this is the business briefing, i'm sally bundock. christine lagarde steps down as the head of the international monetary fund, but with big shoes to fill, who will replace her? talking tech — finance ministers from the world's biggest economies meet in france to thrash out a deal on taxing tech giants. and facebook is called delusional over its crypto—currency plans, with some us politicians warning the firm can't be trusted. and financial markets look like this. investors are beginning to wobble again as trump says he could impose additional tariffs on chinese imports.

let's start with the news that christine lagarde has announced she will be stepping down as managing director of the international monetary. lagarde is often referred to as the rock star of international finance, and has led the imf since 2011. she will be best remembered for her role greece's bailout, which actually side—stepped some of the fund's own rules. she also presided over the imf‘s biggest bailout, a $57 billion dealfor argentina last year. lagarde is now expected to lead the european central bank, after being nominated as mario draghi's replacement. speculation is rife who will replace lagarde at the imf, with many predicting current bank of england governor, mark carney, may be the next boss

of the international fund. well, let's get more on this now from michelle fleury in new york. as head of the international monetary fund, christine lagarde was pretty unique. the former french finance minister was the first female to lead the global financial institution, which acts as a lender of last resort and provides economic guidance to governments around the world. now, under her leadership the fund successfully helped its members navigate a complex set of challenges, from the global financial crisis to its after—shocks. now it appears she's heading to the european central bank, whose responsibilities include setting the eurozone interest rates and ensuring the stability of the banking system in europe, no easy task given the divisions between member states and the need to boost growth in europe. if confirmed, both the ecb and the american federal reserve the us central bank will both be led by people who have no academic monetary policy background.

her resignation also comes the day before g7 finance ministers meet in sean tilly in france. it will no doubt sounds the starting gun for her replacement and the names mentioned, former bank of england governor mark carney, former uk treasurer george osborne and mario draghi. whoever succeeds might have a tough time preserving her legacy at the imf. michelle fleury. the row over how to tax the tech giants who dominate the modern economy is set to take centre stage in france today. that is where finance ministers from the g7 group of leading economies are meeting, and the key question is whether the us can bridge its difference with france and uk. last week, president macron‘s government became the first in the world to pass a tax on their revenues. the biggest, such as google, amazon, facebook and apple, will have to pay 3% on some of their sales in france if they have global sales

of over $840 million. across the channel, the uk also says it is planning to press ahead with a 2% tax on sales from april, but both countries have said they will ditch their tax if an international agreement can be reached. as you can see here, corporation tax rates vary across the g7. the aim of an agreement would be to get more tax out of companies who route their profits through low tax countries. some of the fiercest opposition is coming from the us, where trade representative robert lighthizer said he was concerned the french measure unfairly targets american companies, and opened an investigation that could lead to retaliatory tariffs. i'm nowjoined by stuart thomson, who is the head of public affairs at bdb pitmans. good morning stuart, good to see you. this row is really coming to a

head, because france and the uk are pushing ahead with their own tax system pushing ahead with their own tax syste m o n pushing ahead with their own tax system on the big tech giants, which are mainly american. they are mainly american. europe hasn't been very good at those sorts of tech start—ups that have got to any sort of degree of size, so this is the french and british government slightly behind them really trying to push those companies to pay tax. over the last number of years, we've seen that rumbling along for some time. they would say they're not paying theirfair share. this is the nationstates trying to reassert their control, saying we need some of that revenue frankly pay for our services. if these big companies don't start paying then there will bea don't start paying then there will be a bit ofa don't start paying then there will be a bit of a hole in the country's finances. in terms of the g7 finance ministers‘ meeting today in france, do you think we will get some sort of international agreement? because it‘s hard to broker that when you‘ve got countries like ireland, part of the eu, who enjoy their low tax status and they get a lot from it.

they‘ve done well from it and it‘s difficult to see the americans at this present time signing up to anything. one of your previous pieces talked about the lack of trust in the facebook crypto currency, the reputation of these companies isn‘t high in the us even and some presidential candidates are talking about splitting up the companies to end their monopolies. this plays into both domestic politics in the us and europe. it comes at a time where the trump administration is clearly saying if you don‘t play fairly then we will put taxes on you. the relationship with the us and europe is pretty fractious with discussions about ta riffs fractious with discussions about tariffs on cars, so quite a tough issue to work out at the moment? and france has been slightly more antagonistic in its attitudes towards america, american products and social positions than other european countries, especially britain, but they think they can get somewhere with trump and americans

but in relation to china and other countries, trumpism one for backing down very easily. so still to play for dashed —— trump isn‘t one stop we will see what happens in the short—term. we will see what happens in the short-term. thanks for your time. we‘ll see if there‘s any progress in france today stop —— trump isn‘t one. we will see what happens in the short—term. staying with tech, let‘s now talk about facebook, because the company‘s plan for a cryptocurrency has come under further attack by us politicians. the latest comments follow criticism by president trump, treasury secretary steven mnuchin and the head of the federal reserve, jerome powell. appearing in front of the senate banking committee, facebook executive david marcus defended the project. we will take the time to get this right. we expect the review of libra to be among the most extensive ever. we are fully committed to working with regulators here and around the world. and let me be clear and unambiguous, facebook will not offer the libra digital currency until we

