this is business live from bbc news with maryam moshiri and ben bland. more trade talks in washington. this time japan tries to get a better deal out of the trump administration. live from london, that's our top story on thursday 9th august. america's plans for tariffs on car imports are putting a big strain on a $200 billion relationship with japan. we'll talk you through what's at stake. also in the programme, building it yourself in india. furniture giant ikea opens its first store in one of the world's fastest growing economies. and on the markets, european stocks have opened in the red. and getting measured for success. we'll speak to the company whose bras and tights are helping women of colour feel more comfortable in their clothes.

regular exercise helps improve mental health, says a study. can you fit three to five fitness sessions into your busy working week? would you give your employees time off to exercise if it means better mental health? let us know — just use the hashtag bbcbizlive. hello and welcome to business live. welcome to the programme. we start with a focus on trade. the united states and japan are strategic allies with plenty of shared interests. but the world's first and third biggest economies are not getting along quite so well when it comes to trade. it's something they're going to tackle at crucial talks in washington later today. last year they sold each other more than $200 billion worth of stuff. aircraft, cars and machinery are amongst the biggest sellers. but it's not an even relationship. the us bought nearly

$69 billion more stuff from japan than it sold them last year and that's something president trump wants to change. and us trade tariffs could help. whilst their stated aim is to address national security concerns, a 25% tariffs on cars and car parts is being considered by washington and it's something tokyo is desperate to avoid. it doesn't charge any tariffs on car imports. however last year, japanese companies invested $34 billion in the united states which is an almost 80% increase on the year before. that accounts for 26,700 jobs, with many in the car industry. yuuichiro nakajima is managing director, of financial consultants crimson phoenix and an expert on the japanese economy. as we were setting out, there's a

lot at stake here. how much realistically can these trade talks achieve? trade talks tend to be very long and convoluted affairs. i don't thinkjust a day's talk between these two senior officials is going to achieve very much. certainly, america would like to get a result by the end of the day. the talks will probably have to be extended. but you know, japan would be delighted if they can buy more time by just prolonging the delighted if they can buy more time byjust prolonging the discussions as long as it can. what do you think the us would see as a successful outcome? well, the president would like to achieve something to show his supporters as a result. anything that ticks that box in terms of concessions won from japan will be a success. concessions won from japan will be a success. japan will try and give something that is of little value to itself but at least has some

cosmetic value to the us. but where america really wants to get is some protection over its car industry. what would japan sea is a successful outcome? like i said, getting something that appears to be a victory for the us but something that has very little economic and financial impact on the japanese economy. of course, the background to these talks is that the us and japan were at one stage going to be pa rt japan were at one stage going to be part of the transpacific partnership, this big trade bloc that they were talking about setting up that they were talking about setting up and then donald trump pulled america out of it. there is the potential for the backdrop to these talks to be rather frosty perhaps. possibly but the us and japan are allies in many areas, notjust trade. there's a security, financial

services, global politics and so on. a p pa re ntly services, global politics and so on. apparently the two leaders are quite, have struck up a nice personal relationship. it may not be all that frosty. but trade is a very important part of japan's economy, of course, so japan will try to protect as much as it can. thank you for joining protect as much as it can. thank you forjoining us. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. the german sportswear giant adidas says its finances have taken a big hit over its acquisition of us rival reebok in 2005. regulators weren't happy with the way the brand was valued so adidas says it is amending its books by an amount in "mid—triple—digit million euro range". meanwhile the world cup helped boost profits to about $686 million in the three months to the end ofjune. films such as deadpool 2 and the shape of water have helped us media giant 21st century fox increase its profits in the three months to the end ofjune.

