you're watching bbc news at 9, with me, annita mcveigh. the headlines: the prime minister writes to the eu, asking for an extension to article 50 until the end ofjune. it comes this is business live from bbc news with maryam moshiri and victoria fritz. asa 50 until the end ofjune. it comes as a senior eu source says the the granddaddy of all trade deals. president trump holds out hope that president of the european council wa nts to a huge agreement between the us president of the european council wants to offer the uk a 12 month and china can be reached. brexit extension, with the option to leave sooner. the attorney general live from london, that's our top story meanwhile tells the bbc that theresa on friday 5th april. may will have little choice but to accept. now that the cooper—boles bill is passing... in other words, ruling out no deal? it rules it out, therefore the prime minister would have little choice but to accept the extension that she is offered. despite the great progress, the latest talks in washington, there and a third day of cross—party talks are several crucial areas still to be resolved. is an end to the trade between labour and the conservatives continue today, with mps trying war really insight. also in the programme, boeing admit for the first time that a controversial anti—stall first time that a controversial a nti —stall system first time that a controversial anti—stall system was to blame for two crashes of 737 max—8 aeroplanes

in ethiopia and indonesia. the markets in europe are open and as you can see they are looking pretty flat. first, it was brexit, now talk has turned to flextensions, we will ta ke has turned to flextensions, we will take stock of the wordplay and power play in westminster with our business editor simonjack. play in westminster with our business editor simon jack. we play in westminster with our business editor simonjack. we will also talk of divorce deals of another nature, the world's richest man agrees to part with his wife and stock worth over $35 billion. she has given him control of the business and looks forward to a future as friends. today we want to know how easy it is to have an amicable split. hello and a very warm welcome to this friday edition of business live. let's get started with president trump because he says progress is being made at a rapid pace in talks to end the united states‘s trade war with china. as the latest with chinese premier got

under way in washington he says a deal has a good chance of happening and could be just deal has a good chance of happening and could bejust a deal has a good chance of happening and could be just a few weeks away but he warned it would be difficult to let china keep trading with the us if remaining issues were not resolved. the trade war began last year with president trump imposing import taxes on tariffs, on $250 billion of imports from china because of what he says are unfair trade practices against the us. china retaliated with tariffs on $110 billion of goods it buys from america. it wants all tariffs removed as part of a deal. china sells far more to the us than the us sales to china. president trump wa nts sales to china. president trump wants this to change. but if anything, the trade war has made it worse. the trade deficit with china jumped 11% last year to a record $419 billion. the us jumped 11% last year to a record $419 billion. the us has also become

concerned china might agree a deal but won't stick to it. us trade representative robert lighthizer has told congress that any agreement must be enforceable. china has made some concessions already including new laws to give protection to foreign firms. but according to bloomberg — there is a plan for 100% foreign owned companies to be allowed to operate in all sectors by 2025. as things stand, many need to form a joint venture with a local partner. we have agreed to far more than we have left to agree to. and in fact, i would say, i think i can say that some of the toughest things have been agreed to. we have some things that are actually easier right now that we're doing. but it's a very, very, using a word i don't like using too often, but it's a very, very comprehensive deal. let's bring in tim stratford, a trade lawyer in beijing and a former us assistant trade representative

joining us from beijing. tim, divergent messages from the us and china. how close do you think these two countries are to reaching a deal? i think present trump's estimation of another four weeks or so estimation of another four weeks or so is probably fairly realistic if we can make a deal. i should say that this is the most extraordinary effort we have seen by the two governments to have trade negotiations for two decades, since the great effort was made for china tojoin the wto the great effort was made for china to join the wto so i think both governments deserve a lot of credit but at the same time they face difficult issues. the chinese economy in some ways is following a model that is incompatible with the economies of the united states and other countries and trying to persuade china to part with some of the aspects of their development model that they cherish is not an easy task, nor will enforcement be if we have pushed them to do things they don't really want to do. how will concerns about national security and law enforcement be resolved, do you think and addressed, without undermining the progress that has been made so far,

and also the goodwill of these two nations? those are very important questions that the current trade negotiations are not really dealing with, with law enforcement issues, those are a separate track, as our national security issues. different government agencies, different policies and different purposes. i think one thing that we are concerned about, the us and china are recalibrating their policies in the economic field and law enforcement and national security at the same time, and we need to separate both of those issues out. we need to have clear rules and clear purposes and understand that different agencies are implementing them, and then we will be able to get a bit more predictability in the business environment. right now, there is quite a bit of uncertainty because of policy changes in all three of these areas. there does appear to be three of these areas. there does appearto bea three of these areas. there does appear to be a lot of suspicion around china's willingness to conform to any agreement if an agreement is reached. as the us met china's expectations in that regard?

