speak —— hello. this is the business briefing. i'm ben bland. amazon's big apple deal goes sour. plans for a vast new york headquarters are axed, amid a backlash from local politicians and community groups. plus — high stakes poker. the us and china face off in trade talks, as the economic cost of their tariff battle mounts up. and on the markets — after days of optimism, concerns creeping in that those talks might not be making much progress — that is starting to weigh on the asian markets. we start this edition

in the united states, where the internet giant amazon has abandoned plans to build a vast second headquarters in new york city because of opposition from local politicians and labour unions. the company had said its proposal would create 25,000 jobs at long island city, in the borough of queens. but there was concern in some quarters about its impact on the local community and criticism of huge financial incentives promised by city authorities to amazon — which is one of the world's most valuable companies, run by the world's richest man. michelle fleury reports from new york. grandstanding about a block away from what would have been one of amazon's major new offices, right here in queens, new york. now, right from the beginning, the project was the source of a great deal of

controversy, in pa rt the source of a great deal of controversy, in part because of the gentrification in causing this neighbourhood but also a lot of anger over the fact that the company was receiving huge tax breaks and $3 billion in subsidies to come here. 0ne billion in subsidies to come here. one of the richest tech companies in the world and from the beginning, local politicians and grassroot activists met here. now that the company has pulled out, this is where they can celebrate. it is a bit during four people who want to envision a different world, that is not driven by profits are billionaires, but actually is about a sting working people, the poor. and that is part of what we are fighting for. —— victory. and that is part of what we are fighting for. -- victory. i'm a business owner in this area, and for a lot of people in queens and from queens and as someone that actually is responsible for their livelihood and fortheirjob, is responsible for their livelihood and for their job, this is responsible for their livelihood and for theirjob, this was transformative for new york and the fa ct transformative for new york and the fact that it is not going to happen

any more is extremely sad. this was any more is extremely sad. this was a winfor any more is extremely sad. this was a win for commuting organisers. what is not clear is what it means in the future, will major companies still wa nt to future, will major companies still want to come to the big apple? let's go to beijing now, where us treasury secretary steven mnuchin and trade representative robert lighthizer will meet president xijinping later, as the world's biggest economies try to agree an end to their damaging trade war. the us is demanding more market access for its companies and a stop to what it sees as chinese trade abuses, including the theft of intellectual property. so far, the us has imposed import taxes or tariffs on $250 billion worth of chinese goods. beijing hit back with tariffs on $110 billion of us goods. china's exports to the us have been hit, but it's doing damage on both sides. us sales to china plunged a1% last month, according to official chinese figures out yesterday. and it could get a lot worse. the us has said that from march 1,

it will raise tariffs on chinese goods from 10% to 25% — unless there is an agreement. china, in that instance, would be pretty sure to retaliate. so there is huge pressure to avoid an escalation. reports have suggested that president trump could be willing to extend that deadline for 60 days, to buy a bit more time to do a deal. let's go straight to stephen mcdonell, who's our correspondent in beijing. talk then of some possible concessions coming from the chinese side, what more do we know about that? well, not telling us that there has been any breakthrough yet, and everybody is really counting on something being achieved from this meeting but the problem is, you know, you just spoke about how complicated this years and we are just weeks away from this march one

deadline, so i can imagine that when the us president says he may extend for another 60 days say that deadline to try and work out a deal, that might have to happen because you can imagine is everything from problems like this allegation of the theft of foreign intellectual property to enable international companies to invest in china, but it is other stuff as well. for example, regulation is that if you are a foreign company and you want to set up foreign company and you want to set up in china, you have to have a local partner in things like that. now, the us and europe especially have said that is just not fair that china does not have a level playing field when it comes to trading with the west, but these are big matters, which are quite complex, not the least of which is even if there is an agreement is, how do they all know it has happened is? —— does not. if you know what i mean, one of the mechanisms to check it, that

will also have to be agreed and the clock is ticking. —— what other mechanisms to check it? —— what are the mechanisms to check it? thank you very much. let's go to japan now, where foreign workers will soon be a more common sight, after the government pushed through a controversial law. the change is seen as crucial because the country's population is ageing and shrinking fast. by 2060, japan's workforce will be only half of what it was in its peak in the late 90s. as part of our worklife japan series, mariko 0i reports on how some businesses have found success by embracing workers from overseas. handed down for generations, but so are making is a skill that is fast disappearing. hans is in sweden. he moved to japan in 2012 to learn the craft from his master. today he has

been asked to restore the several hundred years old sword, a task entrusted to only a few. for centuries, the ancient art of salt craftsmanship has been done by the japanese, but at the number has dwindled, the industry started to embrace a foreigner. the question is, will the rest ofjapan embrace a foreigner. the question is, will the rest of japan follow suit? handful of companies have. —— a handful. you may not realise, that this is the rare sight injapan, a group of mostly foreign engineers having their daily meeting in english. e—commerce giant rakuten is one of a few firms which adopted english as its office language not too long ago. the company called it englishnisation. it needed to tap overseas talent because it could not

