negotiators for the world's two biggest economies, the us and china, are trying to salvage a trade dealjust hours before fresh american tariffs are due to come into force. it's been looking for weeks as if an agreement was within reach. welcome to bbc news, but president trump has accused broadcasting to viewers china of backtracking — in north america a claim fiercely denied by beijing. and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: last—ditch talks as american and chinese negotiators try to salvage a trade dealjust hours before the us imposes new tariffs on china's goods. at the heart of all this, on course for a win mr trump's claim that us companies but after years of corruption get a raw deal. scandals, has the anc done enough he's pointed to his country's to shore up its support massive trade deficit — between what the us imports in south africa's general election. from china and what it exports. that figure was $419 billion in 2018. so, if these talks don't make progress — in just a few hours time — tariffs on $200 billion lives caught in conflict, worth of chinese goods as syrian government forces attack will rise from 10% to 25%. the provinces of idlib, that's on top of the $250 northern hama and western aleppo — billion of tariffs imposed by the us last year. the last rebel—held areas in the country. a mafia—style shooting leaves an argentine politician seriously 00:00:46,677 --> 2147483051:37:08,053 injured — and his adviser dead — 2147483051:37:08,053 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 outside parliament in buenos aires. let's get the view from china now with our correspondent robin brant, who's in shanghai. what's the latest on all this? it

looks like the formal meeting between the two chief negotiators, the formal meeting is over. they then went for a working dinner in washington dc and it looks like that is over as well. there is talk of a phone call between president trump and his counterpart, xijinping, i don't have official confirmation but it looks like the working meeting, the wording —— working dinner is done. there is talk of a call between the two leaders, to either sign off on any agreement that's been reached or to agree that the ta riffs been reached or to agree that the tariffs are going ahead. both sides of stepped back and they can't do a deal so we are waiting to see what comes out of washington dc on this thursday evening. just painted picture of what is at stake of the world's two biggest economies. the imf, meant to ensure global financial stability, says this poses

a threat to the global economy. because there is uncertainty and instability and all of that, it's not good, particularly if you are chinese or american businesses looking to sell to the united states oi’ looking to sell to the united states or looking to invest here in china but what america's top politician sees as a decades long dispute essentially, subsidising their state—run entities, opening their markets enough to foreign companies including the americans and they have been stealing intellectual property are not offering protection here that foreigners investing billions want, that is why president trump has gone down the routes of ta riffs trump has gone down the routes of tariffs and taxes, punishment ascent early for chinese goods that are exported, to change china's behaviour, particularly on things like intellectual property. the chinese, there have been significant

changes, opening up certain parts of their economy to foreign investors. this is part of a longer trend, particularly on automotive, seeing moves to open up the financial sector and changes in intellectual property. china wants to do more, its own businesses and innovators but the key problem is really all about what china does to protect and to subsidise its state—run entities and also when it comes to an agreement, it's about enforcing any changes that china agrees to. lots of promises. but in the end, they haven't come too much. enforcement is the key problem and that looks like where the dispute is at the moment. thank you very much, we will have more in the programme.

let's get some of the day's other news: the united states has seized a north korean cargo ship, which it says was violating international sanctions. the justice department says the vessel was being used to transport coal and heavy machinery. in another sign of rising tensions since february's failed summit, north korea test—fired two short—range missiles. shares in uber will begin trading on the new york stock exchange on friday, priced at $45. that values the digital taxi app at more than $80 billion. the pricing is lower than some had expected. analysts say it's an attempt to avoid the fate of rival taxi firm, lyft. its shares have fallen by about a quarter since they were floated in march. president trump has welcomed last year's major league baseball champions the boston red sox to the white house. a number of latino and african—american players stayed away. the team manager, alex cora, who's from puerto rico, also boycotted the visit — citing the president's lack of support for the us territory when it was badly affected by hurricane maria.

