:00:00. > :00:18.We'll bring you the latest as we get it.
:00:19. > :00:21.An airport official says the last contact with the plane was 10
:00:22. > :00:32.Also on the programme: The chairman of tech giant Fujitsu warns it
:00:33. > :00:34.would reconsider its investments in the UK if Britain
:00:35. > :00:38.And European markets, in the first hour of trade,
:00:39. > :00:51.reaction is to what was in the Federal Reserve minutes released
:00:52. > :00:54.last night about the next move on US interest rates.
:00:55. > :01:00.We will keep you up-to-date with the latest events on that Egypt's hour
:01:01. > :01:12.flight but remember the BBC News website has the latest.
:01:13. > :01:23.An EgyptAir plane flying overnight from Paris to Cairo has
:01:24. > :01:32.Egypt's civil aviation ministry said the Airbus A320 plane,
:01:33. > :01:35.with 56 passengers and ten crew on board,
:01:36. > :01:37.appeared to have gone missing over the Eastern Mediterranean,
:01:38. > :01:45.about 20 minutes before it was due to land in Cairo.
:01:46. > :01:49.EgyptAir made a lot of announcements on its Twitter page which you can
:01:50. > :01:53.see behind me here. The authorities have now said
:01:54. > :01:57.they believe the plane must have crashed, given that it has
:01:58. > :02:00.failed to land at any Also from the Egyptian military
:02:01. > :02:04.comes the information that the plane did deliver a distress signal
:02:05. > :02:12.a few minutes before However, we are hearing counter
:02:13. > :02:13.announcements on whether that signal was actually given or not. Ben has
:02:14. > :02:17.more. Lucy Williamson joins us
:02:18. > :02:27.from Charles de Gaulle Airport. Lucy, where you are, clearly this
:02:28. > :02:33.news sinking in. Bring us up-to-date with what you are hearing there.
:02:34. > :02:37.There has been a crisis centre said the airport, there were 15 French
:02:38. > :02:41.passengers on board the plane as plane as well as 30 Egyptian 's and
:02:42. > :02:44.a number of other nationalities. There is a crisis centre for the
:02:45. > :02:48.families here, they are being taken to a hotel near the airport, we
:02:49. > :02:52.expect the Prime Minister to arrive here later today. The Foreign
:02:53. > :02:56.Ministry has set up a crisis centre and a line for anyone worried about
:02:57. > :03:00.family, and President Hollande has been coordinating with the Egyptian
:03:01. > :03:04.president to say they will be working together to try to solve the
:03:05. > :03:07.mystery of what happened. He is holding a crisis meeting this
:03:08. > :03:11.morning with his cabinet again to try to work out what the next steps
:03:12. > :03:16.are because there are so many questions at this stage about what
:03:17. > :03:20.happened to the flight. As you say, Lucy, a lot of questions
:03:21. > :03:25.still to be answered at this very early stage where we don't know a
:03:26. > :03:30.lot of information. But, once again, we are talking to you live in Paris
:03:31. > :03:34.about these sorts of events, are people trying to draw conclusions at
:03:35. > :03:40.this point? I don't think at this point. The
:03:41. > :03:43.scraps of information are giving rise to speculation, of course
:03:44. > :03:47.people are worried, the mood in Paris is already tense, it does not
:03:48. > :03:52.take much to remind people how insecure they felt not so long ago.
:03:53. > :03:56.The state of emergency has meant security is incredibly tight across
:03:57. > :04:00.France, not least at its main airports, and we don't yet know
:04:01. > :04:03.whether this was a technical problem, it's human problem,
:04:04. > :04:07.security problem, we don't yet know which of those it was and whether it
:04:08. > :04:11.originated in France, whether there was a problem here, but it is
:04:12. > :04:15.certainly one of the questions being asked and it is certainly a tense
:04:16. > :04:16.and nervous time for France to be asking it.
