megamerger. b-sky-b is in talks to snap up german and italian assets. >> upping the ante. considering meet to -- to consider widening sanctions against russia. this is as eastern ukraine votes to self-rule. >> and xi says china needs to adapt to a pace of slower expansion. welcome to "the pulse," live

from bloomberg european headquarters in london. i am mark barton. >> and i am caroline hyde. also coming up, the father of wearable computing joins us on "the pulse." he has been wearing a cyborg eye for 30 years. >> rupert murdoch is reviving a plan to build a european paid tv empire by combining sky dortch land and sky italian. y georgia land -- deut scheland and sky italia. what is murdoch's land here. >> broken by my colleague sitting right next to you, it is to take 20th century fox, one of the two companies that murdoch now has, and to have it, through his control of b-sky-b, take full ownership of sky d eutscheland and sky italia.

it has a 100% stake, fox foxrols this aspect of it, has that stake. you combine them together and what you would really bring is a pan-european company that can negotiate on sports, advertising, and it can combine all of those subscribers. deutee growth in sky scheland. a bit stagnant. i know all you are interested in is can you watch more of your bundesliga this way. i suspect you will be able to watch more of it. >> give us a feeling of what is at stake here and how much is this going to be helping murdoch pitt himself against the juggernaut that is john malone? >> this is a battle that we have seen play out in the past

decade. utschland,d -- de europe is a place where malone has spent money, expanding across europe. if they are able to consolidate all of murdoch holdings, it would make them a much stronger company and it is great for when they are looking to get subscription rights for the packages and advertising. if the merger goes through, b-sky-b would have around 23 million subscribers, which is more than they have right now. >> when it comes to bidding for rights, which is ultimately what it is all about when you own these european paid tv channels, it gives it scale, which is a very important factor. >> we saw b-sky-b shares go down since last october. this now, if they get access, it would make them much

stronger when they are going up for these kinds of deals. >> what will this leave fox doing? far more onocusing the production of content rather than his tribute and. will that make it a more attractive asset going forward? >> exactly. if you are an investor who says i just want a pure play company that looks at production, this would help fox streamlined its assets and have all of the content going to b-sky-b and that makes it much more appealing for europe. >> this has been in the cards for a number of years, hasn't it? there is no guarantee it will be successful. are a couple of regulatory hurdles to clear. regulatory hurdles in germany. if you do have a sort of a unified pan-european network, there is still the question of can murdoch take his 39% stake of fox news and take full control?

why would he combine these companies if he is ultimately not to control them? there are a couple of theories. one is that he wants to have an asset that is totally separate from fox creek 20th century fox is the immediate company. you have the distribution company based in europe and that could be sold potentially to a vodafone or a mobile player that wants to have more internet connection, or broadband connections, more tv connections. you can see companies that are more focused. thehave a media-focused out in the states, 20th century fox. then you have whoever owns b-sky-b and the german and italian components be more about distribution. it would be more streamlined, better for advertising. that is one theory. all of this defense -- depends on the regulators. there is a big asterisk with all deals.e m&a will regulators let them go through?

>> thank you very much. >> let's turn to the price -- the crisis in the ukraine now. sunday's succession has been denounced as illegal by kiev, the u.s., and the eu. meanwhile, ukrainian military forces clashed with separatists, killing "many rebels." ryan chilcote has the latest. it looks like overwhelming support for self-rule. what does this mean? >> the separatists have been counting the votes. he had votes into different regions. in the easternmost part of the country, that is the most important and larger of the regions. the separatists saying that 90%, just shy of 90% of the population voted for self-rule. , thether region separatists saying that 94%-98%

of the people that turned out -- and they say, in both cases, turnout was very high -- voted for self rule. the question is legitimacy. theforeign secretary in united kingdom said that no one in the world is going to recognize the legitimacy of these votes. almost correct. willig question is, what russia say? russia just issued a statement by e-mail and they said that the shows of popular will, noting that there was a very high turnout. the point that they say, the word "respect" and not "recognize." will this mean that the separatists are going to try to use it to negotiate more income -- more autonomy within the ukraine itself? will it mean that they want to become an independent state? or will it mean that they want

