this is business live from bbc news with maryam moshiri and david eades. a new departure for thomas cook — as the struggling uk travel giant seeks a rescue from china. live from london, that's our top story on friday 12july. the world's oldest package holiday company is in advanced discussions with the chinese giant fosun, already its biggest shareholder. we'll hear from its chief executive. also in the programme: america's new trade war target. us officials are in delhi for talks as the relationship worsens between india and its

biggest trading partner. european stocks are open, as you can see, they are looking pretty flat. and we'll be taking stock of some of the biggest financial stories of the week, including majorjob cuts at deutsche bank. today we want to know: as new figures show a big fall in concert revenues, do you think rising ticket prices are to blame? are high costs putting you off going to a live music event? let us know — just use the hashtag #bbcbizlive. dos santos your thoughts, we have had a huge response already. —— do send us your thoughts. hello and welcome to business live. we start with the struggling british travel giant thomas cook, the world's oldest package holiday company. it could be headed for a new departure — under chinese ownership. shares in thomas have slumped around 90% in the past 12 months and debt has soared amid growing fears for its survival,

as it competes with budget airlines and online travel firms. in the first half of this year, it announced losses of $1.88 billion as it struggled to compete with budget airlines and travel websites. thomas cook says it's now in "advanced discussions" with its largest shareholder, china's fosun over a $940 million cash injection. the measures, which have not been finalised, would see the chinese investor buy the firm's tour business. this is what thomas cook's chief executive peter fankhauser told us a short while ago: today we announce a plan which sees a significant amount of new money coming into the business. and this is addressing our balance sheet, which we always said has too high debts for too long. so this is, considering all the options, this is the right

solution to save and make the business secure for the future for our stakeholders, employees, for our suppliers and for our customers. our customers' holidays are secure. they can book with us without worries. we have enough resources to operate our business. so they can enjoy their holidays with us. we know fosun since 2015, when they came as a shareholder into the business. they are not only our biggest shareholder, they are a trusted partner in china. we are building together a joint venture which is growing very fast. they know us very well. we know them well. they are a trusted strategic partner with many other companies here in europe, where they are a supportive partner. joining me is simon calder, travel editor at the independent newspaper.

they know each other well, that he is not giving it with a big smile on his face, that is clear. it will hurt from a shareholders' point of view, but for anybody travelling it is good news? yes. from the point of view of a shareholder, if you had 200 thomas cook shares a year ago you could public buy and off—season package holiday for a week to greece, now it would barely get you a cup of coffee and gatwick airport. similar prices! it is a terrible time for shareholders, similar prices! it is a terrible time forshareholders, it similar prices! it is a terrible time for shareholders, it basically halved when the markets open. but it will preserve the thomas cook name, andi will preserve the thomas cook name, and i think for fosun of china, that it's really important. it is the old est it's really important. it is the oldest brand in travel, it has gone for 178 years, it has been through some tough, tough times but with debts of $2 billion, £1.6 billion, something had to happen. if you work

for thomas cook, if you are a hotelier supplying rooms to them and if you are a holiday—maker with something booked with them, it is good news this morning. what about the thomas cook airline, it is not the thomas cook airline, it is not the same thing? my make—up lady told me she had booked a flight to la nza rote at me she had booked a flight to lanzarote at the end of august, will ibe lanzarote at the end of august, will i be safe? yes, her question is one iam hearing i be safe? yes, her question is one i am hearing many times, i be safe? yes, her question is one iam hearing many times, halfa dozen times yesterday people asked me whether thomas cook would say. it is, and your money is always protected, but thomas cook airlines, interesting that they were trying to sell the airline part of the business in order to shore up the main tour operator and travel agency, they did not succeed. the chinese cannot take over thomas cook airlines because european union ownership rules means it has to be majority—owned by europeans after brexit by british people, so they are taking a significant share in

