thank you, theo leggett. you're watching business live.arter. the company sold slightly fewer iphones compared to the same time last year, yet apple was still able to post a 12% increase in revenue. earlier we spoke about apple and amazon, but earlier in the week facebook also reported its latest set of financial results. and elsewhere in the world of tech, it's been an eventful week for cryptocurrency investors. 0ne one of which joins us one of whichjoins us in one of which joins us in the studio! here's our technology correspondent, rory cellan—jones. idid buy i did buy a tiny amount about 18 months ago when i did a story about bitcoin, forgot about it, then found out it was worth more than $1500, and sold a chunk of it, i have to say, and i have been watching it obviously very closely over recent weeks. the big story right now this weeks. the big story right now this week is a growing realisation that the sheer extent of fraud around this whole cryptocurrency area, we said earlier it was like the wild west, but no, the wild west had mor

deal worth more than $25 billion for the 61% of sky it doesn't already own. 0ur correspondent theo leggettom. this is interesting. i notice sky shares up 18% this morning. this is interesting. i notice sky shares up 1896 this morning. and the reason for that may well be that now 21st—ce ntu ry reason for that may well be that now 21st—century fox might have to improve its own offer in order to pull off the deal it really wants. this announcement has really throwing the cat among the pigeons. basically, pitting three of the world's biggest media giants against each other. on the one hand, you have 2ist each other. on the one hand, you have 21st to three fox which wants to buy their share of sky it does not already own. that would be part ofa not already own. that would be part of a package sold onto the walt disney company which wants to buy 21st—ce ntu ry disney company which wants to buy 21st—century fox‘s film and tv assets and on the other hand, comcast, which has come in with a surprise, all—cash offer, which it saysis surprise, all—cash offer, which it says is superior to what sky is

our business correspondent, theo leggett has been looking at the details.us. reminders about the taylor review. -- remind us. it was set up to look at how business practices have changed over the last few years and how the government should respond to that in terms of employment law and the enforcement of employment law. it noted there are trends to companies like uber and deliver real, people who employ people by thejob. real, people who employ people by the job. there is an increasing reliance on agency workers and people and zero—hours contracts, people and zero—hours contracts, people who are not guaranteed hours of work but do have a contract with an employer. mr taylor's conclusion was this does allow flexibility in the workplace, useful for employees and employers, but things were weighted too much in favour of the employers. he set out a number of recommendations to make life better for the employees, most of which the government has now taken up. what are they proposing here? it is pretty widespread, the proposals, that will affect so many people i

our business correspondent theo leggett is with me.. the change is designed to encourage more interactions with your friends and family, so, for example, a photo of their cats, or a selfie, or whatever, and so you will see more of that kind of stuff and less material published by news organisations and so on, so less news and fewer videos. the idea, facebook says, is to encourage more meaningful social interaction because that‘s what it says makes people happier, and encourage less of the sort of sensational polarising news stuff we all see on oui’ polarising news stuff we all see on our feeds every day. so, people spending less time on it as a result and get profits are still up, how does that work? facebook has 1.4 billion users and they spend on average a0 minutes a day on the site so if they spend a couple of minutes lest it is not a huge problem. at the same time what facebook is doing is trying to make sure people see the adverts that are relevant to them. if you have 1.a billion users and just broadcast an advert it‘s not going

theo leggett, bbc news.gs to sort out at the moment, isn't it? it's going to be difficult, certainly in the next few days. the signs are this could take weeks. we have tended to show our hand in the negotiations pretty late in the day. the focus of ministers at the moment remains on getting this transition deal which we have to get signed, sealed and delivered by the end of march. above all, because of the divide between different cabinet ministers over to brexit we want, between those like the chancellor, philip hammond, who want is to stay close to the eu, to minimise any disruption to british business, and those like borisjohnson who thinks we had to cut free to give ourselves the ability to strike free trade deals because they say the great golden opportunity of breaks it is to strike deals with countries outside of the eu and that is going to bea outside of the eu and that is going to be a real growth area. if you put those divisions together, it seems the likelihood of any agreement merging is probably

theo leggett explains the complexities of the issue.n limits on emissions, like nitrogen oxide, which can cause respiratory problems. we have a court looking at whether or not, in order to achieve that goal, and people driving diesel cars into city centres should be considered. if they were to decide that it should be an effective way of reaching the quality targets, cities across germany would feel pretty much obliged to introduce them, otherwise they could face legal challenges from environmental groups. they would pretty much have to do it. that, then, would have a knock—on effect for millions of drivers, who bought diesel cars in good faith. we are even told by the german government and other governments, a few years ago, that diesel cars were environmentally friendly. so, the ramifications are profound. it could affect millions of consumers, affect the industry, affect the policies of local government. it is a complicated matter. straight after the end of this first half of outside source we are going to be looking at brexit. it ha

our business correspondent, theo leggett has been looking at the details. money on a job byjob basis and other companies like fast food outlets like to use people employed by agencies or run 0—hours contracts. it lets them have staff when they need them or cut costs when they need them or cut costs when they need them or cut costs when they don't. in his review, matthew taylor said flexibility in the workplace was important but it often put too much power into the hands of employers. he said change was needed to make sure people didn'tjust was needed to make sure people didn't just tap work was needed to make sure people didn'tjust tap work but was needed to make sure people didn't just tap work but what was needed to make sure people didn'tjust tap work but what he called good work. the government has accepted most of his recommendations. for example, it says it will make sure that workers who are entitled to holiday and sick pay actually receive it. it's promised to clamp down on companies which are legally make unpaid intense do the work of employees. an

theo leggett, bbc news. so, markets? remember yesterday we we re so, markets?e stock markets are not the economy. thanks, rate. yellows see you in an hour. around 60 people are still missing in taiwan after a 6.4 magnitude quake struck the city of hualien. at least six people died, and more than 200 others were injured. several buildings have crumbled or are at risk of collapsing. from taiwan, cindy sui. taiwanese people are used to earthquakes, but this one shocked many. it forced several buildings to near collapse. new cctv footage has emerged of the moment when the earthquake struck. this terrified woman escaped without injury. the quake shook many people out of bed. they scrambled to save those still inside. more than 100 people were rescued by residents, firefighters and soldiers. miraculously, an employee of a hotel was found alive after being trapped for 15 hours on a collapsed floor. but many remained unaccounted for more than 12 hours after the quake struck. some of them are feared to be tourists, staying at a backpackers hotel on the second floor of t

our business correspondent theo leggett has been explaining why facebook made these changes to theirless material published by news organisations and so on. so less news, fewer videos, and the idea, facebook says, is to encourage more meaningful social interaction, because that‘s what it says makes people happy, and encourage less of the sort of sensational polarising news stuff we all see in our feeds every day. the duke and duchess of cambridge are in norway as part of a four day tour of scandanavia. william and kate are visiting the norwegian royal family, and meeting local entrepreneurs. 0ur royal correspondent nicholas witchell is in oslo. the cambridge is scandinavian trip continues. travelling from stockholm to 0slo. they were greeted at 0slo airport by the crown prince and princess. they have come on now to the royal palace, here in the centre of oslo, where they have met king harold and i having lunch with him. quite a family occasion. distantly related, close ties between the norwegian and british royal families. what will they be talking about? as royals, they don‘t do pol