to avoiding a about the commitment to avoiding a ha rd about the commitment to avoiding a hard border. that commitment is overarching and stands in all circumstances. the strongest commitment which exists in this document is that political commitment there is the complicated business of negotiating treaties between the european union and the... the way we saw phase one was making sure that we narrowed the para meters was making sure that we narrowed the parameters within which agreement could be made and we got the guarantees and assurances that we needed and we have those now but this will continue for months and even this will continue for months and eve n yea rs . this will continue for months and even years. we wanted to protect assuring citizens‘ rights and the common travel area to make sure there would not be a hard border on

oui’ there would not be a hard border on our island. have you spoken to arlene foster about this deal, and what is so different about it to the text on monday which has been a cce pta ble text on monday which has been acceptable to the dup? yeah, i have spoken about it to arlene foster. the way the negotiations were structured is that there is a negotiation with the task force from the eu and with the uk government on the eu and with the uk government on the other. we have respected the process that was agreed to at the start. that doesn‘t involve political parties, it involves the european union. and also sovereign governments. in terms of the changes that were made between monday and today, many were stylistic. they we re today, many were stylistic. they were changes in the language orjust state m e nts were changes in the language orjust statements of fact which there were no difficulty with. the one change i think of significance is the 50, which is an assurance that the united kingdom is giving to people in businesses in northern ireland

that the united kingdom will ensure that the united kingdom will ensure that there were no barriers to trade between northern ireland and britain. that‘s something we are comfortable with and on monday we would have consented to it so the fact that it was added in is something we are very happy to welcome. we do not wa nt to very happy to welcome. we do not want to see a border in the irish sea any more than we want to see one between newry and dundalk or between letterkenny and dunderry. for the people and businesses in northern ireland, the assurance is that northern ireland will not drift apart from great britain, and we‘re absolutely satisfied that this has been included. that was the irish taoiseach leo varadkar been included. that was the irish taoiseach leo va radkar taking questions at a press conference in

dublin. giving his reaction to the news that sufficient progress has been made in initial talks between the uk and the rest of the eu to progress to the next stage presumably of a future trading relationship between the uk and the remaining 27 members of the eu. you‘re watching bbc news. this is business live. the eu gives the green light to trade talks after theresa may says there will be no ha rd theresa may says there will be no hard border in ireland. that is our top story live from london. this is business live from bbc news, with jamie robertson and ben bland. live from london, that‘s our top story on friday 8th december. a major breakthrough in the brexit process, but is it too little, too late for businesses here in the uk? we‘ll hear from the boss of the organisation which represents uk industry. also in the programme...

we‘re taking a break from fake news, we‘ll be looking at fake goods instead. a chinese firm has lost a landmark legal case preventing it from selling counterfeit lego. and finally, on the markets, the stats looking fairly strong and we have had a good performance on the asian markets as well. we will bring you more on that. and the us government has avoided a cliff—edge of its own. republicans and democrats have come to a temporary agreement which prevents the shutdown of federal agencies — we‘ll have more on that later in the show. following that story about copyright in china, today we want to know whether you‘ve had to deal with fake goods. maybe you‘ve bought some inadvertently? can you even spot the difference? let us know, using the hashtag #bbcbizlive. hello and welcome to business live. we start in brussels, where it looks like, for now,

the deadlock over brexit has been broken. after talks with uk prime minister theresa may early this morning, the european commission has announced that "enough progress" has been made on the terms of divorce to begin the second phase of negotiations. this now opens the door for talks on the future trading relationship between the uk and the eu after it leaves in 2019. the agreement comes after the prime minister committed to no hard border between northern ireland and the republic. the business community has welcomed the decision. earlier, we spoke to the head of the organisation which represents industry here in the uk. now, of course, the hard work starts, that is developing agreement for the long term relationship between the eu and the uk. and in the meantime, bringing great clarity to transition, so that businesses can suspend any contingency

planning. and secondly, making sure that the eu citizens go home this christmas confident that they‘re welcome in the uk and they can stay with the full support of the uk going forward. so, and unconditional assurance to eu citizens i think will make a big franz liszt christmas. -- will make a big difference this christmas. our economics editor kamal ahmed joins us now. a bit of divers and should —— a bit ofa a bit of divers and should —— a bit of a divers and check —— a bit of a divergences between what theresa may and what donald tusk were saying in terms of the future trading relationship? is i think many businesses would argue that they are much more in the donald tusk position than they are in the theresa may position. the key thing for businesses and indeed for the economics of this deal is the transition and final end stage of

