this is the business briefing. i'm victoria fritz. taking a pounding. sterling suffers its biggest sell—off in more than two years — as political turmoil puts the uk's brexit deal in doubt plus — apecing order. president xi takes centre stage at the asia pacific summit in papa new guinea — a sign of china's growing influence in the region elswhere on the markets. asian shares follow wall street higher on hopes of a thaw in relations between the us and china — with reports that washington has put the latest round of tariffs on hold. we start with the pound — which has been taking a pounding. sterling has suffered its worst sell—off in more than two years after a series of resignations from the uk government over prime minister theresa may's

draft brexit deal. the chaos in westminster has thrown the future of the deal into doubt — just hours after it was revealed. we will take a look at the deal in more detail in a moment — first lets cross to singapore where rico is looking at the currency markets. what do international investors make of what's going on in the uk? at this point, they are still very nervous about developments taking place in the uk and as you can see right now, in regional trade, the british pound remains under pressure after the currency suffered a rock fall overnight on fears the country could crash out of the european union without a divorce deal. the dollar and the yen are benefiting from this deepening crisis by

minister theresa may after the resignation of key ministers and this has left the sterling very vulnerable to further losses. a foreign exchange analyst said political troubles are never good for the currency but in the case of the uk, the pound could drop to about one pound 25 versus the dollar on the prospect of no deal brexit leadership challenge and slower growth. investors a re leadership challenge and slower growth. investors are looking for certainty. all they want is a deal in whatever shape and form and no deal is unacceptable. the president of toyota was also waiting on. he is warning the uk to avoid and no deal brexit at all costs. apart from brexit, there are also other factors impacting. we are also keeping a

nine on trade tensions as traders see signs that all economic powers are seeking to de—escalate their dispute. reports say in the us trade representative has told some industry executives that another round of tariffs on exports has been put on hold. these are bakers —— basically the focus of trading today in the currency markets. of course, you have us— china trade tensions and brexit, all this being discussed in the ongoing summit in port moresby in png we have all the world leaders excluding donald trump. they are attending this very important meeting. thank the taking us through all the tectonic plates and how they fit together. let's stay with brexit — because as you've been hearing, uk prime minister has been

defending her draft agreement on britain's exit from the eu — despite widespread criticism from both pro—leave and pro—remain politicians. the compromise has been broadly welcomed by many in the business world. but there are still major questions — let's show you why. the eu is currently the uk's largest trading partner. in 2017, uk exports to the eu were worth over $350 billion. that's 44 per cent of all britain's exports. imports from the eu totalled $435 billion — 53% of all imports into the uk. the draft agreement aims to protect that — promising a free trade area for goods, with no tariffs or quotas. that eases many of the worries of manufacturing firms — like the car industry.

but what about services — which accounted for 40% of uk exports to the eu last year? the draft promises an ‘ambitious arrangement‘. but britain's huge financial sector fears it won't get anything like the access it to eu markets that it enjoys now. then there is the uk's trade with the rest of the world. it's currently covered by the eu's trade deals. under the draft agreement — britain would be free to make its own. brexiteers say it could do better deals than it has now — and with more countries. but some fear it would simply have less negotiating power. china is stepping up its sphere of

influence. our asian business correspondence sent us this report. china has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in aid and investment in papua and new guinea. apec may not have been able to have been held in port moresby, the capital of papua and new guinea. but this new friendship is raising concern in some other quarters, namely with australia and the united states in america. they seek beijing's cheque—book diplomacy as a way to china to exert more influence in a pa rt china to exert more influence in a part of the world which is strategically very important to them so strategically very important to them so what can we expect over the next few days? perhaps more trade and aid deals from china for popular new guinea but also from the united states, australia and japan. this

country has become the latest battleground between the west and china. now let's brief you on some other business stories. facebook faces a new controversy over alleged tactics it used to discredit its critics, embarrass rivalfirms and downplay problems at the company. the new york times has published a wide—ranging account of the methods facebook and a public relations firm used to "deny and deflect" criticism. the report has led us lawmakers to call for tighter regulation of social networks. facebook has denied several of the claims. the family of a passenger killed when a lion air flight crashed into the sea near indonesia — are suing boeing over an alleged fault with the jet‘s design. the lawsuit accuses the us aircraft manufacturer of failing to inform pilots and airlines of a feature with its new 737 max plane system — that could "push the nose down unexpectedly". boeing maintains that it is "confident in the safety of the 737 max". and now — what's trending

