this is worklife from bbc news, with ben bland and celia hatton. finance ministers from the world's richest 20 economies head to saudi arabia to discuss how to tackle the deadly coronavirus outbreak. live from london, that's our top story on friday the 21st of february. the 620 summit takes place in riyadh this week, with the head of the imf warning the virus is causing headaches for the global economy. also in the programme... turbulence for the aviation industry, as a leading airline body warns the coronavirus may cost carriers up to $30 billion.

and all eyes on india with us president donald trump due to arrive in the country early next week. but will the two sides finally patch up their differences and strike a trade deal? beyond a numbers game. one of europe's top tech bosses tells us how workplace diversity can boost your compa ny‘s profitability. as an inaccessible first—floor property sells for £1 in the uk, today we want to know, what's the best bargain — or worst purchase — you've ever made? let us know — just use the hashtag bbcworklife. a warm welcome to the programme. my my colleagues have already said my worst purchase must be this tie. more of that later. we start in saudi arabia, where the finance ministers of the world's 20 biggest economies are getting ready for a major meeting in the country this weekend,

amidst mounting fears about the economic impact of the spread of the new coronavirus. one estimate suggests that growth in china could fall by 1% this year because of the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. and if the virus spreads widely outside of asia, it's thought a trillion dollars could be wiped off the global economy because of a fall in output. in fact, the boss of the international monetary fund kristalina georgieva says coronavirus constitutes the "most pressing uncertainty" facing the global economy. the 620 ministers also say it poses a real risk to growth. with us now is janet mui, global economist, with cazenove capital. many of us are worried about this coronavirus outbreak for a number of reasons but, of course, how is it affecting the global economy? right now, what we see is the chinese economy is taking also the hit, 99%

of the cases are happening in china and what we see from the high—frequency economic data is that activities have definitely taken a very sharp negative hit. housing transactions are down 90%, coal consumption down 70% and flight data down 40% so the majority of impact we have seen is in china but what we have seen outside of china are so far concerns on production line disruption. seeing companies warning about their profits to earnings because of manufacturing supply chain disruptions. airlines are particularly hit. the hong kong airline, they are starting to lay off staff because of the impact so for the western economy, so far the impact is relatively modest, so we see it is more negatively hitting the asia—pacific region. see it is more negatively hitting the asia-pacific region. how long will that continue for, do you think? how long can we expect for that damaged the economy to just be focused in the asia—pacific region?

i think if this outbreak can be contained within the first quarter, i wouldn't be too worried about the negative spill—over in the region because we would be quite expecting quite av —shaped rebound in the second half of the year, but if this doesn't get contained within the next month or so, i would start to be quite worried and i think some of these worrying forecasts you have mentioned just now could materialise. but i think general consensus in the market now is it will be contained by the end of the quarter. janet, what you think of the 620 quarter. janet, what you think of the g20 finance ministers and central bankers, as they meet this weekend in saudi arabia, what you think they can or should do to reassure global markets? yes, i think right now, the policymakers, the central bankers, they are just warning about the uncertainty because we still don't have the actual heat to the data yet and, as we said, most of them they would recognise that the direct hit to the western economy or the rest of the

world is still modest at this stage and there are signs that this outbreak is being contained gradually. so i think what they can do isjust to gradually. so i think what they can do is just to reassure people that they have the policy to ease policy if needed, especially for central banks in asia. they still have room to cut policy rates if needed too if their economy sank into a recession because of the outbreak. for western economies, i think the room for policy easing is a bit less but they can still reassure people that they can still reassure people that they can directly support the economy by fiscal easing, for example. thank you for your insight, janet. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. staying with the coronavirus — chinese car sales plunged 92% during the first two weeks of february in the wake of the outbreak — that's according to the country's passenger car association. even before the outbreak, car sales in the country were heading for the third straight annual decline because of a slowing economy and trade tensions with the us. human life "as we know it" could be threatened by climate change, economists atjp morgan have warned.

