this is business briefing. i'm sally bundock. let's ta ke let's take a look at the business headlines. uber reverses from south—east asia. the ride hailing app pulls out of eight countries as the boss seeks a route to profitability. the us opens the way to a truce with china but says its not afraid of a trade war between the world's two biggest economies. and the week has not started well for financial markets in asia, at no surprise given the rising trade tensions between the united states and china, and the friday slide on wall street. —— but no surprise. the ride—hailing app uber is in reverse once again. the company that is promising to transform how the world travels

is pulling out of south—east asia as it tries to stem its losses. it follows similar retreats china and russia where it has struggled to capture market share. the latest manevoure means it's selling its operations in eight countries to its malaysia—based rival, grab. uber will retain a stake of 27.5% in the newly enlarged company and will move its customers over to it. last year uber racked up losses of $4.5 billion as it continued to subsidise rides around the world in an effort to increase market share. rico hizon is in singapore for us. nice to see you. it would seem uber is having to go into reverse? absolutely. it has been a bruising rattle for uber in south east asia.

—— battle. it is facing serious competition not just in —— battle. it is facing serious competition notjust in the region but also at home in the us, as well asa but also at home in the us, as well as a regulatory crackdown in europe. write hailing companies have relied heavily on discounts and promotions, driving down profit margins. —— ride—hailing companies. this is taking its toll on uber. it is not just last year that it lost a hefty amount, billions of dollars since it was founded in 2009. this deal marks the industry's first big consolidation in southeast asia, home to about 640 million people. this deal between uber and grab still needs to be signed off by local regulators. but the move comes two years after uber conceded defeat in china in a similarfashion, after a price war it sold its operations toa a price war it sold its operations to a local company in return three nearly 80% stake. so the boss of uber is going to have a seat on the

board of grab, and will still have a sizeable chunk in the company? that's right. 27.5% in this expanded company, between grab and uber, and the ceo will have a seat. so he will have a say in how this operation moves forward. but the bottom line, sally, is that uber is reducing its international foot rent in order to become profitable. —— footprint. that comes ahead of aid planned initial public offering next year. —— a planned. uberwants initial public offering next year. —— a planned. uber wants to focus on its core market in north america, south america, europe and australia. uber will retain a small presence in japan, taiwan, south korea and india. as forgrab, japan, taiwan, south korea and india. as for grab, this deal will consolidate its position in

fast—growing markets like indonesia, which has a population of more than 300 million people. it will also incorporates uber eats into its own food delivery business, grab food, by the end of may. grab will also expand its ridesharing options to include shuttle buses, scooters and other vehicles. grab wants to be a lifestyle option here in southeast asia. rico hizon, thank you. let's talk about another story which is probably going to dominate this week. the ongoing trade tensions between the world's two biggest economies, the united states and china, are continuing to rattle financial markets. that's despite the us treasury secretary saying he was "cautiously hopeful" that an agreement could be reached with china that would stop import tariffs from being imposed. steve mnuchin also told fox news that the us wasn't afraid of a trade war. on thursday president trump ordered $60 billion worth of tariffs on chinese exports because of what he said was the theft

of intellectual property rights. the tariffs could up to 25% by the time they are finalised. if they are china could lose $15 billion worth of exports to the us according to the credit insurance company euler hermes. although that's only 3% of last yea r‘s total. meanwhile us exporters could lose $700 million of exports to china if beijing goes ahead with $3 billion worth of retailiatory tariffs its planning. china has said it doesn't want a trade war and will defend its interests. alex wolf is a hong kong—based economist at aberdeen standard investments and a former us trade diplomat in china. great to get your perspective on this. when chart talks about retaliatory measures, what do you think it means. —— china. retaliatory measures, what do you think it means. -- china. they

certainly have a large suite of possible retaliatory measures. they could challenge at the wto, they could challenge at the wto, they could put their own tariffs on products they import from the us, whether that is soya beans or boeing oi’ whether that is soya beans or boeing or cars, they could further raise tariffs. even beyond that, the most leverage they have is about us multinational operations in china. china is a large and growing source of revenue for some of the largest american companies, and china has also shown a propensity or a preference for using nontariff barriers around access to their domestic market for multinationals. what did you think of what the treasury secretary said over the weekend, steve mnuchin, when he said, look, we do not want a trade war but we are willing to go ahead. how do we read between the lines on that? well, i think it is certainly... it is certainly encouraging that they are using this asa encouraging that they are using this as a negotiating ploy. that is what it seemed like from the get go, i think the actual tariff measures are afar think the actual tariff measures are

a far cry from what the trump campaign spoke about in terms of the actual rate. i think it is a negotiating ploy to get further access will open up access for us companies in china's domestic market, or two in courage china to buy more imports from the us. —— to encourage. lessing courage in is that it does not seem to be a durable solution, if they convince china to simply buy more semiconductors or aeroplanes or autos, it isn't that different from what previous administrations have done during trade spouts. so it is not really an end to the tensions. —— trade spats. not really an end to the tensions. -- trade spats. how do you think this will play out in the end? will there be a hard negotiation, or will we end up with hard tariffs to digests? —— digest? we end up with hard tariffs to digests? -- digest? it does seem like sides want to negotiate. certainly the chinese side are hoping for negotiations, they had in

