Got a TV Licence?

You need one to watch live TV on any channel or device, and BBC programmes on iPlayer. It’s the law.

Find out more
I don’t have a TV Licence.

Live Reporting

Russell Hotten

All times stated are UK

Get involved

  1. Post update

    It's time to say goodnight. The livepage team will be back at 6am tomorrow as usual. 

  2. US share markets sink in late trading

    US stocks finished lower after a volatile session. The Dow Jones was down more than 200 points, or 1.1%, at 17,837.19. The broad-based S&P 500 fell 0.9% to 2,076.11 points, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq sank 1.2% to 4,805.2.

    Apple's shares came under further pressure after billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn said in a TV interview that he had sold his entire stake in the tech company. On Wednesday Apple posted disappointing results that showed iPhone sales falling. Apple shares ended 3.1% down.

  3. Amazon shares jump after profits beat estimates

    Amazon Prime advertising

    Amazon, the world's biggest online retailer, reported net income of $513m (£351m) for the first quarter ending 31 March. The company made a loss of $57m a year earlier. Net sales rose to $29.13bn from $22.72bn.

    The company said its Prime streaming service did particularly well. Amazon shares jumped more than 10% in after-hours trading on Wall Street.

  4. Reality Check

    Do we have a say over EU small business regulations?

    Priti Patel saying: "We have no say over the amount of regulation and red tape that comes and affects UK small businesses."

    The claim: Priti Patel says the UK has no say over the amount of regulation coming from the EU. She also says the UK is constantly being outvoted. 

    Reality Check verdict: The UK does have a say over regulations affecting small businesses, both through its MEPs and government ministers who vote at the Council, where they have been on the "winning side" 86.7% of the time in recent years.

    Read the full Reality Check here.

  5. High pay rebellion gathers pace

    Rolled up sterling notes

    A shareholder revolt against high executive pay deals gathered pace today with four more companies facing investor criticism. Read more here.

  6. Amazon rapped over unauthorised in-app purchases

    Amazon's logo

    Amazon illegally charged parents for children's in-app purchases between 2011 and 2014, a US judge has ruled.

    In 2014, the US Federal Trade Commission sued Amazon over its handling of in-app purchases on its app store for Kindle and Android devices.

    The FTC reached out-of-court settlements with Apple and Google over their app stores in the same year.

    The trading watchdog said it would urge the court to demand full refunds for affected Amazon customers.

    Many mobile games and programs offer in-app purchases, which let people spend real money on extras in games, music downloads or to unlock premium features.

    Amazon, Apple and Google were all criticised when the concept was first launched, after a number of parents complained that their children had run up huge bills while playing games.

  7. Wall Street markets slipping

    US stocks are slipping in afternoon trading. Disappointing data about US economic growth and further falls in Apple shares are weighing on Wall Street.

    The Dow Jones is 0.6% down at 17,936 points, while the S&P 500 is 0.2% lower. The Nasdaq is 0.2% down at 4,851 and is on pace to fall for the sixth trading day in a row. Apple shares are down 2%.

  8. Migrants, Australia and business

    BBC World Service

    What comes next for migrants being held in Australia's detention camps? The Supreme Court of Papua New Guinea has ruled that a camp on its island of Manus is unconstitutional. The company that runs the camp, Broadspectrum, is currently fighting a hostile takeover bid by Ferrovial, the Spanish infrastructure company that owns London's Heathrow Airport. Roger Hearing, from Business Matters, speaks to Aaron Patrick, deputy editor of The Australian Financial Review and Shen Narayanasamy from the Australian group No Business In Abuse, who have been campaigning to close the camps.  

    Video content

    Video caption: A camp holding migrants bound for Australia is ruled unconstitutional by Papua New Guinea
  9. Video content

    Video caption: Lifts that go round corners: Thyssen Krupps develops new style of elevator

    .

  10. Should we be worried about Facebook?

    BBC World Service

    Martin Moore from Kings College London says we should be worried about Facebook's growing power - including people's reliance on it for communicating in emergencies.  

    Video content

    Video caption: One expert says we should be worried about people's increasing reliance on Facebook.
  11. Reality Check

    Would Brexit be good for the UK economy?

    Economists for Brexit quoted as saying: Brexit will result in a better economic outcome than remaining in the EU.

    The claim: Leaving the EU would make the UK economy grow more than staying in.

    Reality Check verdict: This is not a mainstream view - but they are reputable economists. It is an optimistic vision of how the UK economy might fare outside the EU, although some of its assumptions are questionable. 

    Read the full Reality Check here.

  12. Tui sells Hotelbeds for £900m

    Hotel beds website on tablet computer

    European tourism group TUI is selling its Hotelbeds division to private equity group Cinven and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board in a deal worth €1.16bn (£900m). TUI put its Hotelbeds unit, which sells hotels rooms to wholesale customers such as travel agencies and tour operators, up for sale because it did not fit with its other tour operating, cruise and hotel businesses.

  13. EU referendum road trip: Financial services

    Video content

    Video caption: The second stop of Steph's EU referendum road trip, looking at financial services

    In the second stop on her EU referendum road trip, BBC Breakfast's Steph McGovern is looking at both sides of the Brexit argument when it comes to the UK's financial services.

  14. FTSE pares losses to finish flat

    FTSE 100 graph

    The FTSE 100 index recovered in afternoon trading to finish barely changed at 6,322.4 points, up 0.04%. A rally in miner Anglo American, up 8%, helped the index pare losses. Legal & General was the biggest loser, down 4.4%. RBS bank initially fell about 5% after it said its sale of Williams & Glyn was likely to be delayed, but recovered slightly to finish 2.9% lower.

    In Frankfurt the Dax ended 0.21% higher, while in Paris the Cac-40 was down 0.04%.

  15. RBS: sale delay could be a bad omen for other disposals

    Helal Miah

    RBS's admission that the sale of its 316-branch Williams & Glyn business is likely to be delayed spooked investors. Helal Miah, investment research analyst at The Share Centre, tells the BBC that it does not bode well for other RBS disposals. 

    "Holding onto Williams & Glyn for longer just means more cost," he says. "RBS is a huge business, it has so many assets around the world and it still needs to dispose of assets. If it cannot dispose of this one in an adequate or timely fashion, you just wonder how they are going to progress with other disposals."

  16. Wall Street sees slight recovery

    Strong profits and revenues from Facebook released late on Wednesday, plus some corporate dealmaking, are helping US stocks pare early losses caused by a surprising decision by the Bank of Japan to hold off from further monetary stimulus. 

    Facebook jumped as much as 10.9% to a record of $120.79, a day after the company reported a 50% rise in revenues. DreamWorks Animation was up 24.2% after Comcast said it will buy the company for $3.8bn.

    The Dow Jones is down 0.17%, the S&P 500 is 0.07% lower, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq is 0.47% down.

  17. Vatican sees rise in suspicious financial transactions

    Pope Francis

    The Vatican's financial watchdog has revealed a sharp increase in the number of suspicious transactions reported last year. There were 544 reports in 2015, up from 147 the previous year.

    Vatican officials say this shows progress on financial transparency, as it tries to dispel suspicions it is being used as a tax haven. But critics point to the fact that only 17 of those cases have been passed on to Vatican courts for investigation.

    Last year, European evaluators criticised the Vatican for not indicting any of those accused of financial malpractice.

      The Vatican watchdog was created in 2010 to comply with international anti-money laundering norms after a series of scandals, including allegations that the Vatican Bank had been used by money launderers.