in the business news this morning. on business insider — mark zuckerberg insists he's still the best person to run facebook, despite the endless scandals. on the wall streetjournal — youth use of e—cigarettesjumped 78%, government study shows. this is the ongoing controversy over vaping and the way it is marketed on social media. and from bloomberg — billionaire lewis's hockney fetches record $90.3 million. it says david hockney has dethroned jeff koons as the most expensive living artist when his painting, owned by billionairejoe lewis, fetched $90.3 million at christie's. and don't forget —

let is know what you are spotting online — use the hashtag #bbcthebriefing. ido i do read these, i have a little computer on my desk. before we go this is what the markets are doing. investors are gauging whether china in the us can de—escalate the trade spat before the summit later this month. political tensions in europe, the uk and italy, have been hitting sentiment this week that you can see wall street any a bit higher. the

japanese index down about 0.5%. the news briefing is next and we will ta ke news briefing is next and we will take you through all the media stories, you can imagine the headlines there. they don't have that in just headlines there. they don't have that injust a headlines there. they don't have that in just a moment. headlines there. they don't have that injust a moment. first, a little bit more news where you are. one of the biggest brexit disputes has been the future of the border between northern ireland and the republic of ireland — emma vardy has this report. who's scoring here? it was a goalless draw as northern ireland took on the irish republic in dublin tonight. but theresa may's been trying to present the draft brexit deal

as a win for both sides. it's not really dublin's problem, so yeah, they can just sit and watch it all unfold in westminster. the best case scenario in northern ireland would be the hong kong of the uk, it's the place to do business if you want to do business with europe easily, but at the same time, without feeling like you've got difficulties actually within the united kingdom. the brexit deal could keep northern ireland more closely tied to eu rules, so trade can flow freely between the north and south of this island. some northern ireland businesses believe that's a benefit. from first impressions, we thought it was business friendly. we welcomed the fact that we had open access to both the gb and eu markets. one of theresa may's closest allies came to rally support for her plan. when people actually sit down and go through the detail, and it is incredibly technical detail, and they see the safeguards that have been put in place and they see the way that the people of northern ireland have been put at the heart of this, they will see that this is the right deal for the united kingdom. but she's not cheering, the dup leader arlene foster believes the draft deal severs the united kingdom itself.

and the decision to sign off on the irish backstop has led to a political crisis at westminster. today, player after player in theresa may's team have been quitting their positions. many saying it is those arrangements for the irish border that they can no longer support. it is the relationship between these two sides that's continuing to define brexit. emma vardy, bbc news. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: theresa may has pledged to press on with her brexit plan — despite a growing challenge to her leadership. other eu leaders have said they won't renegotiate the brexit agreement, even if it's rejected by parliament. the authorities in california say the number of people reported

missing after the deadliest wildfire in the state's history has sharply increased to more than six hundred. at least 63 people are now known to have died. judges at the international tribunal in cambodia have convicted two former leaders of the khmer rouge of genocide. they were accused of carrying out a policy of targeting and eliminating two ethnic minorities. now it's time to look at the stories that are making headlines around the world — and no surprises as brexit dominates many of the front pages. let's just take a quick peek at the financial times — and how the uk is waking up to what's been called the most important issue since the second world war. the ft says the prime minister is fighting for her political life, and her brexit plan. the times suggests mrs may is at the mercy of what remains of her cabinet.

it says we might not have seen the last of the resignations whilst city am picks up on the prime minister's use of her cricketing hero geoffrey boycott as inspiration. the new york times highlights the potential for chaos with the brexit deal. underneath its front page photo of a dutch distribution centre it says there's now widespread uncertainty over imports such as holland's famous flowers. and one other story for you: the gulf news has the story that saudi arabia's public prosecutor is seeking the death penalty for five out of ii suspects charged in connection with the murder of journalist jamal khashoggi. the paper says mr khashoggi was killed in the country's istanbul consulate on october 2, after a struggle, by a lethal injection. so let's begin. with me is cornelia meyer — ceo of mrl corporation, a business consultancy. the last merger —— majority of them

on brexit. it's been described as a civil war. tory civil war. how weak is theresa may's position as leader? it is weakened, that but the question is, is anybody strong enough? there is the 1922 committee. 1596, enough? there is the 1922 committee. 15%, which is 48 members need to bring in the letters of no confidence in you can trigger it. you then need to make sure that it really goes through because you can only do that once a year. we will see. she is basically