:04:17. > :04:31.I wanted to pick up on the issue of security arrangements, how
:04:32. > :04:33.much has changed over the last few months since the terror attacks in
:04:34. > :04:35.Paris. You reported extensively on those, what have you seen change
:04:36. > :04:37.particularly in places like railway stations and airports?
:04:38. > :04:40.I think the security was always pretty tight in France, it is like
:04:41. > :04:43.for those of you used to flying out of Heathrow, for example, similar in
:04:44. > :04:47.terms of the steps you go through, but certainly since the attacks
:04:48. > :04:52.there is a more visible presence on the streets, more visible patrolling
:04:53. > :04:56.of areas and parameters perhaps outside the core security checks,
:04:57. > :04:59.and that is certainly something we have seen at key sites like train
:05:00. > :05:05.stations and airports. Thank you very much indeed.
:05:06. > :05:08.We will be back with Lucy if we get more, and of course we will stay
:05:09. > :05:12.across this breaking story for you over the course of the programme.
:05:13. > :05:18.US interest rates are likely to rise in June
:05:19. > :05:28.Minutes of the US Federal Reserve's April meeting show
:05:29. > :05:30.that it is looking for signs that the economy, employment
:05:31. > :05:32.and inflation are improving before taking action.
:05:33. > :05:35.And it remains wary of external factors, including a possible UK
:05:36. > :05:38.The bank has kept interest rates between 0.25%
:05:39. > :05:47.Thailand has suspended a motorcycle taxi-hailing service run by Uber
:05:48. > :05:50.and its regional rival Grab over claims they broke local rules.
:05:51. > :05:51.Thai authorities have also arrested 66 drivers working
:05:52. > :06:00.They said offenders face fines of up to $110 and potentially
:06:01. > :06:04.It is unclear how long the ban is for, but both companies
:06:05. > :06:06.said they are working to resolve the issues.
:06:07. > :06:08.Tesla Motors says it will sell up to $1.7 billion
:06:09. > :06:12.in new shares to cope with demand for its new Model 3 electric car.
:06:13. > :06:14.Boss Elon Musk will sell nearly 2.8 million of his own shares,
:06:15. > :06:21.Last month, he warned the firm needed to speed up production
:06:22. > :06:31.and raise more cash after receiving 373,000 orders for the car.
:06:32. > :06:36.We would normally check in on the Business Live page at this point in
:06:37. > :06:41.the programme but I want to show you the other life pages on the website
:06:42. > :06:45.this morning with latest events from MS804, latest details as they come
:06:46. > :06:50.into us at the BBC. You will notice a breakdown of the nationalities of
:06:51. > :06:55.those on board, this -- 66 people including ten crew, 30 Egyptian 's,
:06:56. > :06:59.15 French citizens, two Iraqis and others from Britain, Canada,
:07:00. > :07:05.Belgium, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Sudan, Chad and Portugal.
:07:06. > :07:08.AP is reporting, I mentioned earlier that there is some conflicting
:07:09. > :07:12.information out there about whether a distress signal was raised just
:07:13. > :07:17.moments before this plane disappeared, AP is reporting that a
:07:18. > :07:22.spokesman for the Egyptian army is saying the army has not received any
:07:23. > :07:26.distress call from the missing plane. As I say, Associated Press
:07:27. > :07:30.quoting the Egyptian army saying they didn't receive a distress call
:07:31. > :07:34.which was reported earlier in the media that they did receive.
