tonight at ten, there's a sharp escalation of the trade war between the world's two biggest economies, with president trump more than doubling tariffs, on thousands of chinese goods. $200 billion worth of imports have been hit, amid growing fears of the possible effects on the global economy. tonight, talks to diffuse the crisis between washington and beijing ended without agreement. they were constructive discussions between both parties, that's all we're going to say. of course china believes raising tariffs is not a solution to this problem. it will be harmful to china, the united states and the entire world. we'll have the very latest live from washington and beijing. also tonight..

how firms stockpiling for brexit gave a boost to the uk economy. a man whose fiance was killed in the london bridge attacks tells the inquests the scene was like a warzone. the growth of online sports betting in africa, and the children trapped in a cycle of poverty and debt. i'd wanted to offer my daughter a taste of the glacier, a sense of the world being pinned in place... and it's just been announced that the new poet laureate is simon armitage. and coming—up on sportsday on bbc news, a flawless performance at the british masters gives matt wallace a one—shot lead giong into the third round in southport.

good evening. the trade war between the world's two biggest economies, the us and china, has intensfied, with president trump imposing a swathe of new tariffs on thousands of chinese products. he's insisting that doubling import taxes will make america "much stronger". the tariffs affect more than $200 billion worth of chinese imports, including consumer goods like furniture, car parts and handbags shipped to america. the us had already levied a 10% tariff on chinese goods last september. but today that rose to 25%, and beijing has vowed to retaliate. tonight, mr trump maintained his relationship with china's president xi is very strong, but a trade deal seems far off. well we'll be live in beijing but first to our north america editor, jon sopel, who's in washington for us tonight.

clive, these crucial talks started this morning. they were over by lunchtime, there was no agreement and it is unclear when or if they will resume. there is brinkmanship on both sides. the us calculation is that a prolonged trade war will hurt china far more than the united states. the chinese calculation is that donald trump has an electoral cycle to worry about and he won't wa nt to cycle to worry about and he won't want to be going into an election with a weakened economy. for the moment, neither side is blinking. a bell can signify celebration, but it also can ring out a warning and today it felt like the latter after donald trump imposed much higher tariffs on chinese goods coming into the us, and fired out a warning to the world's second biggest economy that he is digging in for the long haul. he tweeted. ..

the chinese are in washington in the hope of concluding a deal. their lead negotiator said increasing tariffs hurts everyone. translation: i came here with sincerity in these special circumstances, to engage in rational and candid exchanges with the us side. of course china believes raising tariffs in the current situation is not a solution to the problem. it will be harmful to china, the united states, and to the whole world. donald trump has often been accused of being too trigger—happy when it comes to tariffs, too keen to start a trade war. but on this, significantly, the democrats are behind him, they are urging him to remain tough. when it comes to trade and china, there is a feeling here that they have been allowed to get away with too much for too long. the talks have broken up for the time being without agreement the treasury secretary sounding decidedly guarded about how they had gone.

they were constructive discussions between both parties, that is always going to say. thank you. this factory in the south of china makes wi—fi routers, millions of them, many earmarked for the us market. now, with new tariffs, those sales are in doubt. tp—link, like everyone else around the world, thought a deal was imminent, that the two sides would bridge their differences. but last weekend, the us president accused beijing of ratting on a deal to open up the chinese economy to us goods. in the middle of this are us farmers whose products have been hit by retaliatory tariffs and they are desperate for a trade deal as soon as possible. we have almost waited almost too long, so the only thing that is really going to help us is if he makes a deal and china comes in and they guarantee to buy x amount of bushels. and us consumers, who are now going to find a range of imports costing way more in the shops. and if this carries on, it will be the global

