this is business briefing. i'm sally bundock. crucial trade talks in washington as president trump defends his decision to help a chinese telecoms firm. and fantastic fungus in india — demand for rare mushrooms from the world's top restaurants is helping villagers make a living in the midst of conflict. and on the markets — you can see, fairly negative as investors weigh up the geopolitical concerns and what the outlook is for global trade. the world's two biggest economies are set to air their difference face to face later today. top officials fom the united states and china will sit down in washington with a new concillitary tone in the air after president trump defended his decision to try and get chinese telecoms giant zte back in business. he said it was part of the larger

trade deal being discussed and it's a move welcomed by beijing. us treasury secretary steve mnuchin will host china's vice premier liu he in washington today. and zte was on the agenda last time they met — in beijing at the start of this month. at those negotiations the us demanded a $200 billion a year cut to its trade deficit with china. in other words it wants a reduction by more than half in the difference between what it buys from china and sells to china. the fate of zte will be important to any progress. it was effectively forced out of business as a result of last month's us ban on buying american components. it was found to have breached a settlement for illegally selling telecoms equipments

to north korea and iran. more broadly both countries have threatened each other with import tariffs — something which doesn't concern the us commerce secretary wilbur ross. the commonest department's recent enforcement actions against the te, china's second largest telecoms equipment manufacturer, essentially caused them to cease operations. president trump tweeted yesterday that we will review that action but it does demonstrate china's dependence on us technologies. we hope we can make a fair deal that if it doesn't happen, the trade tit—for—tat will not be economically life—threatening to the united

states. that was wilbur ross. dr yujie is head of the china foresight programme at the london school of economics. today, as the mentioned, steven mnuchin is meeting with the premier in china. what do you think will happen? i think they will continue the conversation they dropped two weeks ago and they met in beijing. it seems the united states are making a concession regarding z te but trump has been using the business negotiation skills and trying to apply to china, to beijing in this case. if the plate —— it is give and take. there are meant to be sanctions put but somehow beijing

dropped it. all of things are happening in the air but we don't really know. by the end of the talk, we should know. so you are saying more about style over substance that we are seeing that the rhetoric has changed a little. there could be firing accusations at each other. at the end of the day, it is the world's largest economy and second—largest economy. it is really damaging for both sides. in terms of the various elements the us wants to see changed in china, the way that it trades, intellectual property rights, that kind of thing, do you think we will see the some movement

on the part of the authorities in beijing on some of these key elements? the talk has only been progressing, so far, as far as i know. also, it is what china is trying to do in the next five years. it needs to face the issue by the end of the day anyway. china would perhaps use it as a way of progressing itself using external forces and try to force external change. what comes out of those talks, we will discuss later. the us city of seattle has voted to impose a new tax on the biggest companies based there. amazon, the city's biggest employer, and starbucks are amongst those who will pay $275 a year per employee. our correspondent peter bowes is following this from los angeles. explain how this tax will work. this

tax will apply to those companies with a gross income of $20 million oi’ with a gross income of $20 million or more per year. it is a tax that they are hoping will generate some $45 million in revenue. this has been a debate going on in seattle for several months, hotly contested. some people are very much in favour of it. some people taking to the streets to show their approval of this measure. what is actually past isa this measure. what is actually past is a watered down version will stop the original plan was for a much more stringent tax on those companies. the reason they are doing it is to essentially offset some of what is seen by as the damage done by the local housing market by these large companies, these huge tech companies, like amazon, coming in,

and forcing housing prices up. the money will be used to provide low income people with better housing and to try to resolve the housing issue in seattle. and as you say, there are some big giants they are applying a lot of people. you have amazon, microsoft, starbucks. —— employing a lot of people. how has their reaction been? amazon say they are disappointed and in fact, just a couple of weeks ago, amazon put on hold plans to expand in the city centre. since this decision has been announced by the council, they had decided to go ahead with that. perhaps the watering down of the proposal has helped amazon realise it's something they can live with. they say, "we remain apprehensive about the future created by the council's hostile approach and rhetoric towards larger businesses which force us to question our growth here". peter, thank you. we have asked your views on this.