:07:35. > :07:38.We hesitate to talk about finances when there is so much unknown about
:07:39. > :07:41.what has happened to this plane but it is worth mentioning purely
:07:42. > :07:47.because we have seen a big fall in stocks for the market, particularly
:07:48. > :07:51.travel related, and we saw this after the terrorist event in Paris
:07:52. > :07:54.and other incidents of this nature. Of course, many unanswered questions
:07:55. > :07:58.but it is important because it has a knock-on effect for the wide
:07:59. > :08:01.industry, people put off from travelling as a result, so we will
:08:02. > :08:07.keep an eye on that as well but still many unanswered questions
:08:08. > :08:11.about the fate of MS804. Let's get more insight into what has
:08:12. > :08:15.been happening with regards to this passenger plane which has
:08:16. > :08:20.disappeared from radar, as we have been mentioning, with 66 people on
:08:21. > :08:24.board. Lucy Williamson talking to us from Charles de Gaulle airport in
:08:25. > :08:32.Paris, but now we are joined by Alex Macheras, who is an aviation expert,
:08:33. > :08:37.joining us by webcam. You have been talking about the fact that this
:08:38. > :08:46.plane, the A320, is one of the safest when it comes to its safety
:08:47. > :08:50.record? That is correct, the Airbus A320 is incredibly safe, and as I
:08:51. > :08:54.said earlier on BBC breakfast is any viewers have ever flown short-haul
:08:55. > :08:58.within Europe they have almost definitely flown on an A320, used by
:08:59. > :09:03.the likes of EasyJet, British Airways. One takes off and land
:09:04. > :09:08.every 2.5 seconds so it really is the workhorse of the aviation world.
:09:09. > :09:11.Equally it is the latest technology software on board, fly by wire,
:09:12. > :09:25.incredibly safe, said the aircraft should not be a cause for concern.
:09:26. > :09:27.What is interesting there is what AP have released about reports of a
:09:28. > :09:29.distress signal. When I first received these reports I said we
:09:30. > :09:32.should treat them with caution because in terms of a distress
:09:33. > :09:34.signal it has been translated by EgyptAir, what they are translating
:09:35. > :09:38.it from we are unsure because if it was a squawk signal, for example, it
:09:39. > :09:45.would have come from the aircraft, and it is when an aircraft is in a
:09:46. > :09:49.state of emergency and send out 877004 digit squawk, as it is known,
:09:50. > :09:57.to air traffic controller to let them know there is an emergency
:09:58. > :10:01.situation on-board -- eight 7700 four digit code. As far as we know
:10:02. > :10:05.that was not sent, it was cruising one minute and then unable to be
:10:06. > :10:08.tracked. As you said, we are still unsure about what has happened and
:10:09. > :10:12.whether there is any detail over whether the emergency call was made.
:10:13. > :10:18.I want to touch on the point you made about the safety record of the
:10:19. > :10:22.pain involved, as huge fleet, it has racked up 150 million flight hours.
:10:23. > :10:27.Clearly security and safety on board these airliners has improved, it has
:10:28. > :10:30.been massively increased over recent years and frankly gets to the point
:10:31. > :10:34.where it is not the safety of the plane that is at stake. If somebody
:10:35. > :10:40.wants to do something to that plane, they can? This is the worry. In
:10:41. > :10:44.recent times, when we have thought, this looks like a typical crash, it
:10:45. > :10:48.has sometimes turned out to be the complete opposite. Looking back at
:10:49. > :10:52.the Germanwings incident which ended up being pilot suicide while it was
:10:53. > :10:57.en route in Europe. That is not to say this is what has happened here,
:10:58. > :11:02.equally people are saying, the fact it disappeared off the radar so
:11:03. > :11:06.quickly, it matches every other case in history where it vanishes from
:11:07. > :11:10.radar because of an explosion on board. Again, we have to leave it to
:11:11. > :11:15.the Egyptian authorities to release further statements when they have
:11:16. > :11:19.released the crash site, as they have now confirmed the airline did
:11:20. > :11:23.crash, but it is natural to draw conclusions and say, well, it looks
:11:24. > :11:27.like it could have been a bomb on board, especially in the region it
:11:28. > :11:30.took place, because we know it was just a matter of months ago, the
:11:31. > :11:36.Sinai Birmingham where a Russian Airbus was attacked with a bomb on
:11:37. > :11:39.board and came down very fast, similar to what could have happened
:11:40. > :11:44.with this morning's EgyptAir incident. Very good to talk to you,
:11:45. > :11:48.thank you for bringing us up-to-date with the technical information.
