this is business briefing. i'm sally bundock. the headlines: putting an end to paradise. the eu gets set to name and shame the tax havens it says aren't living up to global standards. no trade for trudeau. canada's prime minister fails to make a breakthrough on his visit to china. and on the markets: in asia, you can see that most markets are headed lower today, we will explain the reasons why. this year there's been a lot of attention on tax avoidance, whether its big tech firms or wealthy indviduals trying

to route their money through countries with low tax rates. and the european union has those jurisidcations firmly in its sights and is set to approve a blacklist and possibly sanctions too when its finance ministers meet in brussels later. and here's why that matters. as much as 10% of all the world's wealth is thought to be hidden away in tax havens. that amounts to about $7.5 trillion, a sum which would be the world's third biggest economy if it was a country. the eu blacklist could include as many as 20 juridsications if their tax transparency and cooperation isn't sufficient, the eu could impose levies on transactions with those countries and cut off eu funding. some of the nearly 100 countries examined by eu

officials could find themselves on a second list of those willing to comply with eu standards but who aren't there yet. nielsjohannesen is a professor of economics at the university of copenhagen who has been researching tax havens. good morning. thanks for being on business briefing. what do you make of the european union's way of tackling this problem 7 of the european union's way of tackling this problem? it's still a little bit and clear on what the blacklist actually means. i think it is crucial that there will be some credible sanctions so that we don't just name and shame these jurisdictions, but also actually do something to make them change their policies. is that really possible? given the fact that in many cases that there isn't illegal activity going on, or at least that is the

implication. history shows that if we stand together and put pressure on these jurisdictions we can change their policies. a good example is in 2009 where basically there was no corporation will tax havens, at that point the g 20s threatened these jurisdictions that there would be economic sanctions if they did not start giving us information about tax evaders using these jurisdictions and they all started to comply. so now we want them to engage in more ambitious co—operation, but i think the approach of putting political pressure on them and threatening action is the right way. what are the eu standard like on tax transparency, on corporation when compared to the rest of the world? it is basically the global standard

that the eu is trying to impose. there are three elements. 0ne that the eu is trying to impose. there are three elements. one is that tax havens start sharing information automatically with other countries, meaning that if i am a danish resident and own an account in switzerland, switzerland needs need to make —— needs to tell my country about my income. there are two other elements that are all targeted at big corporations are using tax havens for profit shifting and so will one is known is fair tax, that offshore jurisdictions are not supposed to offer any tax loopholes to foreign corporations, giving them an artificial tax rate and the other is that the eu wants these jurisdictions to comply with

what is known as ppp as, where they would have two close a specific set of tax loopholes of. as you have pointed out it is collocated and agreeing to the sanctions imposed, thatis agreeing to the sanctions imposed, that is under discussion. we also understand that they will adopt a common position of tech corporations like amazon and facebook. that is right. that is of course, very important, given that this type of digital economy is growing very quickly and our current way of taxing corporations is not really well—suited. taxing corporations is not really well-suited. will have to leave it there, thank you for your time. —— we will. when we get news from the

finance ministers in brussels, we will let you know. canada and china are two of the world's top 10 economies, but can they do a deal on trade? canada's prime ministerjustin trudeau in in beijing and has already premier li keqiang and is due to meet president xi jinping in the next few hours and trade is one of the most pressing matters. last year, the two countries sold each other about us$67.4 billion worth of stuff. but it's heavily tilted in china's favour, they sold canada us$31ibn more stuff than they bought from canada. in the last hour canada's prime minister has been explaining why progress has been slow. the opportunity for canada to begin negotiations on a conference of trade agreement with china is a significant thing for canadians, for

workers, for small to medium—sized businesses, for agricultural producers right across the country and there are really big implications that are notjust and there are really big implications that are not just about the coming months coming years but indeed the coming decades and generations as china moves towards becoming the largest economy in the world. that is justin trudeau. rico hizon is in our asia business hub. nice to see you. it is proving to be quite tricky for the canadian prime minister! absolutely. progress is slow because the prime minister did not mention in that press conference that they are insisting that they wa nt that they are insisting that they want a progressive trade deal that includes addressing issues such as gender, the environment and labour. but chinese officials have stressed that any trade deal with canada should be divorced of human rights considerations. before the talks began they were able to agree on several, while an action plan on