the airline but not the whole thing, it may well be that the two things will eventually split. simon, one thing in that clip there was that eve ryo ne thing in that clip there was that everyone in the industry faces the same challenges, is this true or is this above all a package holiday issue? package holidays are still very much in demand. if you look at jet2 holidays, which has taken over from thomas cook as the second biggest operator after tui, they seem to be doing really well. there are seem to be doing really well. there a re lots of seem to be doing really well. there are lots of reasons underpinned by wea kness are lots of reasons underpinned by weakness in consumer confidence which they ascribe to the brexit uncertainty. on top of that, a lovely summer last year, many people thought there is no point in going abroad, let's hope we get another sunny abroad, let's hope we get another sunny summer. abroad, let's hope we get another sunny summer. the sales, the prices that holiday companies were hoping to get, simply not materialising.

summer has not materialised this yearin summer has not materialised this year in the uk?! summer has not materialised this year in the uk? i have been enjoying it, actually. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. us president donald trump has launched an attack on cryptocurrencies, demanding that they make themselves available to global regulations. was too volatile. trump's comments come a day after the us federal reserve chief said cryptocurrencies needed more regulation. amazon has pledged to invest $700 million in training for one in three of its staff across the us. it wants to upskill a hundred thousand staff into roles that will be in demand in the future — as more manual tasks get replaced by automation. it's partly a response to concerns over working conditions at the firm. singapore has announced its economy grew by 0.1% in the second quarter, which is way below analysts' expectations. the trade ministry also said the economy shrank 3.4% on a annualized basis, which is lowest figure in almost seven years.

let's go to india now, where the commerce minister is holding talks with us officials to try and repair a fast—deteriorating relationship with his country's biggest trading partner. last month the trump administration ended india's preferential trade status. delhi retaliated by raising tariffs on 28 american products. joe miller is in delhi. you might think india has the most to lose, but india would argue america has as much as injured to lose? this is under a newly confident india under no rendering modi, who hasjust won confident india under no rendering modi, who has just won a second administration. the implied message is that ultimately the us might end up is that ultimately the us might end up needing india more than india needs the us. the trade delegation here is putting on a brave face. we heard reports that these talks come

ata heard reports that these talks come at a pivotal juncture heard reports that these talks come at a pivotaljuncture and we know that top of the agenda for the delegation from washington will be seeking a reversal of the retaliatory tariffs that india put on imports of things like almonds and apples from the us and an attempt to get india to relax laws around e—commerce which have angered walmart and amazon. they essentially do not allow those companies to sell things on their sites in india from companies in which they have a sta ke. companies in which they have a stake. that is one of several issues which have come between the two countries, but it is unlikely we will see a resolution today on any of these big issues because, as you say, neverendum modi's government does not see the need to concede too much, too soon. asian shares were very up and down through the friday trading day.

some economic data excpected and worries about chinese/us trade tensions impacting any positivity caused by the fed hinting at rate cuts. the neck a close step ever so slightly. in london, provides thomas cook is the talk of the town. its share price is down about 48%, despite talks of a deal that chinese company. so thomas cook share is worth about seven p. the ftse is keeping its head above water. samira hussain has the details of what's ahead on wall street today. on friday the us labor department will be reporting the latest producer price numbers for the month ofjune. the ppi measures how much the selling price by domestic producers for their goods changes over time. it's used as another measure for inflation. ppi for the month of may was up by 0.1%. many economists believe that ppi for the month ofjune will be flat. also happening on friday, the american car giant ford, along with the german car—maker

volkswagen, will share new details about how the two companies will be working together on making electric and autonomous cars. this was a partnership that was previously announced in january. finally, it's been a record—breaking week for us financial markets, with all three major indices hitting record highs. many will be watching how they close for the week. joining us now is shanti kelemen, who's senior portfolio manager at coutts. thank you for coming in. you have already picked up on a profit warning from daimler, it is a familiar track? the entire auto industry has been struggling, some of that is due to higher costs, you we re of that is due to higher costs, you were talking about ford teaming up, it is because the cost so much to develop new technology. for daimler —based have increasing costs from some of the new emission standards