:11:49. > :11:52.One line from our newsroom saying Egyptian state television now says
:11:53. > :11:56.Egyptian air forces have not received any distress signal from
:11:57. > :11:59.the plane, going on to add that EgyptAir does not know why it's
:12:00. > :12:04.plane has disappeared, so confirmation of some sort from
:12:05. > :12:09.Egyptian state TV, Egyptian air forces have not received any
:12:10. > :12:12.distress message. Sally. Thank you very much, then. We will
:12:13. > :12:17.keep you a cross new development and we are conscious of those waiting to
:12:18. > :12:21.hear about the fate of the 66 passengers on board, so we are
:12:22. > :12:24.conscious of that. We are looking at the financial
:12:25. > :12:28.markets now, looking at how things have gone today and keeping you up
:12:29. > :12:34.to date with that news as well. It has been a mixed picture in Asia,
:12:35. > :12:37.markets dominated by the Federal reserve minutes released yesterday,
:12:38. > :12:42.after the European trading they had finished and before Asia began. The
:12:43. > :12:45.Federal Reserve implied it is almost ready to move again as far as the
:12:46. > :12:54.cost of borrowing is reserved, it would be an upward move. It is the
:12:55. > :12:56.big question for traders internationally, it has affected the
:12:57. > :13:02.dollar as well. At the moment, Europe, banking
:13:03. > :13:10.shares doing well today, energy stocks and mining stocks among the
:13:11. > :13:13.losers, but travel stocks really under pressure today, Thomas Cook
:13:14. > :13:18.coming out with earnings that were really quite bad, saying it will
:13:19. > :13:22.have a difficult summer, Thomas Cook shares down 15% today.
:13:23. > :13:25.Michelle Fleury is our colleague on Wall Street telling us what is
:13:26. > :13:30.ahead. Amazon reported its most profitable
:13:31. > :13:35.first quarter at the end of April thanks to growth in online sales.
:13:36. > :13:39.But what does that mean for the world's largest retailer, Walmart,
:13:40. > :13:44.which is investing in growing its presence online? The company
:13:45. > :13:47.reported first-quarter profit on Wednesday and many analysts expect
:13:48. > :13:52.the retailer to miss quarterly profit estimates. Spare a thought
:13:53. > :13:56.but Gap because the retailer which helps define the 90s with its khaki
:13:57. > :14:02.trousers appears to have lost its brand identity. Failure to connect
:14:03. > :14:06.with millennial has been blamed and sales of its three leading brands
:14:07. > :14:09.are exited to be weak when it reports its first-quarter profits.
:14:10. > :14:15.Investors will be looking for details of any shop closures. On the
:14:16. > :14:18.economic front, new applications for US unemployment benefits fell from a
:14:19. > :14:25.14 month high last week suggesting the Labour market remains healthy.
:14:26. > :14:28.Joining us is Brenda Kelly, head analyst at retail brokers
:14:29. > :14:44.Yesterday was all about what we read into that statement. If the economy
:14:45. > :14:50.improves, rates will go up. Same as it ever was. Most markets were not
:14:51. > :14:55.expecting a hike in June. A lot of the Fed members were hurried to try
:14:56. > :15:01.to change that view in case it caused a shock. We want to see
:15:02. > :15:06.employment continue on an even keel and inflation head towards the 2%
:15:07. > :15:12.mandate and geopolitical risks is starting to dissipate. The
:15:13. > :15:19.probability for an increase in hikes has increased to about 15%, 16%. It
:15:20. > :15:24.is still quite low but it was 4% a week ago. The next meeting for the
:15:25. > :15:27.Fed is before the Brexit referendum. You would question whether they will
:15:28. > :15:31.move with interest rates before having the full picture. I think it
:15:32. > :15:37.is just about getting the market ready but we may not be at that
:15:38. > :15:40.particular point just yet. Very interesting.