the relationship between the uk and the relationship between the uk and the european union. now, on that matter, there‘s not a lot of substance in the agreement we‘ve had today. so, the agreement on citizens rights, the agreement on the open border and the agreement on the divorce bill, i think politically are good news for the uk government and for the european commission and for the european union 27. but what of course we don‘t have is how any of course we don‘t have is how any of those things are going to work. how are we going to maintain an open border between the republic of ireland and northern ireland, if we have different customs arrangements between the uk and the rest of the eu? so, i think it‘s not the time that businesses will think, right, that‘s the deal done, we can get on with it. the big issue now is the transition period, and what will the end state look like? businesses plan long—term and that is what they will be looking for. have we passed any particular milestones, are there things in this statement where we

can say, that‘s done? things in this statement where we can say, that's done? i think on the divorce deal, the money, that seems to be clear. britain will be paying money over a long period of time for the commitment is... do we know how much? we will never know, we will not know how much until we have paid that last amount. it could be years, it could be decades. the uk will pay an amount every year, dependent on when the liabilities become due, like pension payments, for example, for european union officials. on citizens rights, much more clarity on that. that is citizens rights for eu people living in the uk and for british people living in the european union. those will be guaranteed. the uk has pledged to write that into uk law and to take due regard of the european court of justicejudgments on due regard of the european court of justice judgments on that. i would say that is a dotted line authority. thejudges are well say that is a dotted line authority. the judges are well used to this idea of due regard. action can be

taken against you if you have been proved not to have taken due regard. i think the big issue is this open border issue, which is the real business of economics. the document today says that the border will remain open, and that britain will commit to having no customs border between the republic of ireland and northern ireland. how that works is difficult to see, as i say, if we have a situation after 2019, when britain and the rest of the european union have different customs rules and are not in a single market. that‘s the big thing that businesses now want to. and they will want the detail. thank you very much. you can check out the effect this is having on business and the economy by looking at the bbc business live page. for that, just go to the bbc

website, follow the links to the business page and click on business live. updates throughout the day on this breaking and developing story. lego has won a landmark case in china against two companies that made and sold toys almost identical to its lego friends range. this is the first time lego has won a copyright case in china. leisha santorelli is in our asia business hub with more. leisha, counterfeiting is a big problem in china isn‘t it? absolutely. international brands have complained about the problem for years, but the good news is that it looks like the authorities are now taking steps to protect overseas intellectual property. in the case

of lego, these two chinese companies had 30 much copied the lego friends range of toys, and they had even copied the packaging and the logo, which you can see for yourself if you do a search online. this is a big win for lego in china. earlier this year a court had ruled that it was a well—known trademark in china. but china is a particularly important market for the company, because it has actually been struggling. it posted its most disappointing sales numbers out of the us and europe recently. in fact, the us and europe recently. in fact, the worst performance in over a decade, and so it is cutting more than 1000 jobs. so, china decade, and so it is cutting more than 1000jobs. so, china is particularly important to its future fortunes. and so this ruling will make sure that its toys are sold through the proper, so is and not the counterfeit ones. thank you very much for that. now, the markets here... the growth forecast for

japan was very good. we also had some very japan was very good. we also had some very good figures on economic growth coming out of china as well, so the hang seng was up well over 196. so the hang seng was up well over 1%. and the european markets... the ftse started up but only by a small amount. the dax was up by three quarters of 1%. some details now... and samira hussain has the details about what‘s ahead on wall street today. this friday is all about the jobs report to be released by the us labor department. economists are expecting the economy to have added about 200,000 jobs, after surging with 206 to 1000 jobs in the month of october. the unemployment rate is expected to remain the same, at 4.196. expected to remain the same, at 4.1%. this is the finaljobs report

before the us federal reserve, the central bank of america, meets next week. the fed will be watching this jobs report closely and they are expected to raise rates at this meeting. the latest consumer sentiment index by the university of michigan will be released and it is expected to show a preliminary reading of 99 points over the month of december. that is up from previous month. this is a measure of how confident americans are feeling about finance and the business climate and their finances. samira hussain there in new york. joining us isjeremy stretch, head of currency strategy at cibc world markets. and currency is where we seem to be seeing a lot of the reaction to the politics going on in brussels and this breakthrough? absolutely. this week we have seen extreme levels of volatility, we‘ve seen the market react volatility, we‘ve seen the market rea ct tea m volatility, we‘ve seen the market react team to twitter rumours all week as we‘ve seen this debate about

