this is business briefing. leaders arrive for the g7 summit in canada. but with tensions high over president trump's america first policies, is it more a case of the 66 versus the us? plus, a change of flight path. we meet the former telecoms boss now battling to turn around south african airways. and on the markets, asian shares on the retreat, with investors focusing again on that widening rift between the us and its major trading partners. we start in quebec, canada, where the leaders of the group of 7 rich nations are gathered for a two day summit. the group is supposed to be about co—operation between members, france, germany, the uk, japan, italy, canada, and the us.

but it's at its most divided in its four—decade history. in fact, it's more like the g6 on one side and the us on the other. president trump's america first policy has pitted the us against its allies. he has slapped steep tariffs on imported steel and aluminium, and threatened similar action on foreign cars. and he's pulled out of the nuclear deal with iran, jeopardizing billions of dollars of contracts for european firms. france's president macron has pleaded for unity, calling for the other six to unite and stand up to the us, saying this. "we must not fall apart." and he points out that together, the six other nations of the g7 are a bigger market than the us. the eu and canada, america's biggest trading partners, have already announced they will retaliate with their own tariffs on us goods, from whiskey to harley davidson bikes. but so far, japan has avoided confrontation. on thursday, president macron warned president trump that isolationism isn't in the interests of the us.

translation: the us is of course a strong economic power. but if they become more isolationist, they fall from their history and values. as a leader, if it decides to withdraw, it would be bad for the us, bad for its image and country. in the medium to long—term, it will be bad for its citizens as well, and i think the president knows that. with me is cornelia meyer, chief executive of meyer resources. what do you make of what france is saying? ultimately, he is saying together we are stronger than the us as one. it seems like a pretty divided g7. they are bigger

together, but it is a disparate market. canada is out there, as is japan. the g7 have been the steering committee of global governance, economic governance, so far. it is important to have the largest economy in that stable committee which is currently not happening. how big of an issue will trade be? is it time to talk trade in the g7? it is time to talk trade, because it hurts everyone. especially if you look at germany, japan, and canada, they are very worried about cars. 4196 they are very worried about cars. 41% of light vehicles in the us are imported. and, umm, and, umm, about 98% of them come from japan, canada, and the eu. the issue is we have so many different opinions. france is

saying let's stick together. europe has slapped back row —— retaliatory tariffs. and we have japan, which seems to be taking the more measured approach. japan has to take a more measured approach. look at what is going on in north—east asia. they have the korean summit coming up, a huge security concern. japan is rightfully concerned about the fact that if us troops leave the demilitarised zone, that would be very bad for their security and economic prosperity. so they have other things... so, that is why when macron says together we are bigger, perhaps, but they all have different views. and one more thing, we do not look at it much, but look at what president trump is all about, trade deficits. among all those countries, germany has a big trade deficit, japan does, others don't. i would be

worried about divide and rule games, which donald trump could do if he played its mark among the g7 countries to bite thank you very much indeed. -- countries. let's stay with the subject of trade tensions. china's massive telecoms equipment company, zte, has won a reprieve in the us after it was banned by the trump administration from doing business with us companies. but not everyone's happy. let's get the latest from sharanjit leyl and our asia business team in singapore. not everyone is happy about this, sharanjit leyl. not everyone is happy about this, shara njit leyl. it not everyone is happy about this, sharanjit leyl. it is a hugely controversial topic are of course massively. very controversial. what we saw overnight was the commerce secretary say the deal involves zte paying a billion—dollar penalties. they will also have to replace the management board. it was the largest

penalty ever levied. he pledged to continue monitoring the behaviour of zte. american lawmakers are all divided by the deal, saying it does not go far enough and does not paint the huge chinese firm in the same brush as some of america's allies, canada and the eu, which you were talking about, also accused of violating america's national security. they blocked zte‘s access to american suppliers, saying they violated a settlement. xi jinping asked the us to reconsider the punishment and essentially it had forced zte, which we know as a major employer in china, to suspend major operations, which is why the us intervened and president trump at the time said he was doing xi jinping a bit of a favour. decides that, we have the chinese trade

surplus with monthly numbers. they widened to $25 billion in may. not music to the use of donald trump. thank you very much indeed, sharanjit leyl. thank you very much indeed, shara njit leyl. and thank you very much indeed, sharanjit leyl. and now we go to sydney. that is where the aviation industry has been holding its annual get—together this week. aaron heslehurst is there, and among the top airline bosses, he has been talking to is a new face. until recently, vuyani jara na was running south african mobile phone network vodacom. now, he has the task of turning around south african airways, which is battling for survival with losses of $400 million last year. he has accepted a bet from the country's free market foundation that he can make it profitable within three years, or give 100,000 rand to charity. so, how confident is he? i had ihada i had a sense of what i was getting into because it was well publicised. saa has been making losses for many yea rs. saa has been making losses for many years. i thought that given the fact

