this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. hopes of a truce in the trade war are dashed by reports that china's huawei could be charged with stealing technology from us firms. plus, brexit fears and us china tensions weigh on europe's economy as itjoins the global slowdown. and on the markets, those reports about the huawei investigation now starting to overshadow a positive lead from wall street with results from bank of america and goldman beating forecasts. a mixed state emerging in asia. —— a mixed day. we start in the us where trade tensions with china could be from t—mobile us and other

american companies.— ~ —— —— . the wall streetjournal says huawei could be indicted soon. the company has refused to comment on the reports. our technology reporter dave lee has more from san francisco. huawei is being accused of stealing trade secrets from t—mobile us, including a concept known as tapping. it has devices on its networks. according to us reports, the state of the investigation means there could be charges relatively soon. neither huawei all t—mobile us have commented on those reports. huawei is effectively blocked from greek any business in the us because the american security services are concerned that ageing eight years the compa ny‘s devices concerned that ageing eight years the company's devices and products

to spy on americans. tensions between the two countries have been intensified recently because huawei's chief financial officer was arrested in canada late last year. she is accused by the us of engaging in massive bank fraud. the next hearing in that case is due to take place early next month. we will discuss that further in our news briefing. it is dominating the financial press. let's go to asia now where we are waiting for news from japanese engineering giant hitachi about this, the planned nuclear power station that it is building on the island of anglesey in wales. japanese media has reported that hitachi will suspend construction of the wylfa newydd plant with the board due to meet on thursday. mariko oi is following the story. there have been real concern about this for quite some time in north wales. tell us what we might hear

today. we contacted hitachi about that board meeting and they wouldn't confirm it, but it has been widely reported that the board is meeting on thursday afternoon japan time which is now during which they will decide about the fate of the parkland in north wales. last week report emerged, especially injapan, that hitachi was going to suspend the project altogether, especially after the compa ny‘s chairman the project altogether, especially after the company's chairman told japanese media at the end that last year that the cost was ballooning, that it was nearly impossible to go ahead with it. acra one will be hit by quite a huge one—time financial loss of $2 billion, but it has been widely reported that the company still going to cancel it despite the financial loss because of the risks involved. of course it is not being confirmed, but as you say, a lot of speculation about possible job losses if it was confirmed that

project is axed. thank you very much. we shall keep a close eye on that. let's go to europe now, and there could be more evidence a global economic slowdown is taking its toll on the region in the form of eurozone inflation figures out in a few hours' time. this week, the head of the european central bank, mario draghi, warned the european parliament that the region's economy was weaker than expected. he pointed to global factors, notably the us—china trade war and, of course, brexit. an early estimate showed inflation slowing to 1.6% in december, well below the ecb's target of 2%. the european central bank is forecasting growth of 1.7% this year, but that could prove to be optimistic. europe's biggest economy germany saw growth slow to 1.5% in 2018, the weakest in five years. in fact, it narrowly avoided falling into recession in the second half. the ecb is running out of options.

its main interest rate is already at zero and it has already pumped $2.9 trillion into the economy over the last four years. now, there are big concerns over the impact of brexit. on wednesday, joachim lang of the german industry association bdi warned a hard brexit would be economically very damaging to germany and the wider eu, as well as to the uk. translation: all areas are affected from the car industry to chemicals, pharmaceuticals, engineering, electronics, they are all affected. great return used to be a third largest partner. they have since fallen to fifth place, but it is still a very important country for oui’ still a very important country for ourforeign trade. still a very important country for our foreign trade. though still a very important country for ourforeign trade. though matter which version will win, our top priority is to avoid a hard brexit because that is the worst situation for everyone, both the british economy and the one in continental

europe, so we had to avoid that under all circumstances. for some analysis, it is great to have christel. you are listening to that. interesting to hear the german view. we discuss at length what is going on in the uk, but for europe of course there is real concern of a ha rd of course there is real concern of a hard brexit or a crashing out of europe. that scenario and the impact on german exporters, companies across europe. absolutely. in our baseline scenario, we have not plugged in a hard brexit, but if that were to happen, we all had to go back to the drawing board and ta ke go back to the drawing board and take the forecast down substantially. what would that look like for the eurozone? the eurozone is exporting region. the uk is a very important market to the eurozone, so growth would pretty much be non—existent, if not marginally going into recession.