the company made $920 million as sales rose i7% to almost $8 billion. lower taxes in the us also helped the firm which is led by rupert murdoch and is in the midst of selling its film and television divisions to walt disney. new york has become the first major us city to approve a cap on the number of cars available through ride—hailing apps. it's also agreed to set minimum pay conditions for drivers. ride—hailing apps uber and lyft have criticised the move as bad for consumers but mayor bill de blasio said it would help ease congestion. three japanese carmakers have been found guilty of cheating on fuel economy and emissions tests. the government says suzuki, mazda and yamaha cleared vehicles despite them being tested under invalid conditions. katie silver is in our asia business hub in singapore. there you are. so this is rather

embarrassing for the firms involved, isn't it? it really is and it is the latest of these japanese auto—makers who have been found guilty basically the same thing. what it is is that vehicles were cleared as being fuel—efficient even if they were tested under invalid conditions. the worst offender is suzuki. in their case, it goes back to 2012, and about 50% of their cars, 13,000 cars that were tested, 50% of them were tested improperly. the offences were far less at master and yamaha, only about 5% of their vehicles were tested in an incorrect manner. but the reason these internal investigations by these companies came about was that similar issues we re came about was that similar issues were found at otherjapanese auto—makers, nissan and subaru, earlier this year. as you can imagine, suzuki's shares fell on the news come about 6% down when the

market closed a short time ago. yamaha shares lost about 4% and master was down about 1%. forjapan, the manufacturing industry is typically known as highly efficient and high quality. so they are being tarnished by these repeated scandals. thank you forjoining us. let's ta ke scandals. thank you forjoining us. let's take a look at how the markets are faring. apart from the decay, a good picture all round, the hang seng is up, the chinese market are higher, and the japanese market is down off the back of trade tensions with the us. european stocks have opened a lot lower, with fresh sanctions on russia from the us which has had an impact on the markets across the board and on sentiment, all the european markets are in negative territory. and paul blake has the details of what's ahead on wall street today. company data drives the day on wall street. at the top of the agenda, viacom, the home of channels like comedy central and mtv. facing hardship in the form of advertising and affiliate revenue, the company is expected to report a decline in earnings during the third quarter. also in the pipeline is the wall

streetjournal‘s owner, news corp. rupert murdoch's newspaper company is expected to post increased revenue during its fourth quarter off the back of increasing subscriptions to its online offerings. finally, there's dropbox, the digital storage company, reporting earnings for the second time ever as a public company. wall street is hoping for impressive earnings from the relatively young company that competes with heavy hitters like amazon and google. joining us us george godber, fund manager from polar capital. thank you forjoining us. so the pound falling below that iconic, or that yardstick measure of $1.30 for the first time this year. yes, it is continued speculation surrounding the probability of a hard brexit coming up. if we take a step back, sincejune coming up. if we take a step back, since june 2015, the coming up. if we take a step back, sincejune 2015, the panthers lost nearly a quarter of its value against the dollar and the euro, we

all know the reasons why. will this continue? yes, it is likely to, while we still have the probability ofa while we still have the probability of a hard brexit. but it also means it could work the other way, if we get some form of resolution, then you will see the pound probably quite sharply appreciate. interesting to factor in interest—rate is because the ball in comes despite the rise in interest rates we saw from the bank of england. -- the fall in a pan. it's interesting because normally, if the bank of england was raising rates to strengthen the economy, you would expect sterling to be appreciating against world currencies. what the bank of england is doing is giving itself a flexibility that were we to have a hard brexit, they now have the ability to cut probably twice and they would probably do a 0.5% cut on the day if needed. picking up on results out from samples, the estate agent in the uk, they have reported an 18% fall in the first half pre—tax profit, they are saying

it is down to investing more in the business. it is the third largest real estate broker in the world but the commentary in there is retesti ng, the commentary in there is retesting, link to what we're talking about. they are saying that the uncertainty in the london office market, the most lucrative part of their business, it is causing a bit ofa their business, it is causing a bit of a slowdown but also, actually you can see from the numbers, 70% of the buyers in the london office overseas investors which is what weaker sterling is doing, allowing people to snap up prime london assets on a 10—year view, you know, that things will be better on a currency basis. is london still massively attractive place forforeign is london still massively attractive place for foreign investors to invest in property? yes, london is still seen as a global city commute can see that from the employment figures and the physical infrastructure, it is still considered an absolute prime asset when people are thinking about london, it is in the same bracket as new york, singapore and all the major cities. george, good to talk to you. george will be back to talk about the papers shortly, including

