this is the business briefing. i'm david eades. europe's largest bank, hsbc, reports half year earnings. has new ceo john flint‘s plan for expansion in asia succeeded? tariffs are working big time — that's president trump's response to china's latest threat to bring in levies on $60 billion of american goods. and on the markets: we knew the dowjones was up. in fa ct we knew the dowjones was up. in fact they are all up. nikkei and hang seng in spite of the back and forth comments between beijing and washington over the tariffs. we will kick off with some figures from europe's biggest bank. it has just announced its half—year results

and its pretax profit rose 4.6% for the first half of the year. hsbc reported a pretax profit of $10.7 billion in the six months throuthune, up from $10.2 billion in the same period a year earlier. soa so a slight improvement, there. these results show more of what's happened under the tenure of the new chief executivejohn flint — this man — who started in february. mr flint said he would continue his "pivot to asia" strategy to further expand in hong kong and southern china. he also promised to invest at least $15 billion in "growth and technology" with the aim of breaking nearly a decade of declining revenue for the bank. hsbc has implemented strict cost—cutting measures in the past that have seen 87,000 jobs go from the company in recent years. sharanjit leyl shara njit leyl is sharanjit leyl is in singapore for

us. sharanjit leyl is in singapore for us. just chewing over these numbers? that is right. ijust got those numbersjust that is right. ijust got those numbers just if you minutes ago. it shows that are returning to growth mode after years of restructuring. you mentioned some of the restructuring. 0n you mentioned some of the restructuring. on our website, they said revenue and global business was 496 said revenue and global business was 4% higher and about $27 billion. they say that was mainly driven by what they attribute to a higher deposit margin and balanced growth, mainly in hong kong, as well as what they say is the favourable effects of currency translation. as you mentioned, as well, injune, we saw hsbc‘s new ceo, john flint, who said that they will spend 15— $17 billion in areas including growth in technology between this year and 2020. they also plan to invest in china, which, ironically, as europe's biggest bank, but of course

this is returning to their roots, because they are the hong kong and shanghai banking could be a corporation. this will grow their cost base. —— banking corporation. they also appointed jonathan simons as the chairman. i think that john flint will get credit where it is true, but in the had four months to work up to june true, but in the had four months to work up tojune in terms of having a major impact for hsbc. we had to wait and see in terms of how effective the pivot to asia strategy will be. absolutely. this is an indication, an early indication, perhaps, that it is working. but it will take a few more earnings reports like this before investors to be truly commence. —— like this for investors. —— convinced.

there seems to be a slow escalation in the trade war between the us and china. maybe this is getting a little bit quicker. over the weekend president donald trump sent a tweet saying that his strategy of steep tariffs on chinese imports is — as he put it — "working far better than ever anticipated." this tweet followed a statement from chinese officials who threatened new tariffs of between 5% and 25% on $60 billion of us goods. we'll, this morning china's people's daily newspaper said president trump was starring in his own street fighter—style deceitful drama. that is a statement, isn't it? sam fowles a fellow at the foreign policy centre joins me now. i think that remark, along with one 01’ i think that remark, along with one or two others, zero—sum game, they said, wishful thinking, and or two others, zero—sum game, they said, wishfulthinking, and if or two others, zero—sum game, they said, wishful thinking, and if they we re

said, wishful thinking, and if they were not drawn before, they are now, right? right. this is the point where we really have to start worrying. where we really have to start . up where we really have to start worrying. up til now it has been a lot of talk. the tariffs that have been levied have been relatively low when you consider the size of the relative economies. but now we are seeing on the american side 200 billion and on the chinese side a further 60 billion. that does not look like much, but represents a larger proportion of the chinese imports from america, when compared to the opposite. they are targeting liquid natural gas, agricultural related products, aircraft, metals and chemicals, as well. indeed. we are almost getting an ironic moment here because we are seeing these donald trump tariffs which began as a complaint about china are

subsidising is industry. the result of this trade war is donald trump is promising to a billion to soya bean farmers in the farm states, which is, in fact, farmers in the farm states, which is, infact, subsidising his farmers in the farm states, which is, in fact, subsidising his own industries. so the trade war has pushed donald trump into doing exactly what he criticises china for durham. the other, coming out of beijing was that donald trump doesn't like to business. tell donald trump that. this is something they have not quite got a handle on yet. governing china is very different to governing the united states. we saw back in may the chinese communist party changing the constitution so that using thing can govern without term limits. —— president xijinping govern without term limits. —— president xi jinping can govern without term limits. —— president xijinping can govern. the concern for america will be that the

