hello. this is the business briefing. i'm ben bland. borderline issues. theresa may to promise no hard irish border after brexit and urge the eu to accept her plans for a free trade area. also coming up: driven crazy. auto firms say trump's tariff plans will put thousands of us jobs at risk, and thousands of dollars on the price of a new car. in other markets, renewed concerns over trade fears caused falls on wall street. asian markets managing to eke out some small gains. hello. we start with brexit, because as talks continue in brussels, britain's prime minister theresa may is in northern

ireland. she's visiting the irish borderfor the first time since taking office. it will become the uk's only land border with the european union after brexit. it's already become a symbol of the seemingly insoluble problem of britain's future trade relationship with the eu. in a speech later, mrs may will again promise no return to a hard border. her government's brexit proposals promise frictionless trade, but she has ruled out staying in the eu single market or customs union. instead, she wants a bespoke free trade area for goods, which many in the eu say is cherry picking the benefits of membership, without the responsibiities. and the stakes are very high for ireland, in particular. because of this figure here. the imf warns a return to a hard border would wipe 4% off its economy. others have warned that this figure could even be much higher. with the deadline looming, the possibility of britain leaving the eu without a deal is becoming more real.

and that is getting businesses very concerned. as our business editor simonjack explained. that cushion that we had no longer exists, that gets businesses very, very nervy indeed and why the urgency is reflected in the boardrooms in the uk. it is not a position that anyone in politics or business wanted to be, but a very clear path has now emerged to the edge of the cliff. paul breen is senior lecturer at the university of westminster. ghouta you with us. so with these preparations, contingency plans being made. —— good to have you with us. being made. —— good to have you with us. the suggestion really that is being made is that everyone is preparing for the situation of there being no deal. do you think these estimates, like the 4% here to ireland's economy are fair, are they

accurate? i think they are but the point is at this stage, nobody really knows what will happen and there is no doubt that the eu is preparing for an ideal scenario. i'm not quite sure that there is a consistent message coming from theresa may. i mean it, i think a visit to the irish border is very much about vacating the dup, rather than actually negotiating with the businesses and people who are going to be affected by a brexit and the threat of a hard border. so i think 496 threat of a hard border. so i think 4% might actually be a conservative estimate, no pun intended. seizing the hit to the irish economy might be even higher? i think so, especially in the early stages. —— so especially in the early stages. —— so you think. the immediate impact is going to be felt if there is no deal. the european union and the irish government already talking about the contingency measures they will have to put in place at that does happen, but i think that does

happen, it is going to be a disaster, not just in happen, it is going to be a disaster, notjust in economic terms but also in cultural terms. that said, there will be people watching who will save there is often this is not scaremongering, but this, this fear that talks about, we have heard it with for example, the greek situation and the bailout then, and eve ryo ne situation and the bailout then, and everyone was, not everyone but a lot of people saying it is approaching a cliff edge, prices, the eu then a lwa ys cliff edge, prices, the eu then always gets things sorted in the end, even if it is an 11th hour deal. are we not going to see the same with this, do you think?” think again you have to think of the context of northern ireland and the whole border irish situation. the irish issue has been at the forefront of politics for the last 20 years, the last 100 years in fa ct. 20 years, the last 100 years in fact. and permanent solutions have never been found, as i think in the case of northern ireland, everything is slightly different because of the political background and the

political background and the political culture and divisions there. so actually imagining that something miraculous is going to happen in the last minute is a very foolish game for theresa may to play, and i think her and the dup are playing politics with a very sensitive situation and with the good friday agreement as well. 0k, well, we are going to have to live it there. but i am sure we will speak on future occasions about this topic. thank you. let's go to washington now, where us commerce secretary wilbur ross has told a congressional hearing it is too early to say if they will impose tariffs of up to 25% on imported cars and parts. the threat by the trump administration has been widely criticised by the auto industry, workers and lawmakers, who say it's americans who will suffer — as paul blake reports. if donald trump places import ta riffs if donald trump places import tariffs on european cars, buying a new car in the us will get a lot

more expensive. that is the warning from the alliance of automobile manufacturers, who warned that the ta riffs manufacturers, who warned that the tariffs donald trump has been threatening for weeks now called raise the price of imported cars by $6,000 and domestic cars by $2000. now these statistics were released ahead of the us government hearing on thursday that saw strong opposition to the tariffs. their part, german car makers have a lot of skin in the game, with heavy investments in us manufacturing facilities, particularly southern state that tend to vote for donald trump's republican party in elections. now they are warning that any new towers could threaten future investment and through that, affect us manufacturing jobs. but the opposition did not do is come from industry. governments around the world a re industry. governments around the world are sounding the alarm as well. canada, mexico and eu all promising to retaliate, and in brussels, they are already preparing for trump to make good on his latest tariff threat. if this would escalate, if the us would impose

these car tariffs, that would be very u nfortu nate, these car tariffs, that would be very unfortunate, but we are preparing, together with our member states, a list of rebalancing measures as well. and this we have made clear to our american partners and we will continue to make that clear. the opposition to car tariffs is loud and clear but will it give donald trump pause? the president has made clear on tariffs that is in the past, but with so many american jobs on the line, he might be inclined to give these further thought. let's go to asia now, and japanese steel giant kobe steel says it's been indicted by prosecutors over a corruption scandal that emerged late last year. in september, kobe admitted employees had been falsifying test data, throwing doubt on the quality of steel supplied to clients including car and plane makers. mariko oi is following the story for us in singapore. so, give us more of the detail on this. well, as you mentioned, since

