likely to keep policy unchanged. in contrast to what markets are telling us, markets expect the fed to cut rates likely twice over the next two yea rs rates likely twice over the next two years so we are seeing rates likely twice over the next two years so we are seeing this divergence. we will see if there are su btle divergence. we will see if there are subtle shifts to close the gap. let's talk about the uk, we have economic data coming out today on inflation. what do we expect in terms of the inflation figures out of the uk? the latest figures for uk price growth in april is likely to show prices coming in slightly higher this month, but that is really driven by three factors. one is fuel prices were higher in april. as well, we had the timing of easter in april, so with people travelling and spending more on leisure, that probably bumped up prices as well. and we have an increase in the price cap on domestic energy bills in the month which slightly provided a one—time boost. so it could go

higher than the bank of england's target, but we don't expect it to be sustained. and in the last day or so, sterling has been super—sensitive and that will continue for the next few days, if not couple of weeks. the downside risk to sterling is there given the fa ct we risk to sterling is there given the fact we are seeing brexit risks back in play and the currency has remained relatively stable for the past few months on brexit complacency, so that is coming back quite sharply. yes, the complacency is no longer there, the brexit break we enjoyed. thank you for now. laura is back a little later to discuss all sorts, including the idea of a gender neutral voice assistant. you have really got going on that story today. you have been tweeting in your d roves! still to tweeting in your droves! fine luxury watches made in the uk? we'll meet the man helping to revive british watchmaking. you're with business

live from bbc news. gas distribution network cadent has been hit with the biggest financial settlement 0fgem has ever imposed. the company, which pipes gas to 11 million homes and businesses, has agreed to pay £2a million for past failures and establish a £20 million community fund. cadent has been accused of leaving thousands of residents of blocks of flats without gas for longer than they could have been, while others did not receive the required compensation. jonathan brearley is executive director at 0fcom, he joins us from central london. tell us about what cadent was not doing for its customers. to give you the background, there were three big problems cadent failed their customers living in tower blocs. they cut them off with gas for far too long when they make repairs, they didn't pay the compensation that was due quickly enough and they

had exceedingly poor record—keeping, which meant that they were not looking after those residents properly. now, we have investigated this we have addressed it with cadent and if there is any positive news, the new board has said to me they have a plan to fix this and they have a plan to fix this and they will pay the £aa million which will benefit their customers. there are two things i want to point out. this is a financial hit for cadent and also a message to all network companies, if you don't look of your customers, ultimately, you will pay financially. i wanted to ask about that because cadent said it is planning to change and improve the way it interacts with customers. what is it going to do with the money in that fund? well, ultimately, that fund is therefore local energy use so it will be used for things like energy efficiency and cadent will come forward with plans as to how they do that. but more broadly, cadent have made the commitment they will become more customer focused and make sure they deliver for the people of this earth. jonathan, thank you so much for joining earth. jonathan, thank you so much

forjoining us. the latest now from marks & spencer and this is our colleague sean tweeting about this and this is the reason why you should follow him. profits down 10% to £523 million. sales down in food and clothing and home, that is pretty painfulfor them. and more store closures, 85 more. so 35 traditional stores have already closed, plans to close another 85 of them, plus 25 simply food. m&s shares down nearly a% now in london. your're watching business live — our top story... the future of 5,000 british steel workers remains uncertain, as its owners continue to lobby for government backing. the uk's second—biggest steel maker had been trying to secure financial support to help it to address "brexit—related issues".

we will update you on any more developments. now, think of fine luxury watches, you may not immediately think british. instead, it's usually swiss timepieces that come to mind — but that's all changing now. in recent years, a number of companies have sprung up in an attempt to revive british watchmaking. at the forefront is british luxury watchmaker bremont, which was set up in 2002 by brothers, nick and giles english. and giles is here now. your story is fascinating, tell us how you first started with the idea of bremont, what happened to make you come up with this idea and want to start this business? well, i grew up to start this business? well, i grew up with this wonderful father he was an optical engineerfrom up with this wonderful father he was an optical engineer from cambridge who loved building things and he built a vote and he went and lived on it, but one of his big passions was watches and cox and myself and my brother grew up in the workshop

andi my brother grew up in the workshop and i went to state university —— engineering at university and our lives changed massively in 1995 when my father and brother crashed and my father died. nick broke 30 bones and went into intensive care for many months. that, for us, was this tipping point and we said, when he recovered, let's go and follow our passion and do something we love doing and watches was that. you decided to seize life, as it were, after that tragedy come at you and your brother started this company, but why the name bremont, why not english? well, the first three yea rs, english? well, the first three years , we english? well, the first three years, we moved to switzerland and we had no name on our watches, my surname we had no name on our watches, my surname is english and we could never trademark english and we didn't want to buy an old brand. this chance encounter, we have had various instances over the years, in aircraft, we were flying through france and force landed in french farmer's field and in england, you give a farm a bottle of whisky and