and diesel settlements, they have had issues with sales being lower as well, so this is the fourth time in a year they have issued a profit warning, quite extraordinary. you mentioned ford and vw, it seems like a world in which, little by little, they are all beginning to find their partners, because there is no way to do eight. we will have a lot of consolidation in the auto industry, it cost so much to develop a new vehicle and all the technology you have to put in it. if you don't have partners and that technology you will not have the scale to make it. the issue, if someone gets to d riverless the issue, if someone gets to driverless first, they could get a huge chunk of the market, which is why everyone is racing to get there. next week is a busy week in terms of earnings, particularly banks, what do we expect? we will have companies

reported for q2 do we expect? we will have companies reported for 02 next week, i think it is fairly crucial what happens. we have had economic growth slowing, data has not been great but equity markets have come up a lot. if we have good earnings as an indication that perhaps we will keep going up, if we have bad earnings it could be quite negative overall. the market expects revenue to be a bit, but for earnings to be down, that is because of higher costs, things like wage inflation, which is good for workers but takes money out of company profits, and things like trade tariffs, friction and high investment costs. thank you very much for the moment, shanti. still to come... we'll take stock of some of the biggest business stories of the week. they include some fighting talk from the head of the us central bank. you're with business live from bbc news. in a week that has seen

british airways and marriott face massive multi—million pound fines for data breaches, it's no surprise that cyber security is a priority for companies. but new research from yougov suggests that half of company bosses think the biggest risk comes from their own staff. victoria waldersee is a data scientist at yougov. talk through what you have found for company bosses telling you about their worries? yougov surveyed over 500 senior business leaders to ask about their thoughts of cyber security within the firm, seven and ten so it has a great risk and half are more concerned about data breaches from within. employees leaking data and cybersecurity input at risk internally rather than external hackers. a face you would imagine the scale of the fines faced is possibly the best incentive to get on and train the staff? it is

quite interesting, we asked exactly what they thought cybersecurity pose the greatest risk for within their firm, most company leaders said reputation and operations where the two biggest when it came to cybersecurity. the other thing is that only a third of senior business leaders think they're bought directors could digest and comprehend a cybersecurity report as clearly as they carry financial statement —— macro think that their board of directors. just 3% of business leaders we surveyed thought the question of cybersecurity was not applicable to them, we understand what a great risk it poses that it does not seem that internal staff or boards of directors are ready to confront and recognise cybersecurity risks. that must have surprised you, that even today there are major companies who think this will not happen to us? fourin think this will not happen to us? four in ten companies have experienced a data breach of some kind, 6% say it is a major breach,

the rest later is minor. it is already happening to them. you see that companies are doing things, they are very confident in crisis management, threat management, reactive rather than pre—emptive policies. when it comes to training employees or their board of directors to be vigilant, that does not seem to be where it should be. thanks very much. your‘e watching business live. our top story — the british travel giant thomas cook says it's in "advanced discussions" with its biggest shareholder, china's fosun, over a $940 million cash injection. its shares have slumped in the past year and debt has soared,, as it struggles to compete with budget airlines and online travel companies. now let's take a look at some of the biggest business stories

of the week. we've had some interesting comments from the head —— we have had a pretty interesting week. we arejoined by —— we have had a pretty interesting week. we are joined by our economic correspondence andrew walker. at the beginning of the week, there is a change in government in greece, the direction of the economy is right for now? things have improved significantly from the aftermath of what was a dreadful crisis, i remember the economy contracted from peak to trough by more than a quarter, just dreadful numbers. looking at the unemployment figures, we had 60% unemployment among young people at one stage. all of the figures have improved significantly from that stage. greece still has the highest unemployment for the aduu the highest unemployment for the adult population and for young people in the eurozone and there was still a long way to go. strikingly