economy that will suffer. jon sopel, bbc news, washington. 0ur china correspondent john sudworth is in beijing. the chinese economy not firing as forcefully as it has been in recent times. just how worried are the authorities about a protracted trade war with america? well, there is no word yet, clive, on what form the threatened chinese retaliation might take. but you are right, i think policymakers here have been deeply rattled by donald trump's trade war, which they see, rightly, i think, as a seismic shift in one of the most important geopolitical relationships of our time. but china knows two things. firstly, you know is that these tariffs are likely to hurt american consumers as much as they hurt chinese producers. taxing chinese made goods like car parts and vacuum cleaners will raise costs

for ordinary trump voting americans. as you heard from thejon sopel, the chinese also know that they don't have to worry about an electoral cycle. donald trump does. there is a short window because of shipping time isa short window because of shipping time is a short window because of shipping times now of about tariffs kick in. a short window that negotiators from both sides will be using to try to step back from the brink. john, thank you for that. well the chancellor, philip hammond, says he's "very concerned" about the ongoing trade dispute between the us and china. but he insists the uk economy is robust, and new figures today show it grew strongly in the first quarter of the year. economists say some of the growth is due to firms stock—piling, ahead of what was the expected date for the uk to leave the european union, march 29th. here's our economics correspondent, dharshini david. production lines at this manufacturer that supplies the car industry have gone into overdrive

since the start of the year. they have stockpiled both raw materials and finished goods to protect against disruption in the event of a no—deal brexit in march. normally, holding sort of a week's stock, somewhere in that region. we are holding much more than that, three, four, five, six weeks of stock, which isn't healthy for any business. but at least we have the confidence that if anything were to happen with the borders, we can continue to supply. he is not alone. this type of contingency planning meant that manufacturing activity grew at its fastest rate for over three decades — by 2.2% in the first three months of 2019. add in consumer spending, and gdp was up by 0.5% between january and march. a decent performance, but a different type of growth than had been expected just a few months ago.

that was the past. what of the future? this cutting—edge rocket engine plant is a taste of what britain could be, thanks to an injection of private and public money. we need businesses up and down the country to invest more to ensure the economy flourishes in the long term, creating even morejobs and ensuring higher wages. but, as the chancellor told me here, that kind of investment is still being held back by brexit uncertainty. business investment is much lower than we would like it to be. investment in infrastructure, investment in skills. we have to do that if we want to ensure the prosperity of future generations. it's notjust brexit, is it? because we are also talking about increased trade tensions at the moment between the us and china, more tariff increases looming. how concerned are you about that situation? very concerned, because the uk is a very open economy and that means that we benefit from positive things in the global economy, but we are also effected by a negative things.

tomorrow's technology may be dazzling, but the chancellor knows our current performance is underpowered. the boost from stockpiling was temporary. the payback may be weaker growth ahead. at least until brexit is cleared up. dharshini david, bbc news, 0xfordshire. two former essex police detectives have been jailed for sabotaging child abuse investigations. the old bailey heard that lee pollard and sharon patterson forged documents and misled their supervisors to shut down inquiries and avoid doing the work. both detective constables, who'd been having an affair, were found guilty of misconduct in public office. patterson was sentenced to 18 months and pollard jailed for two years. the comedian freddie starr has died at his home in spain. he was 76. he became a household name in the ‘70s and ‘80s after appearing on the talent show opportunity knocks and went on to front

many more tv shows. he'll also be remembered for a fictitious story on a newspaperfront page — freddie starr ate my hamster. a canadian tourist whose fiancee was killed in the london bridge attacks two years ago has told an inquest the scene was like a "war zone". tyler ferguson was walking across the bridge with his girlfriend, christine archibald, when she was struck by a van targeting pedestrians. he says moments before she was hit, they'd swapped places on the pavement. daniel sandford reports. chrissy archibald and her fiance, tyler ferguson, walking on london bridge on a summer's night. canadian tourists who'd just enjoyed dinner at a thai restaurant. two minutes after these cctv images, they stopped and kissed, and swapped sides, putting chrissy closer to the road. today, tyler ferguson told her inquest, i then noticed a relatively large white transit van on the pavement, hurtling towards chrissy and i.