to rejoin russia, which they were part of up until 1990? that is the big question. the one-man we have not heard from is the russian president. we really want to see what he has to say. >> what do investors make of the vote so far? >> the russian stock market opened down and moved into positive territory. it is now down on the back of the kremlin statement that they read -- that they respect these votes. the interesting thing is last week. , there stocks, last week is today. last week, russians had their best week in almost 10 months. the reason were the comments from the russian president, where he said that he did not think the separatists should go ahead with that vote and that russia was going to pull its troops back from the border. keep in mind, russia, the west says, did not pull its troops back from the border and the vote did go ahead and russia is saying that they respect it. investors took that to mean that russia does not want anymore in

the ukraine. it does not plan to intervene directly. we will just have to see. so far, no one is anticipating big sanctions as a result of these referendums. he have the eu foreign minister meeting, as you mentioned, but they will ramp up the sanctions just a notch. they were going to do that even before the votes took place. the important date is may 25, two weeks from yesterday. that is when ukraine intends to hold its presidential election. it really depends then what russia does. the eu, the united states, germany, yesterday, france, saying that if that vote does not happen in a reasonable way, there will be more sanctions, possibly a level 3 economic sanctions against russia and then we would see investors taking real notice. >> thank you. >> let's get to india now. the world's biggest election draws to an end today.

800 million eligible voters took to the polls for over six weeks. on friday. expected for more, let's get over to mumbai. what is the mood like on the ground today. >> extreme excitement, mark. the last laugh of the election. the drama is getting more and more exciting. it is in the final lap. in fact, the last phase of what has been a nine-phase election. it has been the longest and largest election process in the world. today, especially interesting. we are going to see a big battle . you will see a three-way clash happening with the hopeful run ministerial candidates. he faces off with the anti-graft

candidate. polls thisin exit evening, the polls that come after people have voted. the opinion polls conducted prior to voting were showing that they would be able to muster a majority with their coalition which would end a decade-long ruling of the u.b. of flags faced a lot due to corruption charges and high inflation. he has been promoting his investment magnate image all over india. almost 4800 rallies that he has done over the last two months. he is waiting to see the results over the next three days when it comes to the exit polls, which have his story proven not to be that exciting. finally, the big result on may 16. >> thank you. we will speak to you much more throughout this week.

>> here is what else is on our radar for today. asian stocks rose on speculation that the chinese government will take steps to help bolster the economy. a government said last week that it will relax limits on foreign investments in listed companies. said, resident xi jinpeng the nation needs to adapt to "a new normal of economic growth." but also that they would take kind -- timely countermeasures. overr faces u.k. lawmakers the bid for astrazeneca. they hearings will be broadcast live and will provide lawmakers the first opportunity to grill the pharmaceutical executives on one of the biggest takeovers in u.k. history and what it would mean in job losses and research cuts. profits thatrecast missed estimates. they joined toyota and honda in predicting smaller profits as

the benefits from a weaker yen fade. automakers are bracing for a record decline in domestic demand. because of the nation's sales tax increase in 70 years. , eastern ukraine vote for independence as european leaders threaten sanctions against russia. what happens next? we will discuss after the break. ♪

>> welcome back. this is "the pulse." we are live on bloomberg

television, radio, and streaming on bloomberg.com, your tablet, your phone, and now any windows phone as well. >> we have it all. let's look to our top story again. eu ministers are meeting in brussels to consider widening sanctions against russia. that is after separatist groups in eastern ukraine vote for self-rule. russia's foreign minister is expected to hold a news conference this morning. for more, we are joined by the chief emerge it's economist at standard bank. talk us through what you feel the sentiment is at the moment in russia. grand plan?n's will we see the ukraine's divide ? >> it is clear what his grand plan has been four months. -- fo r months. russia has a fallback position. itough the maiden protests, was clear that he could not have the whole of the ukraine, so the idea is that he takes the bits he can get away with.