well, traditionally, to be honest, when we have had trade negotiations with china, the chinese side always wa nts to with china, the chinese side always wants to come up with a list of issues that they can bring to the united states, and that's only fair. but generally the us has come up with a longer list than the chinese side has and i think as long as the two countries can show some level of symmetry and attention to the other side's concerns and also to the enforcement mechanism that is agreed upon, ithink enforcement mechanism that is agreed upon, i think that can be acceptable. what do you think it will take for the americans to be convinced that this will work and be enforced? well, i don't think we will know for sure until we have gone ahead because if there is some reciprocity in enforcement then it's a lwa ys reciprocity in enforcement then it's always possible that the us will decide china hasn't lived up to its commitments and maybe impose more ta riffs commitments and maybe impose more tariffs and the chinese side may accept that, or make a special effort to make some complaint they have with the us and impose tariffs again. so being able to evolve into

again. so being able to evolve into a new era where both countries are trying hard to follow principles in the way they do things, i think that will maybe be the most important challenge ahead. tim stratford in beijing, thank you very much. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news. samsung electronics says it expects its biggest drop in profits for more than two years. slowing smartphone sales and lower prices for memory chips are to blame. the south korean firm expects to make $5.5 billion in the first three months of this year. the chairman of one of sweden's biggest banks has resigned with immediate effect. he is leaving after a week after the boss was fired after handling money—laundering scandal is linked to da ns ke money—laundering scandal is linked to danske bank. last week's fed bank was raided over allegations of insider trading. the gender pay gap that britain's biggest companies has widened in the past year in favour

of men, at 115% of the uk's biggest employers. firms with more than 250 staff had until midnight to submit information about the difference between what they paid male and female staff. 78% of companies had a pay gap female staff. 78% of companies had a paygap in female staff. 78% of companies had a pay gap in favour of men overall. the boss of the plane maker boeing has acknowledged for the first time that an anti—stall system activated by mistake on two of its 737 max—8 aircraft before crashes in indonesia and ethiopia. 3116 people died in the two accidents. the boss has said a softwa re two accidents. the boss has said a software update to fix the problem will be ready within weeks. theo leggett is in our business newsroom. you have been following this story. what has he said, and crucially, will it restore public trust in this company? he has apologised and emphasised that boeing is very, very committed to safety. there was that admission as well that mcas, this anti—stall admission as well that mcas, this a nti —stall system admission as well that mcas, this anti—stall system designed to lower

the nose of the aircraft under very specific circumstances was activated because of a faulty sensor and therefore worked when the plane was trying to take off and was fighting the pilots. that is quite a stark admission. but there was also a suggestion that most accidents are caused by a chain of events, he says. the erroneous activation of the mcas function can add to what's already a high workload environment for the pilots, so there is a hint that it's not just for the pilots, so there is a hint that it's notjust about for the pilots, so there is a hint that it's not just about the flaw in the aircraft, it's about how the pilots responded to as well. but what we have here is boeing admitting that there is a flaw in the aircraft, which is significant because it is open to question now for the manufacturer. if there was a floor evidence in the case of the first accident involving a lion aircraft off indonesia last year, did the company do enough to prevent further accidents? in hindsight it appears it didn't and as for the next step, boeing needs to get the

737 max in the air, this is an aircraft airlines want, thousands of them are on order, the airlines need those aircraft because they are meant to be fuel efficient and cheaper to run than existing models, but unless passengers can be reassured that they are safe to fly then they won't want to get on board them. the first effort is to come up with the software solution that eradicates the problem with mcas. the second part of it is to work with safety agencies, notjust in the united states but around the world to ensure that they have full confidence that the aircraft really is safer so that then airlines can start to persuade their passengers. theo leggett, thank you very much for the latest on boeing. let's see what asian shares are doing, positive for the new quay, china— us trade talks failed to excite investors massively, they are being careful ahead of key us jobs figures out later. also it is a public holiday in china so markets are closed for the day there. the

european markets are looking pretty flat at the opening. and samira hussein has the details of what's ahead on wall street today. on friday, the labour department will release its closely watched employment report for the month of march. now, back in february the us economy added a dismal 20,000 jobs. the expectation is that the us economy will have added 180,000 jobs for the month of march. now, economists are also predicting that the unemployment rate will remain at 3.8%. but, of course, if that doesn't happen and it's another bad month forjobs and that you can expect that wall street will react. 0ne bad report can be chalked up to a blip. but two aboutjobs reports in a row could signal a trend. laura cooper, the head of fx solutions and strategy at rbc wealth managementjoins us solutions and strategy at rbc wealth management joins us now. solutions and strategy at rbc wealth managementjoins us now. how are you? good. we heard from samira

