this is worklife from bbc news, with sally bundock and karin giannone. big car companies pump billions of dollars into developing electric vehicles, yet sales remain tiny. are drivers really ready to dump the combustion engine? live from london, that's our top story on thursday february 13th. fears over climate change are forcing big changes for car companies. the boss of ford europe is here to tell us why he thinks the future is electric. also in the programme,

inflation soars in india. we'll be in delhi to find out what this means for everyday people. and the founder of the controversial blood testing startup theranos has some charges against her dismissed, but still faces a criminal trial. harnessing the power of ai to fight financial crime. we'll find out how big data could be used to thwart cyber heists. we want to know what you think about the stories we're talking about — and the impact they're having on your life. do get in touch — just use the hashtag bbcworklife. hello and welcome to worklife. a warm welcome to the programme. we start with the rise of electric vehicles, because on wednesday, britain's transport minister suggested a ban on new petrol and diesel cars could be just 12 years away. some chinese cities want to do it by 2030, and norway has set a deadline of 2025.

but is the auto industry moving fast enough? ford is now taking orders for its mustang mach e — the longest—range electric suv on the market. it can travel up to 370 miles on a single charge. ford is also electrifying all the models in its range — from the fiesta to the transit van. it's part of a wave of investment by carmakers. last year, the auto industry spent $225 billion developing electric vehicles. but at the moment, the impact is tiny. barely more than 2% of vehicles sold globally last year and according to one estimate — in five years time that figure will still be less than 8 percent.

the pressure to change is taking its toll on some of the giants of the industry. this week mercedes owner daimler revealed the worst annual results in a decade, hit by costs of the diesel emissions scandal and investment in electric. joining us now is stuart rowley, president of ford europe. some might say you were late to the party. i think were arriving just in time. we are in london today launching the first ford battery electric vehicle, the mustang and we are electrifying our entire product range with plug—in hybrid vehicles so we can range with plug—in hybrid vehicles so we can provide electrified vehicles to everybody. do you think the take—up vehicles to everybody. do you think the ta ke—up justifies the vehicles to everybody. do you think the take—up justifies the outlay at this point? we are making huge investments, $11 billion globally and electrified vehicles on the key question is how quick the take—up will be but we see ourselves as part of the solution we have to remove the barriers to adoption and we need to do that in partnerships with

governments and cities so consumers can move to these different technologies. we mentioned the new uk government deadline of 2032 to stop the sale of petrol and diesel hybrid vehicles. what do you make of the deadline? is it realistic? it's hugely ambitious. that is 12 years away and it's a massive change and it will not only be ourselves as industry players who need to take pa rt industry players who need to take part but the government and the investment in infrastructure will be critical. we need to be talking not just about thousands of charging stations, but hundreds of thousands are places of work, public places, in peoples homes and that will be critical so we will have to work together if we are going to achieve it. it's notjust working together in the uk, it has to be across countries because if you get an electric vehicle you want to be able to plug it in anywhere you go and there needs to be uniformity. absolutely. it needs to be seamless and there are things under way because we formed a joint venture

for fast charging across the european network and that is the sort of thing we need, like roaming with mobile phones number of years ago, we developed an app where people will be able to get access across europe but there needs to be more charging of electric vehicles. looking at your first all electric car, a mustang, around £50,000, so why didn't you choose something more affordable like the fiesta? the mustang is the first all electric vehicle but we are electrifying our entire range so this year we will launch a revision of the fiesta, the number one selling car in the uk and the focus because everybody needs access to different vehicles and there will be different solutions for different people. how long will it take us as consumers to have

confidence in an all electric car. people like range anxiety is a real thing. as people experience it by having a vehicle themselves or friends and family will experience the vehicle and when people go into them they do enjoy them. most people charge their vehicles at home and over night and that works for them, so as over night and that works for them, so as people gain experience and they get access to them we will accelerate. thank you very much. acceleration, trying to get into fifth gear, so many puns. you plug your phone in and you plug your car let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. uk regulators are probing barclays chief executivejes staley‘s links with controversial financierjeffrey epstein. the probe will focus on mr staley‘s account of his relationship with mr epstein, who died in a new york prison cell as he awaited his trial on sex trafficking charges. nestle has axed its range of chocolate that used a new low—sugar technique, less than two years after it was launched.