there was intervention, i thought they were the right person to do the job. quite technical challenges. and bringing good ideas as well. it helps update the forecast. that is the advantage, coming in with fresh eyes and a new business model possibly. and putting the customer at the centre of the business. many new business models do that. that is where i am focusing. can go one play the comeback kid? —— saa. absolutely. we just have to bring some logic into saa, take out costs because it is too high, and create a new customer model. you need to support the strategy, otherwise you have no basis to turn it around. how much of an impact does the political turmoil in south africa which we all

know about, as that hindered south african airways? it is about making sure you put the right people on the job and focus on the correct logic. that is what saa has done for a long period of time. good strategies but poor execution. we have to bring consistency and scales, and have a good strategy. going back to cutting costs, where would you cut them? will the passengers feel that? is it on board, in the office? it is largely making sure the programme, we are buying things at the best price, not the best price today, and getting the ratios of people to employee costs to revenue in line. it is about vector processing,

simplifying the business. —— better. we cannot compromise in terms of customer experience. that is where the choices are won. the boss of south african airways, vuyani jarana, talking south african airways, vuyani jara na, talking to south african airways, vuyani jarana, talking to aaron heslehurst. now let's brief you some other business stories. argentina has reached a deal with the international monetary fund for a $50 billion three—year loan subject to approval by the imf board. argentina went to the imf for help on may 8th after a slump in its currency the peso amid a broader investor exodus from emerging markets. it's a controversial move in the country, where many people blame austerity measures imposed by the fund for a devastating financial crisis in 2001. french property giant unibail—rodamco, europe's biggest commercial property company, has completed its takeover of australian shopping mall operator westfield. the $24.7 billion deal is the biggest corporate takeover in australian history. mall operators are being forced to consolidate amid growing competition from online retail. up next: newsbriefing.

we'll take you through the stories making headlines in the global media today including. but for me, it is goodbye. negative attitudes toward growing old are having a major impact on the public‘s health. that's according to a report out today which warns media cliches and anti—ageing cosmetics are doing more harm than good. the royal society for public health says ageism is the most common form of discrimination in the uk and the most likely to go unchallenged. richard lister has this report. here, near sadler‘s, 70—year—old men

and women have started work again for new interests. in the 19505, old age was shown as a slow slide into uselessness. age was shown as a slow slide into u5ele55ne55. instead of moping at home and lonely, they would do some good. but the report today 5ugge5t those views may not have changed all that much. the rsph questioned 2000 people and found that ageism was alive and well. is that a thing? i suppose the way society is structured, yes so green if you are too old, that's it. 4096 of adults believed the man she was inescapable as you age, and a quarter believed old age people are normally depressed. —— dementia. facilities

for older people and the very young should be housed under the same roof according to the report. it wants the media to treat ageism as the same thing as racism and sexism. they believe a more positive view of old age can lead to a longer life. richard lister, bbc news. for more on this and the rest of the day's stories, breakfast is coming up at six o'clock with jon kay and steph mcgovern. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: days before the us and north korea have their summit, the top diplomat in america says kim jong—un have their summit, the top diplomat in america says kimjong—un has assured him he is prepared to get rid of nuclear weapons to be on her way to the summit in canada, the british prime minister has refused to guarantee a time limit on the baxter position on the customs union. —— weapons. —— backstop. in

the us faces strong criticism over donald trump's america first policies. and now it is time to look at the stories making headlines in the media across the world. ‘s we begin with the financial times, who report that brexit secretary david davis will not be resigning following a compromise on the irish border. and the main story on the front of the i paper is the collapse of the house of fraser and the loss of thousands of jobs. the south china morning post is reporting that the whitehouse has sealed a $1.4 billion deal with zte in a key trade concession to beijing. the japan times reports that nearly 60,000 drivers aged 75 and over were judged to possibly have dementia when renewing their licenses in the first year of stricter screening for elderly drivers. and finally the guardian is reporting that french school students are to banned from using their mobile phones on school grounds from september

is how twitter question so keep those coming. with me is priya lakhani, founder of century tech. let's talk to you about the brexit story. let's talk to you about the brexit 5tory. two sides to every story. yes, they. theresa may having huge issues with david davis and the backstop approach to the negotiations and it fills in some papers like a victory and in others that brexit