this is business live from bbc news with ben thompson and sally bundock. a failed merger and a boardroom bust—up — renault shareholders get the green light to vent their frustrations. live from london, that's our top story on wednesday the 12th ofjune. there could be a little more va—va—voom than usual at the french car—maker's annual meeting. we will explain what is at stake and all you need to know. also in the programme — this is the scene live in hong kong, where the controversial bill

to allow extradition to china is delayed as businesses allow staff to join the protests. and markets looking like this at the start of the european session. uk markets got a boost yesterday from better than expected jobs figures. and the talent of talking — getting the right voice—over for your advert can be critical to its success. we'll speak to one company helping some of the biggest names find their voices on the airwaves. and as uber launches new trials of its flying taxi — with an aim of commercial flights for all of us by 2023, we want to know, would you take a ride in an uber—copter? what does the thought send a shiver down your spine? let us know — just use the hashtag #bbcbizlive hello and welcome to business live. lots of you already in touch about

that, would you ride a uber—copter, most of the replies are now. use the hashtag, #bbcbizlive. a failed merger and a boardroom bust—up are the backdrop for renault annual shareholder meeting which takes place in paris later. the car maker is in a race with rivals to develop new technology that will bring in the profits that shareholders want to see. less than a week ago, renault‘s future appeared to involve a $39 billion merger with american—italian rival fiat—chrysler but that fell apart amid an acrimonious blame game. last year, renault brands sold 3.88 million cars around the world, making it the world's 11th largest. but, if the fiat—chrysler merger goes ahead, it would be catapulted up the list to number three. but the latest reports suggested the deal may yet be resurrected. that would mean overcoming resistance from the french government which is renault‘s biggest

shareholder at just over 15%. japanese car maker nissan is the no. 2 shareholder and, crucially, in alliance with renault. but relations between the two companies are strained since the architect of the alliance, carlos ghosn, was arrested in november over financial misconduct charges. charges he denies. but his resignation will be confirmed later and there'll be a vote on whether he should receive last year's bonus. with us isjim holder, is the editorial director of autocar magazine. good morningjim. good morning jim. let's start with the fiat chrysler plant. i'd imagine that shareholders will have a lot of questions about that. the announcement of those talks was made public late in the day, they were ready to start moving forwards, but they fell apart quite quickly. and

they fell apart quite quickly. and the resistance of the french government as a renault shareholder to advancing those talks really was the problem. whether they can be resurrected as what the shareholders will want to know, because there is a huge bill for that deal to happen. and that is because for the good old—fashioned car and that is because for the good old —fashioned car giants that and that is because for the good old—fashioned car giants that have been around a long time, things are really tough. they are having to invest tens and hundreds of billions in new technology, electric, to move the car on in new technology, electric, to move the caron and in new technology, electric, to move the car on and take it into this green low emissions world and that investment is enormous, and one of the ways they can find us to grow the ways they can find us to grow the scale of car—makers. not all mergers in the car industry have been successful but there's a will for the traditional car companies to tackle the challenges they face by growing scale. there is pressure from all sides because of the nature of how complicated this organisation is already without adding an italian -us is already without adding an italian — us interest. you have nissan and

renault, a really fractious relationship at the moment, ever since the arrest of carlos ghosn. yes, that arrest triggered a lot of problem under the surface. it is a partial —— partnership that is not equal. nissan rescued renault but nissan has become much bigger than renault and they are now fighting for that supremacy. it has reached boiling point. what we want to see is the mid music of where boiling point is going to tip over or whether they will step back from the press release. it is very controversial, the salary of carlos ghosn was usually a focus of this annual meeting because he felt he should be paid more, in line with collea g u es should be paid more, in line with colleagues running american car companies and of course the shareholders thought he was paid very handsomely indeed. it will be hugely controversial given the circumstances when he is handed back bonus but he is fighting the charges that have been placed against him. watch this space, lots of questions,