in south africa, with nearly two thirds of election results declared, the african national congress is on course to retain power. but the anc is heading for the worst performance in its 25 years in government. and that's likely to make it harder for president cyril ramaphosa to tackle corruption and fight poverty. this report from ramzan karmali. for most south africans, they all expected the african national congress to win the election but the real question was by how much? it seems the ruling party hasn't been able to prevent a slide in its support but party officials were putting on a brave face. so we have a very solid idea of the response that we were going to get from the electorate and so no disappointment, no surprises, we are where we thought we would be at this point in time. and despite looking like it is gained less than half the anc‘s

vote, the main opposition party leader was still feeling optimistic. i'm looking at the initial projections, we are happy that we will attend the western cape, and that gauteng is still on a knife edge which is part of the work we've done and are most grateful the fact that we have become an organisation that we have become an organisation that works for south africans. one keyissue that works for south africans. one key issue in this election was the economy. unemployment currently stands at 27% which is led to a rise in the popularity of a new party, the economic freedom fighters. it was founded by an expelled member of the anc. he has been calling for a redistribution of wealth and the expropriation of white land. this looks unlikely, but is party still looks unlikely, but is party still looks on course around a 10th of the vote. inaudible. clearly, repairing

an ailing economy will be high on the list for cyril ramaphosa but when he took over from his predecessor, jacob zuma, around two yea rs predecessor, jacob zuma, around two years ago, he vowed to crackdown on corruption, something many voters will feel not enough has been done just yet. ramzan karmali, bbc news. let's go live to francis nesbitt. good to talk to you. the anc vote is well down and a lot of people who could have voted don't seem to have voted at all. what do you think is going on? i think the anc is playing to all these accusations of corruption and a lot of the youth are unemployed, they feel the economy is not working for them. it's just working for the small group of rich people and so they

didn't turn out to vote so actually, yes, it's way down from the 2014 election, for instance, even the 2018, because of this new party, the new party that has come up as promised to redistribute wealth and land and take over the minds and many people feel that is how they can change the economy in south africa so it's a combination of corruption, accusations of corruption, accusations of corruption, the problems of unemployment, and also immigration and so on, that the populists have used in order to attack the african national congress. professor, how do

you think the president can deal with this? this result makes it more difficult for him to deal with corruption, doesn't it? and the eff are unlikely to help him. this makes it much more difficult because he is going to need at least a two thirds majority in order to do anything and the smaller parties like the eff are not going to help, neither is the democratic alliance going to help him and so he has people around him who are part of the problem, you know, so it's going to be difficult. this is not the anc that we knew before, but had the support of the majority, overwhelming supposed of the majority of the people in south africa. this is a weekend anc and therefore its going to be much more difficult for him to deal with these

issues. he will probably have to create a coalition government. 0fficer, it sounds like we may be talking to you again on this. thank you very much for that. syrian government forces are attacking the provinces of idlib and northern hama and western aleppo the rebels' last remaining strongholds. a takeover of some areas by extreme islamist fighters has led to the collapse of a recent ceasefire as our middle east correspondent quentin somerville reports. with barrel bombs and air strikes, bashar al—assad is clawing at the edges of syria's last rebel province. this most indiscriminate

of weapons has killed dozens in the last week alone. a deadly force has brought the war back to life. screaming. the tactics and terror are horribly familiar. but the options for the three million people in idlib have never been narrower. 0rient hospital in kafranbel was one of many targeted. the sick and injured forced out into the open. for months, a deal between russia, the regime, and its opponents turkey kept some kind of peace here. but the cracks are beginning to show. the al—hamdan family were asleep in their beds when their home was hit. they found the bodies of the children first. two—year—old khadija was the only one to survive. her father ali mohammed, her sister ghazal, and baby brother mohammed died alongside their mother.

four more lives lost to a war which has killed more than 500,000 syrians. khadija's grandfather tells us, "my son ali never carried a weapon. a fighter jet bombed and killed them. only this girl survived. who else will look after her? we will take care of her." idlib is under the control of islamist extremists — some influenced by al-qaeda. damascus says it will eradicate them all. british jihadists are among their ranks. more than 100,000 people are already on the move. many of them have fled aleppo and ghouta.

now there is nowhere else to go, so they take cover in olive groves and open fields. and, all the while, the government's offensive continues. the regime is far from done with idlib. quentin sommerville, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news — still to come: school daze. we'll tell you about the educational institution in croatia where the pupils are teacher and the teachers are pupils. i, nelson rolihlahla mandela, do hereby swear to be faithful to the republic of south africa. after six years of construction and numerous delays, the channel tunnel has been formally opened by the queen and president mitterand. but the tunnel is still not yet ready for passengers and freight services to begin. for centuries, christianity and islam struggled for supremacy. now, the pope's visit symbolises their willingness to coexist. roger bannister became the first man in the world to run a mile in under four minutes. memories of victory as the ve celebrations reach their climax.