whether there was going to be an agreement or not. now that we‘ve seen this move towards the next phase, we have seen sterling benefiting, which has taken us back to the kind of levels we were trading at at the beginning of the week, when we thought there would be an agreement. and notably, as the parity rallies, that‘s why the ftse-100 is parity rallies, that‘s why the ftse—100 is less robust than its cou nterpa rts ftse—100 is less robust than its counterparts in europe, because as sterling goes up, that impacts the foreign earnings. what about the us, what should we be looking for in the jobs report which samira hussain was talking about, from a currency and markets point of view? absolutely. i think it is all about the wage numbers. i think that‘s the real issue, not just for the us numbers. i think that‘s the real issue, notjust for the us but in terms of global central backs in general. of course, we‘ve seen remarkable falls in unemployment levels, not just in remarkable falls in unemployment levels, notjust in the us but in most western economies and yet we have not seen that reflect it in higher wages yet. if there is a sign that because of the labour market and because of the lower

unemployment, that it is starting to come through, if that is the case then i think it has indications for then i think it has indications for the federal reserve in terms of their interest rate policy for 2018. and i think it has applications for other countries as well. we're going to talk about newspapers later in the programme! and you will be there, worldview?! indeed i will! still to come... republicans and democrats have come to a temporary agreement which prevents the shutdown of federal agencies. it‘ll see operations continue for anotherfortnight, but is the next funding crisis just around the corner? you‘re with business live from bbc news. how easy is it for you to get to work by public transport alone from where you live? according to new research by direct line car insurance — a fifth of us are unable to get to work using public transport alone. stephenjoseph, is the chief executive officer, of the campaign for better transport

and he joins us from the newsroom. is this the government‘s problem, or the free market? because generally it has been the free market for the last 20 years. ultimately the government. government controls a lot of what goes on in transport. to do with the railways under of funding. we have seen bus fares going up by something like twice the rate of inflation over the last 20 yea rs. we have rate of inflation over the last 20 years. we have seen the disappearance of whole bus networks and therefore transport deserts appearing. and we‘ve seen railfares go appearing. and we‘ve seen railfares 9° up appearing. and we‘ve seen railfares go up significantly, as well, above. with another rise due of the inflation level in the new year. we are trying to get people away from co re are trying to get people away from core independence. giving them real choice in how to get around, and

particularly funding public transport better in the way other european countries do. is this a productivity issue? we‘ve heard a lot about that over the last few weeks with the budget, and so on. lot about that over the last few weeks with the budget, and so onm is. one of the things we have seen, we are getting heart rendering stories from people who find themselves locked out of labour markets because basically cannot get to orfrom work. in markets because basically cannot get to or from work. in some places this affects whole communities. some of the old coal communities in the midlands and north of england have lost a lot of public transport. it makes it difficult for people there to actually get into the labour markets. we‘ve always said transport is an underrated part of the market. it doesn‘t fall into the transport frameworks, but it is very important. thank you very much. what have you found out? plenty of updates. the story

dominating his brexit. now for the ha rd dominating his brexit. now for the hard work, the words from the cbi. history shows that trade negotiations are the toughest thing you can engage in. that is where the talks move next week to begin discussing the future trade relationship. more details on the website. the talks on brexit have reached something of a milestone. and it looks like they are progressing to the talks on trade in the coming months. talks about talks beginning on monday, according to donald tusk of . let‘s turn our attention to the other side a —— the other side of the atlantic. the us congress has passed a last—minute bill to stop

the government running out of money — but only for two weeks. now president trump and the house have until december 22nd to thrash out long term deal on spending. it‘s all about what‘s known as the ‘debt ceiling‘ —the country‘s borrowing limit set by congress. mike jacob and joined us. we seem to reach this point any soap —— every so often, is it different this time? it was only three months ago we last talked about this when trump struck a deal with democrat leadership rather than republicans and upset his party significantly. i‘m really sorry to interrupt... we need to cross live to michel barnier who is speaking. let‘s listen to him now. and also the tax payers. we need to be accountable at every stage of the negotiations. now if the european council agrees, and following the european parliament‘s resolution next week, the document

could be the basis for the withdrawal agreement. let me be clear. there will still work to be done. there are a range of issues, such as the governance of our agreement, or, for instant... there are more others to take. we will need to have the final version of the withdrawal agreement ready by october 2018. less than one year. but at this turning point i want to pay tribute to the dedication of all members of both our teams, our coordinators, europeans, and on my

side, all of the members of my task force tea m. side, all of the members of my task force team. and also on our side, i wa nt to force team. and also on our side, i want to personally thank president jean—claude juncker and his cabinet, the secretary—general, the legal service commissioners, and their cabinet. we have all worked very ha rd over cabinet. we have all worked very hard over the last few weeks, days, and nights, to achieve this. this first result was also made possible by our very close work with the council team. with the 27 member states. on the eu side we have all worked together every single week since negotiations started. on