hussain about the jobs report coming out later, the us has been a key driver of global growth for a long time, how significant are these numbers coming up today? the markets will watch for whether we see a second consecutive month of weak gains because that may raise fears the us is facing an imminent downturn. i think what is more important to watch for is the wage number because the wages remain quite firm, and the fact the us consumer accounts for about 70% of the economy and our consumer spending does remain quite favourable, and so that is really helping to prop up and keep the us economic engine continuing to turn. what the jobs figures tell us is hugely important of president trump because that's been one of the key thing is he's been talking about. sorting the economy out and getting jobs figures to stay low. absolutely, yes. when we look at the unemployment rate is at the lowest since 1960, we look at the number of people applying for insurance claims, they are at a 119 year low, we are not seeing any red flags in the labour market. i think today's

report will be important to see if we are seeing shifts there. rings are getting kind of interesting on the crude oil market. we were talking about donald trump. he has been relaunching his twitter attacks on 0pec, the oil consortium, albeit ina on 0pec, the oil consortium, albeit in a slightly more diplomatic way, and prices are rising in the oil market. we saw brent crude rise above $70 a barrel yesterday and is the first time since november. it has come off somewhat but when we look at the underlying supply demand fundamentals which drive these prices, on the supply side we are seeing that us sanctions on venezuela and on iran are curbing production there. we are potentially seeing 0pec extending their cuts into the latter half of this year, so that's keeping supply side constraints. but it is more the demand side, like you said. if we do potentially see the slowdown in global growth, these fears that china is slowing, that's where the demand is likely to come from so we don't anticipate a sharp slowdown there, we are seeing positive data

from china, but that is something to watch for four from china, but that is something to watch forfour oil from china, but that is something to watch for four oil markets. most definitely. laura will come back to talk papers in a few minutes but for now, thank you, laura cooper. still to come. we'll talk you through what all the latest brexit developments mean for business and the other big stories with our business editor simonjack. what a handsome photo that is of him. he looks far better in real life. can't wait, simon jack life. can't wait, simonjack waiting in the wings. you're with business live from bbc news. the gender pay gap has widened in favour of men at nearly half of the uk's biggest employers over the past year according to analysis by the bbc. 0verall, year according to analysis by the bbc. overall, 78% of companies had a pay gap bbc. overall, 78% of companies had a paygap in bbc. overall, 78% of companies had a pay gap in favour of men while just 1496 pay gap in favour of men while just 111% favoured women. let's get more on this with anne frank, the chief executive of the chartered management institute. why do you think this is happening? the reality

is it is a complete gated problem and a stubborn problem to think and i think quite frankly that not enough has been done, there is a lot of talk and too little action. so over half of companies don't publish action plans to close their pay gap andi action plans to close their pay gap and i think you will find it is an impossible thing to do unless you have a comprehensive plan to deal with this very stubborn problem. the keyissue with this very stubborn problem. the key issue to make clear is that equal pay and the pay gap are different. equal pay is the law. however, having a pay gap between men and women is not illegal and that's why we are seeing companies do it more and more. that's right, it is what i call the glass pyramid, you have more women in the lower paid junior roles and as they advance up they slip off and by the time you get to the top and about 80% of the roles are held by men and that's the main cause of the pay 93p- that's the main cause of the pay gap. the problem, of course, here is, if you look at it, there is a diversity dividend caused by this, and by that i mean that the economy

benefits from more diversity within the workplace. absolutely and that's the workplace. absolutely and that's the great irony, that the uk needs this diversity dividend now more than ever. i think the other thing is that brexit has been a huge distraction for businesses and it has taken their eye off the gender pay gap ball a bit. 0k, ann francke, thank you very much. let's turn our attention to some other business news, on the business life page but this is what i'm looking at, i'm not checking my e—mails! this is the actual screen. news has come in from co—op, the chief executives has been talking to radio four‘s today programme about their financial results. food has been a standout success for this company, food reve nu es success for this company, food revenues growing at the fastest rate in seven years in 2018. you might remember they bought the wholesale business which bolstered their growth in this segment. plenty more on this story and others on the business life page, bbc.co.uk forwards business if you are looking

