this is business briefing, i'm sally bundock. banking on a deal. the finance industry is britain's biggest exporter, but can it expect to stay that way after brexit? the uk lobbies germany for help. plus: he was once hailed as india's richard branson, with an airline, a drinks empire, and a formula 1 team to his name. now, vijay mallya is fighting extradition from the uk over fraud allegations. we will get the latest from our team in mumbai. and on the markets, shares from sydney to shanghai are on the retreat after a stellar start to 2018. we start with brexit, and the future of britain's huge financial industry once it leaves the eu next year.

today, uk chancellor philip hammond and brexit secretary david davis are in germany trying to win support for a favourable post—brexit trade deal, especially when it comes to financial services. the financial sector is the uk's biggest exporter, accounting for 10% of the entire economy and 2.2 million jobs. but the uk argues the city of london is also important for europe. mr hammond and mr davis will remind germany its firms need access to london's financial markets. the bosses of barclays, insurance giant aviva and goldman sachs international are thought to be among up to 15 top finance chiefs meeting prime minister theresa may later. she will be trying to reassure them the uk will remain a vibrant financial sector after brexit. there will be tough talks ahead. the eu's chief negotiator, michel barnier, has been clear britain cannot cherry—pick which benefits of eu membership to keep, and there will be no special deal for its financial sector. it is a concern echoed by the head

of the german—british chamber of commerce, who spoke to the bbc late on wednesday. i think they're trying to get the best deal for britain. whether they will succeed remains to be seen, because from the german government's point of view, and also from the european union's point of view, yes, of course individual deals might help individual businesses. but for germany and the eu, it's also important that the single market remains intact, and therefore it will be difficult to negotiate bespoke deals. as we recall, just a few months ago, everyone was talking about "no deal is better than a bad deal," and now they're trying to do individual deals. now they're trying to convince german politicians and the business world that might be an option. with me is arnab das,

from invesco asset management. good morning. so where are you on this story? are you confident philip hammond and david davis will make serious progress today?” hammond and david davis will make serious progress today? i am glad they are trying. they will send the right messages and the eu will receive those messages. but i don't think we should expect a breakthrough any time soon. if you step back and ink about the whole process , step back and ink about the whole process, the government in the united kingdom has ironically turned out to be quite divided. the eu 27, which most people thought would be divisible, has been very united, and especially in regards to the single market, they have insisted on the indivisibility of the four freedoms. that position will hold for some time to come so the british government will continue to make concessions, not the eu. they are both in germany, germany itself in a political crisis of trying to sort out its own government, as it were. certainly if the german press is to be believed, it is negative about the uk's chances of getting a

special arrangement for financial services in particular. i think germany is somewhat conflicted about this whole issue, because germany has benefited from and relied on the uk as has benefited from and relied on the ukasa has benefited from and relied on the uk as a source for liberalism within europe. at on the other hand, germany has to be a great force for unifying europe, given their history. so i think, in the end, the political crisis in germany is the more domestic issue, about some of the rightward drift in germany. in the rightward drift in germany. in the process of forming a government, they are going to come back into the centre and keep pushing for europe to be more or less united. therefore we shouldn't expect too much help from germany for the uk.” we shouldn't expect too much help from germany for the uk. i would like to get your opinion on an issue that my other guest raised. he is probably listening in the green room. he was talking about the fact he feels europe has been pretty protectionist in the way it has gone about negotiations. i know that the

head of ba rclays about negotiations. i know that the head of barclays and others are talking to theresa may about all of this. how do you feel with respect to your own company post 2019? well, our firm to your own company post 2019? well, ourfirm like to your own company post 2019? well, our firm like many to your own company post 2019? well, ourfirm like many other large to your own company post 2019? well, our firm like many other large asset managers operates both within the uk and within the european union, and the rest of the european union, quite active both in terms of actual investment operations, several here in the uk, several in europe, and lots of... and are you putting more in europe to hedge your bets? we don't feel we have to hedge our bets, because we are already located in both, and it is not a brass plated operation. but i do know that some of our peers and much of the banking community has to deal with this ina banking community has to deal with this in a much more cogent way. and i think this in a much more cogent way. and ithink in this in a much more cogent way. and i think in general what seems to be going on is a kind of worst—case planning, in case this doesn't work out very well for the uk, we have to be in both places. thank you for

your time this morning, it is good to get another perspective on all of this. and of course, we will keep you right across how philip hammond gets on, how david davis gets on in germany, as well as theresa may and her discussions with leaders in finance. canada has filed a wide—ranging complaint against the us at the world trade organisation, accusing it of breaking international trade rules. the us has called the claims unfounded. it comes amid a rash of disputes between the neighbours over trade in goods, from aircraft to dairy products and wood, not to mention fears for the future of the north america free trade agreement, as samira hussain in new york explains. the timing of this is really interesting, because in about two or three weeks we are going to see that canada, the united states and mexico are going to be meeting in montreal, canada, to be discussing nafta and the renegotiation of nafta. but you know, these renegotiation processes