i think that is crystal clear from what we have seen in crimea and south and east of ukraine in the last few months. rex a secession vote in crimea led to an ignition. >> a secession vote in crimea led to annexation. does it lead to eastern parts of the country or not? >> it is a little bit trickier. they are controlled through the presence of 20,000 troops. engineering and ensuring an annexation is a lot more challenging. is thattegy from russia they would rather like to expand russia's borders and if opportunities arise, they will do it. i think they really want the populations to welcome them in. i do not think they want a protracted and long drawnout military conflict. is to stabilize

ukraine to the point at which russian peacekeepers are invited in or russian troops are invited in. >> what can europe do? we had the meeting of foreign ministers today. they talked about sanctions, but not much has been the coming a reality. what do you foresee in terms of sanctions? what will europe do to combat this threat? >> it is not just europe, it is the west as well. a lot has been made that the sanctions have been light, but i think what we have seen is the u.s. has created lots of gears of sanctions. there were lots of options. they do not want to go straight to the ram stop sanctions. they want to show the russians that there are consequences if they do not act in a constructive way towards ukraine. i think we are going through those gears. i think that is critically are. there are -- there is more to come. there was an eu statement that

nothing has been decided at that meeting, but i think the west has been fairly clear on this that the may 25 presidential elections do not happen or they are destabilized by a big outside force, that russia can expect something fairly significant. full-scale, but sanctions that i think will have an effect. >> do central sanctions move the eu and the u.s. one step ahead of putin? the western media is saying that putin is always one step ahead u.s.e eu, ukraine, and the will the dynamics change if they moved to putting sanctions on various sectors of the russian economy? >> fortunately, we operate in democratic regimes where making is moret decisions

challenging and takes time. russia is able to apply countermeasures more easily because they operate in a different system. the west can have very significant impacts on the russian economy, particularly the russian financial sector, if they so wish. you mentioned central sanctions. it is unlikely that we see large-scale, whole scale central sanctions. there are three levels of sanctions we have seen. , andiduals, corporate wholesale of the russian economy. i think the third one will be sectors of the economy that have impact, a bigger impact on russia than western countries. because the sanctions hurt everyone. but they are designed to change russia's actions. from thet is clear

major western countries that they are clear in understanding russia's strategy towards ukraine and i think they are clear that they have to do something about that. >> which sectors in russia are most a threat? as an investor in russia, where should you be withdrawing your money? where should you be putting your money? >> russia is a poor place to invest. it was always a bad business of army, pre-crimea and pre-ukraine. i think this whole scenario just makes a stronger case not to invest in russia. pull your money out if you have any investments there or reduce your exposure. this is not going to get easier. it is not going to get resolved next week. this is a long-term restore -- story in terms of the changing relationship between the west and russia. i think that has significant implications for investors. see.

investor, you have to keep a close eye on your russian investments. bloomberg has come out saying that people are very negative on the stock market their. wonderful to get your viewpoint on how it all unfolds is thank you -- unfolds. thank you. >> coming up later in "the pulse ," he is known as the father of wearable computing. we will speak to steve mann, the inventor of the digital glass eye. ♪

>> welcome back. time for today's hotshots. bikers gearing up for a series in munich. this year's lineup will include a 16-year-old who previewed some dirt bike flips and tricks in the run-up to the competition. marshall miller in the desert canyons. he created a zip line which withed him to jump safely the help of a parachute. >> intense stuff. on that intensity note, let's get over to jonathan ferro. >> i am going to be intense,

caroline. i have a new gauge for political risk. it is called the ryan chilcote index. if you see him on your tv, you know russia and the ukraine matters. does it matter to markets right now? not quite. we are driving hard on the borders for the fourth straight week. .3% on the dax in frankfurt as well. the big news is what will the ecb do next? the big one is this trade right here. the euro-dollar, a catalyst for news flow. if mario draghi chooses to do anything next month, what will it be and can drive this one any lower us to mark peter both finger thinks -- bowfinger thinks it is not lower. he is the advisor to angela merkel, saying that the ecb should go swiss. .ush the euro lower really? is that going to happen? probably not. that to defendid

the ecb's independence, you have got to say that peter was not listening. >> nice and intense. thank you. we will be back in a couple of minutes after this short break. ♪

quarks welcome back to "the pulse." i'm mark barton. >> and i'm caroline hyde. the referendum organized by pro-russian groups in parts of eastern ukraine. european leaders could issue more sanctions against russia as early as today. chinese stocks rose on speculation that the chinese

