this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. the world bank warns the trade war between the two biggest economies — the us and china — is increasing the risks to the global economy. and india's top court rules the copper plant — at the centre of deadly protests last year — can reopen. we'll cross live to mumbai. and the bouyant mood on global financial markets is continuing in asia today as investors hope the trade talks underway in beijing will lead to a breakthrough. the world bank has warned of increasing risks — or what it calls darkening skies for the global economy. it says escalating conflict over international trade could lead to slower growth this year and next. it now predicts global growth of 2.9% this year

and 2.8% in 2020, slightly below earlier forecasts. estimates for virtually all regions have been downgraded. the world bank singles out trade tensions between the world's two biggest economies — the us and china — as a particular concern, along with rising government and corporate debt. there are signs of progress in us—china talks in beijing, the first since presidents donald trump and xijinping agreed a 90—day truce in buenos aires last month. this is the us delegation, led by deputy trade representative jeffrey gerrish. the global economy is going through

difficult period, we see sky is darkening. the end china, they account for 40% of global gdp and they account for 2% global trade. how they resolve their differences is going to be very important, how global economy is going to shape this year. that was the world bank's senior economist. joining me is victoria hewson, senior counsel, international trade and competition unit at the institute of economic affairs: (1+1) what do you make of the world bank saying that? it's not surprising given the headwinds that have been reasonably clear over the last you will too. that ineffective man ——

but have been affecting manufacturing investment and trade. they are also looking at things like borrowing and debt in emerging and developing economies. obviously, so much hangs on that relationship between the us and china which, as with scene, the rallies that with scene in the stock markets around the world this morning really coming out of this quite potentially. we will talk about that in just a second. but if you look at those predictions, 2.9%, 2.8% in 2020, that doesn't sound so bad. people we re that doesn't sound so bad. people were talking about a possible recession in 2020. it is still growth, there is that. they are not forecasting recession is in the united states or china. growth continues quite robustly. we saw

some quite gloomy news. they potentially are looking at a recession which will have a huge effect on the eurozone but on a global level, as you say, it is an forecasting recession. global level, as you say, it is an forecasting recessionlj global level, as you say, it is an forecasting recession. i was getting my name is mixed up earlier. the person in the midst of these trade talks, but in terms of those trade discussions under way, we are hearing lots of positive noises surrounding those. president trump is not the one tweeting about it. what you might happen? the fact that it's gone on for three days. obviously president trump tweeting positive noises is very welcome. the concern might be that they will be

focusing on quite short—term transactional things, the immediate ta riffs transactional things, the immediate tariffs and the tit—for—tat tariffs we saw last year rather than focusing on some of the structural issues, things like intellectual property rights protection. but since we heard about this 90— day truce between the two presidents in december, there has been a bit of news from the likes of apple. but increases the pressure, doesn't it, on both is negotiating for china and the us, it is the huge global companies affecting us. over the past few weeks, those global companies are so past few weeks, those global companies are so interconnected. they have supply chains that across the globe and a trade war between united states and china is the last thing those global really want. thank you for coming in in sharing

your thoughts on that. more detail on our website and also i have tweeted the news of what the world bank had to say so dig deeper if you wish. now you may remember violent protests in southern india over a copper plant, which local communities claimed was a major source of pollution. the smelter was closed in may last year after more than a dozen protesters were killed when police opened fire on demonstrators. but india's top court has now paved the way for it to reopen. we can cross live to the bbc‘s sameer hashmi in delhi. well, sally, after the firing that took place last year, the local government turned down the plant and the company that owns the plant filed an appeal, but the decision was upheld. it is now set aside the

order. the reason for that is the national green tribunal, which gives environmental clearances to all the players, had ruled in favour of the company, vedanta, saying there was no problem in opening the plant because it met with the criteria as to the norms that were required, the environmental norms. so now, the next step is that vedanta is going to approach the local government, the tamil nadu government, to reopen and the local government is not in favour of reopening the plant. there isa favour of reopening the plant. there is a lot of opposition on the ground. it will be interesting to see what happens next. or whether people will be forced to wait because the decision has come from india's top court. now let's brief you on some other business stories.