in a hard—hitting report to clients, the economists said that without action being taken there could be "catastrophic outcomes". the bank said the research came from a team that was "wholly independent from the company as a whole". and the us agency in charge of secure communication for the white house has been the latest victim of a cyber—attack. the us department of defense confirmed that computer systems controlled by the defense information systems agency had been hacked, exposing the personal data of about 200,000 people. the agency oversees military communications including calls from us president donald trump. returning to the coronavirus, air industry body iata says ticket sales could fall 13% in asia this year because of the outbreak. let's go to our asia business hub, where sarah toms is following the story. sarah, this forecast fall in air

travel, how damaging could that be to the airline industry? every day, we have been talking about how business has been affected by the coronavirus but it does seem that airlines are particularly struggling, so the international air transport association came out warning airlines could lose almost 30 billion us dollars in revenue this year and iata is also predicting that demand for air travel could fall for the first time ina travel could fall for the first time in a decade as a result of the virus. and it is airlines in asia pacific and china that are suffering most from seeing most of the impact. airlines have been caused to —— forced to cut flights in asia and have suspended routes to china, because demand has been dropping because demand has been dropping because people are too scared to travel to the region after more than 2000 people have died from the virus

in china. iata is estimating that chinese airlines could lose nearly i3 chinese airlines could lose nearly 13 billion us dollars in the home market alone and that number could get much worse if the virus severely spreads to other markets, so definitely some turbulence ahead for these airlines. sarah, thanks very much, in singapore. let's have a look at how the markets are doing and coronavirus fears are really weighing on global stock markets. asian shares were down and investors sought the relative safe havens, pushing the dollar to three—year highs. gold — another attractive investment in times of uncertainty — rose to its highest price in seven years. asian stocks taking their cue from wall street's markets closing lower at the end of thursday trading. after powering to a record close the day before, us stocks fell as some traders decided to cash in on the previous day's high prices to take profits. european markets starting the friday session lower. oil prices fell amid concerns over fuel demand

as the coronavirus epidemic spread — that's cut demand for air travel, airlines of course being big purchasers of oil. there is a key bit of data that measures business activity in the euro zone and it is due out in the next 20 minutes or so, that will give a next 20 minutes or so, that will givea hint next 20 minutes or so, that will give a hint about the impact of the virus on the bloc in february. now to the us, where investors will be looking for signs of a possible slowdown in the housing market as latest homes sales figures get released today. michelle fleury has more from new york. sales of previously owned homes in the united states jumped higher in december, setting their best pace since early 2018. it makes sense, given low mortgage rates and low unemployment levels, although a lack of inventory has certainly been more helpful to sellers than prospective buyers. but judging by the forecast being put out by wall street, a reversal might be on the cards. we'll get a better sense when the national association of realtors releases its january numbers later this friday. economists are predicting a 2% decline to a seasonally

adjusted rate of 5.43 million, a sign that perhaps december‘s boom was unsustainable. time now for our daily look at some of the newspaper and website stories which have caught our eye. joining us is riaz kanani, chief executive and founder, radiate b2b. a marketing advertising firm. we have picked out this one from the new york times, one you are quite interested in. teaching students how to spot fake news. yes, it is an interesting angle. we focus so much on the technology solving the problem when we actually, the best way to actually do it is to solve this ourselves as people and what they are doing is they are treating stu d e nts they are doing is they are treating students how to spot fake news in the first place and that is obviously going to make the whole situation much better. it is tricky, because i spotted this line in the new york times story, a study last year found that those 65 and older shared more fake news during the

2016 us election than younger adults, so do we need multiple fake news campaigns? yes, i think actually this is just the start. i think what we will see is these programmes really scale up and start to teach all of us how to spot the signs. i mean, this isn't actually new in some ways. 0bviously signs. i mean, this isn't actually new in some ways. obviously we have seen an explosion in recent years but go back ten, 15 years and we had problems with e—mail forwarding and the links inside their leading to viruses and the like and we learned how to deal with that and probably the same again here. you just reminded me, those e—mail chains that used to go around saying forward this to ten friends or you will have bad luck for three years, and some people did and i was always astonished and i suppose this is the next stage, the evolution of it. let's have a look at the guardian article, this is quite staggering, the concentration of air b&b properties in the uk. yes, one in four was the latest research, i

