24/08/2016 BBC Business Live

The magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck near

The mayor of a nearby Italian town told local radio that

Also in the programme - Counting the cost

A new report has called for an international ban

on microbeads that are used in thousands of cosmetics

And markets are treading water worldwide. At the moment in Europe

the main markets are heading lower. A rather unusual addition where we

begin by keeping your cross developments in Italy. There has

been an earthquake in central Italy. The quake was shallow -

magnitude six point two - and was felt as far away

as Rome and Venice. The mayor of one nearby town,

Amatrice, told Italian TV that some buildings had collapsed and people

were trapped under the rubble. A number of deaths

have been reported. Catriona Renton has been

following the story for us. Reports of lives lost

and buildings reduced to rubble. At 3:30am the earthquake struck,

reaching a magnitude of 6.2. It was felt across large

swathes of the country, The worst hit areas appear to be

small hilltop villages in the area. At the moment I am in a little

village called Camartina. But I know that for sure,

we had two people die in the location called Arquata del

Tronto, that is the municipality. So we have so many houses that

may be destroyed. The Mayor of the small town

of Amatrice told Italian television that buildings had collapsed,

saying half the town was gone. And in close by Accumoli,

it's reported that a family of four This is an area vulnerable

to earthquakes. In 2009, the same region was struck,

more than 300 people died. As the day goes on, and more help

arrives, the true extent Earlier, we spoke with

Sabrina Sbermola, a resident in the district of Arquata del

Tronto that's been affected We are in the South part of the

region. At the moment I'm here, but I know for sure we have two people

who died in this location, the municipality, so we have so many

houses that may be destroyed and people are on the streets. So many

people are on the street, outside, waiting. We heard the after-shock.

It was the biggest. I'm a little bit scared, it was very bad. Many

buildings crashed down. We are very near to the municipality. There are

so many problems, those people in the street, the little villages have

stopped because they come to work. Of course there's an earthquake is

happening around 3:30am. The reaction to that, very shaky. If you

want to find out the latest on this developing story, the situation in

Italy, all this is being updated on a special live page. Head online for

the latest. Four of the world's biggest banks

are together developing UBS, Deutsche Bank,

Santander and BNY Mellon - as well as the broker ICAP got

together to pitch the idea They hope it will become the future

industry standard to clear It will be using blockchain

technology, the same Chinese real estate

and entertainment conglomerate Dalian Wanda expects to seal two

billion-dollars worth of film-related deals

in the US this year, according to its

chairman Wang Jianlin. China's richest man says

Dalian Wanda's next target would be He says the goal is to bring

their capability to China. Tesla Motors has unveiled

a new battery pack for the performance versions

of its Model S and X cars. The battery cell chemistry

is the same a before, but the reconfigured product store

more energy in the same space. The new 100-kilowatt hour battery

pack means high-end versions of the Model S sedan

will be the world's fastest Australia's national carrier Qantas

has posted record annual profits of $1.1billion nearly doubling

last year's result. The airline will also pay a final

dividend to shareholders Qantas has been though major

restructuring after posting record To achieve the turnaround,

the carrier has cut capacity, reduced staff and benefited

from a slump in oil prices. The flying Kangaroo is soaring right

now. Exactly. It is making money again. There is an old saying, no

pain no gain. That is being proved true.

It is going to be the first dividend since the financial crisis. Not only

billions of dollars, Qantas dropping unprofitable routes because they

cost a lot of money. There is a tailwind from the collapse of oil

prices, they have used it for contracts. The fuel costs shrank by

17%. The result is below the estimates. Shares rose by 5%. Huge

turnaround from five years ago. These are how things went in Asia.

Shares are at 5%. Dividend again. There is a reason to buy shares on

those results. Look at Europe if we can. We cannot show you that. Most

of the markets in Europe are trading lower. We've got a big event on

Friday. We are waiting to see if we get a rate rise. Not much going on.

And Samira Hussain has the details about what's ahead

HP will be reporting earnings on Wednesday.

If you remember them, this is the company that houses the

old Hewlett-Packard, so this is their hardware business.