how much exercise we do and how much exercise we are allowed to do in our working life. about ten minutes. go for run and come back! we will see you in ten minutes. in the last few hours swedish furniture giant ikea has opened its first store in india. it's one of the world's fastest growing economies but what can it do for the company's profits? yogita limaye is at the store in hyderabad. it seems quite surprising, given the size of the market in india that ikea is onlyjust doing this now. that's right and that was one of the questions i asked the group's ceo, why they have taken so long to come here and they said they needed a couple of things do change in india before they could, one was government policy. a few years ago, india allowed foreign direct investment in retail. another development they have been watching very closely is the growth of e—commerce. even while they increased their bricks and mortar presence in india, they are looking at the commerce market and they want

to go online as early as next year. but the store behind me has barely bigger than three hours and i've seen hundreds of people going in already. i was in the restaurant a short while ago and everybody was trying to sample the food. ikea has had to make some changes for the indian market. one of those in the do it yourself model, nobody is quite sure if that will work in india because you have carpenters and workmen who can come to your house... 0h, and workmen who can come to your house... oh, no! the line has gone. i wanted to ask if they were going to do the meatballs. because that is what everybody goes to ikea for. and they are delicious. i like a meatball. always, it is part of the trip! still to come. getting measured for success, we speak to the company whose bras and tights are helping women of colour feel more comfortable in their close. —— in their clothes. you're with business live from bbc news. the precious metals miner

randgold resources has reported a rise in profits and production in the second quarter of this year. it said it was helped by a good performance at its kibali mine in the democratic republic of congo. the firm is maintaining its 2018 targets. randgold chief executive mark bristow joins us now from the london stock exchange. these results, they seem pretty robust, are you happy with what the numbers are saying? absolutely, we have really got back on track, as you correctly said, and certainly kept the gardens in sight so that is good. the world geopolitical and economic climate is going through massive period of change. how worried are you about what is going on in terms of politics and economics and how that affects the price of gold, which is obviously

seen price of gold, which is obviously seen such a massively important safe haven? yes and i think it is interesting you bring that up because right now, gold is under downward pressure but we have seen this often, you know, pre—2008, back in 1999. but as you correctly point out, and i would agree, the upside in the gold price is very real and i just listened to your programme, you know, there's a lot going on around the world which is traditionally supportive for the gold price. the other thing is gold tends to benefit from lower interest rates so with the bank of england in the uk and the bank of england in the uk and the federal reserve in the us signalling that rates are likely to rise, will that have an impact going forward ? rise, will that have an impact going forward? you know, just pointing back to what currency are you measuring in? in sterling, the gold price has done very well. i think what is of concern in the global economy today is this move back to

normality which seems to be under question, because the tightening has not been as tight as everybody promised because you have got many different events, whether they are the disagreements on trade or the confusion in europe, or brexit, or the challenges in the middle east, all of those add up to geopolitical risk uncertainty. mark bristow, thank you forjoining us. your're watching business live. our top story, the us and japan are set to hold trade talks in washington. us plans for tariffs on car imports have added to tensions between the world's first and third biggest economies. a quick look at how

the markets are faring. not a particularly good start to the day, european markets all in the red. now, many of us will have a favourite outfit, something that makes us feel confident, maybe even powerful, but for some what you wear underneath can be just as important. what are you wearing underneath? laughter marion, you are cheeky! the lingerie market in the uk is valued at around $3.18 billion, which is up 0.7% from the previous year. and the best sellers are actually so—called nude shades, those that won t show under a woman s clothing. in fact, the most popular nude tone sales were up by 101% in the three months from december to march. but for women of colour, "nude", which is a sort of beige, just doesn t work. and that s where a company called nubian skin comes in. it sells undergarments that are "a different kind of nude" and cater to a variety of different skin tones. ade hassan, founder of nubian skin, is with us now. you have with you a selection of