:15:41. > :15:43.Still to come: In an exclusive interview, the chairman of Fujitsu
:15:44. > :15:46.tells the BBC that if Britain leaves the EU, it WOULD reconsider
:15:47. > :15:50.The firm employs more than 14,000 staff in the UK and has invested
:15:51. > :15:53.more than ?3 billion over the last decade.
:15:54. > :16:01.You're with Business Live from BBC News.
:16:02. > :16:04.Royal Mail has reported another fall in profits for last year -
:16:05. > :16:07.the recently privatised business saw profits come in at ?237
:16:08. > :16:14.Rising revenues in its parcel business was offset
:16:15. > :16:17.by a drop in the number of letters being posted.
:16:18. > :16:19.The group has also had to contend with tough competition
:16:20. > :16:29.So what does the future hold for the now privatised service?
:16:30. > :16:40.He is from SLG Economics and used to be
:16:41. > :16:45.the Chief Economist of Postcomm the former postal regulator.
:16:46. > :16:52.This is a familiar tale. The parcel business does OK but the letters
:16:53. > :16:56.business is declining. A bit of a mixed bag full you are seeing the
:16:57. > :17:00.international parcels business growing very strongly, about 10%
:17:01. > :17:06.growth. In the UK the parcels market is not doing as well as it should
:17:07. > :17:10.be. It grew about 1% in revenues. Overall the parcels market is
:17:11. > :17:19.growing about 4%. They have lost the key Amazon account. Letters is in
:17:20. > :17:25.terminal decline, another 2%, 3% fall. That means they have lost 30%
:17:26. > :17:32.in volume over the last few years and that will continue. What is the
:17:33. > :17:37.outlook? It will be a real struggle. They need to get hold of that
:17:38. > :17:41.efficiency and look at labour costs. Labour costs make up 50% of total
:17:42. > :17:47.costs. That is the real issue. They are having a lot of problems with
:17:48. > :17:53.negotiations, in terms of the managers union Unite, and the
:17:54. > :18:00.workers union, CW. That does not bode well for the future. Thank you
:18:01. > :18:09.for that. The implications for the industry are significant. It is
:18:10. > :18:13.something we have talked about a lot on Business Live. Royal Mail is
:18:14. > :18:17.trying to fight back with the parcel business. All of the online shopping
:18:18. > :18:24.that gets delivered is good news for them.
:18:25. > :18:35.Let's show you the latest in what is happening with the missing Egypt air
:18:36. > :18:37.flight, MS804. They are looking for any debris showing what happened to
:18:38. > :19:05.that plane. EgyptAir says it received a distress
:19:06. > :19:09.signal although there is doubt about whether that was received. Want to
:19:10. > :19:16.bring you this image we have at the BBC. This is the image of the
:19:17. > :19:20.missing plane. It is the one that has gone missing. This has just come
:19:21. > :19:30.into us that the BBC. Full coverage of this on the website.
:19:31. > :19:37.The chairman of Fujitsu has said if Britain leaves the EU it would
:19:38. > :19:39.reconsider its investments in the UK. He said that Britain is the
:19:40. > :19:50.heart of the European region. Masami Yamamoto told the BBC that
:19:51. > :19:53.Britain is at the heart of the "European region"
:19:54. > :19:54.and that his company, the largest Japanese employer
:19:55. > :19:57.in the UK, wanted it to remain so. In an exclusive interview,
:19:58. > :20:00.he spoke to our Economics Editor Kamal Ahmed and began by asking him
:20:01. > :20:02.whether Britain leaving the European Union would be a threat
:20:03. > :20:07.to Fujitsu's UK investments. Because we believe that UK is the
:20:08. > :20:11.centre in the European region. That is why, for the last decade, we have
:20:12. > :20:15.made ?3 billion in investment. If there is any change, UK remaining in
:20:16. > :20:19.the EU or not, we have to be careful about watching the process and also
:20:20. > :20:29.the outcome and then decide if we are going to make any further
:20:30. > :20:33.investment or not. As I said, we have been making the most investment
:20:34. > :20:38.in the UK within the European region. We believe that UK will