It seems that aggressive cost-cutting

measures may help HP counter the continuing weak demand

Not surprisingly, investors will want to hear from the

company about their plans to combat this fall in demand, while still

remaining on track to cut more than $1 billion in costs in the year

The last bits of housing data coming out this week - the

National Association of Realtors will release figures for the month

The US commerce department will release building permit data,

Joining us is Mike Amey, managing director and

Let's carry on with the American team. The main theme of this week

for markets all round the world is looking ahead to what might come out

of this meeting in Wyoming. That's right. Very glamorous place to have

your key speech. The reason everyone is interested is because the US

central bank has been the only one central bank has been the only one

that felt the economy getting interest rates up. That is ideally

what we all want. Can they sneak another run through before the end

of the year? Everybody is looking to this speech. We had some comments

earlier in the week from the deputy head of the Federal reserve being

very optimistic about the state of the economy. That's right. The

deputy of the head was speaking earlier. There has been some concern

the GDP numbers were weaker than expected. But their message is

things are going OK and on the up. In the meantime we are seeing slight

declines in Europe today. It is August. It is a funny time. I think

part of this is a lot of equity markets have done very well. We've

got the stock market at a high, the European markets have done well, and

I think a lot of markets has seen that rise and taken stock and are

just bumping along the levels. You mentioned the Brexit bounce. There's

a story in the Guardian, UK economists defied Brexit fears. Is

that overly positive? It is good news that there does not appear to

have been a big knock on consumer confidence after the vote. There was

a worry this would trigger a downturn. There are longer term

challenges out there. Inflation is going up. The good news is so far

the downturn has been very muted. Great stuff. Stick around and take

us to the papers. Many thanks. Still to come: We'll be keeping

across the developing story in Italy, where an earthquake has

struck near the the town of Perugia. It has been a mixed fortunes for the

world's biggest advertising organisation. The profits were

dented, falling down in the stake of an audience measuring company.

Earlier, we spoke to the chief Executive Officer. He said there is

reason to be cautious about the future. We have all the issues quite

apart from terrorism and Brexit. Also other countries face issues.

India is the one shining star. In China we had a good first half but

we see improvements in the second half. The actual growth rate is

considerably less. The world is growing slowly by 3.5%. In that

environment, clients are going to be cautious. Very little inflation and

price power. There is a subheading in the press release which is,

grinding it out. It does feel like a bit of a growing because even though

the results are strong, we have to grind them out in a difficult

environment. On the specifics, we saw some softness in the UK. July

was stronger. How much that was because of the push of the Bank of

England, we will have to see. But the next three years, I would agree,

are going to be difficult. The government will be negotiating our

withdrawal, business wants certainty, the government wants room

to move. There is a class there that makes life difficult. Clients will

continue to be cautious whether they are based in the UK, the EU, or

worldwide. We are ready for that, that is the way that we manage

business. Sir Martin Sorrell, who promised he

will come in next time we interview him.

You're watching Business Live: There's been an earthquake

in central Italy, close to the city of Perugia.

The quake was shallow, magnitude 6.2,

and was felt as far away as Rome and Venice.

The mayor of one nearby town, Amatrice, told Italian TV that some

buildings had collapsed and people were trapped under the rubble.

A number of deaths have been reported.

On the BBC news website, you do see that the earthquake has now left at

least 13 dead in central Italy. There are images of those trying to

find anybody in the rubble. Many small villages have been affected.

Our correspondent James Reynolds, based in Rome, has gone to the

scene. We are having difficulty contacting him because it is hard in

these circumstances with phone lines and telecommunications, but as soon

as we hear from James, we will let you know. Emergency services are

trying to find survivors as we speak. You can find this special

live page on the BBC World website. Let's take a look at another

business story making "A blanket ban should be placed

on the use of microbeads by cosmetics companies" -

that's the view of a new report into the global problem

of plastic pollution. pieces of plastic that are used

in thousands of commonly used exfoliating scrubs,

toothpastes and shaving gel which are a type of microplastic,

are accumulating in the world's oceans and rivers, harming marine

life and entering the food Many of the world's largest

cosmetics companies have already committed to phasing out

the use of microbeads, but the report says this doesn't

go far enough. The UK-Environmental

Audit Committee has called Several US states have already

announced that they will ban the manufacture and sale of certain

types of products With me is British Labour

politician, Mary Creagh. She's also the chair

of the cross-party How big a problem is this? Well, up

to 200,000 tonnes of microbeads are entering the EU's oceans every year.