find enough english speaking engineers at home. englishnisation isa engineers at home. englishnisation is a major driver to recruit and retain the talents. right now, we have 2300 engineers injapan, over half of them are foreign tech talents. the final practice session at the annual dragon boat racing tokyo, and rakuten is one of a few companies in the race for the international participants. that is because, unlike rakuten, the japanese workplace is still growing homogenous. from april, the government will allow more foreign workers in selected sectors, mainly in low—paying blue collarjobs. it was an unpopular move and there have been reported mistreatment of foreign workers. with the shrinking workforce and more global competition, japan needs to look outside and adapt in order to secure its position as one of the biggest

economies in the world. mariko 0i, bbc news, tokyo. that was better than expected, as revenue growth helped to offset higherfuel costs. revenue growth helped to offset higher fuel costs. singapore airlines is in the second year of a three—year transformation plan, designed to cut costs and boost revenue to better compete against chinese, middle eastern and low—cost rivals. and now, what is trending in the business news this morning. bloomberg tells the story of amazon's escape from new york. we were discussing that little earlier. it says plans for helicopter pads for the company's wealthy executives only exacerbated anger about the plans among some opponents, who used the catchphrase "stay the helipad out!" business insider says facebook is reportedly considering paying a record multi—billion dollarfine to settle us regulators's

investigation into its privacy practices. and the wall streetjournal reports on the arrest of a scientist working with suppliers to coca cola — accused of stealing trade secrets to pass to china. they were interested in the coatings used on the inside of cans, which are apparently very hard to make. don't forget, let us know what you are spotting online. share that with us. use the hashtag, as usual, #bbcthebriefing. that's almost it for the business briefing this hour. but before we go, the markets. asian stocks fell after weak us retail sales figures raised fresh doubts about the strength of the world's largest economy. that outweighed any optimism towards trade talks between the us and china. see you soon. the prison minister says

there are early signs of reduced violence in 10 of england's worst affected prisons. last year, rory stewart said he'd quit if he was unable to tackle the problem. here's our home affairs correspondent, danny shaw. 0k, we're going to do a routine cell search... the value of experience. these senior prison officers have been brought in to nottingham to guide new members of staff. more than half of those working here have less tha n than half of those working here have less than two years service. they need help to carry out basic duties, like searching cells for drugs and weapons. pay attention to... you can't prepare for job weapons. pay attention to... you can't prepare forjob like this, the noise, the smell. when you come into contact with somebody that is

threatening to take their own life or attempting to take their own life, that is probably the scariest, most daunting situation i have found myself in and have that experience there to reassure me in the prisoner was really beneficial. but drugs are still being smuggled in. this harry potter book had been sprayed with a psychoactive substance similar to the synthetic cannabis, spice. new scanning equipment will help detect drugs. they remain a cause of instability and violence. the prison is fundamentally still unsafe and that remains a challenge for us. every day, there is an assault on my collea g u es every day, there is an assault on my colleagues and prisoners, that is regretful, but it is getting safer. nottingham is one of ten prisons are getting investment and support to cut violence. i would not committed to going into those ten prisons and committed to reducing violence and drugs andi committed to reducing violence and drugs and i would not put myjob on the line unless i was confident we could do it, but it is worth putting in context in those ten prisons, violence has been rising steadily month on month five years, so

turning that around and bring it down is going to be challenged. that is certainly the case here, the permit it and dedication of the staff. —— going to be a challenge. this is the briefing from bbc news. i'm ben bland. the latest headlines: president trump is seeking funding for his controversial border wall by declaring a national emergency. democrats say doing so would be be a "lawless act". britain's political deadlock continues, after theresa may failed to win backing for her brexit plan in westminster. a british teenager who ran away to syria to join the islamic state group has been told she could face prosecution if she tries to come home. now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world: we begin with the times. yesterday we brought you the story about the british woman who ran away from east london to join the islamic state when she was 15 years old

and her story is on the front of lots of today's papers. the latest is that the british home secretary sajid javid is saying he will do everything he can to stop her returning. now on to the guardian which has a picture of a forlorn theresa may. it says she has suffered an embarrasing defeat at the hands of hardline eurosceptics following another brexit vote. the financial times reports that amazon has abruptly pulled out of plans to build its satellite headquarters in new york city in the face of fierce local hostility. but by losing amazon, new york will sacrifice about 25000 jobs. and staying with those big tech firms the business standard reports that global technology giants like — google, facebook, twitter and amazon — may soon have to pay a digital tax in india. and finally on the bbc

website a study just released— in which scientists compare the brian function of late risers and "morning larks", with some very interesting results. more on that later. with me is mark davies who's ceo of strategy consultancy, camberton. you a night out? i am. what am i doing here! we will delve into that later. the lead story on many of the front pages the schoolgirl as she was when she left to go to syria now trying to come back saying that she fears for the welfare and health of her baby, she says she is pregnant. the response from the home secretary