the trump administration is open to negotiating a favourable outcome. a trade war is bad to both countries and is bad for the global economy. i think both sides know that. the question is what the american side was. i don't think that is entirely clear. the other question is how much china is willing to give up. the other question is, isjust a one—off decision to buy more products from the us, is that an end to the tensions? 0r products from the us, is that an end to the tensions? or will we see further issues pop—up? there are issues around tech transfer, intellectual property theft, those have been debated and discussed over many years through many administrations, with no clear end in sight. those issues are probably unlikely to go away. but i do think that would be a better negotiating outcome than a tit—for—tat trade war. at the beginning of last week, before any of this kicked off towards the end, we have the annual c0 ng ress towards the end, we have the annual congress in china where the two key leaders were talking about how they wa nted leaders were talking about how they wanted a level playing field. they

do not want a trade war, even on issues like intellectual property rights. to what extent can we take that on—board, if that is where they are headed in china? well, that is a good question. that is something they have been talking about for a long time now, protecting intellectual property. but they have been unable to make real, significant progress. i think they are probably more serious than they have been in the past. in the past, domestic companies didn't really have much to lose from intellectual property theft. it was mostly foreign companies. whereas the likes of microsoft, or even disney, in china, now you have domestic companies with intellectual property, and i think there are more serious about protecting it now because they have more skin in the game from a domestic company's perspective. so that you might —— that might be more of a serious priority. alex, thank you for your time. let's look quickly at some

other business stories. toshiba has thrown fresh doubts on the $18 billion sale of its memory—chip business by saying it doesn't yet have all the neccessary approvals from regulators. the $18 billion sale to a group led by the us private equity firm bain was scheduled for completion by the end of this month. toshiba is selling the business after incurring billions of dollars of losses at its us nuclear unit. the first direct flight from london to the australian city of perth is expected to land shortly. it follows the successful first flight in the other direction over the weekend. the non—stop service takes about 17 hours on a beoing 787 dreamliner. it's operated by qantas and the airline's chief executive said it was a "game—changing route". that's it for business briefing this hour. i will see you in just a moment. poor schooling and deprivation are forcing children

in the north of england to face a double disadvantage. that's the claim of the children's commissioner, in a major report out today. it found that a child on free school meals living in hackney, london, was three times more likely to go to university than a similar child in hartlepool. simonjones reports. at this nursery school in leeds, they aim to give children the best start in life, but it doesn't happen everywhere. in a report called growing up north, it is found that children in the north are more likely to move onto a poor school and leave education earlier than their southern counterparts. they have not had the same backing as areas like london. children live in disadvantaged communities in the north, and they are being badly let down. i am worried about children living in the disadvantage anywhere

in the country, but there is a disproportionate number living in those areas of entrenched disadvantage in the north. they have not had the attention, they have not had the focus, they have not had the floating in the —— focus and backing they need. among recommendations are boosting teacher recruitment, grants for struggling families, and forums bringing together groups which work with children. at elliott hudson couegein with children. at elliott hudson college in leeds, many agree action is needed. there are way more opportunities and a lot of investment down south and there is up investment down south and there is up north. and, like, maybe in the future they might bring it up north. i think for higher careers like politics and economics and stuff like that you do have to go to london, but i think the north is getting a lot at. the report acknowledges many parts of the north are thriving, and the apartments are education says more than £3 billion is being invested in projects to boost the economy there. coming up at 6:00 on breakfast, dan walker and louise minchin will have all the day's news, business and sport.

this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: the american adult film actress, stormy daniels, who claims to have had sex with donald trump, says she received threats to keep quiet. 48 people are now confirmed to have been killed in a fire at a shopping centre in siberia, dozens more are still missing. thousands have ta ken to the streets of catalonia after the region's former leader is detained in germany. carles puigdemont will appear in court later. uber reverses from south—east asia. the ride hailing app pulls out of eight countries as the boss seeks a route to profitability. now it is time look at the stories that are making the headlines in media across the world: we begin with the washington post, where the stormy daniels interview

is leading the digital front page. in herfirst televised interview, the adult film actress says she had an affair with donald trump in 2006, but received threats to keep her quiet. mr trump strongly denies the relationship. still online, the sydney morning herald looks at the ball tampering sandal engulfing the australian cricket team. commentators are calling it a dark day for the nation's sport after captain steven smith admitted to planning for a team mate to manipulate the ball in the final test match in south africa. in the daily telegraph ‘eu holds threat of break up over google' as grave suspicions are held over the dominance of the internet giant in the bloc. looking at bloomberg where uber technologies agrees to sell its southeast asian operations to regional rival grab, in exchange for a 27% stake. it is the latest retreat for the

world's valuable start—up, it says. finally in the daily mail, ‘we wish you a merry easter?‘ rabbit crackers, egg baubles, wreaths and easter turkeys, are supermarkets repackaging christmas? now you know. with me is iain anderson, founder of the international communications agency, cicero group.