And that is a completely avoidable form of pollution. As you say, it

ends up in fish, shellfish and sea birds. The committee heard that if

you have eaten a bit of six oysters, you will have consumed 50 or 60

microbeads, and that cannot be good for anybody. Many companies have

already fulfilled their target not to use microbeads, and a large

proportion of cosmetics industries have said they will phase them out

by 2020. Is that voluntary action not enough? No. We found that

cosmetics companies were very reluctant to come to the committee

and speak to us about this. You're right, there is a voluntary ban that

is coming in by 2020. But that leaves some large companies not

signed up to it. Avon has said it will sign up, but has given no date

for the phase-out. And of course, there are smaller companies which

are not household names that are keeping their heads down and hoping

it will blow over. I have read some of the report. It says in terms of

damage, it is not clear how damaging this is. The UK now exiting the EU

means that our influence in terms of a banner outside the UK is

minimised. Well, the US has brought in a ban on microbeads, but only in

scrubs and shower gels, when it is used in toothpastes as well. We want

it banned in all products. The ideal would be for it to be banned across

the European Union, because that is the market in which these products

are made. But we think is a sovereign country, we can institute

a national ban and show leadership. We do have a UK cosmetics industry.

We have companies producing in this country, and we think we should take

the lead on this. A lot of people have downloaded an app that has been

set up by charities so that you can shop in confidence. We don't think

it is right for cosmetics companies to rely on our ignorance as

consumers, our inability to read the labels because they are written in

such tiny writing, and our ignorance that polypropylene is a type of

micro plastic that is in these products. Mary Creagh, chair of the

cross-party environmental audit committee, many thanks. There is

more on that online, so take a look if you want further information.

In a moment, we will talk you through some of the other business

stories in the papers, but here is how to stay in touch.

Our website will keep you up-to-date with analysis from around the world.

And we want to hear from you as well. Get involved on the Business

Live web page, on Twitter and you can find us on Facebook. Business

Live, on TV and online, whenever you need to know.

Now, Mike is back to look through some of the other stories in the

press. Big banks are planning to coin a new digital currency? If you

buy a house, the transactions go through one settlement system. Each

bank in the chain will agree that the money is there and then they

press a button and then the next bank presses a button. With a

digital currency, it is more like cash. You don't get that agreement

that everyone audits and then you make the payment and then the next

payment etc. The aim is to speed everything up. What is the benefit

of it? Speed is the key advantage. What about security? That is the

risk. If you exchange this cash and make sure that everything has worked

afterwards, then of course the risk is that you have a less secure

system and it makes it more vulnerable to fraud. That is why we

have not got there yet. Deutsche Bank absinthe and there are pitching

this to central banks. How are they getting on? -- Deutsche Bank and

Santander. Central banks like to manage the cash. It is good that we

are trying to use the technology, but I suspect this will be a long

process. I want to flag up this other story we saw in the Telegraph

today, featuring Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party, getting

into a bit of a few raw -- furore with Richard Branson? Indeed. As we

all know, the train system has seen huge rises in passenger numbers, and

there was of course scope for greater spending on infrastructure.

Part of this is the Labour Party trying to make the play that there

is massive overcrowding, with a picture of Jeremy Corbyn sitting on

the floor. And Richard Branson pointed out that there might have

been seats available if you really wanted one. Apparently, the CCTV

reveals that he walked past them. Now, these are pictures coming from

one of the worst affected areas in central Italy, Amatrice, where a

magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck in the early hours of this morning. We

are keeping an eye on the situation. At the moment, it is reported that

at least 13 people have died and many others are trapped under the

rubble. Do head online to BBC World News, where we have a special live

page bringing you all the developments including testimonials

from people who were there at the time, pictures and the latest facts

and figures on this devastating earthquake. Stay with us here on the

BBC as we keep you across all the latest. We will see you soon.