have not been going very well, and there has been really no big conclusions coming out of it. and that has a lot of people worried about the future of this trade agreement. in fact, there are some media organisations that are reporting that they are worried that the united states is going to just walk away from nafta altogether. and even the head of one of canada's largest banks, the royal bank of canada, has also said the same thing. but they are worried the united states is going to walk away from this decades—old trade agreement. now to a story being closely watched in india. vijay mallya is one of the country's best—known entrepreneurs, with business interests ranging from kingfisher beer, to an airline of the same name, to the force india formula 1 team, and an indian premier league cricket club. now he is battling extradition from the uk over fraud allegations, which he denies. he faces a hearing not far from here, at westminster magistrates court, later. sura njana tewari is in mumbaifor us. suranjana, what is mr mallya alleged to have done? well, mr mallya is a wanted man here

in india. the allegations against him here in india range from fraud to money laundering. and the case in london is really an effort i the indian government to get him back to indian government to get him back to india after he went there in 2016, in order to face those allegations. most of them are related to kingfisher airlines, which is now defunct, but he is also facing allegations of financial irregularities in his other countries and also some tax evasion. now, kingfisher airlines became defunct in 2012. he has been accused of diverting some of those funds for personal use. he denies that completely, he says not a ruby was misused and he says he has been

targeted for his very public persona and for political reasons here in india —— rupee. now let's brief you some other business stories: china's economic growth probably accelerated to 6.9% in 2017, premier li keqiang has told a regional summit in cambodia. that would be an improvement on the 6.7% seen in 2016, which was the weakest in 26 years. mr li said china has done well because it refrained from flooding the economy with stimulus, while pushing ahead with reforms. the value of bitcoin has fallen more than 10% on the bitstamp exchange, after south korea's justice minister said the country is preparing a bill to ban trading in cryptocurrencies. bitcoin sank as low as $13,120, it weakest since the beginning of january. uk prime minister theresa may will pledge later to eliminate avoidable plastic waste within 25 years. supermarkets will be urged to introduce plastic—free aisles, and compulsory charging for plastic carrier bags will be extended to all retailers. taxes on takeaway cups and containers will also be considered.

but green groups have criticized the plans as having no legal force. and now, what is trending in the business news this morning? 0n cnbc, cryptocurrency market will see crash and then consolidation — so says charles hoskison, the co—founder of ethereum, a rival of bitcoin. 0n quartz, starved of skilled chefs, britain is facing a chicken tikka masala crisis. it says 2—4 uk curry houses are closing down every week because of limits on immigration. and forbes magazine has a very popular graphic on america's most— and least—trusted professions. nurses are at the top, followed by military officers. at the bottom, reporters, business executives and lobbyists. and, don't forget, let us know what you are spotting online. use the hashtag #bbcthebriefing. and financial markets are heading

lower. we have seen falls across the board, all happening overnight on wall street. the big losers in asia are the tech stocks. china's tencent down, lenovo also down. we have taiwan semiconductor is down, samsung shares down in south korea, and those other commodities. i will see you soon. conservation charities say they have been overwhelmed by the number of stranded seals found along the cornish coast over the past few weeks.

record numbers of sick and abandoned pups have been discovered, after a series of winter storms and high tides. rescue centres say they are struggling to cope, as our correspondent jon kay reports. 0na suburban on a suburban estate... surely get the mail? a pop-up seal sanctuary. with the local rescue centre is full, these orphaned pups are having to be housed in a garage near st ives. father and son david and dan are fully trained, and caring for the seals 24/ seven. every day they are racing to the coast to rescue unprecedented numbers of sick and starving pups, orphaned and injured in the winter storms. providing emergency food is the easy bit.

finding them somewhere to recuperate is much more difficult. they have had nearly 300 callouts already this winter. here at the cornish seal sanctuary, there are a couple of spaces tonight, so dave and dan can bring in two pups from the couch. but any more that are farmed might have to be taken hundreds of miles to other parts of the country —— the barrage. 0nce to other parts of the country —— the barrage. once these pups have recovered, they will be sent back into the sea. but conservationists say if they are going to avoid an accommodation crisis next winter, we need to start planning now. coming up at 6:00am on breakfast, the team will have more on the government's pledge to eradicate avoidable plastic waste by 20112, and the pressure on the prime minister to get the proposal written into law. this is the briefing from bbc news.

the latest headlines: rescue workers search for survivors after at least 17 people were killed in mudslides and flooding in southern california. in tunisia, after a third day of clashes, the prime minister accuses anti—austerity protestors of trying to weaken the government. police in paris have arrested three suspects and are searching for two more after a gang stole jewels worth four million euros at the ritz hotel. now it is time look at the stories that are making the headlines in media across the world. we begin with the times. prime minister theresa may will be encouraging supermarkets to introduce plastic—free aisles. as part of the prime minister's commitment to eliminating "avoidable" plastic waste under a 25—year environment plan published today. independent online is calling it a "war on plastic". the financial times leads with tunisia, where anti—government

protests hit for the third successive night. the capital tunis has seen one of the biggest upheavals since the 2011 protests that set off a stringof revolts across the arab region. the guardian looks at amazon's jeff bezos, newly dubbed the richest man in history, a little differently. it says with the impact of inflation, bezos is not the richest man who ever lived. in fact, he's not even the richest american to live. we will explain in a moment.