communist party can outlast the republican party in power. president xijinping has certainly republican party in power. president xi jinping has certainly outlasted president donald trump. the chinese strategy will be simply to keep saving face and see if things change at the midterms. in ten seconds, jean—claude juncker last week away from washington saying that we had managed to find their way through it, so maybe it is a face—to—face that will make a difference? perhaps. although what we saw from jean—claude juncker is jean—claude juncker gave a drop a win and back down on the tariffs. —— and donald trump back down on the tariffs. good to see you. thank you forjoining us on the business briefing. georgia green from london is a cordon bleu—trained cake maker who worked in cafes and baker's shops, looking for her big break. then it came, when the famous model cara delevingne bought one of her cakes and tagged her on instagram. she milked the publicity for all it was worth and launched a company which now sells cakes through harrods. we went to her kitchen, where she told us how she now uses instagram as the main

force in her marketing. i got commissioned to make a cake for cara delevigne, the famous model, and my sister said you had to go on instagram and get her to tag you. i went from about 100 followers to 6000 that day, and i think that was the very start of my instagram, and i already had that big boost. you upload a photo, people like it, people see what you are doing, and then react to it, and maybe somebody can even get in touch and order thatjust by seeing it. so the more i uploaded, the more interest i had off people,

and the more orders came in. and i am also using instagram as a portfolio of my work because it is so visual. instagram is something that you really have to keep up. if i have not uploaded a photo, my followers might think "oh, she is not as busy this week," so i have to show that i'm busy, making lots of cakes, showing people different options that i can do, rather than the same cake over and over again. so it is not simply making a cake, photographing it, and putting it on, there is a whole background that goes into a photo. well done to her. now let's brief you on some other business stories. mission impossible clings on to the top spot at the box office for the second week in a row in north america, beating out disney's new film christopher robin. pa ramount‘s sixth edition of its popular franchise took in an estimated $35 million for the weekend. critics and audiences have warmed

to the movie in which tom cruise again does his own vertigo—inducing, cliff—hanging, car—exploding stunts. the uk's international trade secretary, liam fox, says the chance of a no—deal brexit is growing, blaming the "intransigence" of the european commission. he put the chance of failing to come to an agreement "at 60—a0." no 10 insists the government remains confident it can get a good deal. that's it for the business briefing this hour — but before we go, here are the markets. let us bring them up now. here we go. there we are. actually still up a little bit, the hang seng, the nikkei very flat. up next, newsbriefing. the cost of rural crime soared to £16 million last year —

its highest level since 2013. farmers are resorting to medieval methods to tackle a growing wave of vehicle, equipment and livestock theft by organised gangs. ian wight reports. it is an idea that comes from mediaeval times, moving mounds of earth to create trenchers, ditches, and barriers, to stop criminals getting onto farmland. this scheme in gloucestershire is encouraged by the police and is provided free of charge by local companies. this year we are seeing people bringing things like both banks, mediaeval fortifications, last year ‘s 1000 yea rs fortifications, last year ‘s 1000 years ago. they are putting up stockade like fences around their farms, and using these in conjunction with technology like cctv. this man knows too well what

it is like to be targeted by criminals. in the last 18 months it has got beyond a joke. we were being visited at least once a fortnight. i would put it down to two different groups: one group were pinching tools and small items, but our biggest problem is our quad bikes. with equipment costing hundreds of thousands of pounds being kept in a moat, isolated areas, sophisticated, so moat, isolated areas, sophisticated, so those dangerous gangs know exactly what they are looking for. we know organised crime is not working just in europe and across the world. that will be paying for other things. they will be paying for trucks to come back in, for gst paid off, forfirearms smuggling. the government says police funding will increase by over £160 million this year. every chief constable in england has now signed up to a national plan to tackle rural crime. but police say farmers, too, must do more to keep their properties safe.

ian wight, bbc news. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: the indonesian island of lombok has been rocked by the second deadly earthquake within a week. more than 90 people are now known to have been killed. 20 people have been killed after a world war ii vintage plane crashed into a swiss mountainside on a sightseeing flight. now it's time to look at the stories making the headlines across the world. we begin with indonesian daily paper the jakarta post, and its coverage of the earthquake in lombok indonesia, which killed at least 91 people, collapsed buildings and triggered a tsunami warning.

many tourists have returned home from the island which neighbours bali. in the guardian is another big story from the weekend, the apparent assassination of venezuelean president nicolas maduro by explosive drones. mr maduro was speaking at a military event in caracas when the alleged attack occurred. the financial times is looking at french threats to the united kingdom's financial services sector post—brexit. the article says there's a french led attempt by the eu to bind britain's financial sector in red tape leading to a possible loss of access to european markets. staying with brexit in the independent, and this story looks at the possible negative impact of a lack of red tape. the story says the australian meat industry is lobbying to pressure britian to accept inferior products currently banned under eu law. and finally in the guardian, is the price of a pint getting too expensive? some uk adovcacy groups say yes, claiming increasing prices are forcing people to buy

from supermarkets and pubs to close. with me is nina trentmann of the wall streetjournal. let's start with what is a second tragedy in a week for those in jakarta, the jakarta appointed —— the jakarta post pointing out the earthquake in lombok. ullah of australians. —— a lot. earthquake in lombok. ullah of australians. -- a lot. an island big and well travelled by