not so many watch this space, lots of questions, not so many answers watch this space, lots of questions, not so many answers right now. we will find out in the near future. one final thought from you, jim, would you get into a uber air vehicle in the skies, by 2023, apparently? with the right insurance, reassurance, iwould apparently? with the right insurance, reassurance, i would be persuaded but i would need lots of reassurance! we will play that clip back to you in 2023! let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. shares in china tobacco international have risen more than 10% after making their stock market debut in hong kong. it's the international unit of china's state—run tobacco monopoly, which is the biggest cigarette producer in the world. it's raised just over $100 million as it aims to expand its overseas operations. health officials in mainland china are seeking to cut the rate of smoking there. tesla boss elon musk says the electric car maker has "a decent shot at a record quarter on every level".

his comments at the company's annual shareholders meeting helped the share price jump more than 3% in after—hours trading. depsite recent production problems he said they planning to deliver up to 100,000 cars in the three months to the end ofjune — a more than 50% jump from the first part of the year. the british government has outlined an ambitious plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions in the uk to almost zero by 2050 to tackle climate change. britain is thought to be the first major nation to put forward such legislation. it remains unclear who will pay for the massive investment that will be needed in clean energy generation. uber has said australia will become the first international market for its flying taxi service, uber air. the firm has selected melbourne as the third pilot city for its air taxi programme, joining dallas and los angeles. test flights are due to start from 2020,

with the aim of launching commercial operations from 2023. more on that a little later. let's turn attention to hong kong. thousands of protesters and police in hong kong are engaged in a stand—off, as anger grows over a bill which would allow extradition to mainland china. it's now been delayed. as tensions continue to mount, over 100 companies have closed so staff can join the protests. and a number of financial companies like hsbc have introduced flexible work arrangements. let's take you to hong kong, where andrew wood is following the story. it is interesting, we are looking at the pictures, those protests show no sign of abating, and business now involved, saying to their staff you can take time off to go and protest. when i came to work this morning my

usual coffee shop was closed. there was a sign saying that the staff are going on strike, that they had been allowed to go to the protests. it is allowed to go to the protests. it is a bit pragmatic from some of the businesses. they can see that the extradition law is not particularly popular so they give some of the staff the opportunity to protest as well. we are seeing things like flight well. we are seeing things like flight attendants at cathay pacific the airline, apparently talking about going on strike. the business of hong kong is business, don't forget. it is interesting. we do not have a mayor, we have a chief executive, that is how important business is to hong kong and businesses are worried about the extradition law. hong kong has a trustworthy legal system they felt up trustworthy legal system they felt up until now, and if the extradition law goes ahead the worry is that there will not be any difference between the hong kong legal system which is very friendly to business

and the beijing mainland legal system, which is not so trustworthy, but that will be reduced and might even disappear. andrew, thank you, i know that you will stay across that story for us. you can see those is protest continuing. a lot is at sta ke, protest continuing. a lot is at stake, with many businesses now involved, allowing staff to join is protest. we will stay across that for you on the bbc. let me show you what has happened on the numbers on markets across asia. remember the markets across asia. remember the markets are now closed, there. they came down a further 1% in tokyo. —— a third of 1%. that is ending a three—day winning streak — and the ongoing worries over the us—china trade war. speaking to the media about china, us president donald trump said:

"it's me right now that's holding up the deal," adding that "we're going to either do a great deal with china or we're not going to do a deal at all." nintendo a big faller — 3.53% lower after the game giant postponed the release of popular game. it was a decent day yesterday across european markets. the ftse100 hit a one—month high on the back of the new measures from beijing designed to boost infrastructure investment and the stronger than expected jobs data in the uk — with the unemployment rate holding steady, and earnings coming in better than expected, giving consumers a real—terms pay rise of 1.4%. it isa it is a good job that we are speaking to an expert about speaking later in the programme! more on that in a moment, but first, michelle has the details of what's ahead on wall street today. wall street will be paying close attention to the latest inflation report from the us, with questions swirling about how soon the central bank might need to cut interest rates, the consumer price index up

to may will be the important report of watch. our prices for consumer goods falling or starting to rise? economists expect course in consumer prices rising 2% last month, after nudging up 0.1% in april. all of this, of course, before policymakers at the fed meet next week. and retail is in the spotlight, investors will be looking at the comments on the company expansion plans as well as push towards menswear. joining us is jane sydenham, investment director, rathbones investment management. good morning. we have inflation numbers out in the us. also a jobs report out of the us. don't prompt the president tweeting about the fed yet again. what is going on because

mac —— donald trump the president. it does look as though there is a little bit of a slowdown going on in the us but we have seen the best in terms of profits and profit margins with jobs numbers which were a little bit weak, inflation is not particularly strong. and there is a sense that with the economic cycle getting a bit long in the tooth the cut in rates is quite likely in july. when you say that he will take credit, he will take credit for the cut in rates, not for the fact that the economy is slowing. i'm staying withjobs, decent figures the economy is slowing. i'm staying with jobs, decent figures in the the economy is slowing. i'm staying withjobs, decent figures in the uk yesterday and earnings, whether you get a real terms increase in pay. for many years after the financial crisis earnings were falling in real terms and inflation was higher than wage increases, that has been reversed. that will make people feel better that they have got a little bit more to spend. is something we

haven't mentioned yet, big story for the uk and business, is arcadia, the retail giant run by sir philip green. the boat on the cba, the com pa ny volu nta ry green. the boat on the cba, the company voluntary arrangement, and it looks more likely that that will go through. the first version of that was rejected last week. and lots of this is about whether there will be rate reductions as far as the landlords are concerned for those shops, and there are many of them, so it is quite a watershed moment for the retail property sector. some of those big shopping centre property developers had been holding. yes, one of them has 1596 of the votes needed and has a big say on this. thanks for now, jane. still to come — what i'm

not good at — talking. he is of course very good at it, which is why he presents business live! uk consumers could save up to £60 million a year under new rules on buy now pay later products. these credit offers tend to offer an interest—free promotional period. christopher woolard, the fca's executive director of strategy and competition is with us now. good morning to you. just explain what these proposals are. the proposals we have are about making the buy now pay later market simpler, clearer and fairer. this is a popular market, 3 million people a year ta ke a popular market, 3 million people a year take these products from big retailers or online shopping. usually expecting to pay back

without paying interest within 12 months. what we are doing is to try to make sure that those offers do not contain conditions or traps for consumers. what we are making the industry do is to make the information they give consumers much clearer and easier to understand, and in particular, when people pay back part of the cost during the year, they should not pay interest on that song. that sounds a good step for consumers —— on that sum. but how bad is it at the moment? about 3 million people, about half of them do not pay back during the interest free period. when there is an outstanding sum at the end and interest is due we think that there is reasonable and fair, but when people have paid back some during the interest free period we do not believe it is appropriate that they should pick up charges on those and at the moment that is often a nasty shock for people. thank you for explaining that, christopher, we will stay across developments on

that. on the high street, the owner of za ra on the high street, the owner of zara and others has recorded a 10% rise in first—quarter profits. the world's biggest clothing retailer says that sales in that time hit a record of nearly 6 billion euros, which is pretty impressive, but then this is the story of those various outlets on the high street, there chains, it is one that is always doing rather well. in contrast, we will get the update on arcadia later, that cva, the results of that are due later that could determine the future of the company. your're watching business live. our top story — shareholders in the french car—maker renault

