now for our business news with stephen carroll. hi, stephen. tennis staring with maria sharapova, who is seeing her sponsors leave one after the other after she failed a drug test in australia. --phen: reassure up ella maria sharapova is the world's best paid female athlete. the tennis star says she has been taking a drug for medical reasons for the past 10 years and was not aware that it had been added to a list of banned drugs in january she has been suspended by the international tennis federation. as a result, her sponsors have been quick to react -- nike, porsche have all cut ties with the start. nike said it was saddened and surprised by the news. a sport magazine estimates that her endorsement deals are worth $20 million, much more than she earned in prize money. other big-name brands associated with maria sharapova included racketvian, and a tennis company. genie: bracing for strikes and protests tomorrow over the change in labor law. it is being led by the student unions -- by a student union. talks are continuing between workers repre

that will be with stephen carroll. we would bring you the latest discovery. haverchers say they discovered the long-lost ancestor of the tehran a saurus rex. rex. the tyrannosaurus first, russia has begun to withdraw military equipment from syria. president vladimir putin made the surprise announcement yesterday, saying moscow will pull most of its forces from the country. five months of air support have helped the syrian army regroup and go on the offensive, but that this stage -- but at this stage it remains unclear what the kremlin's plan involves. claire williams reports. claire: our task has largely in a koppers, the words of vladimir putin as he announced most russian troops would be withdrawn from syria. vladimir putin: i hope today's decision will signal to all will increase the the peacell sides in process and solve the syrian question using peaceful means. claire: another round of un-sponsored peace talks in geneva monday. the opposition negotiations committee responded to russia's move cautiously. despite kremlin denials, it is believed russian tro

now for our business news with stephen carroll. you are starting with the french energy company edf, which has seen shares plunge. stephen: that is right. they got hammered on the market today after their chief financial officer resigned over the weekend. he is thought to have left the company over opposition to its hinkley pointthe nuclear reactor in the united kingdom. according to reports, he thought it would put too much pressure on edf services. >> more trouble for edf. the french utility company's finance chief resigned after an internal disagreement over the planned nuclear reactor at hinkley point in u.k., a product more -- worth more than 23 billion euros. it was suggested the company should wait three more years to decide whether or not to go through with this investment. the government is eager to see -- to seal the deal. edf is financing two thirds of the project, with another third coming from chinese nuclear power company cgn but the so-called reactor technology, which will be built, has been problematic elsewhere. fli

time now for businesses with stephen carroll.ou will start with china where there is black clouds with parliament tomorrow. t ratings agency moody changed its view on the chinese economy, downgrading its outlook to negative. there is uncertainty about the authorities ability to implement reforms. it is the latest sign of investor concern of rising debts and slowdown in the chinese economy. genie: there is more optimism however for the chinese car industry though. tell us about that. stephen: the international association of carmakers is expecting the market to grow by 6% this year. they say united states should remain stable while french is kurt 2%. but as for the motor show underway this week. genie: was happening on the markets? we start with asia with pretty significant gains in shanghai in japan. 4% withei boosted by good gains in hong kong and shanghai despite the gloomy outlook from movies. trading prettys flat around the middle of the trading day here in europe. that optimism not spilling into trading. genie: let's go to t

newsfor our business conference 24 with stephen carroll. there are new figures on unemployment. >> good news for a change. the jobless rate in france fell in the last three months of 2015 to 10%. the rate for mainland france saw a decline of 1/10 of a percentage point. this comes as the french government tries to pass a series of reforms that will overhaul the french labor code. rule changes include making it easier for employees to fire workers, but it is proving very controversial. labor minister says it is needed to help jobs. >> the labor code is a source of complexity. this sort of complexity is no longer suited to the modern world. the right to work protects people in theory but in reality it can prove difficulties. of locals on short-term contract. just -- to the thorny issue of tax evasion. french authorities have recovered a record $21 billion in taxes. been crackingas down on tax fraud in recent years. genie: that's a lot of money. in brazil, a massive settlement has been reached with a mining company over environmental disaster.

someone who is very presence throughout the day is our business editor, stephen carroll. you are going to start in the u.k. were the finance minister is about to announce his latest budget. stephen: spending cuts of 4 billion pounds over 5 billion euros. he tweets that the budget would contain long-term solutions to long-term problems in britain. the measures are expected to include spending for education worth around 2 billion euros. that is starting in about 15 minutes time. genie: let's go to china, where was one of the main subjects of the parliamentary congress. it would be no hired landing for these second largest economy, but despite slowing growth and expectations of -- 6 million state workers could be laid off from the: steel industry. -- from the coal and steel industry. midpoint of the trading day. the ftse 100 is treading water. investors are looking ahead to the meeting of the federal reserve today, the market hoping to get more clarity on janet yellin over what is likely to happen to interest rates in the united states this year. genie: the senate has been lo

genie: time now for our business " with stephene 24 carroll three let's start with a look at the market. stephen: good news on the jobs front in europe, and that is moving things today. the lowest level since august of 2011, at 10.3%, mainly down to robust jobs growth in germany. as you can see, games all across the european market at this midpoint in the trading day. a goodpany not having day is barclays, their shares down by 11% after reporting a four-year loss of 500 million euros. genie: let's go to china with news of massive layoffs by state companies there. stephen: between 5 million and 6 million workers will be let go from so-called zombie companies over the next two to three years. the cuts will come as part of capacity. reduce over streamlining sectors like coal and steel. but the cost is around $23 billion. , let'son a lighter note go to the geneva motor show. the latest figures in france showing new car registrations rising by 13% in february. low oil prices are helping to boost car sales. we can go to geneva and speak -- thank you for joining us on "france 24." you are laun

." ♪ carroll: welcome back to "bloomberg businessweek," i'm carol massar. in the magazine's opening remarks this week, reporter stephenris writes, you're it may sound horrified by the rise of donald trump, but the truth is, he'll be right at home in paris or berlin. after all, europe has given rise to nationalistic politicians such as france's jean marie le pen, and so promoting media personalities. in fact, donald trump and immigrant brand is shared by numerous political parties across the continent from finland to greece to switzerland. in other words, europeans want to remember that old proverb do , not throw stones in glass houses. but will this transmit in will this movement have legs in america? you can read the article about week'ss trump in this "bloomberg businessweek." donald trump stays in the spotlights in this week's politics section. would you believe that trump's political rise is partly thanks to a software design by antiwar activists? the software is called nation builder. i spoke to adam in san francisco. adam: nation builder is a software that serves as kind of a digital hub for a campaign. so you c