:20:39. > :20:45.remain at the centre in the EU. Where we are going to make
:20:46. > :20:48.investment to you? We have the data centre and Clark type services. We
:20:49. > :20:53.have to see what the issues are and what challenges there are in the
:20:54. > :20:56.respective markets and regions and then make the decision about how
:20:57. > :21:04.much investment will be made to which area. We would like to see the
:21:05. > :21:06.entire EU region market as one single market. The chairman of the
:21:07. > :21:12.gypsy. -- Fujitsu. You'd expect there's
:21:13. > :21:14.been a robust response "We have seen how Downing Street has
:21:15. > :21:20.been cutting cosy deals with big multinational corporations
:21:21. > :21:22.to persuade them to back People will ask which lucrative
:21:23. > :21:25.Government contract or deal George Osborne has offered
:21:26. > :21:27.to Fujitsu to encourage them to support his campaign
:21:28. > :21:29.to keep us in the EU. They go on to say: "The EU works
:21:30. > :21:33.for big business but it doesn't work for British workers who have to send
:21:34. > :21:36.?350 million a week to Brussels. It's safer to take back
:21:37. > :21:48.control on 23 June." That debate will run and run until
:21:49. > :22:01.the 23rd of June. Now let's return for the latest with
:22:02. > :22:07.the missing EgyptAir flight. Just bring us up to date. This story
:22:08. > :22:11.changing by the minute. The danger is going with one bit of news that
:22:12. > :22:15.comes out and taking that in isolation. We are getting
:22:16. > :22:21.Egyptian army has denied it detected Egyptian army has denied it detected
:22:22. > :22:25.any distress messages from this EgyptAir flight. That of course
:22:26. > :22:29.contradicts with EgyptAir itself. It said it was informed by the military
:22:30. > :22:42.that it detected a distress message. We have the Civil aviation ministry
:22:43. > :22:51.saying it is too and early to confirm if it did crash. The
:22:52. > :22:55.counterterrorism security office said they would be surprised if they
:22:56. > :22:58.did not know what was happening already. They say it is an area
:22:59. > :23:03.where there is a lot of military action and there is likely to be a
:23:04. > :23:07.lot of monitoring going on. Perhaps some of the information is being
:23:08. > :23:13.held back. Conflicting information but no hard facts coming from any of
:23:14. > :23:16.the officials. All right. For now, we will leave you to get across the
:23:17. > :23:44.other information coming into us. Here is a quick reminder about how
:23:45. > :23:49.to get in touch with the programme. The web page will keep you up to
:23:50. > :23:58.date from the team of editors. We want to hear from you. Get involved
:23:59. > :24:06.on the BBC Business Live web page. We are on Twitter and Facebook.
:24:07. > :24:13.Business Live on TV and online, whenever you need to know. There you
:24:14. > :24:17.have it. To get in touch. We will have a look at some of the business
:24:18. > :24:27.pages. This story jumped out at me. You're getting tough on the tech
:24:28. > :24:37.firms. This time it is net flicks. They will have two devote 20% of
:24:38. > :24:41.their catalogues to European films and TV shows. It is very much
:24:42. > :24:45.dominated by US shows at the moment. They will have to invest a lot more
:24:46. > :24:48.in order to make this happen and bring it in line with traditional
:24:49. > :24:57.broadcasters who invest much more heavily. Netflix is pushing back
:24:58. > :25:01.against this. It thinks it is problematic and risks suffocating
:25:02. > :25:05.the market for on demand visual services. What I do like about it is
:25:06. > :25:13.this new rule could remove the geo- blog in, the tactic where customers
:25:14. > :25:22.are treated differently depending on where they are. This is something
:25:23. > :25:27.that may be coming into place. Really nice to see you. Thank you
:25:28. > :25:32.for talking us through that. Full coverage at the top of the hour on
:25:33. > :25:37.the missing Egypt flight, MS804. Full details after the weather. We
:25:38. > :25:40.appreciate your company. See you again tomorrow.