different types of underwear and tights but before we come to what you offer, tell us first of all about your story, how did you see this gap in the market? well, my background was not in fashion at all, i was working in finance, i switched to consultant for a little bit, and! switched to consultant for a little bit, and i always wanted to be an entrepreneur, i had always been interested in fashion and a growing frustration of mine was whenever i wanted tights, because i worked in a corporate setting, to match my skin tone, i would go in, you make do with an american tan, whatever colour happens to be the darkest! didn't really work. walking into a shop and asking for a bra and realising it was not my new. and they would say, we don't have a brown one, maybe you can wear a black, countless women have the same problem i do, trying to think of what to do for a business, this is

it. when did you launch? october, 2014. not that long ago, quite surprisingly given the demand, that no one had done it until then. yes, exactly, when i was... when i was searching for it, i could not find it and! searching for it, i could not find it and i could not believe it did not exist! that is the key thing, business ideas that work, having the idea, having that moment when you think, there is the gap in the market, and that is how i want to fill it. how did you grow the business, from conception to what it is now? i actually did not start working on it until 2013, i came up with the idea in 2011, i knew i needed to save money, i went back into finance and got stuck in. got a little bit distracted. i remember, i shared the idea with a friend and the following year she sent me a birthday card and across the front, it said, it's time to start living the life you had always imagined, and a lovely note about how she loved the idea and could not wait to

see me on the cover of thoughts. i registered the company and the trademark the next day, then it was go, go. creating the colours, if you ask for a new then it was beige, so doing a work year of research and development, finding manufacturers, learning about the industry. in terms of growing the business, how did you find it was going, in the different markets, where are you strongest? biggest market is probably the us, and we sell in the us and europe and the caribbean and also in africa, in nigeria. what about skin tones, show us what you have got. how many skin tones do you have? we have four, among them, caramel and cinnamon, you can see that here. hold it up so people can see. you can try them on later. i think you are more... cafe au

lait. .. may think you are more... cafe au lait... may have think you are more... cafe au lait. .. may have to think you are more... cafe au lait... may have to make think you are more... cafe au lait. .. may have to make a cream or a milk for you. this is your idea, but other companies have started doing their own range, so you could not patented, other companies have started to do it. how do you compete? exactly, and it is tough, we are small. going up against some large companies, our strength is that we were first to market but also, we have a very loyal following because people do know, if you have been starved of something for so long, and someone says, i am thinking of you, and people see it comes from a place of authenticity, they are really supportive. where'd you take the company going forward? the idea is to grow and expand and hopefully offer more, a broader range of sizes, even at a few more colours. and other products? maybe branch out of lingerie and underwear? we did do shoes for a while, but at heart, we are in under

garments company, so we will be broadening within that. within that space. so good to have you on the programme, thank you very much indeed. in a moment we'll take a look through the business pages but first here's a quick reminder of how to get in touch with us. stay up—to—date with all the days business news as it happens on the business news as it happens on the business live page the bbc, insight and analysis from the team of editors around the globe. and we wa nt editors around the globe. and we want to hear from you, too, get involved on the web page. at twitter, we are at bbc business. business live, tv and online. what you need to know, when you need to know it. george is back with us to go through some of the stories the media has been taking an interest in. first one, the weak pound has a

real impact on people going on holiday to other countries. holiday—makers this summer are really going to notice the difference, compared to a year or two ago. that side impact, making it more attractive for tourists to come to uk. numbers have been robust. it isa to uk. numbers have been robust. it is a function of, we are a cheaper venue is a function of, we are a cheaper venue to go on holiday. and it works the other way round as well, for visitors to the uk, that helps shots. i was reading somewhere yesterday, there are fears that the pound could drop to as low as 98 cents against the euro, what do you think? if you talk about the most extreme situation, completely disorderly brexit, where on our side, it is highly unlikely we will stop trade from europe, but if the french decide they are not letting any thing through, then yes, you can count a scenario when the pound gets