this night is dedicated to everyone who believes in a future of peace and freedom. this is bbc news. the main story this hour: last—ditch talks are under way as american and chinese negotiators try to salvage a trade deal, just hours before the us is due to impose new tariffs on china's goods. let's have more on that story. peter petri is carl shapiro professor of international finance in the brandeis international business school. hejoins us now from boston. thank you for your valuable time. this has been a problem forever.

president trump deserves some credit for trying to deal with it. where are the sticking point and concessions? it has been with us for a while, not forever because for a long period of time china was making the changes in the us had expected but in recent years the trend has a reverse. the issues that have been addressed are very sticky once, for example, international copyrights rules have been strengthened, or china has committed to strengthening them. china has committed to reducing the possibility of false technology transfers. a lot appears to have been negotiated but several issues remain open and we are not exactly sure what they are but as best as we can tell, there is some

issue about whether subsidies had been sufficiently well documented, that the chinese would produce them for their large estate enterprises and if there is still debate about what tariffs the us might apply if it turns out that china is not meeting the conditions that it has set. this enforcement mechanism still appears to be a sticking point but they may be a couple of others. we are not exactly sure what the last problems. for people like myself who were not economic specialists. what are the real world concerns? tariffs are paid by importers of foreign goods so ta riffs importers of foreign goods so tariffs impose on chinese goods will be paid by american companies and passed on? that is right. that need

not be entirely true because it is possible the chinese, knowing there are tariffs being imposed, might sell the products at a lower price. a recent study suggests that is not happening on the tariffs mr trump has impose on the trump. a new york study found that, in fact, consumers we re study found that, in fact, consumers were paying not just study found that, in fact, consumers were paying notjust high up prices but even more than that. that might be explained because companies, when they have a chance to change prices, they have a chance to change prices, they might change them by more than required by the tariffs. it might be happening because products are also increasing. given that the competition from the import product is less strict. as best as we can

tell, tariffs are being passed down to consumers. in fact, even more is passed on than the tariffs themselves. if the tariffs are impose, do you expect a real cut—off point. certain goods loaded in certain containers onto certain ships? the tariffs, if they go into effect at one minute past me i'd as mrtrump had said, effect at one minute past me i'd as mr trump had said, would apply only to the products that are loaded thereafter so that all the ships now at sea, the products heading to stores and so on, would not have to pay those tariffs so there is some time before the tariffs will actually bite although, it is quite possible that some stores and some domestic producers might raise their prices in anticipation. i think we

will see some effects early on but most of the fracture, if these ta riffs most of the fracture, if these tariffs were to take place, will ta ke tariffs were to take place, will take some time to be seen. now, i must say, i am still very hopeful either through the negotiations going on right now or possibly because the two sides agree that a little bit more time is needed in order to work out the finer details, iam order to work out the finer details, i am still hopeful a deal can be achieved. professor, thank you so much. thank you. the scottish government is debating the idea of a universal basic income. everybody, regardless of wealth, would get a lump sum of about $3,100 a year. this, so the argument goes, would eliminate the stigma of poverty. it's already been tried in canada, and the bbc‘s james cook has been to ontario, to learn more. luckily i was accepted... jodi dean's daughter has a special needs and spent a fortune on hospital

parking. her husband is off due to injury and she says basic income has had a huge impact. when my husband went off work, it was a life protector. it kept the bills paid and groceries coming. i do not know how we would have survived otherwise. what would you say to someone who says i am paying my taxes and give you money for nothing? having somebody out of poverty is not a handout. you are able to give back when you are healthy, not when you are not. try finding ajob healthy, not when you are not. try finding a job when you cannot afford clea n finding a job when you cannot afford clean clothes, transportation. basic income can give people those opportunistic. this is a canadian city with a caledonian 0utlook. industry once brought work and health but now the future is far

less certain. tens of thousands of people used to be employed in hamilton in the steel industry. the number has decreased dramatically. many people were left deep in poverty and looking to the state for health. jodi and her family poverty and looking to the state for health. jodi and herfamily now feature in this exhibition which tells the story of basic income recipients, taken by a photographer who was herself part of the trial. tim, had a workplace injury. he said he was able to visit his family for the first time in years because of basic income. i learned a lot because what the people were using money for was eat healthy foods, going back to school, moving into safer housing. but suddenly, le sommer, all that changed. the programme is not doing what it is intended to doing and it is quite expensive and so we have decided

