big tech crackdown. the eu announces an investigation into apple and google over uncompetitive practices. a $100 billion problem. is the uk's huge trading relationship with china under threat from claims of hacking and election interference? plus — "expensive, cramped and ageing." uk housing is the worst value for money in the developed world, says a new report. so what's the solution? welcome to world business report, i'm marc ashdown.

we start with big tech, because in the last hour, the european union has announced its investigating some of the biggest tech firms in the world — including alphabet, meta and apple — over alleged "uncompetitive practices. " regulators will look into potential breaches of the digital markets act, which was introduced in 2022. if they are found to have broken the rules, the firms can face huge fines of up to 10% of their annual turnover. the firm say the eu has rushed into this decision and they will defend themselves. here's eu antitrust boss margrethe vestager. we will do our best to investigate with due process and all the necessary respect for the companies that we investigate as fast as possible. it is not that we will wait 12 months and only then. now, as soon as we have results,

of course we will take decisions. joining me now is technology journalist chris stokel—walker. very good morning to you, chris. just bring us up to speed on what they're accused of. put it in simple terms. essentially, apple is accused of charging fees that would lock people into their app store and obviously, apple takes a cut from that. likewise, google�*s parent company alphabet is essentially accused of doing the same sort of thing with their google play store, their equivalent store, and also prioritising certain things within their search engine. so obviously, their search engine. so obviously, the digital markets act was designed to stop so—called gatekeepers from exerting monopolistic power. obviously, the companies of all say they do not do that, but european regulators have got pretty tough talking on these companies of late. i'm sure people will think, i have heard of crackdowns on big tech. we

have seen it in america, the eu of course fining apple recently, and we are speaking pretty eye watering fines here, tens of billions, if i'm correct, if they are found guilty. what is driving this crackdown? yes, the eu has long been keen to try to rein in big tech supremacy, but we have seen this worldwide. it just so happens european regulators have been quickest of the draw, and have been quickest of the draw, and have kind of gained a reputation, i suppose, for establishing global standards. this goes back some five years or more to the 2018 general data protection regulation, a set of data rules around the eu that affected the a50 odd million people within europe, but also had a kind of halo effect worldwide. so i think we are starting to see the ramifications of maybe 20 years of big tech dominance, politicians are realising that actually, some good did come of that, but also some bad, and as you say, with up to 10% fines, this is up to potentially

billions with a b that could be levelled here.— billions with a b that could be levelled here. briefly, what you think this could _ levelled here. briefly, what you think this could for _ levelled here. briefly, what you think this could for consumers i think this could for consumers scheme will this mean more competition, and with that drive prices down? that is the goal, and obviously apple are one of the key people being targeted here. they take a decent chunk of any sales made through the app store, so the idea is you could see competitors taking less of everything. one thing here is, within a couple of weeks of this app is, within a couple of weeks of this app coming in —— back of this act coming in force. app coming in —— back of this act coming inforce. it app coming in —— back of this act coming in force. it was first proposed in september 2023. we will see action, but expect a fight from the companies to stop this. thanks so much, chris. the very latest in that big tech crackdown. to the uk's relations with china now because, as you've been hearing, the uk's deputy prime minister oliver dowden is expected to tell parliament that china is behind a wave of cyber—attacks against mps and peers. those targeted are reported to include a number, who've been critical of beijing. the bbc understands other western nations will set out similar concerns.

as of last year, china was the uk's fifth biggest trading partner, with imports and exports totalling £100 billion, according to government figures. so how could this affect what is clearly a huge, yet complex business relationship? let's bring in duncan wrigley, chief china economist at pantheon macroeconomics. big figure there, but just how significant is the uk's trading relationship with china? yes, it is significant, but it is way down on the list below the us, some other european trading partners. about 5% of total trade stop you know, but there are some sectors which are more reliant on chinese trade. i would say top of the list is the education sector.

150,000 chinese students come to study in the uk each year, and about 27% of the total foreign students, and so a lot of universities are more dependent on that high fee income from chinese students. cast your mind back to november 2022, when rishi sunak said the golden age of written�*s relations with china was over. —— britain's relations with china. give us a sense of what that might mean for future relations? the golden era harks back to george osborne and cameron, and in 2015, when president xijinping came over to announce a whole load of big deals. that was the apec, when economic relations were really top priority from the uk perspective, with china. —— the apec. since then, geopolitical concerns have been much more prominent, and the uk has become much more concerned about

that, things like trying to remove chinese involvement in the telecom networks or in the power grid, some of these other critical infrastructure areas. ~ ., ,., infrastructure areas. thinking also of thin . s infrastructure areas. thinking also of things like _ infrastructure areas. thinking also of things like the _ infrastructure areas. thinking also of things like the security - infrastructure areas. thinking also of things like the security of - infrastructure areas. thinking also of things like the security of key i of things like the security of key minerals, for example. it's notjust uk in the west, which is reliant on imports from china. political rhetoric is important, but i guess they still need to tread carefully to protect the trading relationship? yes, i mean, china has a very prominent position in a loss of key minerals, especially the kind of minerals, especially the kind of minerals that will be crucial for the green transition, so that includes a bunch of these things called rare minerals, as well as things like lithium cobalt, where china really dominates, has over 50-70% of china really dominates, has over 50—70% of global market and industry share in the processing sector, and it will frankly be very difficult, even though europe, the uk and the us do want to reduce their reliance

