this is business briefing. i'm sally bundock. a huge new leak of financial documents — known as the paradise papers — has revealed how the powerful and wealthy secretly invest vast amounts of money in offshore tax havens. all smiles on the golf course but president trump is talking tough on trade with japan — saying the relationship is neither fair nor open. and on the markets — the price of oil hits a two—year high following a crackdown on corruption in saudi arabia. a huge leak of secret offshore investments has revealed the tax affairs of rich and powerful people around the world. the details are contained in millions of documents from a law

firm which specialises in offshore arrangements for individuals and companies. they've been obtained by the german newspaper su—deutsche zeitung and shared with the international consortium of investigative journalists — including the bbc‘s panorama programme. our economics editor kamal ahmed takes a closer look now at the system and the part the uk plays in it. for centuries, britain has been a centre for global finance, focused here on the city of london — and that's seen by many as good for our economy and the development of global trade. to support that, we allowed companies to set up in the uk and not be taxed here. our imperial past is also important. across the world, the what are called crown dependencies, or overseas territories, places like jersey and guernsey and the isle of man, which have an arm's length relationship with us,

and have based their economy on low tax offers to companies and individuals to hold some of their wealth there. others are more far—flung — places like gibraltar, as well as bermuda, the british virgin islands, the cayman islands, and turks and caicos. such places insist they are good for growth if they allow firms and individuals to avoid being taxed multiple times by different countries. there have been a lot of new rules on transparency as well, but they are criticised for being too secret, too weak on regulation, and too open to corruption. critics say the laws have also failed to keep up with global companies, which can move vast amounts of money around the world at a touch of a computer key. we are not the only ones who've used tax competition and light—touch regulation to lure companies to our shores. other countries that have been

criticised include switzerland, singapore and america, which has low tax systems in many of its states. there is also an important distinction to remember when speaking about tax havens. tax evasion is illegal, while tax avoidance is using legal structures to reduce tax levels. how much could tax avoidance be worth to national exchequers like the treasury? well, globally, anything between £75 billion and £180 billion. many now believe that avoidance has become so controversial there needs to be a complete change to global tax laws so that taxes are paid in the country where the firm or the individual is based. that would mean the total

tax take would go up, which some might disagree with, but public controversy would probably die down. the leaked documents show that us commerce secretary wilbur ross has shares in a company with ties to russia. they reveal that mr ross owns a stake in navigator holdings which earns millions of dollars transporting oil and gas for the russian firm sibur. two of sibur‘s owners are under us sanctions, and are closely linked to president putin. a bbc correspondent says although mr ross has done nothing wrong, the revelations make uncomfortable reading for president trump. stay tuned to bbc news where we'll bring you up to date coverage of the paradise papers story. and don't forget to check out our website for more in—depth comment and analysis. just head to bbc.com/news. donald trump is talking tough on

trade. it is the first day of formal talks with japanese prime minister shinzo abe. mariko oi joins us from tokyo. we were hearing from steve earlier that president trump started at a business breakfast with some quite half language about the trade relationship between the us and japan. in deed. he said the current trade between the two countries is not fair trade between the two countries is notfairand trade between the two countries is not fair and not open. i guess he had to talk tough on trade because it was one of the promises he made during the election campaign, to tackle the huge trade deficit america has. he has previously accused japan and china of keeping their currencies weak in order to ta ke their currencies weak in order to

take advantage in exports. at the press briefing this morning with press briefing this morning with press leaders, the president said, "why not make cars in america instead of just "why not make cars in america instead ofjust shipped them over?" that raised some eyebrows now because 75% of japanese brand cars sold in america are built there and when he said virtually no cars get imported into japan from america, i don't know if you remember but rupert had a bit of an experiment driving an american car he and they area bit driving an american car he and they are a bit too big for the narrow roads here in tokyo and they are not too popular. those remarks raised some eyebrows but some analysts say he has some point about the currency manipulation, that japan has he has some point about the currency manipulation, thatjapan has been keeping it again quite weak. what is the teeth? —— keeping the yen week. he withdrew from the trans—pacific

partnership and that was received well injapan, partnership and that was received well in japan, was partnership and that was received well injapan, was it? partnership and that was received well in japan, was it? that is one of the things he is hoping to do, start negotiating a bilateral free trade deal between the two countries. i then think any deals will be reached. in this visit. it was widely expected he would withdraw from the ttp. it didn't go down too well here. the surveys show the japanese public doesn't really trust him, that he is not too well respected. there was a lot of fa nfa re respected. there was a lot of fanfare surrounding his daughter, though, ivanka trump who was here last week. a lot of talks about how she is so gorgeous and how her career and beauty should be admired and a lot of magazine specials were put on it as well. interesting. thank you, mariko oi way in tokyo. now let's brief you some other