the swiss food giant said demand for its milkybar wowsomes had been "underwhelming". confectionery makers have come under pressure from health authorities to cut the amount of sugar in their products. tesla is recalling 15,000 of its model x cars in the us and canada because of a potential problem with corroding bolts that could lead to a loss of power steering. the recall affects most model xs built before october 2016. us regulators say there have been no crashes or injuries let's go to india now, where inflation has soared to its highest in almost six years. prices in shops were rising at an annual rate of 7.59% injanuary — despite faltering economic growth. so what's going on? arunoday mukharji is following the story in delhi. for households this is a real

challenge. tell us more about the price rises. absolutely the numbers are nightmarish. vegetable prices are nightmarish. vegetable prices are over 50% and essential commodities critical for the indian kitchen, like pulses have gone up by 16% and spices have gone up by 6% and onions has gone up by 247% since last year. the reasons are to be blamed on the weather patterns and northern indian has an excessively cold winter which affected the sowing season in the south—western pa rt sowing season in the south—western part of india is a critical belt applied to several states or unseasonal rains which destroyed a lot of the problems and we saw subsequent delays of new produce coming into the market so experts feel it could be a temporary effect but it could also be something here to stay for the next few months. as you can see in the markets today, the feeling is negative after a

record close on wall street for all of the main indexes the night before and a lot has happened since wall street ended its day because there was news of the mobile world congress in barcelona being cancelled because of coronavirus but also in asia and china releasing the latest news on the corona virus and it has spiked considerably so it's really impacted among the investors in asia. let's look in europe and we are into the trading day by a0 minutes and it's all very negative here as well at the moment. now to the us, where elizabeth holmes, the founder of blood—testing start—up theranos, still faces a fraud trial, despite some charges being dropped. michelle fleury has more from new york. a former darling of wall street, elizabeth holmes and the former president headed to trial this

summer. president headed to trial this summer. they will face fewer charges than the original 11 count indictment after a federaljudge in california ruled that prosecutors cannot pursue charges on the grounds that they defrauded customers or doctors who used their blood test that did not work as advertised. the legal reasoning goes that since insurance companies paid for the test in many cases individuals were not technically defrauded of money 01’ not technically defrauded of money or property, and despite the legal victory for the defendants, they did not succeed in getting all of the charges dropped. the trial is tentatively set to begin in august. time now for our daily look at some of the newspaper and website stories which have caught our eye. joining me is rashmee roshan lall, columnist for the national and the arab weekly. welcome to you. we are talking about electric cars and the bp boss is talking about a zero emissions by

2050. it's an exciting story because the oil and gas industry is gripped by fear of falling demand in the incipient era of the electric car. incipient because we know they haven't really got here yet gripped the market. it is a very bold statement that he has made for a company that is virtually synonymous with the fuel industry. it is a remarkable statement. but it is right to ask, is this green washing? is this about csr or bp trying to make itself look good. it's fair to note that i think it has invested quite a lot in wind power and invests in low carbon offset start—ups and solar power, but that only runs to hundreds of millions of

dollars and what it spends on oil and gas goes into billions, so scepticism is fair but also to know its a statement of intent and ambition. i was going to say that because by nature, we are all journalists and we will be cynical and think this might be green but at the same time is this a really important pledge made by a young boss at bp that will provoke its peers to do a similar thing. boss at bp that will provoke its peers to do a similar thinglj boss at bp that will provoke its peers to do a similar thing. i would put this in context because there will be similarities drawn to an airline that said last year that customers should fly less but as the sharp eyed at the time pointed out, they only offered gentle encouragement rather than pricing the tickets hire or anything like that, no compulsory carbon offsets. i think this should be seen in the

context of, the largest pension fund just a couple of days ago, what it did was it brought a lot of money into an environmental exchange track fund which has been put out by blackrock, which, of course said in january it is going to divest, so all of this has risen to the top of the political agenda, the investment agenda and all of that. let's ask you about scandinavian airlines and i found this really humorous and i don't know what your take is. and it isa don't know what your take is. and it is a commercial that has been described as unpatriotic by certain parts of the population, particularly the right saying you are taking away our culture and identity. what scandinavian airlines is saying is that danish pastries come from austria, windmills, the idea came from iran, meatballs came from turkey and we are all made up

ofa from turkey and we are all made up of a bit of everywhere and i think this kind of manufactured outrage, i think cultural exchanges are what have driven society from ancient rome through to abyssinia, through to right now. so you think the protesters were right? that scandinavian airlines got this wrong and played it completely wrong? on the contrary i think the protesters need to get over this concept of cultural purity. it does not exist. so you are with scandinavian airlines. i am pleased to note their statement that travel enriches us all. i agree with that 100%. you statement that travel enriches us all. i agree with that 10096. you can ta ke all. i agree with that 10096. you can take away something, a tea towel, an idea, maybe you import some meatballs. swedish meatballs were really turkish. let's see what ikea