are getting ready to vent their anger at the failed merger with fiat chrysler and the fallout from the arrest of carlos ghosn at the company's annual meeting in paris. next time you hear an advert, on tv or the radio — think about the voice you hear. what does that voice tell you? is it friendly, excited, knowledgeable, or just fun? well, that's all down to the voice—over artist — who in turn, becomes the voice of the brand that's being advertised. and the voice—over industry has grown hugely in recent years. in 2015, it was worth around $4.4 billion per year, with over 50% of all work coming from the entertainment industry. and one company that's cashing in is voquent. the uk—based firm aims to disrupt the sector by offering an online database with thousands of voice actors who can speak more than 500 languages in over 1,500 dialects and accents. with us is miles chicoine,

founder and managing director, voquent limited. welcome to business live. this has not been going for very long. prior to starting this company you were working in software solutions within the business sector. it is quite a different business. how did that happen? it is a bit of a culture shock, i guess. happen? it is a bit of a culture shock, iguess. i happen? it is a bit of a culture shock, i guess. i had a friend who had been doing this a long time and saw the opportunity to use my background in software and engineering for businesses and putting that into the voice—over world where it is all about artists, performance and in bringing automation and systems into that environment, the world can be connected to voice actors from all over the world, and that was really the idea. tell us about how you connect people that want the voices with the people that have the voices. it is a platform that puts those together, and how do you make

money? at this stage we still have to manage the product. it is important to do that. there's so many different voice actors from all over the world, not everyone is able to perform and put together a piece of material that can be mastered and engineered correctly for the client, so we engineered correctly for the client, so we still manage the production. that's because many clients come to us that's because many clients come to us not just for that's because many clients come to us notjust for one voice back for many, we try to do voices across the range of accents. so when they come to you and say, what i want is by, y, z, what are the specific requirements? i touched on it, friendly, excited... what do they look for? not everybody knows, lots of people put together material and don't know what they are looking for, and we help them with that exploration process. when you are looking for the right sound of a people'svoice, that tone can evoke emotion in the audience, and if you know that it is a lot easier to find

what you are looking for from the boys or from the voices, you want eve ryo ne boys or from the voices, you want everyone to hit back like tone. —— from the voice. it is one of those areas in terms of pricing. when an artist approaches you and says this is my voice, this is my fee, how do you negotiate those elements when you negotiate those elements when you have got the client that you are paying or doesn't necessarily agree. it is quite a tricky business from that perspective. you have to go back and forth quite a lot to make sure that people get paid fairly. that is important, but lots of market forces trying to see if they can devalue that and effectively get people worked where it is not paid fairly. the important thing is to make sure that the client understands that there is a budget, that has to be good enough to pay the voice actors what they are worth and when it comes to the voice acting someone can say, i will charge six ran for £600 job, but in all honesty, it is about market

value. what makes it popular? what do you find is most in demand? interesting question. we are seeing interesting trends. banks are really attracted to west african voices. west african voices speaking english. they are looking for that non—privileged, english. they are looking for that non-privileged, non—entitled english. they are looking for that non—privileged, non—entitled sense and that is what they are trying to bring out. but you see trends come and go all the time very quickly. who has their favourite voice, if anyone could read you a bedtime story, who would it be? that is really bad question because there are so many people i love, so many talented people. probablyi are so many people i love, so many talented people. probably i would go for ellen dubben in canada is amazing and tanya bartlett in the uk. i was going to say, morgan freeman. i would just fall asleep,

no problem! thank you for coming in, it was fascinating, really interesting. there is a question about whether the games console will become a thing of the past. google and microsoft have both announced ambitous cloud gaming services that could mean many players have bought their last console. so, what does cloud gaming mean for gamers? our tech reporter chris fox, who is at the e3 gaming expo in los angeles, explains. cloud gaming let people play the latest video games without needing a computer or console without even having to buy disco download games. instead the software is run on servers at huge data centres with the pretty stream to your tv or your phone. there are some downsides. you need a pretty fast internet connection to stream games in hd, and it is not like the movie streaming, you still have to buy some of the games on top of your