wednesday the president and i updated the college of commissioners. jean—claude juncker told you this morning, based on our agreement, his recommendation, my recommendation, and the recommendation, and the recommendation of the college of commissioners, that the progress achieved today is sufficient to move to the next phase. it is now up to the european council to decide whether this constitutes sufficient progress, and to move talks to the next stage. we will then have completed the first chapter of this extraordinary negotiation. my assessment of this first result, ladies and gentlemen, is based on the real progress on each of our

three main issues. speaks french. studio: michel barnier, the lead negotiator for the european union studio: michel barnier, the lead negotiatorfor the european union in the brexit talks just giving hers comments. earlier we heard from jean—claude juncker, donald tusk, and theresa may. underlining there, michel barnier, the fact there is an expectation that the withdrawal, the full withdrawal agreement, must be ready by october next year. the reason for that, they want to give plenty of time for the european parliament to discuss it, debate it, and ratify what at the negotiating teams come up with. that, as he

pointed out, gives them less than a year. it echoes the earlier sentiment of donald tusk who said breaking up is hard, but breaking up and crafting a new future relationship is even harder. and all of them alluding to the fact there are more hurdles to overcome as the brexit talks move into the next stage. the other thing we must remember, this all still has to be approved by the european council, even though a deal has been done. they have final say on this. they are saying an agreement has been done, the agreement has been done, the agreement isn‘t in place until that meeting of the 27 members next week. mike is still with us from the economist intelligence unit. listening to michel barnier, it was quite an interesting point he made about the hurdles that lie ahead. and i suppose that is what a lot of businesses will be waiting to see. just how quickly, how much more smoothly to the next —— to the next

phase of talks go. you start from different positions. they harden themselves into those positions. in themselves into those positions. in the uk realises a compromise needs to be struck and they start to make concessions. the pattern will continue throughout the entire negotiating process, ithink. continue throughout the entire negotiating process, i think. where are the big slip ups going to be, or the obstacles in the trade discussions, do you think?l the obstacles in the trade discussions, do you think? a couple of sets of the uk economy will want something specific. particularly agriculture. getting the opt outs will be difficult, i think. thank you for your thoughts. mike kennedy talk about the us debt ceiling, and we‘ve bounced you into talking about brexit, thanks very much. —— mike came in to talk about. more throughout the day here on bbc world news, and the bbc news channel. and you can get everything we have

been talking about all the bbc website. we will see again tomorrow. —— see you again tomorrow. this morning, some of us waking up to a covering of snow. storm caroline has cleared away to the east. as it has moved east we have these winds coming in from the north. that is why it is so much colder this morning and yesterday morning. travel disruption is likely throughout the morning and into the afternoon those showers across northern scotland, northern ireland, into wales will continue into the afternoon. further south, across south west england, you might the winter flurries. let‘s focus on the snow which will be heavy. there will be strong winds, blizzard like conditions in the far north—west of scotla nd conditions in the far north—west of scotland later on. the northern england, it should stay dry, there

will be sunshine, manchester, just on the border of that snow, but lincolnshire, east anglia, and the south—east of england looking mostly dry and sunny. it will feel cold this afternoon with a significant wind chill. some flurries across the far south of england. i have higher ground that could settle around dartmoor and exmoor. but it is across wales and the midlands that really we will see quite a lot of snow and community by the end of today. five to feed in on a strong north or north—westerly wind. it will be cold this afternoon. tonight will be cold this afternoon. tonight will be cold this afternoon. tonight will be a very cold one. showers of snow across scotland, northern ireland, into north wales, the midlands. also the risk of some ice as we go through this evening and overnight into saturday morning. during saturday, these snow showers across north wales, perhaps a bit further north, affecting the greater manchester area, towards the south

pennines, further snow showers for northern ireland and northern scotland. elsewhere, looking mostly dry with some sunshine. another cold feeling day. going into sunday, we have this weather system which is coming in from the south—west. it will bump into the cold air already in place and will turn to snow. it is unclear how much snow there will be and where exactly it will fall. if you have any travel plans on sunday, it is worth sticking to the forecast, particularly in these areas, before the mild air slowly sinks into the south—west. lots going on. catch more details on the website. that‘s it from me. goodbye. hello it‘s friday, it‘s 9 o‘clock, i‘m tina daheley, welcome to the programme. significant progress on brexit following overnight talks. there will be no hard border with ireland and three million eu nationals living in britain — and a million british expats — will have their rights protected when we leave. theresa may arrived in brussels to make the announcement this morning. we‘ll have the latest in what‘s

being called a breakthrough moment and look ahead to the next phase of talks. the deal we have struck will guarantee the rights of more than 3 million eu citizens living in the uk and1 million eu citizens living in the uk and 1 million uk citizens living in the eu. eu citizens living in the uk will be able to go on living their lives as before. we‘ll look ahead to the next phase of talks. children affected by domestic violence need better