the mayor of ostend has told the bbc that the belgian port will not be ready for a new ferry line in time for brexit. bart tommelein was asked about the uk government's award of a $17.6 million contract to seaborne freight for a service between the british port of ramsgate and ostend. mr tommelein said it was impossible that ostend would be ready. shares in boeing took off on wall street after the planemaker reported record plane deliveries in 2018 for a second consecutive year. the us aerospace giant delivered 806 planes, just beating its rival airbus. the european manufacturer said it delivered 800 commercial aircraft last year, also a record for the company. both have capitalised on rising global demand for air travel. world's biggest tech show, all

conceivable devices are on display. chris fox is there and is picked out a few highlights for us. welcome to las vegas, the show floor is finally open and thousands of companies here showing off their gadgets. this is a little companion robot called kiki, much like those other plastic robots. this one has a deep learning personality so it's meant to be more friendly. it's already raised $2 million. it's a device that is going to advise. i'm going to take a deep breath. what is it doing? we are inhaling a specific amount of air. you're holding your breath and what it does, is going to measure chris's metabolism that a personalised nutrition plan and you need to ex hale nutrition plan and you need to exhale in three, two, one. how his

metabolism is doing. you can see right now chris is burning mostly fats. i've had a good breakfast. i don't think my diet is going to get any better while i'm here in las vegas. there are a few other gadgets you can blow into. in the japan stand, they have a breathalyser. it can not just say stand, they have a breathalyser. it can notjust say how much alcohol you've had, it can predict when you will be sober. in health, we've seen a really interesting robot designed to the elderly that can talk to you and remind you to take your medicine. it is still only day one at ces, the show goes on for a few more days so there will be a lot more days so there will be a lot more to see. chris fox there. if you download the bbc news apple and you select tack, you can get all the other stuff. so much coverage from ces. see you in a moment.

a ban on cold calls about pensions comes into force today, to try to deal with scammers who've been tricking people out of tens of millions of pounds each year. from now on, anyone who calls, emails or texts about pension savings without permission will face a heavy fine. here's our personal finance correspondent, simon gompertz. it's a scourge on pensioners and savers like graham who was bombarded with calls from fraudsters. they carry on evidence gathering in south london to equip pensioners to deal with scams. i've been, in the centre

today half—an—hour now, and i've had five of those calls already on my phone. mary was tricked into paying out thousands of pounds from her bank account so she is anxious about the calls. ijust put the phone down andi the calls. ijust put the phone down and i said, i'm not interested and i put the phone down. what do you think of people like that? they are scum. the scale this is reached despite being. the total number of cold calls, emails and texts running at nearly 11 million a year. typically people scammed out of £91,000 from their pensions. against that, now there will be a penalty of up that, now there will be a penalty of up to £500,000 for people who flout the band. despite the ban, treasury ministerjohn glen says it's important not to become complacent. we are onto it and we need to make sure that we stay ahead of this and we are not saying it's the end of it

either. if there is a mutation in the scammers activities we will be looking very carefully to take further action in future. the government is being criticised for not serving up a cold calling bands sooner not serving up a cold calling bands sooner but now anyone calling without your permission about your pension savings is breaking the law. simon gompertz, bbc news, south london. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: donald trump has appealed directly to the american people, urging them to support his controversial southern border wall. afterwards, the democrats gave their response. they called on the president to immediately reopen the ghovernment. australian police are dealing with suspicious packages that have been sent to 11 foreign embassies and consulates in the cities of melbourne and canberra. let's look then at the stories that are making

the headlines in the media across the world. let's begin with politico. it talks about the us president's public plea for border wall funding, calling it a "crisis of the soul", in a prime—time address and his first tv address to the nation from the oval office. to dig deep into the moment. —— we will. arab news is leading with turkish president recep tayyip erdogan snubbing talks with us security chiefjohn bolton, and saying the us made "a very big mista ke" by demanding protection for syrian kurds. on the front page of i news, british mps tell the newspaper of an increase in aggressive and bullying behaviour by extremist protesters. the revelations came after the mp anna soubry was called a "nazi". bloomberg is looking at the reasoning behind the surprise resignation of the head of the world bank.

jim yong kim said he's leaving one of the world's most influential agencies because he believes he can do more to build infrastructure in the developing world by working in the private sector. the daily telegraph features a report on removing the bars from prison cell windows in britain. the idea is the taxpayer funded project is to boost rehabilitation of offenders by "normalising their environment". with me is cornelia meyer, ceo of mrl corporation, a business consultancy. the villa here are briefing. let's start with politico. you watched his speech in the oval office and reactions as well from the democrats, nancy pelosi and others.