talking about the inflation numbers out today, you think it could be worse in some of those estimates. talk us through what is going on when it comes to prices in the eurozone. the drop to 1.696 when it comes to prices in the eurozone. the drop to 1.6% we when it comes to prices in the eurozone. the drop to 1.696 we were expecting fought december is very much an energy storage at the moment. we'll prices went lower, they are feeding through, and on the back of that, headline inflation will in fact go down further in coming months. have got headline inflation falling all the way nearer to i% inflation falling all the way nearer to i% come media. but it is a headline energy driven story i think for the ecb, it is much what important to see what is happening behind just the energy component, what is happening to the inflation, and wage growth has picked up in europe on the back of that. let's see if that feeds through ultimately into core inflation. it is quite difficult for them, and what is

extremely difficult to him which is unusual in his job, extremely difficult to him which is unusual in hisjob, is how to navigate interest—rate policy in the eurozone. it is so diverse. germany is in eurozone. it is so diverse. germany isina eurozone. it is so diverse. germany is in a very different place to greece and italy for example. absolutely, and that has always been a problem for the ecb. they need to act according to the aggregate. you had to take the differences into account having said that, for the ecb at the moment, what is so crucial is to at least start than policy normalisation procedure because the depository is in negative territory and you cannot have that rate in negative territory forever. briefly, what is your outlook for the year ahead for europe given the uncertainty with regards to brexit, but also of course the us china trade dispute, other issues within europe? are baseline scenario does not envisage a hard brexit, we do think that the

trade dispute will continue being all but banned bite, and on the back of that for europe i still have hope around the potential, but the risks are aplenty, there are are a very dark clouds on the horizon, and it any of these risks materialise, we need to go back to the drawing board and take the european growth down substantially. christel, thank you for joining substantially. christel, thank you forjoining us. good to get your views on that. when the inflation figures are released, we will update you. but brechin our other business stories. surveyors and estate agents believe the outlook for the uk housing market over the next three months is the worst for 20 years. the report by the royal institution of chartered surveyors blames the pessimism on the lack of clarity around brexit. apple could be cutting back on hiring staff in some departments after lower—than—expected iphone sales. according to bloomberg, apple boss tim cook gave employees the news earlier this month the day after he was forced to write to investors to tell them revenues would be lower than expected, sending apple shares plunging at the time.

the boss of procter and gamble, maker of fairy liquid and gillette razors, says its products could cost more if the uk leaves the eu with no deal. david s taylor told the bbc that any tariffs the company may have to pay would be added to grocery bills. there we go. a quick look at the markets. japan has about 20 minutes to go to —— today. investors weighing up the news about huawei. as well as other risks out there today. that's it for the 7 as we have mentioned, the prime

minister's agenda today is meeting was senior politicians. the idea is to find a way forward with brexit. she spoke after surviving a vote of no—confidence in the commons. she spoke after surviving a vote of no—confidence in the commonslj believe no—confidence in the commons.” believe it is my duty to deliver on the british people's instruction to leave the european union, and intend to do so. so, now mps have made clear what they don't want, we must now work constructively together to set out what parliament does want. that is why i am inviting mps from all parties to come together to find all parties to come together to find a way forward. one that both delivers on the referendum and can command the support of parliament. this is now the time to put self—interest aside. i havejust held constructive meetings with the

leader of the liberal democrats and the westminster leaders of the snp and bright career. from tomorrow, meetings will be taking place between senior government representatives, including myself, and groups of mps who represent the widest possible range of views from across parliament, including our confidence and supply partners that democratic unionist party. i am disappointed that the leader of the labour party has not so far taken part, but our door remains open. it will not be an easy task, but mps know they have a duty to act in the national interest, reach a consensus and get this done. in a historic vote in 2016, the country decided to leave the eu. in 2017, 80% of people voted for parties battled on ma nifestoes voted for parties battled on manifestoes promising to respect that result. that is last night on

downing street. breakfast is coming up downing street. breakfast is coming up at six o'clock. you are with their briefing on bbc news. britain's prime minister will meet more senior politicians later on wednesday to try to find a way forward for the brexit process. the greek prime minister, alexis tsipras, has narrowly survived a vote of confidence in parliament after his governing coalition broke down in a row over the renaming of macedonia. hopes of a truce in the trade war are dashed by reports that china's huawei could be charged with stealing technology from us firms. let's dig deeper. what is the global media saying about some of these stories? we begin with the i newspaper, here in the uk. ‘softer brexit‘ is its headline. it is looking at the reasons why

many believe that is where the uk is headed. arab news. it reports on the four americans killed in a suicide attack in syria, saying it complicates the us withdrawal from the country. the wall streetjournal talks about the alleged theft of trade secrets at hauwei. —— huawei. it says the claims centre around t—mobile technology that huawei's accused of copying. bbc news online among many covering a landmark food study. scientists say they've found the right diet to save lives and the planet. and fake news has made the real news, after this mocked up issue the of the washington post was circulated in the us capital, claiming donald trump had quit. it was so realistic the newspaper's pr department tweeted readers to beware. with me is alpesh patel,

who's ceo of praefinium partners. dk it for closer ties with europe, andi dk it for closer ties with europe, and i have to say actually it has got lots of different articles throughout the paper. —— softer brexit, closer ties with europe. yesterday, when i was at westminster, people were telling me that the plan was rejected this week was possibly the hardest... since we're talking about brexit, we just lost about half a million viewers. cani lost about half a million viewers. can ijust lost about half a million viewers. can i just be lost about half a million viewers. can ijust be the