this is the business briefing, china's exports tumble the most in three years, pointing to a further slowdown in the economy. from the downright bizarre to the sublime, this is the briefing, we take a closer look i'm victoria fritz. at the quirkiest cars our top story: at the geneva motor show. enter the dragon. us attempts to restart space travel reach a crucial stage as the unmanned spacex dragon capsule attempts re—entry and on the markets: major chinese to earth's atmosphere. stocks took their biggest intraday dip since october on friday, as losses for global equities rolled president trump's former campaign chief is jailed for nearly four years for conspiracy, money laundering and fraud, and must repay more than $24 million to the us government. britain escalates its efforts to have nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe released from prison in iran, offering her diplomatic protection, in a move that triggers a formal dispute between the two countries. china's exports tumble the most in three years in february, pointing to a further slowdown in the economy despite a spate

of support measures. a warm welcome to the programme, briefing you on all you need to know in global news, business and sport. and you can be part of the conversation. tell us what you think. would you want to go up in a commercial space vehicle? just let us commercial space vehicle? just let us know. just use the hashtag #bbcthebriefing. america's new commercial astronaut capsule is being prepared for the most dangerous part of its demonstration flight. in just over two hours‘ time, the spacex dragon vehicle will leave the international space station to begin its journey back to earth. it has been docked at the space station for the past week.

if all goes well, the capsule will drop through the atmosphere before splashing down in the atlantic ocean off the coast of florida. pallab ghosh reports. we are about to make metres away... wa ke we are about to make metres away... wake so far, so good. there was a successful docking of the dragon capsule over the weekend, and a warm welcome from the crew of the international space station to the mannequin named ripley. in the middle, nasa's iain maclean.m mannequin named ripley. in the middle, nasa's iain maclean. it has been eight long years that the country that won the space race has been grounded. the shuttle was withdrawn from service because it was unsafe. if all goes well in the next few hours, the dragon capsule will take astronauts into space later this year. but its biggest testis later this year. but its biggest test is yet to come. after the capsule docks, it will make its way

back to earth, and then re—entry —— undocks. the most hazardous part of the mission. it has a heat shield to protect it from higher temperatures, retro rockets and four parachutes will have to slow the dragon down before it slashes down into the atla ntic before it slashes down into the atlantic ocean this afternoon. —— splashes down. donald trump's former campaign chairman paul manafort has been sentenced to 47 months in prison for banking and tax fraud. mr manafort‘s is the only case to go to trial so far brought by the special counsel, robert mueller, who is investigating alleged collusion between the trump campaign and russia during the 2016 general election. here is our north american correspondent peter bowes. he was once a high—flying businessman, known for his dapper appearance and lavish lifestyle. paul manafort‘s crimes were uncovered during the investigation

into russia's role in the 2016 us election, led by the special counsel, robert mueller. but the charges related to the money he was paid working for politicians in ukraine, with connections to moscow. prosecutors said manafort hid more than $55 million from the us tax authorities. wearing a green prisonjumpsuit and seated in a wheelchair, he addressed the court and asked the judge for compassion. he said the last two years had been the most difficult of his life. "to say i am humiliated and shamed would be a gross understatement." the judge said he was surprised that manafort did not express regret for engaging in wrongful conduct. "you should have remorse for that." manafort could have been jailed for up to 25 years, but thejudge said he thought that would be excessive. other than these are very serious crimes, he said manafort had lived an otherwise blameless life. the crimes are not related to donald trump's 2016 election campaign.

i think, most importantly, what you saw today is the same thing that we had said from day one. there is absolutely no evidence that paul manafort was involved with any collusion with any government official from russia. paul manafort will be back in court next week to face sentencing in another case related to illegal lobbying. it could bring an extra ten years injail. peter bowes, bbc news. let's brief you on some of the other stories making the news: president trump's former personal lawyer michael cohen has started legal proceedings in new york against the trump organisation. mr cohen, who was sentenced in december to three years in prison, accuses the group of failing to reimburse him for nearly $4 million legal fees incurred while working for trump organisation. the archbishop of lyon, one of the most senior figures in the roman catholic church in france, has been given a six—month suspended sentence forfailing to report child sexual abuse. the case was brought privately by a victims‘ association.

