this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. with inflation running in the millions of percents and a serious political crisis, what are the prospects for venezuela's economy? merkel in tokyo — the german chancellor cements the eus trade relationship with japan as she spends two days to deepen ties. and a new trading week is underway in asia with markets in the region given a boost by the stronger than expected jobs data out from the us at the end of last week. tens of thousands of venezuelans have again taken to the streets over the weekend, demanding early elections and the departure of socialist president nicolas maduro. once latin america's richest economy, boosted by the world's largest oil reserves, it's now in freefall, due to corruption, mismanagement and high levels of debt.

take a look at the figures. consumer pricesjumped 1.7 million per cent in the 12 months to december, according to estimates by the opposition—led congress. by the end of last year, prices were doubling every 19 days on average. venezuela's main source of revenue has long been oil. but output from the state—run oil company pdvsa has halved since 2016 to less than 1.2 million barrels per day. it's also been heavily dependent on the us for oil revenue, sending a1% of exports there. but last week, the us imposed stiff sanctions on pdvsa, aimed at forcing mr maduro from power. venezuela also ships oil to russia and china but largely in lieu of debt repayments. the two countries are among venezuela's biggest creditors. its total national debt is estimated at nearly $150 billion. eileen gavin, senior latin america analyst at global risk consultancy

verisk maplecroftjoins me now. good morning. those numbers are very difficult to grasp, for people in venezuela, i mean, many of them are not using money now for regular transactions there. they are giving away bags of sugar in return for petrol. that is kind of how it is running? yeah, it is, and the latest sanctions are not going to help that any time soon. we're already seeing people caracas queueing up for fuel in anticipation of petrol shortages in coming weeks. there were huge protests again on the weekend, on saturday. thousands of people

millions of people, on the streets. the interim president, the so—called interim president, again calling for the bureau to leave, and the bureau again yesterday coming out and digging in and saying he is not intending to leave. —— maduro to leave. he has offered early legislative elections. the opposition will not accept that, they want to go to a general election straightaway. the us continues to put more pressure on, they are talking about trying to get in humanitarian aid. how will they do that? this is a very precarious situation. it is very difficult. there is no un mandate for this. it is difficult to see how this would happen. they have identified where they would come in through colombia, brazil and possibly a caribbean island which they haven't named. it island which they haven't named. it is difficult to see how this would happen. would the colombian military ta ke happen. would the colombian military take this to the border? would the venezuelan military left it in? it is just venezuelan military left it in? it isjust a venezuelan military left it in? it is just a really difficult,

dangerous situation, i think. is just a really difficult, dangerous situation, i thinkm is just a really difficult, dangerous situation, ithink. it is very fragile right now, especially, as you say, president madeira is digging in his heels, and the opposition leader, who has almost called himself president, juan guaido, is not coming to the table to talk or negotiate. so where do we go from here, do you think? the opposition do not see mr maduro as a credible the kits are any more. they wa nt credible the kits are any more. they want him to step aside. they are trying to pressure the military to ask him to step aside and then maybe there could be room for some dialogue. the european union is setting up a contact group, they are going to have a first meeting on thursday in uruguay to try to get some dialogue going. that is the only way this will be resolved. talk us only way this will be resolved. talk us through the involvement of russia and china, if any? us through the involvement of russia and china, ifany? we us through the involvement of russia and china, if any? we have mentioned they are huge creditors to venezuela, but are they offering any other support? there has been rhetorical support from moscow and beijing, toa rhetorical support from moscow and beijing, to a degree. it is

difficult to see how much more they would be willing to give. you know, they do have assets on the ground. russia's ross smith is invested to quite a degree, as are some of the chinese state oil companies. —— rosneft. it is rhetorical, for now. juan guaido yesterday did appeal to the chinese for talks, and did offer some reassurances as to their contracts being respect it and so on in the case of a transition. i think that would all be up for negotiation, if there was a transition. thank you for bringing us transition. thank you for bringing us up to date on what is going on in venezuela, a situation we are keeping a close eye on here on the bbc. later today, the leaders of the world's third and fourth biggest economies, japan and germany, are set to talk trade, politics and business. during her two—day visit to tokyo, german chancellor angela merkel is expected to meet, prime minister shinzo abe, emperor akihito and crown prince naruhito. let's go to our tokyo correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes who is following the story. this arrival of angela merkel is hot

on the heels of the eu and japan's signing off on their big trade agreement anyway, isn't it? yes, it is. her trip is being advertised by the government has getting together with the japanese to form what they are calling an alliance of multilateralism. you might ask, well, what on earth is that? it is really germany and japan, i think it is being driven by angela merkel herself coming up with an alternative to this sort of threats to world trading, to the old world trading system. which are represented by the trump administration. and it sort of trade nationalism. and the rise of china. which may people here injapan, and i think elsewhere in the world, believe doesn't really play by the international rules. angela merkel sees a like—minded ally in the shape of prime minister should as a wave,