has to say about that. thank you so much. good to have you on here today. still to come. taking the fight to cyber crooks. we'll hear from the man using the power of ai to tackle financial crime. you're with worklife from bbc news. it may seem like a glamorous industry, but more people who work in film, television and cinema are likely to experience mental health issues than the general population. research from the film and tv charity say there's a mental health crisis within the uk's film and television industry, with nine in ten professionals having had a mental health problem. alex pumfery is the ceo of the charity. why was this the result of your findings? you are right, the findings? you are right, the findings are very concerning and the

film and tv charity set out last year to properly understand the picture of mental health in our industry and we suspected mental health problems are worse for people working in film, tv and cinema and these are the people we support as a charity in the sector and we know that nine in ten people working in the industry have experienced mental health problems and the statistics on self—harm and suicide are even more troubling and it's the seriousness of these findings that has caused the whole industry to come together around this new action plan that we are announcing today which we call the whole picture programme. alex, do you think the unpredictable nature of the work, a huge amount of freelance labour used, the unpredictable nature and also the reluctance to come out about it, because you might be perceived as being weak or unreliable. i think you're absolutely right. a huge proportion, in fact the majority of the workforce, the 200,000 people

working are freelance and that can be quite a precarious lifestyle, you are in and out of work and people have said it was the person i might speak to about my mental health is the person who might hire me for my next role so i won't talk up about what is going on about my mental health specifically. there is a really pervasive idea that we found ofa really pervasive idea that we found of a need for toughness and survival and we think it's really problematic and we think it's really problematic and that's creating a kind of veil over the industry and around being able to talk openly about mental health in the industry and it's these cultural issues where we see bullying coming in as we did in late 2017 when we had serious revelations around sexual harassment in the industry with harvey weinstein and some of them are cultural issues which need addressing and looking at. alex, thank you very much. lots of stories online as ever, so do have a look if you don't have a

chance to look at some of the detail we have in this programme. you're watching worklife. a reminder of our top story: the boss of ford europe tells this programme that the future of motoring lies in electric vehicles. it comes as the company vows to electrify its entire product range. big companies are investing billions in developing electric cars but sales are still a tiny proportion of all vehicles sold. tackling financial crime can feel like a constant game of catchup. as soon as you put a stop to one scam — the criminals find another way to steal money. technology is absolutely key to helping keep the scammers at bay — but they're always looking for ways to beat the system. our next guest believes ai is the way for the good guys to stay ahead of the criminals. his firm quantexa uses special software to scan transactions

for suspicious connections. with us now is vishal marria, co—founder and chief executive of quantexa. tell us what the company actually does. good morning. our technology connects data together to identify relationships that matter the most. and then by using those relationships we empower clients to make better decisions. you've got big clients like hsbc and others, so the way this works is its made by your software on an annual basis on they use the software to try and fight financial crime? absolutely. hsbc is one of our strategic clients and they've been using our software to tackle financial crime for years and how it works is, as you say, it is deployed in the infrastructure using both internal data and external data to understand those relationships. and then by combining both human intelligence and machine intelligence to signal and provide

red flags so they can further investigate. and your software help british authorities in the london bridge attacks in 2017? great question our capability can identify at the click of a button relationships in data, so when there is an attack that has happened and there are a set of names identified, within the news channels and so on, the technology can understand the relationships of the individual. how do you stay ahead of the bad guys because you presumably have to co nsta ntly u pdate because you presumably have to constantly update your because you presumably have to co nsta ntly u pdate your software because you presumably have to constantly update your software to stay ahead of their next hack or idea of how to get in? it's a co nsta nt cat idea of how to get in? it's a constant cat and mouse game, you are absolutely right and we need to stay ahead of the curve but the truth a lwa ys ahead of the curve but the truth always lies within data. everybody leaves a footprint, and by analysing the data with our clients we are coming up with new patterns and

typologies which can tackle financial crime. this is a huge journey for you in your career, still at a young age and you started your working life helping at your pa rents your working life helping at your parents cash and carry in south london, so what business lessons did you learn from your mum and dad? most 11—year—olds after school would go home but i went to the cash—and—carry and there were a number of things i learned from my mum and dad and its focus, being able to focus on what is important and also what was important to the customers, what was hot and what was not being able to serve customers best. it comes down to the people and your clients, your investors and your own staff, so being able to focus on that is a key lesson learned. did you think you white -- might be missing out as your friends we re might be missing out as your friends were playing and you were doing

work, or you are where you are now because of what you were doing all those years ago? i had a great balance and those foundations provided by my parents were massive to get to where i am, so i didn't feel i missed out. i used to play a lot of football with my friends after school as well but it's about balancing work and social. it's also about the brain. you've got a first class degree and masters with distinction in computer science at royal holloway and you got snapped up royal holloway and you got snapped up buti royal holloway and you got snapped up but i bia systems. you're running a team of 250 and 28 years old. so it is about the brains as well, not just what you learnt in the cash—and—carry. just what you learnt in the cash-and-carry. it is how you apply it. i wouldn't go out that much and i'm smart but i work hard and these are awards that will come in life. you are in the thin tech world in london that seems to be thriving, so why do you think that is? why are we