cardinal philippe barbarin says he will go to rome to offer pope francis his resignation. two islamist terrorists face life in jail after being convicted of the terrorist murder of four people in a machine—gun attack on a jewish museum in brussels five years ago. mehdi nemmouche is believed by belgian prosecutors to be the first european jihadist to return from the battlefields of syria to carry out terror attacks in europe. he and his accomplice nacer bendrer will be sentenced at a later date. theresa may will urge the eu to help get her brexit deal through the commons by agreeing legally binding changes to the controversial backstop. later, she will say the eu's actions will have a big impact on the outcome when mps vote on it next week. with me is bev shah, who is chief executive and founder

of city hive. theresa may's authority is really on the line here because we are looking at potentially a brexit vote defeat next week. i don't think we will be surprised at that. she has a big job of just surprised at that. she has a big job ofjust keeping surprised at that. she has a big job of just keeping control surprised at that. she has a big job ofjust keeping control of the cabinet at the moment. she has only got that majority of seven now, now they have lost three mps to the independent group. so you've got the ten from the dup. yes, she is going to struggle trying to keep everyone happy. to struggle trying to keep everyone happy- i to struggle trying to keep everyone happy. i don't think any of us expect next week to be easy or for her to come back with anything really spectacular from the eu. and she appears to be pinning her hopes yet again on last—minute concessions from brussels. we have been here before, haven't we? yes, we have, and there's a lot more stuff going on in europe that is not brexit. you know, they have their own elections

coming up, and they have openly said, you know, if we do do an extension, it won't be just a three—month one. it will be a two year1. i three—month one. it will be a two year 1. i don't know if this isjust a negotiation tactic tom and maybe she will go and they will say yes, you can have what you want. do you think theresa may can get her brexit deal through parliament next week, 01’ deal through parliament next week, or do you think that that is dead in the water at this stage? just doing the water at this stage? just doing the maths, i don't think she can. but you just don't know. we have had quite a few surprises when it has come down to the actual vote, and when politicians decide to, you know, vote with their party, they vote with their party. we really don't know until next week what will happen, but the numbers feel like maybe it won't go through. yes, she certainly has to win round the dup, the tory brexiteers and the rebel labour mps as well. and happy

international women's day, as well. we will talk about that a little later on. in a rare move, the uk foreign secretary, jeremy hunt, has announced the jailed british—iranian woman nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe will be given diplomatic protection. it turns her case into a formal legal dispute between britain and iran. she was sentenced in 2016 to five years in prison, accused of plotting to topple the iranian government. our diplomatic correspondent james landale reports. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe has been detained in tehran since 2016. the authorities accuse the 41—year—old british—iranian mother of spying, accusation she has always denied. for years, her husband richard has campaigned for her release, but to no avail. one thing he and his supporters wanted was for the british government to give nazanin formal diplomatic protection. and 110w formal diplomatic protection. and now his wish has been granted. the foreign secretary, jeremy hunt, said he had decided to give nazanin

zaghari—ratcliffe this extremely rare status because iran had failed to give her the right medical and legal support required by international law. it would not, he said, bea international law. it would not, he said, be a magic wand that secured her release overnight, but it would turn her case into a formal legal dispute between britain and iran. mrs zaghari—ratcliffe's new legal status will not force iran to change the way it treats her, but it will allow britain to raise her case with greater ease at international forums like the united nations. richard ratcliffe said the decision sent a clear signal to tehran that the uk was backing his wife, and that their treatment of his wife was unacceptable. diplomats hope the move will focus minds in tehran, particular among the hardliners, who they believe will ultimately decide mrs zaghari—ratcliffe's fate. the question is whether they will respond positively to the pressure, 01’ respond positively to the pressure, or step up the confrontation.