government will take steps to bolster investment. the government said last week that they will relax the -- on foreign companies. to nation needs to doubt renew normal of economic growth. the government would also take timely countermeasures to reduce negative effects. the ceos of pfizer and astrazeneca ago before u.k. committees this week. the opposition labor party has accused prime minister david cameron of being a cheerleader for the u.s. takeover. cameron tells the bbc is ready to stand up for british jobs. >> jack your/land rover has created 1000 jobs in west britain since i've been prime minister. >> standard chartered great city

race takes place this week. bloomberg exclusive, we are joined by the races alabaster and the marathon world record .older paula >> what you think about being the ambassador for this race? >> it is an amazing race to be ambassador for. inas first ambassador back 2006. is a unique opportunity for city workers and the business world to come out in a corporate challenge and run in a closed off area of london, organized by the london marathon organizers. it is interesting to see the camaraderie come together. we are hoping to raise 100,000 u.s. dollars for the seeing is believing charity, which will be matched by standard chartered. i will go specifically to east

africa and the child i help. seeing is believing charity there. >> is a race has been going on for years. you think there's been a surge in popularity given the 2012 olympics? were all very focused on keeping fit. to think it is one of those waves coming after the big event? >> yes. just a difference a running can make inmate in helping you feel better. i'm very keen that my children are active in sport and physically active. they will perform much better at school, feel better about themselves, be more confident. there are so many differences. certainly, since olympics came, you see people saying, oh, that looks fun. i met to garden try that. it makes a lot of difference to people. then you see the transitions to the corporate world as well. people start to draw the parallels from sport and running

to the business world in terms of goal setting. >> and stress levels. it always works for me. >> i was good to ask you anyway about wearable technology forerunners. there's a big conference taking place for the first time in tel aviv today. we have a man there, elliott gotkine. you obviously embrace wearable technology. as i going to be something team he embraced by the rest of the running community? run would just go out and with the basic stopwatch. sometimes, i still like to go back to that for that freedom and not even bother to start the watch but does go out and run how i feel. at the same time, advancing technology enables you to go out with something like a sport watch and measure distance compare your own numbers with the browser on the globe and said challenges that way.

i think some people see it as a gimmick and some people see it is interesting. it is whatever you want to make of it. if the user to enhance your enjoyment, then fine. level to your distress because it is complicated, then don't do it or it just go out with the basic things you need. in a kit, andis like that. shoes and a kit, and like that. i was thinking that this time i was barely back running. there is a. in my life of eight months where could not run. it was a challenge to psych myself up for it. then you feel like something that is really part of your life that gives me so much pleasure was missing. i'm really glad to be able to have that back now and to be

able to go back out and run and run a lot faster than i was last year. do think you might have left in you, just one or more? >> i do want to be greedy. if i could do one more at a competitive level and then be happy to take part in races for -- theith the london marathon something? >> oh that would be amazing. >> and how have you kept yourself that don't the must of been some very dark moments when you saw your greatest love taken away from you in that respect through injury? have you been able to keep throughout?

>> yes, i think so. those were the other things in life like your -- like my children and husband. .hat helped me cope with that the first up was to get out there and jog again. however slow was in the beginning, to see that improving each day and be able to get out and do that. our member the first time i went been paul walking and that is all he could do. and i was able to do five times a minute in that our paul walk. i had the greatest benefit my face. it made a difference just to be able to do that small amount. >> you really have been a light to everyone. >> you need to start running right now. paula, thank you for joining us today. i hope you're closer to the start of the great city race in july. let's talk technology. when apple introduced the iphone

seven years ago, it brought the touchscreen to the masses for the first time. an israeli startup has now gone one better, enabling you to turn your sofa into a smart phone, or your table into a tablet. our middle east editor, elliott gotkine sends us this exclusive report. >> in a futuristic film minority report, tom cruise used a special program and a trio of psychics to track down criminals before they could commit a crime. these ambitions are more modest. he wants to unchain us from our devices and turn the world around us into more interactive one. overhead target, projectors. >> with one minute installation process you can take any one of the 50 million project is installed worldwide and transform them from a regular projector into an interactive room, just like that, by putting the burden on your finger.