business stories saudi arabia says that it will freeze all the bank accounts of those arrested on charges of corruption after a purge of the kingdom's political and business leaders. analysts say the move is aimed primarily at consolidating the power of the crown prince, mohammed bin salman. prince al—waleed bin talal was among those arrested. the prince has a majority stake in the kingdom holding company, which owns the savoy in london and the fairmont plaza. the uk prime minister is set to warn business leaders that it will not protect the economy from "market forces" when britain leaves the european union. speaking at a conference held by the confederation of british industry, theresa may will tell firms it has to make "strategic decisions" about how best to support different sectors of the economy. us president donald trump has urged saudi arabia to choose new york for the initial public offering of the state—owned oil giant aramco. mr trump told reporters aboard air force one that he had spoken to the saudi king and he would like aramco to consider us exchanges. the aramco ipo is expected to be the largest in history,

raising around $100 billion in much—needed revenue for the kingdom. and now — what's trending in the business news this morning: the german bundesbank has commissioned a study focusing on the activities of the central bank under adolf hitler. the ft says that the project aims to reveal more about what the bundesbank describes as a "dark era" of german history. cnbc is reporting that ford, volkswagen, bmw and daimler are teaming up to install a european network of 400 fast—charge stations for electric cars. they hope to have 20 of these up and running by the end of the year. bloomberg says that oualcomm is preparing to fend off a $100bn takeover bid. the chipmaker is an industry leader in smartphone components and, if completed, the deal would be the biggest acquisition

in the history of the tech sector. and don't forget — let's us know what you are spotting online — use the hashtag bbcthebriefing before we go, financial markets. we mentioned the price of oil going up and up. generally speaking, the markets are starting well. share markets are starting well. share markets across the board in asia, apart from darrou say china. we talk declines there because of debt. —— dare i say. the news briefing is next. let's look at today in the uk.

starting today, some nhs patients will be able to access gp consultations via video calls on their smartphone 2a hours a day. the pilot project will cover around three and a half million patients in london with plans in place to extend it across england. but the royal college of gps warns that some patients could be left behind and complex conditions may be misdiagnosed. our health editor hugh pym reports. the founders of the new service say they want to make getting health consultations as easy as online banking and shopping. it is being launched by a group of london gps and the lot —— online healthcare provider avalon. nhs patients will be able to book appointments and check symptoms. those signing up will leave their existing factors with their records transferred to a group of five central london gp

practices —— babylon. the service that promises a video consultation with a cheap piece within two hours and if required a face—to—face meeting with a doctor within 48 hours —— agp. irra it is high time nhs patients were given the opportunity to benefit from technology to improve access to healthcare. —— technology to improve access to healthca re. —— it technology to improve access to healthcare. —— it is high time. technology to improve access to healthcare. -- it is high time. we have developed technology in so many aspects of our lives, shopping or banking. it is really about time we are able to do that for healthcare for nhs patients. the royal college of gps said there is a danger the service might only work for younger commuters and not appropriate for those with more complex conditions. there were worries that gps would be lowered away from the frontline at a time of shortages. coming up at 6am on breakfast — dan walker and louise minchin will have all the day's news, business and sport. and they'll have the latest from westminster —

as the fallout over sexual harassment claims continues. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: a huge new leak of financial documents — known as the paradise papers — has revealed how the powerful and wealthy secretly invest vast amounts of money in offshore tax havens. the papers disclose how donald trump's commerce secretary has business links with russian allies of president putin who are subject to us sanctions. at least 26 people have been killed after a gunman opened fire at a church in texas. the attack — in the small town of sutherland springs — left another 20 injured. the us media outlets is identifying the attacker as devin kelley, a military veteran dishonourably discharged from the airforce three years ago. thousands of people have staged a protest at a coal mine near the german city of bonn — ahead of this week's climate change summit. the trump administration is set to take a controversial stand at the summit — promoting coal

as a solution to climate change. we've heard a lot about the paradise papers earlier in the programme. president trump has spoken before talks with shinzo abe. now let's look at what else the world's media is reporting on. we begin in texas with the dallas news online. extensive coverage on the church shooting in sutherland springs and how it has reopened the gun control debate. this attack comes five weeks after the mass shooting in las vegas which killed 58 people. turning to the financial times, which looks at some of the early fallout following the arrests

of at least 11 princes and tycoons in saudi arabia as part of a crackdown on corruption. for the japan times, a heavy focus on the visit by us president donald trump and him describing japan as a treasured partner and crucial ally. his asian tour also covered in the south china morning post where the paper quotes an analyst saying, "everything is fine with trump until you tell him no. so far, abe hasn't told him no." turning to the business pages of the guardian. self—driving cars will be given the green light on uk roads in 2021