on china in these areas. i think the willingness to invest the amounts and also have a very polluting, dirty industries brought back onshore is quite limited. thanks very much, duncan. duncan regulate on the latest on china— uk relations. we wait to see what the prime minister will tell parliament. "expensive, cramped and ageing." that's the damning verdict on the uk's housing stock from a new report. the resolution foundation, which campaigns to improve living standards for those on lower incomes, compared housing here with other leading nations, like the us, germany and japan. it claims householders are getting an inferior product in terms of "quantity and quality. " let's talk to lindsayjudge, research director at the resolution foundation. thanks very much forjoining us. talk us through the key findings here. the quality of uk housing seems especially poor? yes, so if we look at what we spend

on housing in the uk and what we get for our money, really, critically, we are definitely at the bottom of the international league table. let me compare us to a couple of countries with very similar levels of prosperity as we do in the uk. we spent 57% more for our quality adjusted housing in the uk to austria, and about 36% more than canadians do. so we're clearly not doing something right in the uk. the age of housing stock jumped out — 38% of homes built before 19a6. the likes of italy and spain are far lower. why is that? all we hearfrom politicians is targets for housing. you are right, new housing supply dominates the headlines, doesn't it? but you have to build a whole lot of houses to change the composition of the overall supply. and of course, fundamentally, the reason we have an older housing stock in the uk is because we industrialised earlier

than lots of other countries, and of course, we were not damaged as much by the second world war. there are reasons why these countries, compared to us, have younger housing stock, because a lot of it was destroyed, and i was was not so much. ., ., ., , much. the government have told us the are much. the government have told us they are on — much. the government have told us they are on track _ much. the government have told us they are on track to _ much. the government have told us they are on track to deliver - much. the government have told us they are on track to deliver a - they are on track to deliver a million new homes as parliament and say they have reformed planning as well. undoubtedly this will be a big election issue. what else would you like to see in terms of policy to help improve things? it's definitely true we obviously need to keep pressure up and need to keep building at scale, but there is also a question of what kind of homes we are building on the uk, and really, we know new homes are often much smaller than older properties, for example, so we need to do something about that space issue. the other thing is, of course, we need to think much more seriously in the uk about our existing housing stock, modernising it, insulating it, which would help with all of our energy bills. but in the final analysis, there may be some of that housing in the uk which needs to come down, which is a terrible

political decision, demolishing housing and rebuilding with better stock. do you think they need to be more incentives for house—builders? some sitting on bits of land. and of course, our attitudes, let's face it. we don't like to see houses built on our back yards, as it were. absolutely not, but attitudes have changed over time. it is interesting. we have lots of older outright homeowners in the uk, and people often say, well, they don't care. but they do, they care about their children and grandchildren, for example, so the tide is turning a bit when it comes to house—building. what you are absolutely right. at the end of the day, we will probably have to change our taste. one of the reasons, of course, lots of the countries we have looked at have more space is because they build higher than we do. we are very attached to our detached and semidetached houses with a garden in the uk. we may have to change and do a bit more city like urban living with high—rise buildings for our homes. thanks very much, lindsayjudge from the resolution foundation. fascinating stuff. time for a bit of other business news now.

an existing plant in northern sweden will be joined an existing plant in northern sweden will bejoined by an existing plant in northern sweden will be joined by a an existing plant in northern sweden will bejoined by a new an existing plant in northern sweden will be joined by a new car battery factory. the factory and slows the coastline will create 3000 jobs and mark a significant step forward in europe as ambition to compete with electric vehicle leaders china. train drivers at avanti west coast — a major train company here in the uk — will see theirfee for an overtime shift increase to £600 following a deal between the company and the trade union aslef. avanti said it hoped offering more attractive terms to its drivers to work extra shifts would make its services "more reliable and resilient." the company has faced criticism over cancellations, delays and poor service. saudi arabia has announced it will build a theme park based on the famed japanese animated series dragon ball, sparking mixed reactions from fans. it will feature a 70—metre dragon at its centre and at least 30 rides. the park would be the world's first attraction based on the popular media franchise.

that is all your business news from me. goodbye.

hello there. andy murray's run at the miami open is over, but as we have come to expect from the two—time champion, it was a hard—fought two—time champion, it was a hard —fought contest two—time champion, it was a hard—fought contest all the way to the end as he lost out in a final set tie—break in the third round. murray took the first set, but his czech opponent when the second by that word. murray rolled his ankle, won a match point, but ultimately fell short in a match that felljust point, but ultimately fell short in a match that fell just shy of 3.5 hours. british interest in the men's singles is over after cameron murray lost to defending champion daniil medvedev. the defending champion is

now won 11 straight matches against