mean, airbnb has been very successful at bringing rooms from people's houses for others to stay in but we have now seen other commercial establishments put themselves on airbnb and all that is leading to less homes available to people who live in these areas and thatis people who live in these areas and that is the worry in the article. people who live in these areas and that is the worry in the articlem is really tricky for the authorities to find a solution to this, because obviously airbnb is feeding some kind of need, isn't it? clearly the underlying problem is a lack of homes and we need to solve those problems but, also, obviously, the opportunity, the benefit, is obviously you can monetise the room thatis obviously you can monetise the room that is empty in your house when you are away on holiday or if it is a spare room. so, obviously, as a result, we are going to see more legislation likely, i think, to compensate for that new trend. shall we go now to our last story, the

financial times, this ongoing battle between the european union and tech giants over data. that's right. over the years, i mean, the big, big change with the new technology giants that we are seeing is they are collecting an awful lot of data on us are collecting an awful lot of data on us individuals. gdp are came out to protect that previously but, actually, all that is doing is centralising power within these big technology companies, because they are the guys who own all the data, so the eu is trying to see how we can break that data open, but the counter to that is how do we maintain our privacy and control that, if the tech giants are forced to share that with other tech companies? it strikes me that, as with the tax issue on the tech giants, that it needs joined up thinking and a multinational approach, otherwise these companies can easilyjust approach, otherwise these companies can easily just move approach, otherwise these companies can easilyjust move to places where the regulation is easierfor them to

do what they want. that's absolutely right, it has to be a joined up approach and, actually, i'm not convinced that opening up and allowing them to share data with other big companies is necessarily even the right solution here. this isa even the right solution here. this is a really big problem that, actually, from a data ownership standpoint, i think we need to find new ways to actually solve the problem. just before you go, best and worst purchases today, what is yours? you can go either.|j and worst purchases today, what is yours? you can go either. i think the best purchase, i'd buy tech all the best purchase, i'd buy tech all the time, i like to experiment with all tech and i say it was virtual reality in the early days, i was never a big fan to start with and then when i tried it and actually used it, that weirdest thing was actually just a to used it, that weirdest thing was actuallyjust a to d cinema, being inside virtual reality watching a normal film is inside virtual reality watching a normalfilm is weirdly inside virtual reality watching a normal film is weirdlyjust like being in the cinema. best purchase isa being in the cinema. best purchase is a virtual reality headset in the early days. thank you very much

indeed. we want to know your best and worst purchases, use the hashtag bbc work life. and still to come, it is not just a bbc work life. and still to come, it is notjust a boy you's game. one of europe's top female tech leaders tells us why diversity is more than just a numbers game. you're with worklife from bbc news. the thames tideway tunnel is the biggest overhaul to the sewers running beneath london since the victorian times. this week the constuction of the new "super sewer" reaches it's halfway point and ben thompson is there finding out the secrets of the capital's sewage system. welcome to london's brand—new super sewer, or to give it its official title, the thames tideway tunnel, and this place is absolutely huge, we're 50 metres below ground and all of this is designed to stop raw sewage flooding into the river thames from the ancient network of sewers

that were built in london more than 150 years ago. mark is with me, he is the chief operating officer, good morning. give me a sense of what you're doing here, because this site is absolutely huge. we are in west london, as you say, we are deep under london. we are currently tunnelling west, so our tunnelling machine is about three kilometres down there heading on to acton. that is three kilometres of the 12.5 kilometres we have already built. you are at the halfway stage now, aren't you? yes, so we've got another 12.5 to go and i think it's going really well. give me an idea of how you make sure that this is on time and on budget. because we know in this country, we don't have the best track record at delivering big infrastructure projects on time. well, we are five years in and we've got another four years to go and we do a lot of measuring and we are really confident that we will hit our targets and it will be operational in 202a. who will pay for it? so this is paid for by thames water customers, it's in their water bill. we currently estimate about 20— £25 increase in their bill because of this vital infrastructure that's needed in london. so that is how you recoup

the £1.5 billion cost or so, the what, £5 billion cost or so, because this is a big old project. and all the way running underneath london, under some pretty valuable real estate. how do you make sure you get that right? a lot of preparation, a lot of planning. tunnelling is a well—known craft and we are actually pretty deep, so we are going under everything. lots of different sorts of clay and sand to deal with, haven't you? mark, thank you, really nice to see you. so there you have it, this absolutely huge project. expected to be finished in 2024 and let me just say, i am very glad that we are here while it is brand—new, still being built. just imagine what will be flowing through here in four years' time. ben thomson there, in case you couldn't read the label on his high —— hard hat and couldn't read the label on his high —— hard hatand hi couldn't read the label on his high —— hard hat and hi viz. plenty more news on the website, including some of the bull retail parks being sold off. —— bull ring.