forwards business if you are looking for a bit more business news. —— business live page. hello, you're watching business live. 0ur hello, you're watching business live. our top story, hello, you're watching business live. 0urtop story, china hello, you're watching business live. our top story, china and the us say they are getting closer to a deal to end their trade was, in the latest round of talks continuing in washington. let's look at the markets and show you what is going on. the european market pretty much flat at the open, it was a pretty muted day across asia as well. remember, china and hong kong are closed today for a public holiday. all eyes on the jobs report coming out from the us a little later, about lunchtime in the uk. i like public holidays, we need more in the uk, don't we?! it's been another busy week of business news, not least here in london, where business leaders have continuted to express how unhappy they are at the brexit uncertainty. and now prime minister thersea may is set to write to the eu today to ask for a further delay to brexit.

so, let's start there with our business editor simonjack. we have heard the latest from theresa may. please bring us up to date with what is going on today. as things stand without any other resolution, the uk would leave the european union without a deal on april the 10th now. both sides want to avoid that. it is an inevitability that she would have to write to ask for an extension. the question has always been, what are you going to do with that extra time? are you going to have another referendum, a general election? you've got to have something new to offer the eu for them to grant that. what she has been doing is having talks with the opposition labour party to the great distress of people in both parties, the labour party don't want to see the labour party don't want to see the labour party facilitating a tory brexit and the tories don't want to hand control over brexit to the opposition party. nevertheless, they are having these talks and hoping to come up with some common ground. that is their cover for asking for an extension, this is what we are doing. the problem with the extension as if it is a very long

extension, and we think it is going to be up toa extension, and we think it is going to be up to a year—long extension, you then get into may and the european elections and the prime minister is very keen, most of her party says the last thing in the world we want to do is get involved in european elections when we walked to leave. what we think will happen is she will apply for this extension with an optional termination date, of may the 22nd, which is when the european elections start. so we can have up to a year with the proviso that if we get things sorted and get our act together we can terminate that extension, get the deal done and leave the european union with a deal. we think donald tusk has also had this idea, so i think she is going to get a fairly good reception for that idea. you gave theresa may a couple of days less than she has, it's the 12th of april, isn't it?|j beg your pardon, yes. let's talk about the common ground that might be emerging, people saying they are having constructive talks. what are the major areas of difference as we stand now? the first thing, customs

union, this idea that you would be ina big union, this idea that you would be in a big club of customs so we didn't have to have customs at the border. this is the labour party position. the tory party are deeply sceptical about this because they think it would hamper their ability to do trade deals. i can't have a preferential trade deal with the us, those goods coming here if i'm in a customs union, how do the eu know those goods are not going to end up in the rest of the eu? the customs union is a big sticking point. the other sticking point is what we put any deal to a confirmatory vote, if you like, a second referendum really? another referendum. even in the tory party, very deeply split. lippe hammond last night said he thought it was a credible proposal. matt hancock, one of the senior cabinet members said he was very, very opposed to that deal. so you have big divisions on the customs union on the two sides. —— phillip hammond. and even in the cabinet on the idea of putting whatever the

deal is to a confirmation vote. deep divisions in the tory party. and in the meantime, simon, if we are looking at a further 12 months of brexit uncertainty, where does that leave uk business, international business, investment, all those things we talk about on this programme every day? that is the key question. as much as business hates the idea of no deal, they are not massive fans of a delay either because as we have seen we got figures last week showing that business investment in the uk had hit a ten year low, and if you have a suffocating delay of another 12 months, there arejobs a suffocating delay of another 12 months, there are jobs that don't get filled, businesses don't invest and the investment of today is the productivity and jobs of tomorrow. i think businesses are wringing their hands, they don't want a new deal but they want this sorted as quick as possible so another year's delay i think the scene almost as bad but not quite as bad as no deal. let's talk about the uncomfortable menage a trois going on in the... in the

studio! awkward! i'm blushing now! the two big german lenders, both of them are pretty weak, they both had a pretty torrid time so there has been talk about those two banks getting together to create a single national champion, germans like the idea of a national champion but the political idea of deutsche bank and commerzbank but into this comes you need credit, and is there any way a german bank would allow itself to be overta ken german bank would allow itself to be ove rta ke n by german bank would allow itself to be overtaken by an italian bank, commerzbank, 15% shareholder, would say no way. however, uni credit owns hyper variance bank in germany so the idea is they would buy commerzbank and put it together with that bank and create a sort of german bank that wouldn't have uni credit over the door, it might have