the new prime minister, kyriakos mitsotakis, has suggested he might wa nt to mitsotakis, has suggested he might want to reopen the targets for keeping government borrowing under control, which has been agreed with the rest of the eurozone. he has been told fairly firmly it is not on offer. it must be said, those targets a re offer. it must be said, those targets are pretty tough. a surplus in government finances before you ta ke in government finances before you take account of interest payments of 3.5% of annual national income. there are only a handful of countries on the planet operating at that kind of level as it is, i think it is fairto that kind of level as it is, i think it is fair to say that the imf regards that as being excessively stringent and hard to achieve and to get the greek government to get sustainable without more help from the rest of the eurozone. not a bad time to take over in government increase compared to any time in the last decade? absolutely. the federal reserve has made it pretty plain there will be an interest rate cut

ina there will be an interest rate cut in a couple of weeks? the first routine opportunity would be at the end of the month, there is a regular meeting of the committee which sets interest rates in the last two days ofjuly, and in testimony to the us congress the fed chairman, jerome powell, pretty much emphasise the downside risks to the economy, the uncertainties because of the international situation, unresolved issues like the trade conflict with china. he also mentioned brexit as another potential concern, did not speu another potential concern, did not spell out how it might affect the us economy, the potential is there, and he mentioned the fact that inflation is persistently below the fed's 2% target. interest rates are likely to come down, we have seen the fed shifting its approach over the course of the year and it looks like we are very course of the year and it looks like we are very close course of the year and it looks like we are very close to the first step

in that cycle of cutting rates. data bank is shifting away from investment banking, lots ofjob losses, quite sad pictures of people coming out of deutsche bank? they tried very hard to get out of the investment banking on a big way in the run—up to the financial crisis, the run—up to the financial crisis, the conclusion is there was a mistake. it is cutting back on investment banking, getting out altogether from the business of trading in shares, and you can see the reason why the bank needed to do something dramatic in what has happened to the share price. it was 80 euros in 2007 before the trouble hate, now we are looking at a figure of below 7 euros, so that is losing well 90% of the value in the course of that time. and more bad news from

deutsche bank, they are being investigated over possible involvement in relation many lodging issues. mr trump as my bank, once upona issues. mr trump as my bank, once upon a time. thank you very much, and you. this is like a retro story already. now, out of cash? once upon a time that meant going short until your bank opened on a monday morning. then 50 years ago, "holes in the wall" began appearing outside branches. the cash machine is aaron's latest million dollar idea. hey! it's the atm, you know, the cash machine, the hole in the wall. before these came along, if you wanted cash, you had to rush to the bank before it closed. hang on, don't close the door!

the first atm was this one, unveiled in 1967 in enfield, north london. yeah, it had been designed by this bloke right here, john shepherd—barron. he worked for the money printing company delarue. it was very different from the atms today. oh, yeah, a customer would have to get a special voucher from their bank and then put it into a drawer in the machine. they punched a special code into the machine, and then they got a £10 note out of the drawer. but almost at the same time, this man right here, a scottish bloke, james goodfellow, he was coming up with his own rival atm. his used a card that you'd insert into a slot. you'd punch in a pin number and hey presto, the money came out. that's the system we still use today and there are $13 billion worth of these little babies sold every year. what a massive moneyspinner!

we asked you at the beginning of the programme to tell us what you think about music concerts, the latest industry figures show the number of concert tickets sold has dropped significantly, and one of the reasons, they say, is too high ticket prices. you haven't held back, we have had a raft of responses, many of them say it is all about the money. jane says there have definitely been shows i would have definitely been shows i would have gone but for the price tag. carly says costs, ticket touts, terrible venues, so many factors have changed how many gigs i go to. if you scroll through, lots of references to the ogogo by name, but some of the others, about the amount of cost added on to the ticket price. —— references to viagogo by name. another viewer says i have paid for eltonjohn tickets, but no