you're watching worklife. a reminder of our top story. fianance ministers from the world's richest 20 economies head to saudi arabia to discuss how to tackle the deadly coronavirus outbreak. the g20 summit takes place in riyadh this weekend. diversity and inclusion in the workplace has never been more important than it is today. that's because companies now realise their profitability and survival depends on it. a recent study by mckinsey found that firms with more gender—diverse workforces outperformed their competitors by 15%. so why are some businesses still struggling to get the right balance? our next guest, nicola downing, believes smart tech, such as ai, can be the solution. she's chief operating officer for ricoh europe that provides technology to help firms work smarter. nicola downing — welcome to the programme. so you are looking to ai for the solution, why is that? well, partly,

i think. women in tech have always been a bit of a challenge, i think it starts from school, where girls are typically not choosing science and technology as subjects to study, but when women get into the workplace, they tend to be doing more of the repetitive, administrative retail type jobs and thatis administrative retail type jobs and that is al can really make a difference, free up time to up skill the workforce, to get women into more managerial and leadership roles. and what changes have you seen, in terms of tech workplaces becoming better places for women to work and progress their careers over the time you've been working in the sector? i think there's been a huge shift in culture, actually, and that is the key. long gone are the ping—pong tables and, actually, it has more been about making the workplace inclusive, making sure everybody is welcome, can be their best selves in the office and tech

firms offering flexibility, flexible hours and policies that make women feel more welcome in the workplace. so where does the problem lie, really? is it women entering into jobs in tech in the first place or is it women being encouraged to stay in thosejobs is it women being encouraged to stay in those jobs and be encouraged to progress in those fields? our experience is that we don't have a problem attracting women at all into our workplace and they are very welcome and they feel quite co mforta ble welcome and they feel quite comfortable when they get there. what we do see is that we lose them through their career journeys and when we get to leadership roles, they are very few and far between, actually, but it's really about making sure you have got women in senior roles, that people can aspire to, they can role model but also that the environment is welcoming and, actually, we are more flexible in the way that wework and we use technology to make sure people can work anywhere, anytime they like that fits in with their work in their home lives. what industries do you think do a good job of this?|j think you think do a good job of this?” think it is really a problem across

all industries, to be honest, there are not many industries that are immune from diversity issues, so i don't think there are any you can call out as being the panacea of diversity. i think there has been so much progress over the years, though, but it is about maintaining and allowing women to progress in the workplace rather than just attracting them. so it is notjust about leadership programmes and international women's day and that kind of thing, it's got to be sustainable programmes, sustainable ways of working and actually leadership characteristics and behaviours that make everybody feel welcome. and, looking back, what would have made the biggest difference to you when you were starting out, do you think?” difference to you when you were starting out, do you think? i think probably a less macho culture, more flexibility for people who have got children and also just looking up and seeing some people who look like me in and seeing some people who look like meina and seeing some people who look like me in a more future kind of state, so actually having some women in senior roles that you could aspire to and actually look up to and want

to and actually look up to and want to be like and i think that is now happening, rather than 15 years ago. nicola, thank you very much, nicola downing speaking to us. ina in a moment, we will go through some of your responses to our twitter question. first, let's turn to india, where us president donald trump is set to visit the country next week. for weeks, negotiators have been trying to put together a trade deal president trump has called the deal "very big" but says it may not happen during his trip. the bbc‘s arunoday mukharji travelled to rural maharashtra to find out more. they have called their relationship special in the past but it is in rural india that the real trade deal between the us and india will be felt. the indian government has traditionally resisted imports of dairy products to protect the industry. india is the largest milk producing nation. translation: if you allow american

products to enter the indian market, we will go into further loss and we will have the business snatched from us. but there is another, more sensitive religious issue, because cows a re sensitive religious issue, because cows are central to hindu worship and india wants the us to certify that feed for american cattle do not contain animal products. the us hasn't promised that yet. it is not just dairy but poultry farmers, those growing wheat, corn and soya who are concerned. they say they will not be able to compete with american products entering the indian market at affordable prices. more than 50% of indians population is associated with the agricultural sector one way or the other and people feel any deal with the us could hurt their livelihood. the two countries have struggled to narrow differences over trade but delhi is steaming ahead with strengthening ties in other ways. for one, a $2.6 billion helicopter deal with american defence firm lockheed martin is on the cards. president trump hasn't ruled out a limited