it was immediately clear to me this was a deliberate act of violence. the van‘s driver's wing mirror brushed past my left shoulder. i then looked for chrissy. she was no longer next to me. i realised she had been struck by the van. chrissy was dragged along the road at speed and over the central reservation and cctv shows her fiance rushing to help her. there was a desperate effort to revive chrissy archibald, that involved an off—duty lifeguard, police officers, ambulancemen and doctors. but she had almost certainly died straightaway. tyler ferguson said the scene on london bridge was chaos and mayhem. it was, he said, a warzone. this afternoon, it emerged that, amidst the chaos, a team of firearms officers were among the first police on the scene. but they left their main guns in the vehicle to care for the injured on the bridge, unaware that people were being stabbed in nearby borough market.

chrissy archibald's parents have come from canada for the inquest, and today had this to say through their lawyer. we are here to stand with other families who lost loved ones, and with those who were injured on that horrific day. 0ur heartfelt thanks go to all those who were on the bridge that night, and worked so hard to save chrissy. we were blessed that so many brave people rushed to help her and tyler. next week, the coroner will hear evidence of the second phase of that murderous night, when the attackers left their van and killed six more people with knives. 0nline sports betting in africa is worth billions of pounds every year, with faster internet connections, cheaper phones and an obsession with the english premier league fuelling a boom. but there are fears that children are being sucked into a cycle of betting,

debt and poverty. a minister in the kenyan government has called it "a curse on youth". 0ur correspondent angus crawford has the story. it's match day in the kenyan premier league and look, there's harry kane, advertising a sports betting company. local team afc leopards is sponsored by a betting company, too. in fact, the whole league is. it's big business here. especially betting on the english premier league. and it's notjust adults, but, increasingly, children too. meet francis. he's only 15 and he bets every day. when you start betting, you don't feel like you can stop it. he and his friends dream of getting rich. some have even used their school fees. when they lose, they don't have school fees, you see. so they can't go to school? yes. and adverts for betting are everywhere.

whether you're playing or watching there's something for everyone at betin. nothing wrong with that, but it seems age restrictions just aren't working here. this is today's newspaper. it's quite clear the government here thinks that the entire industry is actually a curse on kenyan youth. english football and the big betting firms fuelling a gambling boom in africa. they are profit—making, they are making money and probably 30% is from children. jennifer kaberi's a child psychologist who sees vulnerable children pushed deeper into poverty. they have been swallowed by this animal that came here and people didn't realise it was an animal. it is notjust kenyan companies using the english premier league to promote their brands. we have also found british betting companies trying to grab a slice of the african market, and children are gambling with them, too. 0n the other side of africa, almost 3000 miles away, abidjan, capital of the ivory coast.

here, we meet eric. 15 when he started betting, using adults to place his bet on the british site bet365. even the internet cafe is named after the company and there are plenty of children here, too. it's a picture repeated across the city — children openly betting. and when we travelled to the ivory coast, we found the most popular site was bet365. you've just got to take the money and run. it's one of the biggest betting companies in the world — chief executive denise coates reported to be worth at least £5 billion.

bet365 says all accounts have to pass full age verification and must not be used to benefit a third party. it insists, if an account holder placed bets for a child, appropriate action would be taken. a betting boom but with children too often the losers — an uglier side to the beautiful game. angus crawford, bbc news, nairobi. a year ago, more than a thousand letters were delivered to downing street from people pleading for access to a new but very expensive drug which can ease the effects of cystic fibrosis. around 10,000 people in the uk suffer from the debilitating lung condition, but there's still no decision on whether the medicine, called 0rkambi, will be made available on the nhs. 0ur health editor, hugh pym, reports. annabel, who's four, has cystic fibrosis. oh, no, not on my hair! blowing bubbles is good exercise for her lungs, which are affected by her condition.

