this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. singapore bans all boeing 737 max aircraft from its airspace in the wake of the deadly ethiopia plane crash at the weekend. the inventor of the world wide web, sir tim berners—lee, tells the bbc global action is needed to tackle its "downward plunge to a dysfunctional future". and on the markets: there is a lot on the minds of investors today, not least brexit in the uk. for now in asia you can see a very strong session is under way.

we start with the escalating action by international aviation authorities to ensure passenger safety in the wake of deadly crash of an ethiopian airlines plane two days ago. within the past couple of hours, singapore's civil aviation regulator has announced a ban on all boeing 737 max aircraft from its airspace. in a statement, it says it's "temporarily suspending operation of all variants of the boeing 737 max aircraft into and out of singapore". in light of two fatal accidents involving that model ofjet within five months. a lion airjet of the same type crashed in indonesia last october, killing all those on board. the suspension is due to take effect shortly - at ogoogmt. in half—an—hour.

the move by singapore comes after at least 80 boeing max aircraft were grounded by carriers around the world, though us aviation officials insist the jet is airworthy. rico hizon is in singapore. rico, tell us more on the singapore ban? well, this is the most comprehensive suspension of all the countries that have halted the operations of the 737 max 8 jets. the civil aviation authority said the suspension will not only affect still care, china southern airlines, garuda indonesia, shandong airlines, and thailand's lion air. the grounding will impact flight lion air. the grounding will impact flight schedules. according to travel agents, they are scrambling to rebook their clients on other flights admits there is very short notice from singapore's aviation

regulator. indonesia, on monday, already ordered airlines to ground the aircraft. tainah‘s aviation regulator ordered domestic carriers to suspend flights of the model. —— china. and there are more than 90 planes operating from the mainland. ethiopian airlines and came airlines have grounded the aircraft. several north american carriers have said they are monitoring the ongoing investigation. and according to boeing's website, 16 airlines have taken delivery of the 737 max 8, including air italy and india's spicejet. including air italy and india's spice jet. in the meantime, boeing has announced some modifications of this plane. that is right. several months ago they have said that they would be deploying a software upgrade for this 737 max 8. the karpany also said it had been developing a flight control software enhancement for several months in the aftermath of the lion air flight

610 disaster when it crashed into the sea of indonesia, killing 189 passengers on—board —— the company. it said the changes were designed to make an already that krupp even safer. boeing said the software that includes limiting stabiliser trim commence in response to erroneous readings, pilot displays, operation manuals, and more crew training. thank you so much, rico with the very latest on that from our bureau in singapore. european union finance ministers are due to meet later today to try to thrash out plans for a digital tax on tech giants including google, amazon, and facebook. under a scheme outlined last year by the european commission, large companies would pay a 3% tax on data sales, online marketplaces and targeted advertising. but any deal requires unanimous approval — and some eu member states are opposed to any levy, fearing a backlash from washington. as a result, france has pressed ahead with its own 3% digital tax — which it hopes will bring in more than $550 million a year. and france isn't alone — spain and italy are looking at a tax

at the same rate, while germany and the uk are considering introducing a levy — but at different rates. i'm joined by tech entrepreneur tommy stadlen. to give us his take on this. good morning, tommy. we might find out later what the decision is on the pa rt later what the decision is on the part of eu finance ministers, but when it comes to how this is progressing, it is not good news, is it, for small and medium size tech companies? there is a big risk for the small and medium size companies. what we want to get to with a situation where big tech pays its fairshare of situation where big tech pays its fair share of tax. everyone wants that. at the moment they're not. we need to achieve that in a way that does not drive down innovation and does not drive down innovation and does not drive down innovation and does not scare away big tech from either individual countries within europe or europe as a whole. that is

the real risk. when it comes to google, amazon, facebook, this 3% levy in france at the moment and other countries is small fry for them. they have the resources to see it through, deal with the bureaucracy, et cetera. but for smaller companies? a big issue. the real issue for smaller companies is if you don't eat them with the tax, if, for example, in front of you drive out the likes of google and facebook and neiko elsewhere, it has a knock—on effect to the tech ecosystem. so i am investing, they rely on talent, they rely on know how from the bigger companies to feed into the start—ups. it has knock—on effect that eu leaders might not be taking into consideration. from your perspective, an eu wide decision, a tax would be the best decision, rather than different countries making their own rules? the best would be a —— and 0ecd wide tax agreement. that is possibly fanciful

thinking... that would be the best. eu wide second—best. what we want to avoid is the likes of the uk or france going out on their own and then potentially losing technology talents, the uk with brexit that is of isla the last thing we can do. for as's decision, they have implanted there is already, they could drive out google, amazon, facebook from paris to in this —— for us's ireland has been good at attracting big technology company to ireland because of tax. it matters to technology companies. 500 million per year. it is not huge amounts for the likes of google and facebook. what we want to really risk is on a roll mood music which is driving technology away from europe and we have got to attract as much as we can and getting those big tech companies to pay their fair share —— overall. tommy, thank you for getting on so early for your take on that story. get news from brussels we will update you. now let's brief you on some other business stories.

