hello. i'm ben bland with bbc news. our top story: american negotiators are meeting their chinese counterparts, in a last ditch attempt to reach a trade deal. if no agreement is reached, the us will impose new tariffs on $200 billion worth of chinese goods. the united states has seized a north korean cargo ship, which it says was violating international sanctions. earlier, north korea had launched two short—range missiles — raising tensions between washington and pyongyang. and this story is trending on bbc.com. chelsea and arsenal have continued england's domination of european football this season, with both london clubs making the europa league final. chelsea beat eintracht frankfurt on penalties while arsenal won at valencia. liverpool and tottenham will battle it out for the champions league final. that's all. stay with bbc world news. and the top story in the uk:

two years after the grenfell tower fire in west london, the government is to spend £200 million on replacing dangerous cladding on privately—owned high—rise buildings. now on bbc news live to singapore for asia business report. showdown in washington. the us and china hold make or break trade talks in the shadow of a fresh round of tariff hikes. potatoes and patents, by pepsico went into battle with four indian farmers over a humble vegetable. hello and welcome to the friday edition of asia business report. i'm sharanjit leyl. sws china jade moore. as talks resume in washington, hanging over the

negotiations are the threat to raise ta riffs negotiations are the threat to raise tariffs on 300 and $25 billion worth of chinese goods. that is after he accused beijing of backtracking on a deal —— let us start with the us china trade talks. earlier michelle fleu ry china trade talks. earlier michelle fleury joined china trade talks. earlier michelle fleuryjoined me from new york, along with robin brant in shanghai. they started by asking rachelle what the americans are looking to get out of the talks. looking at the body language, we sure the top trade negotiator from us all smiles as they greeted them on these steps. the key things there american ones are structural changes from china. it seems that the disagreement is less of a chinese buying more american goods, and more over moving away from state support for big enterprises. that seems to be the big sticking point. what is interesting is that donald trump earlier today talked about tariffs and that was a very real possibility. those are expected to

kick income midnight on friday eastern time. but, this is the thing to note, there is a soft deadline which means they may, even if ta riffs which means they may, even if tariffs go into effect, have room for talks to go on in the weeks ahead to. that is the view from new york. now to get the view from robin brant in shanghai. we had china say they would retaliate. so what is the view from there? look, i think the chinese want this to end. liu he went into the tall talking about arriving with a sincere and rational mood. he said, just as he arrived, that he thought tariff hikes were not the way to solve the problems between the countries. perhaps the best we can hope for today is a kind of status quo, they don't get the hike coming from the us side. they managed to negotiate a deal which keeps them in the holding position. china did hope initially that it could reach a deal in terms of transactions, buying more air planes, by more soybeans from the united states. it is giving ground

on some changes that the us was to see, protecting international prop —— intellectual property. more automotive, more in the financial sector. it does not want to shift on those big state subsidies. it wants to ta ke those big state subsidies. it wants to take some of the ski state and subsidies. that is where the us want to see significant change, as michelle alluded to them. the question is, is china willing? we just don't know. robin brant and michelle fleury. earlier, the former us ambassador to singapore, who used to have the international trade administration, gave us his view of the negotiation so far. actually, thinking a big picture, reasonably well. but there can frequently be a bit of gamesmanship in the final moments. it is not unusualfor china to degrade us of a bit, a bit in the expectation that the other side, in this case the us, is so set on

wrapping things up and banking whatever gains, they ignore a minor deterioration —— offer. china may have missed read, they may have gone much further than a nominal deterioration. they really try to shave an agreement. this is a centrepiece identity issue for donald trump. so it is not minor. do you anticipate as a result of all of that those tariffs are going to kick in today, that 25%... that those tariffs are going to kick in today, that 2596. .. i would that those tariffs are going to kick in today, that 2596... i would not make a prediction either way. if china can move quick to say no. but i suspect they are still going through, they're still recalibrating. they said we have an agreement and we tried to see if we could go below that. now we will go through a pricing mechanism. what is interesting is you are a businessman who advises a lot of american companies and how to get access to the chinese market. 0bviously companies and how to get access to the chinese market. obviously this radio would have been massive for you, particularly as it comes

through dealing in the market. 0thers ago? through dealing in the market. others ago? we work in the retail space with personal care products and apparel stop it is a very open market for those set of goods. if you are nikkei, procter & gamble, you are nikkei, procter & gamble, you are nikkei, procter & gamble, you are doing well in the china market. what i think it is about his trade negotiations, areas that are really close to the us goods. for the consumer goods it is a good market. briefly, this question stop, the imf is reiterating their warning that this trade war is a massive threat to the global economy stop is it? if they don't put out this fire it? if they don't put out this fire it will have negative pressure. i think their overwhelming odds that you are unable to down in a week or two and zetas all settled. frank levin speaking to me earlier. in other news making headlines, uber is priced up $45 a share. it gives the right hailing giant a market

valuation of $82 billion. raising your capital. it is the biggest ipo for a us technology company since facebook. 0ccidental petroleum has one agreement from its rival for its 56 billion dollar bid. the board said it signed a definitive agreement for a cash and shares deal that it expects to close by the end of the year. the way for a significant consolidation of oil industry after chevron dropped its lower competing offer. china's biggest technology groups have lots of —— received approval for digital banks in hong kong. the long—awaited move threatens local players like hsbc and standard chartered and set up hsbc and standard chartered and set up future challenges london and new york. as we have just been discussing, the us and china are locked in a trade war over issues including the

protection of intellectual property. meanwhile, in india, there has been a patent battle between two of the country's farmers and a huge american corporation. pepsico sued them for growing the potato variety used to make laser crisps. monica mueller reports from gujurat on how iran move multinational company has now backed down. this summer he has slow down the pace in this district. farmers like this will begin to plant their main crop, potatoes, laterthis year. but for humans and other farmers crop, potatoes, laterthis year. but for humans and otherfarmers it crop, potatoes, laterthis year. but for humans and other farmers it has been an summer after pepsico filed a lawsuit against them stop the multinational company was seeking roughly $150,000 in damages. translation: before this we had never been to a district court in this lawsuit was filed in the court.

