19/04/2017 World Business Report

All right. Let's find out the latest happenings in the financial world.

Sally is here with World Business Report. The boss of the UK's biggest

business lobby group, the CBI comic gives us her reaction to the snap

election called for by the British Prime Minister. -- the CBI, gives.

And we talk to Facebook about policing violent material on the

social media website following the suicide of murder suspect Steve

Stephens. Hello and a warm welcome to you.

Welcome to World Business Report. I'm Sally Bundock.

all the market numbers for you as the global slide

in shares continues in Asia and the pound sterling

We were sure those numbers at the end of the programme. But first,

here we go again. Nine months after becoming Prime Minister, Theresa May

is ready dice and betting on a strong victory in a snap election on

June the act. Today, MPs are expected to vote in favour of the

proposal, which Theresa May says will bring greater certainty as

Britain prepares to leave the European Union. Markets reacted

sweetly to the news. On Tuesday, the pound

was on a roller coaster ride - it jumped - then swung to loss

and back again rising by as much as 2.7% percent

against the US dollar - some analysts believe markets

are cheering the prospect of a larger Conservative majority

which would give less power to hardline Eurosceptics

within Theresa May's party. The FTSE 100, the leading stock

market in London fell 1.8%, But despite the ongoing

uncertainty, the International Monetary Fund predicts the UK

economy will grow by 2% This will make it the second

fastest-growing developed economy in the world, behind the United States.

Business groups have used yesterday's news to demand

politicians make firm commitments as part of any

Well, the Confederation of British Industry is one of the UK's biggest

business lobby groups. I joined by its director-general, Carolyn

Fairbairn. Good morning. First of all, your reaction. The snap

election - A good idea? More uncertainty is not welcomed by

business. But many businesses are seeing the opportunity for a

government with a stronger mandate bringing longer-term stability and

also a potential benefit in terms of timing, and that the implementation

period at the end of Article 50 was going to have a general election in

it, and now may need to be run with a bit of stability. So some good

news and silver lining from this. I assume, from your point of view, as

head of the CBI, is all about Brexit you, this election. The primers are

having an elected mandate and getting a better deal, ultimately?

De Brexit outcome is usually important for British business. They

are looking for a deal that gives the best possible access to the

market. Frictionless trade. -- The Brexit. Anything that allows that to

happen more smoothly and rapidly is welcome. And come a stronger

government mandate, the ability for a government to act in the national

interest, less influenced by party politics, I think that is something

that business is truly do welcome. How concerned are you about the

outcome, because June's referendum last year taught us it is extremely

difficult to project. And there was a lot of noise coming from top

business leaders at the time. -- predict. A lot of business leaders

seem to remain, but the public did not. And we will not know what the

outcome is, during the eighth, it is difficult to predict, and talking to

the general public, there is very mixed opinions out there, now. --

June eight. A lot of people saying to leave are now saying there which

we stayed in. One thing we will have now is a campaign that will bring

the lens away from Brussels and on the communities and counter the UK.

We have a robust democratic process here. That is good. I think

businesses will be looking to see every party set out its stall, what

is its plan for the Brexit presents? How are we going to maintain as far

as possible the actions we have to the European market? They will also

want to see the policies that the different hearties have on the

domestic agenda. We have so many challenges around new technologies

and the importance of maintaining innovation and skill levels. --

parties. I think one of the advantages of the campaign is that

people will be up to re-engage with the debate that has been politicised

in Europe until now. But briefly, one thing she has said is that no

deal is better than a bad deal. So could we be in a position where, if

she gets a strong mandate, where it is a hard Brexit, that is we are not

part of the single market or customs union, and I assume that that is

something that you, at the CBI, would see as unwelcome. We have been

vocal on this and we will continue to be so with whoever is in

government. And 80% of British exports would have tariffs on them.

We would have red tape. Additionally dirty for regulators without

restriction on UK products. These are very bad outcomes. And so we

hope that whatever happens, we will continue to represent our members

voices on that important issue. -- our members' voices. Thank you for

joining us. Later on, we be to the boss of WPP, to get his reaction.

Throughout the day, be gauging the reaction from top

business leaders. But now, let's about Facebook.

Mark Zuckerberg has paid his respects to the family of a man

whose killing was filmed and posted onto its side. About one hour before

the social media giant's annual developers' conference, police

revealed that the suspect had killed themselves. Steve Stephens was

believed to have uploaded a video to Facebook showing the killing of

74-year-old Mr Godwin in Cleveland on Sunday. Our north America

technology correspondent Staveley was at the developers' conference

in San Jose. Before making any announcements, Mark Zuckerberg

addressed the killing of the grandfather, footage of which was

posted on Facebook. Our hearts go out to the family and friends of Mr

Godwin, and we have a lot of work, and will continue doing all we can

to prevent tragedies like this from happening. After the comments, he

quickly got down to business. And flowers that are blooming...

Augmented reality was the big focus this year. We saw a range of fun

features that add digital elements to the world. But as for the virtual

world, the company is launching Spaces, a place to hang out with

your friends in virtual reality, rather than real life. They're

investing in augmented reality and virtual reality. Mark Zuckerberg is

convinced that this will be a key way in how we interact with friends

online in future. But he needs to make sure that people do it through

Facebook and not their competitors. Facebook is all about scale and

engagement. So they have to make sure that they are covering every

technology. And really rivalling any newcomer who can come along and

threatened that level of engagement that they really need with users.

They really need to keep that to stay around long-term. Here is how

tight this race is becoming. On the same morning, Snapchat announced

similar augmented reality features. And it is not the only thing.

Facebook has been accused of routinely copying Snapchat's best

ideas. They cleverly invented a format, the stories format, and I do

think that it feels right at home in emerging out, -- in a messaging out.

-- app. Aside from the statement from Mark Zuckerberg, there has not

been much talk about the negative effects of social media, such as the

sharing of fake news or specialised content of our children. What other

technologies are you bringing to solve the problem of violent contact

on Facebook? Right now, we rely on people reporting content will stop

overtime, we are hoping that Artificial Intelligence can

automatically flag is content to review, so we can act much faster

than we currently do. So we are working on technologies to help us

do that. Even with its many challenges, Facebook is more

powerful now than ever. Within the year, the site will surpass 2

million active users. Dave Lee, BBC News, San Jose.

The US investment bank Morgan Stanley will reveal

The computing giant IBM has announced a fall in sales

in the first three months of the year.

It marks the fifth straight year of declining revenues

for the company as it continues its move away