longer, i am drawing a £50 line in the sands and will not pay more than that for a ticket. shanti rejoinders. why are fewer tickets being sold, what does the research say? one is higher cost, the other is the really big acts. if beyonce is the really big acts. if beyonce is not touring, her substitutes, people will not see it as much. there are lots of different factors. tickets were more expensive last year compared to the previous year, but i think it was two or $3. another factor is what are the other forms of entertainment? in the past ten years, youtube, netflix, video games, there is a lot more. pure competition for the money for the eye balls. competition for the money for the eyeballs. are we getting more boring, do we want to stay—at—home and listen to spotify? he is going toa

and listen to spotify? he is going to a concert this evening! he is going to rod stewart, as is the producer. but you make the point that it producer. but you make the point thatitis producer. but you make the point that it is not as if suddenly there has been a big price hike? think that it's a shame about it is from the sessions the majority of their money is made from concerts and merchandise, they don't make that much from albums and records, so it is difficult. taylor swift and beyonce will be fine, but for other people it cuts back on the amount of income they can make from music. shanti, we income they can make from music. sha nti, we getting income they can make from music. shanti, we getting close to time. there is one for you here, marion, mark evans, it is the behaviour of the minority that puts me off, but he added i and getting older, it could be my age. come on, mark, how old are you?! you are never too old for drunken, horrible, rude behaviour? another viewer says it is

all the additionalfees, behaviour? another viewer says it is all the additional fees, £17 behaviour? another viewer says it is all the additionalfees, £17 in behaviour? another viewer says it is all the additional fees, £17 in fees per ticket last week, disgusting. all the additional fees, £17 in fees perticket last week, disgusting. so many tweets, keep on coming. have a good weekend. over the last few days we have been hit by some pretty big thunderstorms in parts of the uk, over the next djs, things becoming more subtle. plenty of dry weather with sunny spells. that is not to say there are not taking showers in the forecast, most likely down the east of the uk today, associated with this weather front pushing through the north sea. higher pressure towards west is gradually building into the weekend. todayis gradually building into the weekend. today is dry with sunny spells for many, a bit more cloud for northern ireland and northern and western scotland. through the east of scotla nd scotland. through the east of scotland and eastern england there could be the art sharper shower into the afternoon, they will be few and

far between, maximum temperatures getting up to about 20 to 25 celsius, perhaps fresher along the north sequence. a fine day at wimbledon and into the weekend, temperatures will climb down a little with a north—easterly wind, still some sunny spells and plenty of dry weather into finals. tonight, some showers across eastern areas tending to drift away, as we get into the early part of saturday there will be clear spells, temperatures getting down to about 12 to 14 degrees. through the weekend, high pressure is building from the west, it will become quite well established, we started pick up a north—easterly wind, the air will come in from the north sea. it will feel fresher along the north sea coasts over the weekend. still some showers on saturday across north—east england, the pennines, the midlands, either side of that, dry with sunshine. temperatures 18

to 23, a bit fresher, still fresher on sunday across eastern areas with cloud coming in across the north sea, further west that will be drier and brighter weather with sunshine and brighter weather with sunshine and that is where the highest temperatures will be, 25 degrees in cardiff on sunday, 17 or 18 in the far east. but the cricket world cup final takes place at lord's on sunday, it is expected to be dry, no interruptions expected on sunday. into next week, high—pressure holds on, lots of final try weather for monday and tuesday, some rain and showers moving their way in from the north and the west. that's it from me, goodbye.

you're watching bbc news at nine with me, rachel schofield — the headlines: the us military says it's building a coalition to protect commercial shipping in the gulf after the royal navy intervened to shield a british tanker from iranian forces. cracking down on online paedophiles — police are to trial artificial intelligence to speed up analysis of child abuse images. theresa may warns that the next conservative leader must put public service before personal ambition as the two candidates appear in a bbc debate later. residents of new orleans are urged to leave the city or take shelter as a powerful tropical storm bears down on the louisiana coast. the american r&b star r kelly has been arrested in chicago on federal sex crime charges — according to the us