subscription and not every game is available on every surface. the steadier service will launch in november and microsoft has launched its cloud gaming service at this yea r‘s its cloud gaming service at this year's e3. sony has offered cloud gaming forafew year's e3. sony has offered cloud gaming for a few years with playstation now, but it still makes more than twice as much money selling discs and downloads than it does from its gaming subscription services. sony has said it is working on the playstation five and at e3 microsoft announced project scarlet, a new project for 2020. so whilst cloud gaming looks set to shake up the industry it seems that games consoles are here to stay, at least for now. i'm glad to hear that. i have got a few of them at home and i do not want to be harassed to get the next tech! we are going to talk about this uber air story, can you give us a little bit more detail? they are testing out these vehicles next year. yes,

next year, then they will be used in los angeles, dallas and melbourne. they have to make sure that they are safe and do what they say they're going to do but i can see the attraction, hopping from skyscraper rooftop to rooftop and avoiding the traffic. they are talking about flying quite soon from the centre of manhattan to jfk airport flying quite soon from the centre of manhattan tojfk airport in a quick space of time and what they say is affordable, $260, which some would pay to avoid traffic. i can see the attraction as long as everyone is convinced about safety. it is a good point. some say, how will the airspace be managed before an accident occurred? keith says, no, not the state, john says no, definitely not. that so, from an unscientific opinion poll, definitely no. you a risk averse,

the business live ladies! thank you for coming in. we will see you soon. —— you are risk averse, the business live audience. good morning. we have had a lot of rainfall over the past few days, well over two months worth of rain has fallen in quite a lot of places. we had 110 millimetres in parts of lincolnshire since saturday. widely, rainfall totals have been up to 50-80 rainfall totals have been up to 50—80 millimetres. we have seen low pressure towards the near continent. that has been feeding into whether france over the last few days, bringing more rain throughout this morning. satellite imagery shows cloud through eastern scotland and north western england and wales. that is the zone with the wet weather this morning. it will ease as we go into the afternoon. still quite patchy rain for north—east

england, south—east scotland, east of northern ireland, and while that is going on, some heavy, thundery showers developing across the far south. you can see the green and white zone showing intense downpours. impacting southern areas, and more rain spreading its way into east anglia and eventually into the midlands. patchy rain across north—east england and south—east scotland, some sunshine in western scotland, some sunshine in western scotland, but quite a strong, north—easterly wind across these northern areas. tonight, those heavy showers will move their way further north and west. you can see this band of rain intensifies into the early pa rt band of rain intensifies into the early part of thursday morning. again, quite heavy rain to come across many of these northern parts of england. through north wales, too. across eastern and south—eastern scotland, more rainfall to come during thursday. showers developing widely across england and wales throughout thursday, so unsettled they once again. some sunshine for eastern

areas between the showers, maximum temperatures on thursday around 16 celsius. feeling quite cool again. towards the end of the week, this low pressure d rifts towards the end of the week, this low pressure drifts gradually northwards but it is still around and it will give unsettled conditions throughout friday. still some rain across the north and west of scotland, showers developing across england and wales but generally, it should be a drier day on friday compared to the last couple of days with temperatures picking up a bit in the south—eastern tip —— in particular, at around 19. into the weekend, plenty of dry weather, those temperatures around 16—19, with some sunshine coming through, it shouldn't feel too bad. goodbye.

you're watching bbc news at nine with me annita mcveigh. the headlines — a new plan to tackle climate change — the uk commits to cut greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050 — making it the first major nation to propose the target. borisjohnson will break his silence this morning and make his pitch to become the next conservative party leader — he'll promise to deliver brexit without delay. he isa he is a positive, optimistic person that's not only going to deliver brexit, but also make our country more successful, more positive about the future. whirlpool is ordered to recall 500,000 tumble dryers over concerns the appliances pose a fire risk. stand—off on the streets of hong kong — protesters against an extradition bill block main roads and barricade