she's vulnerable to chest infections. her mum has to organise a complex combination of treatments for annabel every day. she can't get the drug 0rkambi because the nhs says it's too expensive. and her mum just can't understand that. it's heartbreaking. it feels like a clock ticking away. every opportunity that she could have this medication, and stop the clock on her cf, it's scary as a parent to think what could happen. 0rkambi can improve lung function by a0%. but the official price is more than £100,000 per patient a year. the manufacturer, vertex, says it will cut that for the nhs. the regulator says the cost is still too high. the boss of that regulator told me that usually with new drugs they did reach agreement. in virtually all cases,

we managed to find a way through. so i'm very hopeful that continuing to talk to vertex we can persuade them of the need for them to think carefully and to change their expectations of what the nhs should pay, so we can get these new treatments available to patients. what do we want? 0rkambi! when do we want it? now! but, amidst demonstrations at westminster, there is no sign of a breakthrough in the talks. vertex says its offer to the nhs is better than deals with other health systems. there are separate negotiations with the scottish government. for the most seriously ill cf patients like mike, the drug is provided on compassionate grounds by the company. he still has to use this inflatable vest to free up his lungs. but the drug has transformed his life. i can see how it's made a difference to me. and i was desperate to get it, really. i'm always a positive person with cystic fibrosis, i always try and fight cystic fibrosis. my saying is i don't let cf win.

i control cf, not cf control me, as best as i can. that's been really hard over the last two and a half years. but now i feel that i've turned the corner again, and this drug is able to let me have my life back again, really. but it's not available for patients like annabel. her family believe if she could start on the drug now, she could have a normal, healthy life like her brothers. hugh pym, bbc news. this season's premier league football champions will be crowned this weekend, but will it be manchester city or liverpool? the two clubs are just one point apart in the tightest race in years. well, we'll find out on sunday, and all this at the end of a remarkable week for english clubs in european competitions. here's dan roan. wijnaldum! oh, it's three! it was a week when english football hit new heights, of drama and dominance. never before has one

country supplied all four finalists in europe's two major club competitions. but while the fans are still celebrating, there is also mounting concern atjust how much it will cost to follow their teams to the two host cities. i think with madrid it makes it expensive, that's clear, unbelievably expensive, but at least it's not another part of the world like going to baku in the europa league final, that's really funny i think. 0bviously these guys who make the decisions, i don't know what they have for breakfast. the stadium for the champions league final in madrid has a 68,000 capacity but uefa has only released 16,000 tickets to both liverpool and spurs, with many others going to sponsors. for the europa league final in baku, arsenal and chelsea are getting just 6,000 each and face a 2,500—mile journey and around ten hours of travelling each way with no direct flights. it's a disgrace that ticket prices are at the level they are. 80% of the tickets that are available through the clubs, even if you can get one, are priced more than £150,

some of them £500. and of course the total allocation is less than half the capacity of the ground, which is really shameful. what has been even more remarkable is that the dominant force in the english game is not among the four european finalists. manchester city know if they beat brighton away on sunday in their last game of the premier league season, they will be crowned champions for the fourth time in eight years, but this unforgettable title race is not quite over yet. with the lead changing hands an incredible 32 times, city and liverpool have been locked in a relentless battle that is going right to the wire. after 13 straight wins, the leaders are top byjust a point, but slip up and liverpool, who have only lost one game and in almost any other year would be champions, could claim a first premier league title. we have to win the game. liverpool, if they want to win, they have to win too. so, both games will be difficult. former england striker robbie fowler made his name at liverpool before

going on to play for city later in his career and says both clubs are worthy champions. they have never given up. you know, city keep getting points, liverpool keep getting the wins that are needed to force city into the way they play. and look, you know, at the minute we are second to a really incredible man city team. while liverpool long for a first league title in 29 years, city are on course to retain it. but whoever prevails, this is already a season like no other. dan roan, bbc news. in the last half hour, it's been announced that simon armitage will be the new poet laureate. he says he wants to use the role to ensure poetry embraces major global issues, including climate change. the salary is £6,000 a year, which the 55—year—old yorkshireman says he'll give away. he's been speaking to our arts editor, will gompertz. i'd wanted to offer my daughter a taste of the glacier, a sense of the world being pinned

