this is business briefing. i'm sally bundock. trading with tehran: the eu and iran step up their efforts to protect their business links from us sanctions. and as the world's two biggest economies continue their trade talks, we'll have a special report on how chinese tech is keeping americans online. and on the markets in asia shares are declining — japan has announced its economy shrank for the first time in two years. let's get started. the european union and iran are stepping up efforts to protect their trade links. it follows last week's decision by the united states to pull out of the nuclear deal and reimpose economic sanctions on iran. european leaders are expected to discuss prosposals to protect their companies at an informal dinner in bulgaria later on wednesday. it follows eu discussions with iran's foreign minister

javad zarif on tuesday. they agreed to look for practical solutions to maintain a bilateral trade relationship which was grew to about $24.7 billion last year. importantly for iran that includes finding ways to continue allowing iran to earn foreign currency by sell its oil and gas. the imf expects those exports to be worth $63.7 billion in the year to march 2018. about 40% goes to europe. finding a way to continue effective banking transactions was also discussed. something that could be difficult given the international financial system's reliance on the us dollar. here's what both sides had to say after tuesday's meeting in brussels. we recognise that the lifting of

nuclear related sanctions and the normalisation of trade and economic relations with iran constitutes an essential part of the agreement. we stress the agreement are we all share to ensure that this will continue to be delivered. and we agreed to this end to deepen our dialogue at all levels. we started the process. i believe we are on the right track. a lot now depends on what we can do in the next few weeks. so let's unpack this further. chris southworth is secretary general of the world's largest business organisation, the international chamber of commerce. good morning. thank you for coming in. so we heard from the two key players, they are. they are keen to say this is not business as usual, but we wanted as close to that is possible. how realistic are they? but we wanted as close to that is possible. how realistic are they7m is tough. there are already tough

rules in place from the us for anyone treading into iran. the biggest is how to finance the deal is in iran. the eu is a big deal to iran that the us, actually. the financial systems are so intertwined with the us not involved. that is a big problem for london, too, is that it? it is. there was a deal done to sell 100 aeroplanes. 10% of the aeroplanes for airbus comes from the us. the rest are from around. when we talk about this subject, we talk about how difficult this is for iran. we talk about sanctions being imposed in the next few months and how that is not good for iran at all. the figures are mentioned earlier show how important the trade relationship is. imports have gone

up relationship is. imports have gone up 90% from iran. exports have gone up up 90% from iran. exports have gone up 30% into iran. this is a big deal. —— 20% into iran. the trading relationship has really improved since the iran deal. so anything that risks that trade relationship is going to have an impact on companies, not just in is going to have an impact on companies, notjust in europe but far beyond. you mentioned that some companies like erebus and others. donald trump was very clear when the us pulled out of the nuclear deal with iran that american companies would no longer be doing business with iran. —— airbus. a big blow to companies like boeing. but even with companies like boeing. but even with companies operating with iran, can they have us involvement with parts and so on. it is very competent. they have us involvement with parts and so on. it is very competentm is not just and so on. it is very competentm is notjust airbus, but across the auto sector. food, as well. lots of

companies are exposed. it is the problem. thank you for your time and comments this morning. course, we mentioned these meetings are ongoing between the iranian foreign minister and some of the key delegates in europe, in brussels, so we will keep oui’ europe, in brussels, so we will keep our eye on how they fare today. japan's economy, which is the world's third biggest, shrank by more than expected in the first three months of this year. the annualised contraction of 0.6% ended the longest stretch of economic growth since the 1980s. 0ur correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes is in tokyo. why such a bad start to the year? well, sally, ithink why such a bad start to the year? well, sally, i think this is an indication ofjust how difficult it is to get growth, long—term growth, back into the japanese economy, despite having very much full employment here and massive economic stimulus over the last five or six

yea rs. stimulus over the last five or six years. consumption is still pretty much flat. inflation is flat. and there are some important underlying structural reasons for this. the first being a massive shrinking of japan's working age population. if you look at the statistics, 20 years ago,japan you look at the statistics, 20 years ago, japan had 88.9 million people in its working population. today it has 75.6 million. that is a fall of 13 million people. japan is also the world's all this country, with 27.7% of the population over the age of 65. those people are on fixed incomes and they do not like spending. the other big problem here is wages. wages are simply not going up is wages. wages are simply not going up despite record profits by japanese corporations. if you look again at the statistics, at in 2007, the average wage was $39,600. today the average wage was $39,600. today the average wage is $39,100. so 16 yea rs the average wage is $39,100. so 16 years later, the average wage is $39,100. so 16 yea rs later, less the average wage is $39,100. so 16 years later, less than in 2000. ——

at the statistics, back in 2001. that paints the picture of some of the challenges, and there are are the challenges, and there are are the fears of a possible trade war with the us, and the impact it is having on exports? yes. not an impact yet, but the worry now is that a trade war with the united states, with the drug administration, is a real worry for japan, because domestic consumption is static, which means that looking for growth, you are looking to increase exports. japan has been successful at that in the past two yea rs covered if successful at that in the past two years covered if there is a serious trade war with the us, with a nationalistic administration under donald trump, that really hurt japan's economy. thank you very much for joining japan's economy. thank you very much forjoining us from tokyo. the fate of chinese telecoms giant zte is very much on the table as the country's vice premier, liu he, holds trade talks with his us counterparts in washington. but many us lawmakers are concerned about another chinese tech giant, huawei. they're worried the chinese government could be using