corporation and an understanding on food products and the canada learning initiatives. they also understand that beef and pork will have greater access to the chinese market and will have greater standards for export of canola to china, which has in the past been a contentious issue. canada is also starting to look at regulations elsewhere since talks over the nafta agreement, which president trump's wa nts agreement, which president trump's wants revamped looks to be deadlocked. will have to wait and see the pace of this potential china canada free—trade arrangement. —— we will. thank you, see you again soon. now let's brief you some other business stories. the online retail giant amazon has finally launched in australia, after weeks of speculation about exactly when it would do so. it's being seen as a blow to traditional retailers in the run up to christmas, which is normally one of the most profitable times of the year.

australia's online shopping market is already worth more than us$15 billion and is expected to grow by 50% in the next five years. facebook has launched its first app, which is specifically aimed at children. the new service is starting in the united states and parents will have control over who their children message and what they see. facebook says the data it gathers won't be used by the main facebook app, which those under 13 are not supposed to use. president trump is another step closer to being able to sign sweeping us tax reforms into law. the house of represenatative has voted to try and reconcile its version of the law with the version passed by the senate at the weekend. the tax rates paid by companies look likely to be the biggest sticking point. and now — what's trending in the business news this morning. "america crowns a new pollution

king" is bloomberg's headline for a story detailing how transportation now emits more greenhouses gases in the us than power plants. behind me is what the financial times is talking about. reporting on new research which shows that 25% of uk retirees return to work, with about half of them doing so within five years of retirement. china's airbnb to introduce check—ins using facial recognition. it is introducing check—ins using facial recognition. apparently it will solve the problems around verifying the identites of guests which is holding the industry back. and don't forget — let's us know what you are spotting online — use the #bbcthebriefing. looking at markets... we have the

news briefing next, in a moment. looking at a story in the uk... as many as one fifth of patients fail to turn up for booked gp appointments according to a new study published in the medicaljournal, ‘the lancet‘. younger people and men are the worst offenders. the wasted cost is believed to be well over £160 million. here's our health correspondent dominic hughes. ata at a busy gp surgery in stock port, time is precious. but 10% of the

appointments are missed, at around a cost of £60 each. this gp believes it reflects a changing attitude towards the nhs among younger patients. the nhs is now for our younger population is seen as a consumer service, younger population is seen as a consumer service, a bit likejohn lewis. perhaps valued differently to the way our older population see the nhs. sol the way our older population see the nhs. so i can't got the last time my older patients ever missed an appointment. thatjudgement is backed up by a new research on missed appointments, patients aged 16- 30 missed appointments, patients aged 16— 30 are some of the most likely to skip an appointment, with one in five failing to show up more than twice. appointments that fell within a feud is well more likely to be missed then those booked two weeks in advanced. some of those might lead to better management, that my mean giving more payments on the day

then up to 2—3 days in advent. because we have a profile of what they look like we are more likely to maintain that is where they can be targeted. missed appointments represent a waste of money, changing the way to look at it might sustain the way to look at it might sustain the nhs into the future. that story will be unpacked further on brea kfast, will be unpacked further on breakfast, coming up in 15 minutes. theresa may will go back to talks with the brexit —— european union after talks stalled. president trump's travel ban can continue

despite its challenges in the lower court. the international political it he will decide later today whether to ban russia from february's winter games because of its record of doping athletes. and the eu gets set to name and shame the eu gets set to name and shame the tax havens it says are not looking up to global standard. now it is time look at the stories that are making the headlines in media across the world we begin with the independent, which leads with ‘may humiliated as dup scuppers deal‘. brexit talks are now on hold after the unionist party objected to a proposed deal on the irish border question. this story is also making the front page in ireland, here the irish times it says pm leo varadkar is ‘surprised and disappointed‘ from the backdown. in arab news:

the assassination of yemen‘s former president is on the front page. he was killed two days after he broke ranks and turned on his former allies. 0nline to spanish paper el pias. the digital front page is leading with day one of campaigning for the december 2! catalan regional election. making news on bbc online and today‘s twitter topic. the un oceans chief warns life in the seas risks irreparable damage from a rising tide of plastic waste.