say sorry and wait until the weather gets better and you leave. but they are your aircraft and france and we we re are your aircraft and france and we were stuck on the ground for a couple of days and a lovely farmer in his ‘80s helped us out and he was restoring old tractors and motorbikes and my father died in his late a0s and this guy reminded us of oui’ late a0s and this guy reminded us of ourdad. we late a0s and this guy reminded us of our dad. we left on a couple of days later, we thought, anton bremont is a lovely sounding name and we said, do you mind is using bremont? he said, no, find make you crazy englishmen. did you send him a watch? sadly, he died before we launch it. it was never about him, it meant something to us. you and your brother started this company and it is successful, you are selling your stunning luxury watches starting at £3000 ranging up to £20,000. it is a really tight market in many ways, people know brands like rolex, etc. how do you penetrate into that market when people are spending a lot of money and they can choose other names known very well and which are often

flaunted? 0h, known very well and which are often flaunted? oh, it is a chance, no doubt, but it is a massive market. we have to make a product that is better for the price we have to make a product that is betterfor the price point. the challenges are, we are hard—core engineering firm, machining components to five microns of human hairs, 50 microns in henley—on—thames, but you have to build the brand around the world. and we manage —— we have managed to do that over the years, it is hard graft but shows this wonderful cycle. tell me the watch you are wearing contain something very interesting that has aviation enthusiasts are very excited. every year or two, we launch a new limited edition watch and we did this with british airways to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the concorde. this marvel of engineering icon. and we have made it with parts of british airways‘s last concorde from heathrow. built into the watch, in

this beautiful mechanical movement. a piece of watch, the time that goes into building this, it is more than a piece of metal, it says so much about someone and it has a history and value. where is your biggest market, who do sell to most and you expect to expand further in asia in the coming years? the uk and us are oui’ the coming years? the uk and us are our two big markets and we make for military around the world which is an interesting space. without doubt, asia and china, china is probably a0% of the global market. asia and china, china is probably 4096 of the global market. there has been a real resurgence in the luxury watch market because it went through a dip 30 years ago, but now with the smart and digital watches around even, there is such an appetite for the traditional luxury watch. yes, i think the smartwatch has killed the fashion sector of the market now but it is longevity. that watch will work in 200 years' time. yes, you have to service it but you can fix it if it breaks. it is the longevity of luxury that keeps that high—end

watch market going. it is a pleasure to meet you, thank you, best of luck with the business. tomorrow, europeans start casting their votes in parliamentary elections. one of the weak links in the eurozone is italy. its anaemic economy is only just out of recession, youth unemployment at around 30% and lack of opportunity are major problems. in the last of this week's special reports, economics correspondent andrew walker visited milan — home to a buoyant fashion industry — where some young italians are considering leaving the country. for all the problems, some parts of the italian economic machine are moving briskly. industrious students at the mks fashion school are looking forward to a career in the industry. students here are optimistic for their own futures, but some are well aware of the country's problems. here in the heart of milan's glamorous fashion quarter, the quadrilatero della moda, you could easily forget that italy has some

persistent economic problems. growth is weak, the economy is still smaller than it was before the global financial crisis, and unemployment — especially among young people — is painfully high. and it's notjust the unemployed who are affected by the weakness. many young people can't see a stable outlook for themselves and are looking for opportunities abroad. the unrewarding prospects for many graduates are partly due to the large number of small businesses. small firms typically pay lower wages and also would be less inclined to hire graduates, to hire people with a higher education. so therefore, if you make progress in the educational system, the bad thing that graduates would face is a labour market that is not very conducive to good employment within italy. italy is an economy of striking contrasts. the gloom of the growth and unemployment figures and the enthusiasm of the fashion

students shaping their futures in in an industry that is a global success story. andrew walker, bbc news, milan. laura is back, as promised. you are very hot under the collar about the story, about a un study, a un report into female voice assistance. the un says it reinforces bias. and we got this under b —— on the bbc news website. they say because the voice responds in a very eager to ease play, it reinforces the idea that women are subservient. your thoughts on this? it is interesting because when we look at it, you are right, you press a button for help and it comes across as being very subservient and eager to please so the fact it is a female, i hadn't considered that. they are not all female and you can choose on some. new line only a siri. you can choose male or female and different accidents.