in place by a diamond—like cold at each pole, but i open my hand and there's nothing to pass on, nothing to hold. simon armitage reading of the present, his poem about climate change, a subject close to his heart on top of his poet laureate ma nifesto. on top of his poet laureate manifesto. i definitely want to initiate something around the idea of climate change. i think it is absolutely essential that the poetry responds to that issue and i would like there to be some kind of platform or competition or award that recognises writing around those themes and topics. simon armitage. the new poet laureate wanted to be a rock star and now he is treated like one. from the very beginning, he believed in taking poetry to the

people. time in the brain cells sweating like a nail bomb, trouble with a heart beat, cut to the chase, pick up the pace, no such thing as a walkabout fun run, shoot glance in the crime and day room, don't hang about, you're running out of space. what do you think the role of poetry is in 2019? in contemporary society? my is in 2019? in contemporary society? my feeling is that it is more valuable and more relevant than it has ever been in this world that we live in which is a very confused confusing place. 0ver information, over communication. poetry is time out from that. did it cross your mind even for a moment when you offered the post to say, actually, i don't think this is right at this stage for a white male, maybe someone stage for a white male, maybe someone from a different point of view or background would be better for the role of the moment? i'm com pletely for the role of the moment? i'm completely sympathetic to all those issues. but i come from sort of an

outside position. i have no formal education in english literature at all. when i grew up, in a terraced house on the site of a hill in west yorkshire, i did not feel like the chosen one and when i went to a comprehensive school on the side of the hill in west yorkshire with 1800 other kids, i did not feel as if i was being groomed for a life of literary lotus eating. when i was a student at portsmouth poly doing geography, i did not feel any sense of entitlement there. i understand, toa of entitlement there. i understand, to a lesser extent, what it means to come from outside the establishment, evenif come from outside the establishment, even if i have arrived at a certain established position. the new poet laureate, simon armitage, speaking to will gompertz. that's it. now on bbc one, time for the news where you are. have a very good night.

hello, and welcome to sportsday. i'm lizzie greenwood—hughes. here's a look at what's coming up tonight. we're just 48 hours away from finding out who'll be crowned this year's premier league champions. mercedes continue their f1 dominance this season, with another 1—2 in practise for the spanish grand prix. and matt wallace doesn't drop a shot on his way

to leading the british masters after two rounds. welcome to the programme. well, what a week of football we've had and we're not done yet. with the premier league coming to a close on sunday, it's been one of the closest title races in history as manchester city and liverpool have gone toe—to—toe for months. patrick gearey looks at an epic season that's finally coming to a end. heart beats. how much more is there left? how much more can anyone say? —— can anyone take?

the wild week in the champions league gives way to a final stay off in the premier league. both liverpool and man city know that if they blink, they will miss it. the odds are longer for liverpool who must beat wolves and hope that manchester city slip up against brighton. but the last time they were written off against barcelona, they produced a performance for the ages. that result created a kinetic energy which liverpool may be able to use on sunday. the group of players we have here is so special. if i have to find a very short description for the group i would say it's only pain. that is how they got through the season. there was always pain. it was always hard and difficult. wolves have bitten them before knocking them out of the fa cup, a performance typical of their season where they have been at their best against the top sides. they will lie in wait

at anfield in case liverpool dwell on past glory. it is a challenge because lots of matches nobody speaks about. it is all about how unbelievably we played. but this weekend we play wolves and we know that. they have a good spirit, good match plan. it isjust good. in fact, in premier league terms, the most significant moment of the week came on monday when vincent kompany smashed the winning goal against leicester. it might seem a fading memory but it means manchester city have their fate in their own hands. win against brighton and they are champions again. we are in this position because we won a lot of games, 13 in a row. we have to win two more. one more in the premier league. that is what we have to do. we are relaxed, training good, smiling a lot.