stay with us on bbc news. still to come: empowerment, relationships and freedom. what international women's day means to these three women in china. the numbers of dead and wounded defied belief. this the worst terrorist atrocity on european soil in modern times. in less than 2a hours, then, the soviet union lost an elderly sick leader and replaced him with a dynamic figure 20 years hisjunior. we heard these gunshots in the gym. then he came out through a fire exit and started firing at our huts. and, god, we were all petrified. james earl ray, aged 41, sentenced to 99 years and due for parole when he's 90, travelled from memphis jail to nashville state prison in an eight—car convoy. paul, what's it feel

like to be married at last? it feels fine, thank you. what are you going to do now? is it going to change your life much do you think? i don't know really. i've never been married before. you are watching the briefing. our headlines: president trump's former campaign chief paul manafort is jailed for nearly fouryears for conspiracy, money laundering and fraud. american efforts to send their own astronauts into orbit for the first time since the space shuttle programme reach a critical stage, as their demo spacecraft attempts re—entry to the earth's atmosphere. let's stay with that now. dr ken kremer is a research scientist and space journalist with space upclose.

thank you very much forjoining us. thanks for having me. just explain, please, to our viewers around the world, just how significant this mission is. well, it's super significant. the stakes are extremely high, because, as you said an introduction, we are going to be hopefully launching astronauts soon. since the retirement of the shuttle in 2011 we haven't been able to launch any people into space. we have been totally reliant on the russians, and now we have these programmes in development since 2010 to develop commercial crew capsule actually built a private companies instead of nasa. and so the first of those, the spacex dragon, just launched and in about 8.5 hours its mission is going to hopefully and successfully. so that will restore america's capability to launch humans into space and also we will be bringing along our international partners, for example astronauts

from europe. just how difficult is it to get the crew, dragon, back to earth safely? it seems that elon musk has certainly add at least some concerns. well, there's always a concern. i mean, concerns. well, there's always a concern. i mean, we concerns. well, there's always a concern. i mean, we have to remember that the space shuttle columbia was destroyed when it returned because ofa destroyed when it returned because of a leak in the heat shield. the concern is we have to make sure the heat shield functions because it is going to heat up to several thousand degrees on the outside of the capsule. it is scorching, it is way hotter than your other. so if it fails, the astronauts will be killed. so that would be a total disaster and the total setback —— oven. like i said, the stakes are extremely high, but they have a lot of confidence everything will work, so of confidence everything will work, so far everything has worked perfectly. and just explain to our viewers how worrying the failure of the soyuz rocket was six months ago. does it in anyway affect today's re—entry back into the earth's

atmosphere? well, absolutely, that failure of the russian soyuz really highlights why we need this second system. we only have one system to go to the space station, and we really need astronauts on board to make it function. so is six months ago a russian cosmonauts and an american astronaut were on board and it failed two minutes into the flight. it failed two minutes into the flight. luckily the abort system worked and they landed safely on earth. but there was then a delay in the manned launches to the space station of about a month or so while they investigated. luckily it was an easy to fix problem, but if it was difficult and we couldn't launch astronauts, then we really would have been up the creek, so we really need the spacex dragon to come online as well as a competing system, boeing starliner will come on later this year, both of these are funded by nasa. that way we will have three ways to get the space so if one goes down we will have two

other ways to get here. that is why it is so important. that is what i wa nted it is so important. that is what i wanted to ask you about, this other launch happening in april, with boeing. is this the future, moving towards a sort of more us style, nasa style space exploration programme? yes, this opens a com pletely programme? yes, this opens a completely new era in spaceflight. in the past, the capsules were designed by nasa, they were built by industry but basically designed by nasa to nasa's specifications. in this case the companies, boeing and spacex, came up with their own design. they get oversight by nasa to make sure the vehicles are safe and reliable and robust but they are pretty much on their own to do their own thing. and the goal is to cut the cost of spaceflight. because it does cost a lot of money. there's a lot of benefits we get from space, 24/7, your life depends on and benefits from space and from nasa. and we need to get our astronauts back up there in a way that is a lot cheaper, and that is what this

