this is the business briefing, i'm ben bland. italy's prime minister gets set to address parliament as the government braces for a possible no—confidence vote. and getting experienced help. we will find out how older people are solving rural america's workforce shorages. and on the markets, most asian markets rose tuesday, investors optimistic about possible moves by central banks and governments around the world to stimulate their economies.

in italy, the coalition government faces a challenging day ahead. later the country's prime minister, giuseppe conte, will be making a speech at the italian parliament and could face a vote of no—confidence. this all comes at a time when europe's fourth—biggest economy continues to struggle. italy currently has a massive $2.3 trillion worth of public debt, which is equivalent to 133% of its overall gdp. italian banks are most exposed to any default, but french, german and british banks are also at risk. the italian economy is still recovering from a recession last year. it grew marginally at the beining of the year, but since then, growth has been stagnant. despite this, the italian government is forecasting growth of 0.2% for the year, which is above estimates from the european commission and imf. a major problem is the country's

stubbornly high unemployment rate of around io%. but it is italy's massive youth unemployment rate which is causing nightmares. it currently stands at a huge 28.i%. lorenzo codogno is a visiting professor at the london school of economics. good to have you with us. do you think the government will survive this vote, or not? lmx i think it is rather unlikely, because the crisis has gone too far. it is too late now to come back, and, you know, put the pieces together. so i think most likely this government will not survive. and so there will be a crisis, and now everything is in the hands of the president. and why is it all going wrong for the coalition now? that's a good question, because

no—one knows exactly why now, but an official line is that one of the two parties, the league, decided to pull the plug of the government, saying it cannot go on this way, given that the other part, the five start movement, is continually saying no to new initiatives. so that is their line. there might be many other reasons for that, but if we believe opinion polls, the centre—right, together, or the league plus other bits and pieces in the centre—right side of the spectrum, can command an outright majority very easily. so that might be the reason. but all this political uncertainty clearly unsettling for markets, banks, for investors, and we even when initially salvini was trying to lay

the groundwork for a no—confidence vote about a week or so ago, the markets in italy fell quite sharply. why are they so concerned about this? well, i think uncertainty is bad anywhere, for any country. whenever you have uncertainty, it can whenever you have uncertainty, it ca n affect whenever you have uncertainty, it can affect investors‘ behaviour, it can affect investors‘ behaviour, it can affect, you know, the performance of the economy. having said that, there isn‘t much uncertainty today in italy. in other words, if indeed the country goes for early elections, as looks likely, probably the centre—right is going to win. so the big uncertainty is how broad the centre—right coalition will be. and in terms of the fallout for the rest of the eurozone, how much of a ripple effect could this potentially have beyond italy‘s borders? effect could this potentially have beyond italy's borders? well, you mentioned the italian economy is rather weak right now. there is clearly a negative impact coming from trade wars, coming from weaker industrial performance. germany is

weakening fast and easily will follow suit. so that‘s a big issue. so some problems, political problems in italy, might actually contribute toa in italy, might actually contribute to a situation which is already weak throughout europe. thank you very much. the chinese search giant baidu has seen its shares surge after its latest results beat expectations. sharanjit leyl is in our asia business hub in singapore with the details. the chinese internet company gave investors something to cheer about with unexpected growth in its video streaming service in the second quarter, this even though its net profit actually tumbled over 60% in the quarter. revenue only grew about 196 the quarter. revenue only grew about i% from the previous year. the fact that its bottom line was more than twice as much as forecast by a nalysts twice as much as forecast by analysts is the reason why its shares were surging as much as 9% in

after—hours trade. its main search business, we know, is hurting, as is the ad business. the outlook for advertising is weak but the outlook for streaming services has managed to offset all of that by surpassing 100 million subscribers. there was also some evidence of growth in its mobile sector. users of its smartphone app rising about 27% from the previous year, 188 million subscribers there, and baidu‘s a nswer to subscribers there, and baidu‘s answer to amazon‘s alexa smart speaker system is installed in five times more devices from the same times more devices from the same time last year. but despite some of these bright sparks, challenges remain. china‘s economy is slowing. there are tougher rules now on content as big falls in venture capital investment are likely to hit the firm and many others like it going forward. thank you very much, we will see you a bit later.

now let‘s brief you on some other business stories: the world‘s biggest miner, bhp, has more than doubled its net profit on the back of higher iron ore prices. the miner posted a profit of $8.3 billion for the year to the end ofjune. bhp says higher prices and record production helped to boost revenues. major tech firms including facebook, google and amazon have testified in washington against france‘s new digital tax. they argue it undermines the global tax regime and multilateral effort to reform it. injuly, the french senate approved a 3% levy on revenues from digital services earned in france. brazil‘s securities regulator has opened another investigation into the miner vale over the january dam collapse which killed nearly 250 people. the regulator is looking at whether executives breached their duties over the dam collapse. it has the power to impose fines and bar executives from working at listed companies.