not on alexa. new line on a satnav, you can choose jeremy not on alexa. new line on a satnav, you can choosejeremy clarkson if you can choosejeremy clarkson if you want to tell you where to go! i really would rather not! let's look at some tweets first before you bring laura back in. we have had so many about this. gender neutral, is that a good idea oi’ gender neutral, is that a good idea or not? anna says, it infuriates me i cannot choose to make the ai mae young, thatis choose to make the ai mae young, that is not an option. this says, eve ryo ne that is not an option. this says, everyone loves their mum, known for love, kindness and care and more. that is known for being assertive, strict and authoritative, that is why most of the liking goes naturally to female voice. he has not met my mum! and the adams is watching from colorado springs. hello, and there, it is the middle of tonight, you might be asleep. she says, i am waiting for them to get celebrity voices, so i can say, derby, turn on the lights. talk about morgan freeman, read me a bedtime story. tom hiddleston, read me a bedtime

story! we would love that! let's move on, i spotted the story earlier today and it really worries me. if your airbnb host watching you. this is an article by elaine moore for the financial times and she says that a p pa re ntly financial times and she says that apparently in some airbnb flats for rent and holiday homes, it has been found there are hidden cameras and things like the fire alarms in the ceiling, streaming live on the part of the host. i think it is the challenge with privacy these days because where we are, what we do, he we interact with, it is all online and we don't have a lot of control over who has that data. that is rather alarming. he would want to watch a live stream of you? let's not go there! it is so wrong on every single level. especially at this time of day and the bbc! in terms of airbnb's response when they were approached about this issue, because it has been highlighted by several people from different places around the

world, they didn't seem to have a policy on this, which is another real worry. interesting. it is interesting. you can read more details in the financial times. more tweets first about al details in the financial times. more tweets first about a! we have had so many. this says, it would be better with a dalek voice, from doctor who. and rob has a point here, he says, why does anyone need one of these anyway? are we so lazy we cannot do anything ourselves? do you lie —— rely on your voice assistance? i don't, but i thought it was interesting that voice assistance to i billion tasks per month now globally so it is becoming quite pervasive. i hate them. iam i hate them. i am never going to get one. thank you for being on the programme. thank you, too. some of you suggested we'd be your voice assistant. please do not stop watching bbc news! there we go, you have been told!

see you soon, goodbye. good morning. we are going to see a few changes in the weather as we go into the bank holiday weekend. but up into the bank holiday weekend. but up until that point, it is more of the same. warm sunny spells for many of us today. mainly dry. some rain in the focus, that is mainly because the far north of scotland where it will be quite heavy into this afternoon. a blustery wind as well. a bit of rain this morning in north wales three southern areas of northern england and the south pennines, but even here, sunny spells this afternoon. and in the sunshine, for most parts, temperatures in the high teens and low 20s, but it feels chillier in the far north of scotland with highs of only i! or 12 celsius. now, through tonight, we continue with rain in the far north east of

scotland. a rather brisk north—westerly wind here. elsewhere, some clear spells into thursday morning and temperatures down to around 7—9, may be 10 degrees. 0n thursday, for many, a bright start again. mogwai are developing for england under way is and we still have this rain affecting the north east of scotland. a blustery wind where it will feel quite chilly. elsewhere, some warm and sunny spells into the afternoon, with temperatures typically around 17, maybe 22 degrees in the capital. this is the pressure charter going into friday. this area of low pressure is responsible for bringing that wet weather in the north east of scotland. it is quite a weak affairand it of scotland. it is quite a weak affair and it will drift away on friday. despite being quite cloudy again in scotland, it should be dry. the cloud will increase across northern ireland through much of england and way is and even here, some showers developing by friday afternoon. very hit and miss and maximum temperatures on a par with

the last few days, i7—2id. and into the last few days, i7—2id. and into the weekend, we will see some changes. a weather system moves on from the atlantic into the weekend which will bring a bit more u nsettled which will bring a bit more unsettled weather, a bit more breezy weather, and with it, outbreaks of rain. it is not a wash out over the bank holiday weekend, but there is a fairamount of bank holiday weekend, but there is a fair amount of cloud. some rain at at times, especially northern parts of the uk. some sunny spells and temperatures not too bad, the high teens and low 20s. habitually compared to the next few days. slightly cooler. quite breezy. the chance of some rain at at times and also some split sunny spells. goodbye.

you're watching bbc news at 9:00am with me, annita mcveigh. the headlines... in a letter released this morning, theresa may urges jeremy corbyn to back her brexit deal as opposition hardens to her amended plan. i think the sensible thing would be for her to admit defeat and not actually put it to a vote. she is making a statement to parliament this afternoon and she could use that to make it clear because this is going absolutely nowhere. i hope that colleagues will, over the course of the next day or so, ta ke the course of the next day or so, take an opportunity to reflect on the choices in front of us, and in particular to reflect on some of the aspects the prime minister has put forward , aspects the prime minister has put forward, such as specific proposals to avoid away going into the

backstop, which deserve analysis and