have received appropriate approval from the regulator is concerned. —— regulators concerned. our north america technology reporter dave lee says facebook‘s plan to lauch its crypto—currency next year appear to be very ambitious. well, it wasn‘t a particularly comfortable hearing for facebook‘s david marcus, i can tell you that. there‘s two issues here at play here, one of them is unease about digital currency in general, whether it is going to be used for illegal purposes, money laundering, buying of drugs and so forth, but also the secondary issue which affects facebook specifically is trust in facebook itself. senators called it "delusional" the company would think people would be willing to trust them with their financial data and they criticised the firm by having the past 18 months littered with apologies and promises to do better. there is real worry that facebook has so much on its plate already to fix with this company, that bringing on another huge

project like this might be another step too far. in response, david marcus from facebook, he said they‘re not going to do anything that‘s going to be without regulatory approval, but it looks like their goal of launching this next year, in 2020, could be slightly ambitious. they‘ve got a lot of people to convince before they can really let that go ahead, because in washington, this is one of the few bipartisan views in washington, there is real worry about the power of facebook and other tech giants. and launching a cryptocurrency would give facebook even more power than it has today. that‘s dave lee. another grilling ahead today for facebook ahead of... in front of us lawmakers and actually, this has caused bitcoin to lose value, as it slid below $10,000. bitcoin is the most high—profile crypto currency under deep scepticism from lawmakers in the us about digital currencies. now let‘s brief you on some

other business stories: a coalition of british business and education bodies are urging the next uk prime minister to lower the salary threshold for foreign workers in the uk from £30,000 to £20,000. they say that such a move would help to avoid skills shortages. the coalition also warned that more than 60% of all uk jobs were currently beneath the £30,000 cut—off. us president donald trump says his administration will look into alleged links between google and china. it follows a speech given by billionaire tech investor peter thiel in which he questioned whether google‘s senior management had been infiltrated by chinese spies. google has dismissed the claims. australia‘s competition watchdog says it has reached an agreement with uber‘s food delivery service uber eats which will see the firm accept more accountability for delivery issues. many restaurants in the country had complained they were forced to take responsibility for matters outside their control, such as food being delivered late.

showing you financial markets again. we can show you that the dow in the us ended down pretty flat really, but here in asia... not here, i‘m in london, but in asia, where the markets are still trading, they are all markets are still trading, they are a ll lower markets are still trading, they are all lower on the day. concern about the mood music between the us and china getting more negative than positive on trade. that‘s it for the business briefing this hour. makayla willjoin makayla will join me makayla willjoin me injust a moment for the news briefing, but first, this story: almost two million adults in england and wales are victims of abuse every

year, with those living in rural areas facing more obstacles than anyone else. research says a lack of transport and general isolation make it harder for victims to access support and to escape their abusers. frankie mccamley reports. making the idyllic move to the beautiful countryside to enjoy a quiet life. for some, though, beautiful countryside to enjoy a quiet life. forsome, though, this isolation is used as a way to control and abuse. sara, not her real name, was in a controlling relationship for years, living in a rural community made her feel like she couldn‘t ask for help. i feel like a prisoner and feel like she couldn‘t ask for help. ifeel like a prisoner and living feel like she couldn‘t ask for help. i feel like a prisoner and living so far away in the middle of nowhere. it's far away in the middle of nowhere. it‘s dark on a night and it‘s quiet, and you haven‘t got people around you. she managed to access help, but finding it wasn‘t easy. she managed to access help, but finding it wasn't easylj she managed to access help, but finding it wasn't easy. i was scared to go to the gp because the gp, the receptionist, everyone in there knows you or know someone to do with

you, andi knows you or know someone to do with you, and i just knows you or know someone to do with you, and ijust don‘t want my life out there. but that could change. so this is the first time that anybody has looked at domestic abuse specifically through the lens of reality. a research project has found victims of rural domestic abuse are half likely to report it and the abuse goes on significantly longer than urban areas. we've had very clear examples of an entire community being roped into the abuse by the abuser, so when the police knocked oi'i abuser, so when the police knocked on the door of potential witnesses, they're always on the side of the abuserand they're always on the side of the abuser and not be abused. the research will be discussed in parliament later today in the hope of protecting those victims hidden by isolation. frankie mccamley, bbc news. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines:

in washington, the house of representatives has voted to condemn president trump‘s racist tweets. four republicans backed the motion. germany‘s ursula von der leyen has been elected to lead the european commission, the eu‘s topjob. holidaymakers have been allowed back into their campsites in the french resort of argeles—sur—mer, after wildfires forced thousands to be evacuated. now it‘s time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. we begin with the times. it says that the team of the tory leadership race frontrunner, boris johnson, is preparing for a general election whilejeremy corbyn is the leader of the opposition labour party. senior allies ofjohnson caim that labour is in no fit state to fight an election, butjohnson has made it clear that holding an election before brexit would be an absolute folly.

staying with british politics, the financial times headlines that the pound sterling has dropped to its lowest level in two years, as fears of a no—deal brexit grow. the paper says that the fears stem from borisjohnson‘s brexit strategy, which could result in a no—deal brexit. johnson is the frontrunner of the tory leadership race, who would also become prime minister. the german newspaper frankfurter allgemeine zeitung carries the story of germany‘s ursula von der leyen being elected as the president of the european commission, the first female in the job. she won the support of 383 meps, just nine more votes than required to secure an absolute majority. she will take over the job on the day borisjohnson says he will take the uk out of the eu.