to solve staff shortages, companies in rural minnesota are persuading older americans to work past the age of 65. with an aging workforce, businesses there have few other options. and the state isn‘t alone. the number of americans working in their 70s is growing. michelle fleury reports. roger kluger is 71 years old. he works two days a week at alexandria industries in minnesota as a senior aluminium die corrector. i was going to retire a 3—4 years ago, and my boss asked me if i would stay and help out. roger has been with the company for 48 years, and it has become more than just a workplace for him. i thought that it‘s just a no—brainer to come back and stay here and work, ‘cause i enjoyed it and i knew what i was doing. i thought i would stay. and presumably the extra money doesn‘t hurt, either? no, the extra money is ok.

that‘s a good thing for alexandria industries, which is growing and battling to find skilled staff. there are just more people retiring than there are people entering the workforce. lynette, alexandria industries‘ development head, says the company is trying to find ways to hold onto older star. they have the ability to work there hours, even somejob—sharing as they transition into retirement, and that‘s just been really successful for us. minnesota‘s workforce is ageing. its older population is poised to outnumber school—aged kids. by 2020, the state is likely to face a shortfall of 239,000 workers, if it wants to maintain historic growth rates. as people enjoy better health and live longer, that is influencing their decision

about when to retire. at this florist here in minnesota, their employees range in age from 16 to 86. next to the eldest employee here, andre is a mere 7a years old. she works part—time at the florist as a sales assistant. she can‘t afford to retire yet. i had a pension and retirement, and i lost a good deal of it. and now, my social security covers my rent and some of my utilities, and so i need to pick up the balance. the good news — what is a hurdle for employers in rural minnesota is an opportunity for older workers like andre. michelle fleury, bbc news, saint paul, minnesota. that‘s it for the business briefing this hour. but before we go, here are the markets. asian shares extended their gains on tuesday, as hopes for stimulus in major economies tempered anxiety about a global recession. that has given a boost to riskier assets and drawn money from safe—havens such

as bonds and gold. up next, newsbriefing. police investigating the death of pc andrew harper in berkshire last week have tonight charged a 20—year—old man with murder. jed fosterfrom reading is accused of killing the constable and the theft of a quad bike. pc harper‘s widow, lissie, has written an open letter paying tribute to him, saying he was the kindest, loveliest, most selfless person you will ever meet. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford has more. at the crossroads where pc

andrew harper died, close colleagues, members of the roads policing team that he was part of, struggling to control their emotion. a team in deep mourning for a much—loved fellow officer. and tonight his wife, lissie harper, released a tribute to her husband of just 28 days, describing him as brave, funny, kind and selfless. "i want to be angry", she said, "that yourjob took you from us but i know that you loved it and always wanted to keep everyone safe, especially me. my heart is broken without you, my sweetheart. you have imprinted so much love and laughter onto all our lives, and we are honoured for that." she said he was perfect and thanked him for the happiest 13 years of her life. at a traveller‘s site two miles from where pc harper was killed, forensics officers continue to work in a static caravan, while the crown prosecution service announced that jed foster, a 20—year—old from reading, had been charged with the murder

of pc harper and the theft of a quad bike on thursday night, just before he was killed. jed foster will appear in court at reading magistrates tomorrow morning. daniel sandford, bbc news. coming up at 6:00am on breakfast, dan walker and naga munchetty will have all the day‘s news, business and sport. they are also continuing a special series of reports on farming. today‘s focus is on brexit and its impact on the uk‘s farming industry. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: after weeks of anti—government protests, hong kong‘s chief executive says she will set up a platform for dialogue. a young woman is cleared of murder in el salvador, casting a fresh light on the country‘s strict anti—abortion laws. now it‘s time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. we begin with the guardian, and uk prime minister borisjohnson, who has written a letter suggesting the brexit backstop could be

replaced by a new form of commitments to prevent a hard border. the eu, however, remains unconvinced, the paper says. the financial times leads on news that a hong kong billionaire has taken advantage of the weak pound to buy pubs group greene king. victor li, who is hong kong‘s richest man, struck a £4.6 billion deal for the uk‘s biggest listed pubs and brewery group. 0n the wrap website, the news that twitter and facebook have banned hundreds of accounts deliberately attemping to sow political discord in hong kong. the sun leads on a row over tracking devices installed in mercedes cars, with the headline, "there‘s a spy in your mercedes". the secret sensors fitted to all new and used motors sold by the firm‘s dealers pinpoint the vehicle‘s exact location. the telegraph has this picture of the duke and duchess of sussex after they were branded hypocrites for taking four trips by private jet injust 11 days.

singer sir eltonjohn has defended them, saying he paid to carbon—offset their flights to and from his home in france. and finally, the times reports on a study that claims having children really does make you happier, but only after they‘ve left home. looking forward to that one. with me isjonathan charles, managing director of communications at the european bank for reconstruction and development. the guardian, here we are, the brexit backstop issue. 0nce the guardian, here we are, the brexit backstop issue. once again proving to be a sticking point in the negotiations. the gift that keeps on giving, this never a day without a brexit story and this is about the letter that boris johnson has written to the eu on the eve of his talks with the president of france. undoubtably it will be a

topic of conversation at the