for the first few days we were very confused. this is what the lawsuit boil down to. it is a potato seed variety that has less moisture in it than other varieties of its kind. that is why pepsico uses it in its potato chips. while it is grown here in india, it is not where it came from. indian farmers who work with the company started growing the season the company started growing the season 2013, but it wasn't until 2016 that pepsico registered them for trademark protection. mr patel, a third—generation farmer, says he does not even know what the potato seed looks like. translation: the company says we have taken the crop. indian farming is traditionally done by borrowing crops from friends, family members, and otherfarmers. crops from friends, family members, and other farmers. pepsico is in the first multinational company to have problems with indian farmers. m o nsa nto problems with indian farmers. monsanto withdrew some of his business after a dispute over the price of cotton seeds. the 211,000

indian farmers get a fixed price for the crop throughout the year. it is not clear how the potato seeds got into the hands of other farmers. experts say there is a loophole in the law. the story that i heard is that there is a company actually selling these seeds to some farmers. now that is a violation. pepsico has since dropped the lawsuit saying this. pepsico has also offered work to the farmers, but they have rejected the proposal. they plan to seek compensation from pepsico for taking them to court in the first place. and a quick recap of our top story before we go. those trade talks between the us and china have resumed in washington. hanging over

the negotiations are president trump's rate to raise tariffs on $325 billion worth of chinese goods. that is after he accused 0ld basing of backtracking on a deal. china said it will respond in kind. the negotiators, we believe, have finished their dinner meeting. let us finished their dinner meeting. let us look at the markets and how they are reacting to all of this. as you can see, they are inching up from two—month lows. this is on a view that possibly those talks might end up that possibly those talks might end up more optimistically. that is after president trump that he received a beautiful letter from after president trump that he received a beautiful letterfrom his counterpart, xijinping. received a beautiful letterfrom his counterpart, xi jinping. that received a beautiful letterfrom his counterpart, xijinping. that is it for the show. thank you for watching. hello, i'm ben bland. the top stories. two years after the grenfell tower fire in west london, the government is to spend

an estimated £200 million, on the replacement of dangerous cladding, on privately—owned high—rise buildings. there had been growing concerns that individual leaseholders would have to pay for the work, because some private landlords were not coming up with the money. but many fear the actual cost of removal will be much higher, as our home affairs correspondent tom symonds reports. flats in this block in bromley can cost up to £300,000, but it's now a fire risk and that means having someone on duty to raise the alarm if the worst happens. hugely expensive — so the flat owners do it themselves. we are on waking watch duty, 211/7, and we have been doing this for a year and a half to keep everybody safe. it will take seven minutes for the flames to reach the top. seven minutes for everyone to get out. so this is the escape route for the ninth floor of the building. there's the fire door. and this is flammable cladding. it has got to go. cost is £70,000 per flat. the building owner won't pay so they say the government has to. it's just impossible. the situation has come about because of a failure of government regulation, and therefore it is right the government take responsibility. 166 private buildings need remedial work. some building owners have contributed. secretary james brokenshire. .. but the housing secretary said some others had been reckless. first and foremost, this fund is about public safety. it will allow remediation to happen

quickly, it will restore peace of mind, and it will allow residents living in these blocks to get on with their lives. but look at the numbers. the government is spending £200 million to make about 170 buildings safe. but here they've been told the bill could be £3.2 million. and at other buildings, i've been told, the bill could be £5 million or even £10 million. today's money is just to sort out aluminium cladding. but the government is about to start new tests, similar to this, on other materials. if they fail, the bill could go up. which is why, in manchester, katie peate had this reaction to the news. 0n the one hand, it is a good start, but ultimately i felt gutted. because she has been told her wooden

cladding and the construction behind it all needs to be removed. it doesn't include us. this is essentially a cladding lottery, in terms of what our building has been covered in and we're not one of them. it's going to take months and even years to sort out, which is why, back in bromley, flat owner luke will continue the unpaid waking watch, 211/7. tom symonds, bbc news. hello, this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: arsenal are through to the europa league final after pierre—emerick aubameyang scores a hat—trick to help see off valencia. and they will face chelsea in the azerbaijan capital of baku after the blues won a penalty shootout against eintracht

frankfurt. and a double shock as both defending champion petra kivitova and world number one naomi 0saka are knocked out of the madrid 0pen, 0saka losing in three sets to belinda bencic. hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with the news that arsenal will play chelsea in the europa league final. pierre—emerick aubameyang's hat—trick helped arsenal to a 11—2 win in spain over valenica in their semi—final second leg, handing them a 7—3 aggregate victory. gunners manager unai emery is through to a major european final in his first year in charge of the north londoners, and will be looking for a fourth title in this tournament, having won it three times with sevilla. watching on at the mestalla was alistair bruce ball. a commanding waiter influenced for arsenal under the man who has the midas touch in this competition has