commercial spaceflight will do. it will make it much cheaper than it was with the shuttle. we will have to leave it there. thank you very much for your time. china has again criticised the us over the case against the detained senior huawei executive meng wanzhou. speaking at his annual news conference, china's top diplomat, wang yi, described the lawsuit as a deliberate political move. let's cross live to our china correspondent stephen mcdonell, who is in beijing. just explained to us what was said at that press conference, and just explain the tone of it for us? —— explain. he wrote the national people's congress, china's main annual political gathering, press conferences annual political gathering, press co nfe re nces a re annual political gathering, press conferences are highly controlled. —— here at. all questions are screen, which means if the foreign

minister wang yi was asked about huawei and the detention of meng wanzhou in huawei and the detention of meng wa nzhou in canada, huawei and the detention of meng wanzhou in canada, that means he wa nted wanzhou in canada, that means he wanted to be asked about it and he wa nted wanted to be asked about it and he wanted to be asked about it and he wanted to send a message to the us and canada. that message was that his company has no choice but to stand by huawei and meng wanzhou, who he said refuse to be that mies like silent lambs. —— refused to be victimised. he also said any impartial observer would see this is not a normal case, not a normal extradition request, this is a deliberate political move on the pa rt deliberate political move on the part of the united states and canada. he also said china was not only defending huawei for the sake of this company, but for all countries around the world who have similar companies, tech companies, and who believed in free trade. so in this sense, in a way, he is taking the high moral ground and saying that china is defending multilateralism and defending free trade. steve mcdonnell, thank you

very much, in beijing for us. we will have a little bit more on china stories. we have chinese trade data coming out, which we will be discussing in the business news in about 15 minutes. first, time to get the latest from the bbc sports centre. hello. i'm chris mitchell with your friday sports briefing. chelsea and napoli both enjoyed big wins in the europa league on thursday, and look well—placed to reach the quarterfinals. you can find all the details on the bbc sport website, but arsenal sufferered a shock defeat against rennes in france. the gunners took the lead after only four minutes with a goal from alex iwobi. but then it all went wrong for arsenal. they had sokrtatis sent off just before half time, and rennes took full advantage. ismaila sarr sealed a 3—1win for the french side, leaving arsenal with it all to do in the second leg. rafa cabrera bello leads after the first round of the arnold palmer invitational. he's seven under par.

the defending champion is seven shots off after an ordinary round, but phil mickelson is four under, despite this fail. he thinks he has hit the ball miles. he thinks he has hit the ball miles. he is playing a right—handed, even. trying a trick shot, which doesn't come off. look at his face. even though he failed there east hills finished four under par. —— failed there he still finished. the top seeds at the indian wells open all enter the fray in the next few days. they all had a bye in the first round of what is one of the most prestigious tournaments outside the four majors. roger federer will be looking to claim a record sixth title there. it would be another landmark for the man who picked up the 100th title of his career in dubai last week, and he's pleased it's out of the way. winning dubai and getting to number

100 and not having to carry that 99th title with me for the entire season and talking about it every week, are you going to win your hundredth title here or there, it is out of the way and i thought it was a perfect week for me. i struggled at the beginning but ended up playing great tennis. i think it is going to give me a lot of good vibes moving forward, no doubt. the only problem could be my opponents, that they catch fire or play well that day. i am going to try to give it all i have, and i hope that's good enough. the reigning men's champion, juan martin del potro, is absent through injury. but naomi osaka will be there to try and retain the title she won last year. she plays kristina mladenovic of france in the second round. in his own words, he isjust a kid from akron, ohio. but now, lebron james is the fourth—highest point scorer in nba history. there have been plenty of tributes to the king on social media, but how about this one from "uninterru pted ? "

i want to congratulate you. one of the greatest of all time, lebron james. just a phenomenal feat. congratulations on becoming the numberfour all—time congratulations on becoming the number four all—time leading scorer. congratulations to my boy, my brother. i want to say congratulations. passing the goat, michaeljordan. anybody who goes beyond that deserves a standing ovation. you can't even dream that up. where you are at right now in your life and career i couldn't be happierfor you. your life and career i couldn't be happier for you. we appreciate everything you do for the sports world, man. the graduations on passing michaeljordan world, man. the graduations on passing michael jordan on world, man. the graduations on passing michaeljordan on the all—time scoring less.