trade deal on history but has said he is saving himself for a major agreement in the future. the 80 million families that depend on dairyfarming in million families that depend on dairy farming in india hope it won't come at the cost of their livelihoods. at the start of the programme, we asked you about the best bargain or worst purchase that you've ever made, this is after an inaccessible first floor property sold for £1 in the uk. just £1. who knows why? let's take a look at how some viewers have responded to that question. 1euro, 1 euro, pretty good. simple. and chris says... i am guessing he means that is the best

bargain. u nless bargain. unless he is a city supporter, in which case he is saying it is the worst purchase. your best or worst? my best purchases are a shoes that i love but are a tiny bit small for me. i was thinking about this. within the last year, in the sales, i found a really nice burgundy rustjacket andi a really nice burgundy rustjacket and i went and bought it and a friend who works in the same building here and i said, what do you think? and she looked at it and said absolutely no way, take it back now, and i did and sometimes you need an honest friend to tell you when it is a bad purchase. ican when it is a bad purchase. i can always give you that advice! as long as it is done diplomatically. we will leave you with that thought for the weekend. that is it for today. there will be more business news throughout the day on bbc news lie web page and on bbc world business report. have a good weekend.

good morning. the focus of the rain today will be across northern areas of the uk. we've got a weather system pushing its way in, look at the white lines, the isobars across the white lines, the isobars across the uk, quite windy conditions to come with the rain but i want to zoom come with the rain but i want to zoom out and go across the atlantic because this weather system, that trailing weather front takes us all the way to the eastern seaboard in that area of low pressure could bring very windy conditions on monday, one to watch out for. for the rest of today, heavy rain across northern ireland, much of scotland, the far north and east of scotland staying largely dry with some sunshine. rain for northern england and north wales. to the south of that, largely dry, one or two showers, some bright spells but windy conditions, especially the north—east of england and the west

of scotland, gust of 60 or 70 miles per hour. but it is quite mild, temperatures around 10—12, 13 celsius. through the night, the rainfall will continue in northern ireland, western scotland, northern ireland, western scotland, northern ireland, north wales and gradually spreading further south, quite messy as we go through tonight but there will be some further snow showers across the high ground of scotland, still some strong winds here so some blizzard —like conditions as we go into the start of the weekend. during saturday, one weather system will push to the south, we are on the northern side of it so it will turn chillierfor the northern side of it so it will turn chillier for many of us through the day saturday. there will still be some snow over the higher ground of scotland, rain in southern areas of scotland, rain in southern areas of england. that should turn to clear away and there will be a few showers into the afternoon, some sunny spells but quite windy conditions quite widely again for england and wales on saturday, gail is scotland, even the central belt, so could be a little disruptive, the strong winds on saturday and temperatures will be dropping as the

day goes on so we are looking at a roundabout 6—9 or 10 celsius. throughout saturday and sunday, heavy rain spreading across england and wales on that weather system so and wales on that weather system so a wet start to the day but that rain will tend to clear away. then there will tend to clear away. then there will be some brighter skies developing. further showers which could be wintry at times across northern and western parts. again, they should start to ease off into they should start to ease off into the afternoon so a bit of a quieter day, i think on sunday and temperatures again in single figures. then it is into monday, where we have this low pressure moving close to the uk, depending on how close it gets will depend on how strong the winds will be during monday but expect some disruption. bye— bye.

you're watching bbc news at nine with me annita mcveigh — the headlines as the man convicted of killing the british backpacker grace millane in new zealand is sentenced to a minimum of 17 years — grace's mother describes the family's devastation. she died terrified and alone in a room with you. i will miss my darling grace until the last breath in my body leaves me. tens of thousands of people across germany attend vigils to remember the nine victims of a shooting in the town of hanau. more anguish for the british passengers stranded on a quarantined cruise ship injapan, as their flight back to the uk is delayed. a ban in england on the sale of coal and fresh logs,