, the bird is just half of the technology. agent can also project any device onto any surface and allow you to interact with it as if you were there. agent, iphone to the sofa. the agent is still at the development phase. its impact could be just as impressive as corning's vision of the future, except the maker of gorilla glass screens for on everythingg being coated in touch sensitive glass. >> we are moving towards natural user interfaces. voice, gesture, movement and touch are all parts of that. we think of touch specifically, maybe you have seen a toddler interact with a tablet or a smart phone. it is very natural for them, and that intuitive nature is why we

think touch stays around for a long time. coverer ever anything -- everything in glass is not everyone's cup of tea. it is quite expensive for a start. be moving seems to towards the screen or surface near you very soon. elliott gotkine, israel. >> coming up and today's new energy, cutting power costs. we speak with james carpenter after the break.

♪ >> welcome back to "the pulse." were in bloomberg's london headquarters. >> let's have a look at some of the other luxuries. boats are were the mega-wealthy go to relax and party in private. in london, an exclusive crew has been set up to train the crews of these floating super hotels. elliott attended the graduation. to --ple are not able able toho are f afford a floating playground are going to want things done their

way. >> she is a founder of bespoke bureau which trains the staffs for expensive yards. we can't show you their faces. most have signed privacy agreements with employers. >> the stars are very discreet. are very-- the staff discreet. anything they see or hear our private. we get them to sign a confidentiality agreement which means they should end up in closeif they this anything. hard-working recruits can expect to start on more than $60,000, often tax-free. >> it is lucrative, but you mustn't forget that they work really hard and do earn their money.

outsider's point of view it looks like a lecture job, these girls and boys worked very very hard. >> when money is not an issue and a small army are on hand at all times, requests can get outlandish. dinner at 4 a.m., late parties, demanding guests. yet workers get little sleep. what exactly goes on board is kept close to the chest. anybody working in that marketplace doesn't talk about it. i would never disclose what i know. and andrew is a professional butler, but he won't say who he works for. most of these girls are heading back to their yachts in time for the summer season. long hours, late nights, and a chance to make some big money. angus tenant, bloomberg london. >> time for today's company

news. nissan forecast profits that missed estimates. japanese automakers are also bracing for a record decline in domestic demand because of the nation's first sales tax increase in 17 years. rupert murdoch is pursuing a long-awaited transaction that would transform b-sky-b into a european satellite tv giant. they're in talks to acquire control of satellite carriers iay deutschland and sky ital from fox. the deal is valued at about 10 billion euros. samsung is investing at least $2 billion in bayer pharmaceutical. -- in biopharmaceuticals. >> staying with corporate news,

the u.k. has signaled it wants more guarantees from pfizer when they block its bid to acquire astrazeneca. made a statement after they released a series of videos. >> the business secretary said he is looking at this issue a public interest defense and he will report back to parliament on that. >> i will do whatever is right for britain. i will always stand up for british jobs, british interest, &d. ish science, british r manus is here to talk about this unfolding astrazeneca pfizer story. >> i think he tried to sound stronger and more resilient from what he was on may the second. that is when he said 20% of their budget would be devoted to this. he was paraded for.

assurance from pfizer. wantslegg, his deputy exactly binding commitments rather than aspirations. heard, birds jobs, &d. i think the rhetoric has changed. -- ofn wants to be seen these the debate in this is british. the majority of the employment is not in the united kingdom. >> you politics swirling on the deal. itself trying to play game of politics, trying to send out these videos. we are all embracing technology. what has been the view on these videos?

reckless, absolutely reckless. you are to read and his defense. it is very clear, straightforward, communicating with all stakeholders. there's a variety of stakeholders at play here. on the individuals he talks about good for patients, good and shareholders. science, efficiency, a good cultural fit between the two institutions. on the motivation video you talked about that at length 30 he talked about the scale of integration. he talked about power and &d pods.r it is an interesting way of communicating with a variety of audiences. court ofthe public

politics. youlk about tax cuts or are talking about actually developing sites. the independence stay with us. in the cambridge corridor, it is going to be interesting how the go head-to-head. of course, hans nichols will be live with us. this is what he -- >> whether you do it tends to go whole hog in terms of whether this should fall under the public interest. >> thanks, manis. after the break, cutting power costs using solar solutions. we will use the director -- we will speak with the director right after the break.

.> murdochs megamerger b-sky-b is in talks to snap up german and italian assets to become the european pay-tv empire. >> upping the ante. eu ministers meet in brussels to consider expanding sanctions against russia. separatist groups in ukraine vote for self-rule. the presidents as china needs to adapt to a pace of slower expansion.