hello. this is the business briefing. i'm ben bland. taking on the trade tensions. with the world's two biggest economies locked in a trade war, canada launches a plan to modernise the rules on global business. making it to the mountains. amazon's delivering online shopping to the himalayas, but what does that mean for the people who live there? and we will keep an eye on the markets. this is a little snapshot for you right now. hello there. the world's two biggest economies have been slapping each with tariff after tariff over the last few months in their escalating trade war. meanwhile, the world trade organisation — that is the body that's supposed to referee this fight between the united states and china — has been left on the sidelines in urgent

need of reform. and that is why canada is hosting a meeting of likeminded countries to try and make that happen. but neither the united states, nor china will be there, despite them both being at the forefront of global trade tensions. the us has hit china with tariffs on $250 billion of imports, beijing hitting back to the tune of $110 billion. the wto itself has also been in president trump's crosshairs. he's described it as "a catastrophe", and threatened to pull out all together because he thinks it treats the us unfairly. and it's notjust words. the us has hobbled the wto's dispute resolution body by blocking the reappointment ofjudges. only three out of the seven seats are currently filled — that is the bare minimum in order for it to function. today's meeting will look at making the wto more effective in solving disputes — something that it currently struggles with because any of the 164 members

can veto proposals for change. at a speech in london last week, the head of the world trade organisation admitted that change was needed. it took many decades of painstaking work from governments around the world to build the trading system that we have today, the system may not be perfect, but it is essential and it has proved very effective, and it has proved very effective, and asa and it has proved very effective, and as a result, it has helped to fuel unprecedented growth and development around the world, as well as a dramatic, a really dramatic reduction of poverty. people often cite the lack of progress in the wto, of negotiations in particular, and this is quite valid. we understand that, and we are working to change this. independent researcher stephanie harejoins me now. welcome, good to see you as always. morning. an acknowledgement that

reform is needed, what do you think the measures are that the wto needs to bring in, the change, to make it more effective? there are three points at the canadians have issued in the communique for this three—day summit that they are hosting in ottawa. the first is that they want to improve the monitoring mechanism because there are 164 members and a lot of trade happening around the world and it is really difficult to keep up with everything, the second is improving the dispute settlement system, writes? is really a lengthy, complicated, it can take years, it is costly, kind of ineffective, a bit unwieldy. —— it is. the 30 something that sounds kind of vague, and that is to modernise the world trade organization to make it fit for purpose in the 21st century and thatis for purpose in the 21st century and that is really a reflection of things like the digital economy, because we have to remember that the world trade organization is 23 years old but that was the version two already is something called the general agreement on trade and ta riffs general agreement on trade and tariffs and that was from 1947. so it is not entirely weed that we would be talking about modernising

yet again, having version 3.0 if you will, and that is kind of where we out right now is. given all that though, how much can they realistically achieve without the us and china, the world's two biggest economies, being in the room for this discussion? is interesting because on one hand, you would think nothing, they can't anything without the world's two biggest economies, not quite contentious and of course in the middle of a trade war, which is illegal in terms of the world trade organization's rules. but on the other hand, it is quite interesting strategy on the canadians's interesting strategy on the ca nadians's part. interesting strategy on the canadians's part. they have invited 12 european states and other countries to come and have a chat first, it might make sense to get those people together, have those kind of tedious multilateral trade discussions that may be the us and china do not have the appetite for and present those is the tension solutions that they can pick and choose on later. and how important

is the tone that is set by the us because the wto has been heavily criticised by president trump, there seems to be a complete flouting of wto rules in this trade war between the us and china? is the two big players in the world economy are not seem to be abiding by the rules is, what kind of incentive is there for any of the perhaps less mature economies to abide by the rules, which they may feel well, this is restricting our developmental growth as developing economies? restricting our developmental growth as developing economie57m restricting our developmental growth as developing economies? it is interesting as the former head of the world trade organization said, one thing we must give us president donald trump credit for is that in saying the united states will draw if the wto is not in form and shape up, choose the president's words, it has actually pushed everyone back to the table to agree this modernisation. on the one hand, it is not greater china and the us are not abiding by world trade organization rules, on the other

hand, underlines the point is that organisation wants to stay relevant in the 21st century, it has to reform. 0k, stephanie, thank you very much indeed. thank you. as i mentioned, the world's two biggest economies, the us and china, are of course embroiled in a fierce trade war. and developing nations like panama are very much at the frontline as the two fight our it for influence. our asia business correspondent is karishma vaswani. we have been hearing from the vice president panama on the bbc, just give us a president panama on the bbc, just give us a summary president panama on the bbc, just give us a summary of what she had to say. well, in no, earlier this week, we have to put this in context first off, remember the comments came out in us secretary of state mike pompeo when he was on a latin american tour last week when he effectively criticised chinese investment in panama. the chinese lashed out, as you would expect them to, but in the first public comments that we have seen first public comments that we have seen from panama, are far more nuanced position, that i think