"back doors" in huawei products to infiltrate american networks. that political pressure has led leading american phone networks verizon and at&t to abandon its smartphones as politicians try and stop the company doing any business in the us, asjoe miller reports from south canaan. it changed everything. in rural pennsylvania, retirees like this woman are finally enjoying superfast broadband or cable tv thanks to a companyjust up the road. all the magic kind of happens here. even with the help of government grants, she needed the best value equipment he could find, which led him to chinese tech giant huawei. we estimated it was going to save us at least several hundred thousand of dollars with that solution. while the products already banned

the use in the us military, but now lawmakers are turning their focus to thousands of rural communities such as this one, many of which only have high—speed broadband thanks to government subsidies. and they say the chinese equipment used here could install viruses and steel —— steal data from americans. a ban on huawei would leave firms likejim's in the lurch, unable to service their products or expand their reach. but fear of large chinese tech firms is growing in congress. would you please raise your hand if you use products from huawei or zte? none of you would. reports suggest us intelligence chiefs could even convince donald trump to block huawei from the us under the guise of national security. the relevant organs of the chinese intelligence community can call on any company or organisation to support, co—operate with or collaborate in intelligence work. huawei strongly denies the chinese law allows for such intrusions and says it has never received a request

to use its equipment to spy on foreign citizens. we have not seen any specific allegations of anything that we have done anywhere in the world. in other countries, including close allies of the united states, we have collaborated with the major parties in the governments to address real cyber security risk. we believe that is what needs to be done we look forward to the chance to do that in the states. critics have accused the us government of trying to a foreign competitor from the market ahead of the rollout of 5g. back in south canaan, joe says he would jump huawei products is evidence of spying was provided. for now, it is china that is helping america to get online. that is your business briefing. the body which oversees

midwives has been condemned for the way it investigated a number of deaths at the maternity unit of furness general hospital in cumbria. the professional standards authority for health and social care says the nursing and midwifery council took too long to consider disciplinary cases, and failed to take bereaved families seriously. dominic hughes reports. call ca ll ca re call care at bowness general hospital cost the life of this man's wife and newborn son. an inquiry describe their deaths and the death ofa describe their deaths and the death of a further ten babies as a result of a further ten babies as a result ofa of a further ten babies as a result of a lethal mix of failures in the maternity unit at furnace general hospital between 2004 and 2013. but when carlton for help to the that is meant to regulate, the nursery admin referee council, he was let down

again. —— the nursing and midwifery council. they had no seat offered help. they never contacted me. there was no empathy compassion. they were just a disgrace. —— empathy or compassion. they were almost not human. the nursing and midwifery council describes frequent incompetency. it took eight years from concerns first being raced to the completion of all cases. the organisation lost records and failed to investigate allegations, and the jibbon breathed their lives, people like kyle, is also syriza criticise. in terms of where they have engaged with patients and families, the important thing is that they take the relevant information given to them seriously, rather than discounting. the nursery and midwifery council's chief executive has announced that she will resign and says that since 2014, significant changes have been made to how the organisation works. but

this review leaves open the question as to whether the organisation that oversees midwives is fit for purpose. dominic hughes, bbc news. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: north korea has said that if washington continues to push it to unilaterally give up its nuclear weapons, it may cancel next month's talks between president trump and kim jong—un. the imprisoned former opposition leader in malaysia, anwar ibrahim, has been released after a royal pardon. he is set to become prime minister in due course. me me that are making —— now it is time look at the stories that are making the headlines in media. we begin with the gulf news, which features one of our main

stories today — the violence in gaza, in which dozens of palestinian demonstrators were killed by the israeli army in protests against the opening of the us embassy injerusalem. the front page shows a picture of a palestinian mother mourning the death of her 8—month—old infant, who died after inhaling tear gas. it is quite tricky to see that, it is very squished, that graphic. the metro reports that with just days to go before the royal wedding, meghan markle's father, thomas won't be attending because he needs to undergo a heart procedure. let's now move onto the daily telegraph. its front page headline says "economy at a menopausal moment". the deputy governor of the bank of england has suggested britain's economy is entering this new phase after passing peak productivity. we will explain what the financial times details the findings of report into the demise of government contractor, carillion. the big story here in the uk.

the 100—page report accuses the government, regulators, and carillion board members of failing in their responsibilities swiftly moving on to the new york times. it features a story on anne frank. new pages from her diary have been found and published. they contain a handful of dirty jokes and her thoughts on sex. the pages were covered with gummed brown paper, to hide her risque writing from her family. and finally. a study has found that disruption to the body's internal clock may put people at increased risk of mood disorders.