providing a hub for start—ups that are providing a hub for start—ups that a re successful? providing a hub for start—ups that are successful? there's a huge opportunity in the uk, especially with large organisations like hsbc having an hq in london, there are lots of opportunities but it's about timing and with the evolution around the digital era that we sit in, london is a hub of the digitisation transformation that many organisations are going through. so it comes down to the people. we have a tremendous education system in the uk which fundamentally grows talent, such as myself and my company and thatis such as myself and my company and that is a key part of the journey. thank you for coming in. and we wish you su ccess thank you for coming in. and we wish you success as well. keep those bad quys you success as well. keep those bad guys away from our bank accounts. that's what we need. but first, as lifestyles get busier and busier, more people are turning to activities like yoga to help them stay healthy. and africa is no exception. in ghana, emeline nsingi nkosi met one entrepreneur who's building a business out of wellness.

this entrepreneur and digital content creator who saw a gap in the wellness market and decided to build a lifestyle blog and launched it one year ago. wellness in west africa as i see it is really growing over the last decade. it went from a lot of people not knowing where to look for classes and to so much diversity. the space has grown to offer an alternative. following the growth of her blog she decided to transfer to a physical space to run wellness event enabling others to try out y°93 event enabling others to try out yoga and other wellness practices for the first time. i think it's very important to witness the fact that there is a lot of opportunity

for growth and entrepreneurship. there is a lot of money to be made in this space, when done right. there is a whole ecosystem coming up around us that is creating jobs, creating amazing spaces for entrepreneurs and generational wealth building. . yoga is one of those things that looks amazing but i never really seem to get there. i have never been and i've been meaning to for about 15 years. i've been once and i had to take my son with me because i had no childcare at the time and i think he just put this trance over the yoga teacher. shejust this trance over the yoga teacher. she just completely focused on him all the time and his posture. and ignored everybody else? i've got to do yoga, i've never done pilates and it's one of those where i say, i will do it. it is on the list. what a healthy duo we are. she does all the park running. that's why i need

to do yoga. i need a bit of a stretch. that's it from worklife today. see you soon. have a good day. i'm sure it wasn'tjust me that got woken up by the weather overnight, some really quite heavy rain from an area of low pressure that will dominate the weather across the british isles for thursday and you can see the centre of it they're tracking into the early hours across the heart of the republic of ireland and the weather fronts associated with that are throwing the cloud and wind and rain at us and for some across the northern hills of england, a top up on the snow but the snow threat recedes during the course of the afternoon in the rain clears away from the eastern shores of england and lingers for a time across the eastern side of scotland, may be the north—east of england and elsewhere, what showers there were in the early part of the day tend to fade away across many areas, so a dry afternoon, temperatures are

average in the south and where you had a cold start across northern parts, may be only four or five at best through the day. the low pressure slinks towards the continent with a ridge of high pressure tumbling in overnight and we get into friday but it's obvious from that chart we have more wet and windy weather lurking in the wings, so windy weather lurking in the wings, soa windy weather lurking in the wings, so a fresh start to say the least for friday but a dry one for the most pa rt for friday but a dry one for the most part and that will not last long across western scotland and northern ireland and here comes the freshening wind. the weather front drags into the northern and western parts of being in than wales to during the course of friday. and brighter skies in northern ireland and the rain doesn't get into the far south on a mild day until after dark, but once it arrives, does it ever really clear away? from friday into saturday this is when we start thinking about storming dennis. notice the isobars are squeezing together and this is the active weather front and once the rain together and this is the active

weatherfront and once the rain is in there it stays and that is a real concern. notice we have the dark blues widely across wales in the south—west to the hills of northern england and into central parts of scotla nd england and into central parts of scotland and it will be another disruptive lead windy day and some of the gloss and exposures are 60 or 70 mph, inland, a0 or50 miles an hour but that is not the concern, because having got the rain across the british isles, it rains for the greater part of sunday so flooding isa greater part of sunday so flooding is a real risk and that windy spell of weather continues right into the start of next week.

you're watching bbc news at nine with me, annita mcveigh. the headlines: 25a people die from coronavirus in china on the deadliest day of the outbreak so far. meanwhile, more than a0 more cases are confirmed on the diamond princess cruise ship currently moored off japan. here, a ninth case is confirmed, while the first group of people brought to the uk from wuhan and quarantined in a hospital on the wirral, are due to leave today. labour calls for boris johnson to clarify who paid for his caribbean holiday over the new year. iam i am live from