you'll find increasingly amongst countries who are stuck in the middle, if you will, of this new war, this new war between the us and china. —— a far more. have a listen to what the vice president panama had to say about chinese investment in the country? there is large, important foreign direct investment in panama from the united states, and we are sure that will continue to happen, but we welcome foreign investment from other countries. in the same way that we are careful with choosing contractors, choosing partners for any project, we will be careful with the incoming and new companies. this is something that is a reality for every country, no less for panama. —— with the incoming of new companies. are there any concerns about the implications of panama perhaps taking on debt from china? well, what has been talked a lot about with regards to chinese investment in the form of the belgian road programme, that is the massive infrastructure project that

china is laying out across the road, and panama certainly is one of the countries that it has been eyeing quite keenly and panama as well is looking for investment from china. —— belt and road programme. the concern over this programme has been what is called that diplomacy, what that means is when you do business with china will you go into a deal with china will you go into a deal with china, china brings the state enterprises, its labourers, it bring spare parts, so effectively, what you end up getting is a little bit of investment, not much in return. hanna says at this point that is not the case of panama, but those other kinds of concerns we have heard from around the region with regards to investment china. 0k, thank you very much indeed for that. internet shopping for the people of the himalayas. yes, that's right, even people living in some of the most remote parts of the world now have access to the choices offered by e—commerce. and forformer trekking guide eshay rangdol, amazon's move into the indian city of leh has

also delivered work, but there are environmental concerns too. let's bring you another story that has caught our attention. the us president donald trump has sharpened his attacks on the federal reserve by saying it posed the biggest risk to the us economy. in an interview with the wall streetjournal, mr trump said that rates were being raised too quickly under the leadership of chairman jerome powell. there have been eight increases since 2015, and the brisk pace of economic growth means more are expected next year to stop the us economy from overheating. soa so a very quick look at the markets before we go and you can't see them there at the asian markets fell again on wednesday, extending the previous day's sell—off, fuelled by all those geopolitical concerns that we have been talking about. energy firms taking a bit of another battering. that is all for the business briefing. see you soon. nearly 30,000 calls

were made by gamblers to the helpline in the last year according to gamcare, the charity that runs it. the government says it's taking decisive action to ensure the most vulnerable people in society are protected from gambling—related harm. the bbc‘s ali fortescue has more. sporting, funny and a son, alan took his own life because of a gambling addiction when he was 40 years old. was just horrified because addiction when he was 40 years old. wasjust horrified because i could not see what the attraction was, that it was so that it could have this effect on my son. -- i wasjust horrified. but sadly, his story is not unique. nearly 30,000 calls were made to the national gambling helpline last year, that is it 35%

increase on five years ago. the proliferation of advertising on the concern that we have got why the fixed betting terminals for example, this reflects an increase in problem gambling per se, this reflects an increase in problem gambling perse, i do this reflects an increase in problem gambling per se, i do not think it would be a great surprise to those of us that work in the area. format, it all started with card games and he was just 13 years old. he did not realise then that his addiction would end in a prison sentence. —— for matt. they ended up losing my job, taking lines of credit, just continues on anon because a problem gambler cannot win. i could not get out. it does notjust affect the gambler, it is not the number of gamblers that matter, it is the numberof gamblers that matter, it is the number of families that matter, the number of families that matter, the numberof number of families that matter, the number of people in those families, and they are the victims. unlike matt, alan lockha rt and they are the victims. unlike matt, alan lockhart was never able to start again but his family hopes that his story, however short, will

mean fewer lives lost. coming up at six o'clock on breakfast, dan and louise will have all the day's news, business and sport. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: there are warns of queues, delays and criminal activity at the uk's borders, if britain leaves the european union without a deal. as the migrant caravan heads closer to the us border, donald trump has described it as a national emergency. now it's time to look at stories making the headlines across the world: we begin online with the independent and the latest on preparations for a no—deal brexit. a report released overnight by a british watchdog says it's too late for the uk to ready its borders for a no—deal scenario. it states there's not enough time to train border staff or build new infrastructure.

looking at the financial times where uk vacuum maker, dyson, has settled on singapore as the place to build the first of its electric cars. the compa ny‘s founder says the factory had to be close to exisiting production hubs and potential customers. staying with cars on the telegraph online and adverts for ford have been banned after regulators ruled they were encouraging angry driving. business insider has the story on an oxford university study looking at how companies like google and facebook can hoover up data from third party apps. it found news apps and apps targeted at children were most vulnerable. in the new york times, a masterpiece...by a machine? a portrait produced by artificial intelligence goes up for sale in new york. and finally in the independent how much sway does meghan markle have on clothing sales? as much as 400%

according to john lewis. its annual report says searches shot up for yellow dresses after the duchess of sussex was seen wearing one. so let's begin. with me is tom stevenson, an investment director from fidelity international.