elon musk has hit back at us regulators over their contempt proceedings against the tesla boss. lawyers for mr musk say his recent tweet — claiming that the electric carmaker would produce around half a million vehicles this year — complied with tesla's communication policy for senior executives. the securities and exchange commission has said the tweet was in breach of a deal under which mr musk requires prior approval before sharing company information on social media. french prosecutors are reported to have launched a preliminary inquiry into how former renault chief carlos ghosn financed his 2016 wedding party at the palace of versailles. the french carmaker last month said an internal probe had found evidence that it had footed some of the bill but the chateau had waived the usual $56,000 fee under a sponsorship deal signed a few months earlier. has the inventor of the world wide web

has warned that global action is needed to tackle its "downward plunge to a dysfunctional future". speaking exclusively to the bbc on the 30th anniversary of the first proposalfor the web sir tim berners lee said people realised how their data could be manipulated following the cambridge analytica scandal. our technology correspondent rory cellan—jones went to see sir tim in the place where he created the web. what kind of document was it? was it it? it was i word. using some sort of a wordprocessor. 30 years ago a computer scientist near geneva was thinking up a better way of sharing information. from tim berners—lee's idea the world wide web was born. today he is worried about what it has become, a vehicle for spreading hate and misinformation. i feel for most people out there in the street that the tipping point, to a certain extent, was the cambridge analytica moment. because most people knew

that internet privacy was on the other people worried about. and then went the cambridge analytical thing went the cambridge analytical thing went down they realised that elections have been manipulated using data that they had contributed. veitia blame for that? this person got all this data and he got it under the pretext he was going to use it for research purposes. then he actually used it to manipulate an election. i think it was abused and used for another purpose. it is a clear breach. are you optimistic that this can be sorted? am i optimistic in general? i think so. we have a new generation of young people, also, who are pretty active, they are pretty activist about things like their privacy. whereas, to a certain extent, they were not before. that is sirtim extent, they were not before. that is sir tim berners—lee. but is quickly show you the financial markets. stocks in asia growing. the pound

hasjumped stocks in asia growing. the pound has jumped on what is seen by some in markets as a brexit breakthrough. the pound heading for its biggest two day gain since november. that's it for the business briefing this hour. nhs england has announced plans which could see the 11—hour a&e waiting target scrapped in favour of prioritising treatment for the sickest patients. health bosses said the target was becoming outdated. it's not been achieved sincejuly 2015 as our health editor hugh pym reports. at the moment, we haven't got any beds available in the unit. whether it's a&e, routine operations, cancer or mental health care, nhs targets are there to try to reassure patients they're being treated as quickly as possible. now there's to be a big shake—up

of the whole system in england. nhs leaders argue the 15—year—old 11—hour a&e target is outdated. what matters to patients in a&e departments is that when they arrive, they are seen and assessed quickly to a high standard. that if they are severely ill with life—threatening conditions, stroke or heart attacks, they are treated quickly, rapidly and to the highest possible standard. nhs england will try out alternative a&e targets. for example, reducing average waiting times, measuring the time taken for an initial assessment by senior clinicians, and ensuring the sickest patients are prioritised for quick treatment. there'll now be a debate over whether introducing new nhs performance standards and benchmarks can improve patient ca re and outcomes. and whether altering an existing target which has been missed looks a bit like shifting the goalposts. senior a&e doctors say their research shows the existing system does work.

0ur belief is that by dismantling the 11—hour standard, we'll be adding to the crowding that occurs in emergency departments. some patients say there are bigger problems to deal with. there are other things that need to be looked into, like the fact there are lots of patients in a&e that shouldn't be there. most health experts say it's worth trying out a new approach, though there are no planned a&e target changes in scotland and wales. hugh pym, bbc news. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: the british pa rliament‘s set for a crucial vote on theresa may's brexit deal after she agreed legally binding changes with the eu. more than 80 boeing 737 max 8 aircraft have been grounded by airlines around the world following the crash in ethiopia. but us aviation officials insist they are airworthy.

let's dig a little deeper into those two stories and look at some of the others. we begin with the times, which leads on theresa may's claim of victory in her talks with the eu on a brexit withdrawal deal. meanwhile, the irish times also focuses on reports that mrs may has secured legally binding changes to the northern ireland backstop. it is described as legally binding changes. moving on to the gulf news, which analyses how the boeing crash could hit the aviation industry as numerous airlines ground their 737 max 8s. the daily telegraph's business pages focus on the united states rivalling saudi arabia as the world's top oil exporter. while the financial times features an annual list of modern purchases and what it tells us

about our changing society. the so—called basket of goods used to measure inflation. it is changing radically. we will talk more about that. and the new york times highlights the ethical dilemma of what should be done with art produced by history's most evil leaders. the likes of hitler for example. we have regular. with me is cornelia meyer, ceo of mrl corporation. good morning. lovely to see you. let's start with the front page of the times. every paper has got it. it was happening late last night. the reason may emitjohn claude ewan cut and the two of them held this press co nfe re nce . cut and the two of them held this press conference. it is enough for her to get her withdrawal deal through parliament tonight i am not sure it is enough. she has an

alteration to the