commerzbank over the door, so that way you would have another credible contender to deutsche bank. it is allup in the contender to deutsche bank. it is all up in the air at the moment. as i say, any final deal would need to get the approval of both the regulator and probably the german government. we will hear more about that story during the week. thank you, simon jack. that story during the week. thank you, simonjack. let's talk about other deals that have been done. the amazon founderjeff bezos is still the world's richest man despite agreeing a divorce settle m e nt despite agreeing a divorce settlement with his ex—wife. after 25 years of marriage she is getting $35 billion worth of amazon shares. but has to give up all voting rights. dave lee has more from san francisco. people were bracing themselves, weren't they, because this was very much going to be the divorce settlement to end all divorce settlements. the world's richest man, jeff bezos, he will still be the world's richest man once this settlement goes through, but mackenzie bezos, she's about to become the third richest in the world when she gets this stake in amazon, which is going to be worth around $35 billion, 11%.

one of the crucial parts of this settlement, this deal, isjeff bezos will retain their voting rights of mackenzie bezos‘ stock. that meansjeff bezos won't lose any power at amazon, even though he is losing 25% of his stock. that is obviously pretty important to mr bezos — he has as much say in amazon as he did before. that's why, presumably, when we look at the reaction from investors today looking at this, they seem pretty indifferent. stock down by around 1% today. nothing out of the ordinary there. so, it seems that this divorce settlement has pleased the couple. let's ta ke let's take a look at that story in particular in a bit more detail with laura cooperfrom rbc wealth management. we talked about this story at the beginning of the programme, aboutjeff bezos and the

seemingly amicable split and we asked our viewers how easy it is to split amicably because the truth is it is not for a lot of people. i'm assuming it is not, not like this, but i think this case is probably more of an extreme than most people are dealing with. we have had me the unpaid cat made say i want to divorce jeff bezos unpaid cat made say i want to divorcejeff bezos also, what you are typing to amazon? to be giving away $35 billion of shares and still remained the richest man, it takes some doing and ten times bigger than any previous divorce settlement. the numbers involved are extraordinary. he's still going to be worth over $100 billion and still retains full ownership of washington post as well as his spaceship company. so it's not really a bad situation for him either. my respect forjeff bezos has just increased tremendously. his wife was instrumental in the success of amazon and they have agreed a fair divorce on both sides benefit and it was all done quickly, very good. that came from missjoe.

laura, thank you forjoining us. and thank you. that's it from business alive today, plenty more throughout the day from marie moshiri. have a great friday and a great weekend. bye—bye. good morning, it has been rather u nsettled good morning, it has been rather unsettled over the last few days, we have had an area of low pressure moving through across the uk and you can see from satellite imagery from the last few days this swell of cloud which has been moving its way ever further westwards, and it is still with us this morning. it has got this weather front wrapped around it so it is giving us more cloud and outbreaks of rain across the north of scotla nd outbreaks of rain across the north of scotland today and quite frequent showers in northern ireland, through the isle of man, through wales and the isle of man, through wales and the south—west of england. further east it is drier and brighter, they will be some sunny spells into the afternoon. but the showers in the south—west could be quite heavy and it will feel quite chilly here at times with a fairly gusty wind, temperature is only about 7—10d. the

highest temperatures will be in the east where you have the best of the sunshine, and again across scotland and northern ireland, it is towards the west where you keep the cloud. fairly decent across northern scotland, especially the northwest work temperatures could get up to 13-111dc, but work temperatures could get up to 13—111dc, but notice of the rain and cloud in the northern isles. through tonight the showers moving their way further westwards, so things improving slightly, and then we will see quite a bit of cloud moving in from the east and that will keep temperatures up to about 3—6d overnight tonight, perhaps a touch of frost in more rural spots in scotland. throughout the weekend, it's going to be quite cloudy, they will be some sunshine especially towards the west, but by sunday there will be some rain and some pretty heavy showers for some of us. this is saturday, quite a bit of cloud coming in from the east. that could bring us some showers and a drizzly rain across eastern areas. further west, the cloud breaks and some sunshine, and that is where on saturday you will have the highest temperatures. notice the greens in

eastern parts of england and eastern scotland. temperatures will be restricted to about 7—9, perhaps 10 celsius. meanwhile, 13—111d in western areas. by sunday, some showers in the morning, but those are turning heavier in the afternoon, especially around the south east midlands, the south—east of england, where temperatures will be up to 70 degrees, it will be quite a warm day. further north and west should be a little bit dry and temperature is about 12—15. as we go into next week it will still stay fairly warm on monday, fairly settled, few showers. by tuesday, though, and mid week next week it will start turning a bit chilly again. bye—bye.