many have been in touch will stop we have surely who says she thinks it isa have surely who says she thinks it is a good idea. homelessness is a big concern around the world and we need to start supporting them the best way we can. some of you com pletely best way we can. some of you completely disagree. join the debate. the himalayan region of kashmir has been a flashpoint between india and pakistan for more than six decades. the violence can make it hard for people living there to earn a living. but now a rare an exotic type of mushroom is giving villagers an opportunity to boost their incomes. morels are sought after by the world's top restaurants. but as they can only be foraged and not farmed theyre fetching big prices as yogita limaye reports from indian administered kashmir. this mountain is just this mountain isjust a this mountain is just a few kilometres from india's troubled border with pakistan. the to shake is from a village nearby. after

walking for a few hours, he finally spots what he has come looking for. i morel. a kilo of the wild mushrooms could cost up to $800. even finding a few dozen of these could help his family get by for months. translation: climbing up the slippery slopes is very dangerous. then there are fears of wild animals attacking us. there are nojobs here so we attacking us. there are nojobs here so we still take the risk because the money makes a huge difference to oui’ the money makes a huge difference to our lives. in this remote area, shootings and cu rfews our lives. in this remote area, shootings and curfews are a part of life and it is hard to learn and living —— earned a living. that makes the morels even more precious and they only grow for two months of the give. after climbing down the steep path, we have managed to find more morel mushrooms hidden in the grass so more morel mushrooms hidden in the grass so that has been an entire

morning of clamouring up and down the mountain and we have managed to find three mushrooms. this is produce that has been used in kashmir cooking for three decades but it is only in the past 5—6 years that the demand in the international market has shot up and that is why the price it features has really gone up. —— fetches. from the mountains of kashmir, this is where it ends up. the flavour of the mushroom has caught the attention of the chefs are around the world. in this fine dining restaurant in dubai, they are a delight. using all of these rare and lost ingredients and bringing them as a highlight on the plate and giving that attention. those ingredients focus have become what restaurants are doing. more than 90% of the morels found in india are exported. they are found in other parts of the world, too, but in few other places perhaps do

they mean as much as here kashmir where people struggle to get by in the midst of the conflict. yogita limaye, bbc news, kashmir. stay with us. back in a moment. the actress margot kidder, best known for playing lois lane in superman, has died at the age of 69. she starred opposite christopher reeve in the 1978 film and in its three sequels. kidder struggled with bipolar disorder, later using her high profile to raise awareness about the condition. the bbc‘s tim allman looks back at her life. if the 1978 film version of superman made you believe a man can fly, margot kidder made you believe a superhero could fall in love.

easy, miss. i've got you. you've got me? who's got you?! her lois lane was sexy, funny and feisty, more than a match for the man of steel. it was the biggest role of her career and it made her a star around the world. margaret ruth kidder was born in the north—west territories and she began acting in the late 1960s. following the superman films, she continued working but struggled with mental health issues and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. she was also a political campaign. protesting on environmental issues and backing bernie sanders in the 2016 presidential election. here i am. that it would be as lois lane that

most will remember her. superman's girlfriend, yes, but an independent, powerful woman. a heroine you almost felt really never needed rescuing. coming up at 6 o'clock 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: fresh protests are expected in the gaza strip and west bank later — on the seventieth anniversary of creation of israel. what palestinians call the ‘catastrophe' — led to the expulsion or flight of 700,000 palestinians from their homes. north korea has proposed holding high level talks with the south on wednesday.

if it goes ahead it would be the latest gathering between the two governments since last months historic meeting between the two leaders. a report by a civil liberties group has found a failure rate of more than ninety per cent in facial recognition systems used by police in the uk. big brother watch has described the technology used to automatically match faces with images on a database as "dangerous and inaccurate". now it's time look at the stories that are making the headlines in media across the world. we begin with the guardian and they're leading with the deaths of dozens of palestinians in gaza. they say it's the bloodiest day the palestinian territory has suffered in years. protests were stoked by the opening of the us embassy injerusalem. and with 5 days to go before the royal wedding, the daily mail is reporting that meghan markle is pleading with her father to walk her down the aisle. it is unclear whether meghan markle's father will attend the wedding on saturday as planned,

after he controversially made a deal with the paparazzi. the financial times reports that a us supreme court has paved the way for legalised sports gambling across the us — after it struck down a federal law that banned such wagering in almost all american states.