the company admitted falsifying quality does, i guess the indictment was expected. it is probably important to clarify that this is against the company, not against the four individuals who were accused of falsifying data. that this scandal really sent a shockwave across japan and of course around the world because as you mentioned, its products are made in everything from ca i’s products are made in everything from cars to planes. so far its clients, which includes toyota, holden, general motors, some of the big names around the world, they have said that they found no safety issues after they investigated their products, but it definitely came at a time when it is notjust kobe steel, but we have had a series of scandals in corporate japan, including the casa, the airbag maker, toshiba, which falsified its profit data, and nissan motors, as well as mitsubishi motors. —— boeing. so for a country that prides

itself on its quality, it has definitely damaged its reputation. 0k, thank you very much. marico where for us there in singapore. —— mariko oi. now let's brief you on some other business stories. us media giant comcast is abandoning its bid to buy 21st century fox, saying it will instead focus on taking over european broadcaster, sky. the move clears the way for disney's $71 billion takeover of fox's tv and film assets. traditional media firms are battling to buy up content in the face of growing competition from streaming services like netflix. microsoft's earnings have jumped after more strong growth in its cloud computing business. revenues for its azure cloud product soared 89% in the three months to june. microsoft shares have risen 180% since satya nadella took over as chief executive in 2014, refocusing the company on cloud computing rather than pc software. president trump has criticised the federal reserve's interest rate policy, telling cnbc he's "not thrilled" about rising rates because a stronger dollar could hit us competitiveness.

his comments break a long—standing convention by us presidents of not commenting on fed policy or the dollar — one he said he "couldn't care less" about. and now, what's trending in the business news this morning. on forbes, automakers' reinvention at risk as trump's tariffs threaten their core business. it says carmakers could be hitjust as they are investing heavily in electric and driverless tech. on cnbc, whyjeff bezos and bill gates both do this mundane chore. two of the richest men on the planet both do the dishes each night. studies have found that it can reduce stress and boost creativity. on business insider: fortnite — a free video game — is a $1 billion money machine. it says the game has generated more revenue than several top blockbuster movies last year, including jumanji and spider man. it makes its cash from in—game purchases. and don't forget, let us know what you're spotting online.

get in touch. use the hashtag, #bbcthebriefing the number of recorded offences for stalking has trebled in england and wales in the past four years, according to home office data. police say the rise shows they're doing a betterjob at reporting stalking but, as ali fortescue reports, the rate of prosecutions has fallen to a four year low. you may not be able to see her scars but being stalked has left a mark. the mum of four from but being stalked has left a mark. the mum of fourfrom your but being stalked has left a mark. the mum of four from your collector ex—partner five years ago, but soon after, the cycle of abuse began. ex—partner five years ago, but soon after, the cycle of abuse beganm was not just text and things

after, the cycle of abuse beganm was notjust text and things like that, there was so many things coming in. you felt absolutely weak, torn and it mentally destroys you, that you think i cannot do this today. and she of course is not alone. the number of recorded stalking offences has trebled in england and wales in four years, from nearly 3000 recorded offences to more than 10,000. that is the highest figure since the new stalking law was introduced in 2012. last summer, the police watchdog found that forces up and down the country will not doing enough to tackle stalking, but police say that the biggest to date show that they have upped their game in the according more crime.” have upped their game in the according more crime. i think they are still underreported in relation to these crime types, that is why we are absolutely committed to making sure that the police service response to what at difficult crimes to investigate is as good as it can be, working with other agencies. that while the reported rates are going up, prosecuted rates have

fallen. the cps says that this is amongst the most challenging offences they deal with. hearing for 20 years that when matters were reviewed, the police will say we will learn these lessons and make the right changes, but i am not seen this with the leadership. charities wa nt this with the leadership. charities want it police to take stalking more seriously but for now, her life and so seriously but for now, her life and so many others like hers remain on pause. hello. this is the briefing from bbc news. i'm ben bland. the latest headlines: donald trump has defended his relations with russia, and said he plans to invite vladimir putin to washington in the autumn. eu ministers are due to meet in brussels shortly to discuss the state of brexit negotiations. mark zuckerberg has courted controversy by saying posts from holocaust deniers should be allowed on facebook. now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. we begin with the huffington post.

and they are covering the announcement from the us that president trump will be inviting vladimir putin to the white house for talks in the autumn. leaving it simply with — round two question mark. and then to the times. on their front page, they are covering what else but apparently, the public and businesses in the uk are to be given weekly bundles of information warning about the possible consequences over a no deal with the eu. the independent is running with the latest uk crime figures released by the government. it quotes an mp saying the rise in violent crime is a "public health emergency". and in thejapan times, they have gone with a beautiful picture of clouds over mountains in hokkaido. this is topical as the view is said to be typical after long humid days, that have been dogging the country amid a heat wave leading to a number of deaths and thousands of emergency calls. and finally to the guardian online, who are reporting that the chocolate

maker cadbury is to launch a new dairy milk chocolate bar in the uk with 30% less sugar. this following the government's drive to tackle obesity. so let's begin. with me isjoel kibazo — partner atjk associates and a former director of communications at africa development bank. good to have you with us. let's begin with the huffington post and the story we have been covering this morning. round two of talks, this time in washington but no word yet from the kremlin on any of this.