and we say well done to him as well. but from me and the rest of the sport team, for now, goodbye. international women's day will be celebrated around the world on friday, as people unite to champion the advancement ofequality. in china many companies offer female employees a half—day on international women's day. the bbc spoke to three women about what it means to be a woman in modern china. i would rather do my own thing and enjoy my own life. translation: i hope all chinese women can learn to enjoy the pleasures of sex. translation: i have no interest in having a baby. the main stereotype of girls in china is that you are ready to get married, and second, it's kind of normal if you go to college, but don't go too far. like, if you ended up studying at phd, people will say you will be an old virgin and nobody will marry you because you are too intelligent, too knowledgeable.

this is in luang prabang in laos. and this is a picture i took in pyongyang in north korea. a female solo traveller in china, especially for a lot of men, is not acceptable. some people would comment on my blog, saying, if a girl is travelling around the world by herself she is just a "human sofa" because everyone is sitting on her. i want to be who i am, not what society wants me to be. translation: my company is the first online sex resource for women in china and we teach them how to enjoy their sexual relationships. china's sex education makes people here think sex is vulgar. there is barely any reliable sex information here for adults, and i want my company to fill that void.

the first thing we teach is that women's bodies are their own. you should study it, use it and learn how to pleasure yourself. some have said we have opened a new world for them, that we are like a beacon of light, giving women their confidence. translation: the situation in china is that your mother will say, you know, women must have children. such stereotypes are objectifying us to be like machines. a woman's value should not lie in giving birth. now is a prime time for my career. i never want to have a baby, not now or in the future. i am considering having an endometrial ablation. it is a very good way to avoid getting pregnant. i also hope a future partner would consider a vasectomy.

stay with me on bbc news, i'll be back with the business briefing in just a few moments. hello. if you thought thursday was windy, get used to it. very blustery weather on the way all the way through the weekend into next week. unsettled too, wet at times. a bit of a lull though as we start friday. frosty, but sunny for many of us, but clouding over with rain later. here's a look at the satellite picture. this area of low pressure has brought the windy weather, the wet weather in places during thursday. a bit of a gap between weather systems now. we are in that gap as friday begins, but we're in a cold gap. you can see the blue showing up where temperatures will be at their lowest as friday starts. fairly widespread frost around, bit of scraping the ice off the car, a little misty in places too. but actually a lots of sunshine for most of us at the start of the day.

already a bit of wet weather though into the western isles. we see more cloud pushing across the uk during the morning and then further outbreaks of rain spreading from west to east as the day goes on. becoming increasingly light and patchy as it does so. and it's notjust rain, the hills of scotland, north of the central belt, will see a bit of snow out of that as well. it's not going to be as windy as thursday, though it is still breezy out there. temperatures mostly around 7—11 degrees. a bit of snowfall also into shetland before that system begins to clear away. as we go into friday night, still some showers pushing in towards the north—west of the uk on the breeze. wintry on the hills. it's not going to be as cold as friday morning, by the time we're up and about on saturday for the start of the weekend, but it is going to be an unsettled one, with low pressure close by all the time. the atlantic in charge of the weather, pushing in disturbances occasionally. at the very least that means we're going to be getting some showers, carried on strong to gale—force winds. it will make it feel quite cold, even though temperatures will not be too far from average. some wet weather at times, notjust in the form of rain but some snow, more especially on hills,

but also some sunshine occasionally too. the best of the sunshine will be across the east and south—east of the country during saturday. showers already towards the north—west will push further east during the day. it will be a windier day once again. we are expecting gusts fairly widely of around 40—50 miles an hour, and that will make it feel colder than these temperatures might suggest. and some of these showers might merge to give longer spells of wet weather at times. still plenty of showers coming in during sunday and there is a more wintry component to these showers, so we could well see some sleet or some hail to lower levels out of these as well. again, it's going to be windy. these are average speeds, but gusts will be around 40—50 miles an hour once again. temperatures are a little lower on sunday, so it will feel even colder in that wind.