that we will wind the programme down. i will have more details at a later date but i want to ensure 0ntarians who are on the basic income pilot project that we will do it ethically. the decision taken in toronto to abandon the trial was controversial and the premier who introduced the pilot has this message for scotland...” introduced the pilot has this message for scotland... i say, bravo, my hope for you is it that you will be able to design a pilot and see it through. get the evidence. we all needed free. canada and scotland do notjust have murky weather in common. they face profound economic challenges which may yet lead to a radically redesigned state. in argentina, a congressman's aide has been shot dead and the politician himself seriously injured. the pair were walking in a square outside the national congress

in buenos aires when they were attacked. the motive for the mafia—style hit, which was captured on camera, isn't clear. we are often told that school days were the best days of our lives, although not everyone agrees. stern teachers, terrible school meals and boring lessons put many people off. but in one school in central croatia, in the town of glina, they've tried a fairly unusual way to shake things up, as the bbc‘s tim allman explains. at first glance, glina secondary school looks like any other but things here are not quite as they seem. the woman on the right is the school principal, the young man on the left is also the school principal, albeit one day only. here, the teachers have become pupils and the pupils have become teachers, both learning how the other half leave. translation: two of the real teachers did not show

the class but everything else went as planned. why were they not there? we still need to establish why. the aim is to strengthen the relationship between children and staff. some youngsters took lessons others worked behind the scene and the real teachers got a chance to learn a few things. translation: the greatest value of the project is that we teachers are back at school, sitting as pupils of the sixth or seventh classes during a day and we ask ourselves whether we can be focused on lessons the whole time. couple of teachers had to have their mobile phones taken but everything else went to plan. they will try again next year, the rules turned upside down for a day. that's it for now. thank you for watching.

hello there. we've got a couple more showery days in the forecast, before things start to settle down during the weekend, as high pressure begins to build in. we should start to see temperatures rising, as well. in the short term, though, we've got this low pressure which is still influencing the weather across the country, and the weather fronts through central parts still generating some showers. so it does look like it's going to be a showery start through more central portions of the country this morning. a little bit of wintriness over the higher ground too, but for the rest of scotland, the north—east of england, it's going to be actually a cold start. out of town, could see a little bit of frost again, but less cold across southern areas. so through today, we will have some sunshine to start the day across the south and across the north—east. more cloud through central areas, with some showers from the word go, and then showers are likely to develop elsewhere as the temperatures begin to rise in the afternoon. and some of these could be heavy, maybe thundery and slow—moving

showers, ‘cause the winds will be lighter as well. but in the sunshine we could make 16 or 17 degrees in the south—east, and double—figure values elsewhere too. this area of low pressure moving into france could bring some wet weather to the channel islands, southern england through friday night. and then, into the weekend, high—pressure begins to establish itself. now, it will be quite a chilly start to the weekend, with the blue colours still lingering, but slowly we'll begin to import some warmer air from the near—continent from sunday onwards. so we could have a few showers around at the start of the weekend, before it starts to turn drier and starts to turn a little bit warmer. so let's have a look in a bit more detail, then, with saturday. it's a chilly start in light northerly winds. there will be plenty of sunshine around, but then showers will develop, most of them through central and eastern areas, and there will be the odd heavier one too. better chance of staying dry further west, closer to the area of high pressure, and in sunny spots we could make 17 celsius, but a milder day elsewhere. on into sunday, i think high—pressure is slap bang on top

of us, so it looks like it's going to be a largely dry day. could see a little bit of cloud bubbling up into the afternoon, with the odd isolated shower, but most places will be dry, and temperatures responding as well. 18 degrees across some of the warmest spots. high—pressure still with us again as we head on to the start of next week. moving a little bit further eastwards, so we'll be drawing some of this warmer airfrom france and from spain. so it's going to be a fairly cool start, going to have a little bit of mist and fog through the morning. that should fade away, and into the afternoon, widespread sunshine, as you can see here. and it's going to be warmer — temperatures 18 maybe 19 celsius, central scotland, and in towards the south and the south—west. and it stays fine throughout the week, but there are signs we start to pick up a north—easterly. it could turn a little bit cooler by the end of the week.

this is bbc news, the headlines: negotiators for the world's two biggest economies, the us and china, are trying to salvage a trade deal, just hours before fresh american tariffs are due to come into force on $200 billion dollars worth of china's goods.

talks will continue into friday. the anc is on course to retain power in south africa's general election, but after years of corruption scandals, the party looks to be heading for its worst performance in its 25 years in government. full results will be announced on saturday. in argentina, a congressman's aide has been shot dead outside parliament — the politician himself was seriously injured. the motive for the mafia—style hit, which was captured on camera,