these are both big trading economy cini to get the channels of trade open. —— prime minister shinzo abe. and japan assisting the g20 this year, so they will be talking about the agenda for that, to have a different argument against the trade nationalists like mr trump. interesting, thank you, rupert. we will keep an eye on how that progress is in the next few days. the future of iconic us retailer sears will be decided in us bankruptcy court on monday. the chain has been caught in the cross—hairs of the changing retail landscapes as more shoppers buy online. many sears stores have already closed and the company is facing the prospect of liquidation. one casualty of the store's downfall has been workers. they are fighting to get severance benefits included in any bankruptcy deal. the bbc‘s business correspondent samira hussain has more from new york. put an end to traffic fears, it's very to get to sears. sears has been

a fixture of the american retail landscape the nearly 100 years. it was like the amazon on of its time, able to reach many consumers in innovative ways. today however, it isa giant innovative ways. today however, it is a giant no longer. it is going bankrupt and facing the prospect of closing all of its stores, the latest casualties of online shopping. employees like terry lee kerr who lost herjob after 17 years working at sears, believe it was the greed of investors which left with few options. i am applying forjobs, to three places a week, and i'm not even getting a call back. it's hard. imean, you even getting a call back. it's hard. i mean, you put so much time and effort, i mean, i put my heart and soul into that door, and i have nothing to show for it. this is not a new story, but has retail owners load these companies with more debt,

it is becoming a more common one. in 2018, after it unexpectedly closed all its stores, workers successfully pushed to get the company's investors to shell out $20 million for company severance. sears employees are hoping to get the same. well, employees are at the bottom of the totem pole in terms of their ability to receive support from a company that's gone into restructure. mark cohen is the head of retail studies at columbia university. he says bankruptcy might help creditors get back some of their investment, but workers get nothing. if it goes into liquidation, they are completely out in the cold, so they lose their jobs, they lose their income, they lose any forward opportunity they may have had. but for these workers, that's just not good enough. samira hussain, bbc news, new york. the race to buy collapsed music chain hmv has a new front—runner after a surprise intervention from a canadian entrepreneur,

media reports say. the latest rescue bid is said to come from businessman doug putman, owner of canada's sunrise records stores. the move pits him against sports direct founder mike ashley, who has also placed a bid. nissan has confirmed that the new x—trail suv, originally planned for its main uk plant, will instead be made in japan. in a letter to workers, it said continued brexit uncertainty is not helping firms to plan for the future. nissan also said that since 2016 "the environment for the car industry in europe has changed dramatically", including "changing emissions regulations". thats it for the business briefing this hour. victims of crime in the uk are to get new powers to challenge

the release of violent offenders. the move follows public anger when the convicted rapist john worboys was granted parole. under the new system, victims will be able to challenge the release of an offender directly through thejustice secretary, rather than going through the courts. here's the bbc‘s danny shaw. known as the black cab rapist, john warboys was on the brink of being freed from prison last year when the high court overturned the parole board's decision to release him. the worboys ruling expose flaws in the way the panel had dealt with the case and now a series of reforms under way to make the parole board more transparent and improve the

service for victims. in the future victims will be able to contest decisions to release prisoners without having to go to court. guidance will be issued to parole board members about how they should approach cases. and there is to be a review of the parole board itself, to consider if it needs further fundamental reform. david cork, the justice secretary, says there are no profound deficiencies in the way the pa role process profound deficiencies in the way the parole process works, but he wants to see improvements. the review will examine if the parole board needs extra powers as it should be restructured. 0ne extra powers as it should be restructured. one option would be for the board to operate like a tribunal records, with every hearing headed like a judge —— ijudge. at the ministry ofjustice as it currently isn't viable to hold pa role currently isn't viable to hold parole hearings in public for security, privacy and practical reasons. and another business story to be across today. her manners —— hermes is offering paid benefits with the

gmb union, which means that kyrgios will be offered paid leave and guaranteed wage rates. —— couriers. this is seen as a big step forward for the so—called gigsters who work in the big economy. —— gig economy. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: search teams find the wreckage of a small plane that disappeared between france and britain, carrying the argentine footballer, emiliano sala and his pilot. pope francis becomes the first pontiff to set foot on the arabian peninsula, just hours after condemning the war in yemen. now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. we begin with the irish times. it's reporting on theresa may appointing brexit hardliners to a working group to find what are being called "alternative arrangements" to the irish backstop. the financial times now. its focus is on nissan pulling production of the x—trail car from the uk.

let's look at the main story on french newspaper le figaro. it says president macron is considering a referendum on mps terms as a means of quelling the yellow vest protests. norway's nrk covers the story of a man saved by his apple watch. it detected that the 67—year—old had fallen and summoned help. and finally a story from hawaii news now. we don't look at this one often, but we are today. why a new measure to combat smoking could see the sale of cigarettes restricted to people over 100 years old. i'm not quite adult. —— that old. with me isjonathan charles —

who is managing director of communications at the european bank for reconstruction and development. the irish times has been devoted to this issue for weeks now, the irish backstop and the fact that there seems to be no movement on this. and it is now the key issue, given what happened in parliament last week. the clock is ticking, and there is not much time to go. the irish times was discussing what we talk about the little while ago, this new working party. this "alternative arrangements working group", which sounds like something from a factory in the 1960s. brexiteer is steve baker, marcus fish, tojoin the remain as damian green and nicky morgan, what alternative arrangements will bake come