to 95 against the euro, 1.10 against the dollar, but it is not 100% likely we will get there, everyone has to prepare this outcome but is not the ultimate goal. talking about exercise, story on the bbc website, it shows a study in america, shows that if you exercise three to five times a week... for 45 minutes. you have better mental health. seems pretty obvious, from a work perspective, i know you work in the city, how realistic is it for someone city, how realistic is it for someone who works in any kind of business, self—employed, to find the time to exercise three to five times a week for 45 minutes?” time to exercise three to five times a week for 45 minutes? i work 60, 70 hours a week, where will find the time full of i have three young children, they keep me very much on my toes, and they allow me to... but lama my toes, and they allow me to... but i am a partner in something, we have to take it seriously, in terms of membership for gyms, 10ks, events

they can involve themselves in, pilates session once a week. you have that in the office? we should do that! we could try. we could do downward facing dog together. what an offer! that is yoga. yes, thank goodness for that. many large firms offer discounted membership, more importantly, bosses, that is vital, timei importantly, bosses, that is vital, time i think our boss, bosses, should go and do exercise. go and do a run now, thank you very much for joining us. that is it from business live, plenty more business news throughout the day on the website. thanks for watching. goodbye. for those who have not seen much

rain recently, more in the forecast over the following days, showers, longer spells of rain, spells of sunshine, certainly noticeably cooler and fresher feel across the uk. brain around today mainly focused across east anglia and south—east england, only slowly pulling away east through the afternoon, behind it, spells of sunshine, showers, few and far between for much of england, wales and northern ireland. frequent showers for the western isles. showers and rain, temperatures not much higher than 15, 16 celsius, 18 to 22 where we have the sunshine. fairly light breeze, more noticeable for the far south—west of england and the western isles. later on this afternoon into the evening, we still have a band of rain across east anglia and south—east england, eventually it. to clear away through the first part of the night, heading

into the low countries, and into scandinavia. most of the shower was will fade, they could return through the early hours, western isles, wales, south—west england. there are skies overnight, temperatures dipping into single figures, perhaps as low as three or four for rural parts, holding up to ten to 12, for much of england and wales. as we go into friday, area of low pressure, pushing its way to scandinavia, behind it, atlantic flow, brisk westerly breeze, continuing to push more showers across tomorrow. we will end the week typically, sunshine and showers, sunshine around large swathes of england and wales. could be on the sharp side if we do catch one. temperatures going up we do catch one. temperatures going up and down like a yo—yo, 17 to 22 degrees. highest where we have the sunshine. what of the weekend, atlantic influence, area of low pressure, tracking towards the uk.

some uncertainty as to the exact position of the area of low pressure, hence exactly where these fronts will be. looks like the wettest weather through the weekend will be parts of scotland, northern ireland and northern england, parts of western wales as well. as we head south and east, here is where we have a greater chance of it being drier with spells of sunshine. showers, never to far—away. drier with spells of sunshine. showers, neverto far—away. goodbye. hello, it's thursday, it's 9 o'clock. i'm joanna gosling, welcome to the programme. more calls for borisjohnson to be disciplined by the party for saying the full face veil makes women look like "bank robbers" and "letter boxes". ruth davidson, leader of the scottish conservatives, has said his comments are "gratuitously offensive". we've tracked down a woman in denmark who says she was issued with a fine for wearing a niqab in public after a ban came into effect this month. even if i want to go outside to the playground with my kids, i can't do that, because i'm a criminal. i can't go to the shop and buy milk because i'm a criminal, so criminals are not

allowed to buy milk. just because of the way i look. so how do muslim women here feel the row impacts on their way of life?