this is the business briefing. i'm victoria fritz. france to slash taxes again next year to tackle what the finance minister calls a social crisis. are president macron‘s economic reform plans now out of the window? plus, more pressure on boeing over the 737 max crashes as us safety regulators point out failings in its warning systems, procedures and pilot training and on the markets: asian shares slipping tothree—week lows as the release of a whistleblower complaint against president trump add to uncertainties about the global economy.

we start in france, where president macron‘s government will present the budget for 2020 to parliament later. it will include more tax cuts for working people as the government re—focuses on boosting household incomes after the wave of yellow vest protests that swept the country. on thursday, france's economy minister bruno le maire announced that taxes will be cut by more than 10 billion euros next year to address what he called a social crisis. this, on top of cuts on a similar scale this year. the government claims 95% of households will be better off. the tax cuts come despite weak economic growth in france. official forecasts are for it to slow to 1.3% next year. the macron administration pledged to reform the economy and balance the books by slashing public spending.

but widespread protests have derailed that. a point stephen sackur put to economy minister bruno le maire, when he appeared on hardtalk earlier this year. it earlier this year. seems, not for the first time in france, it seems, not for the first time in france, that the ambitions of a reformist president has been dashed by the french population. we've been here before. but we will stick to the path of reforms and transformation for one single reason... but you've already started u—turns! single reason... but you've already started u-turns! we were elected on that promise of transformation reforms and full overhaul of the french economic model so that we will get more prosperity and more fairness. george buckley is co—head of european economics at nomura. thanks very much joining

thanks very muchjoining me, george. george, macron came to power to sort out the public finances and he's been entirely derailed from doing that. does that matter and is that fair? should we bejudging him by election promises when france is a very different country these days? they've never worried about the deficits in the past. looking at the deficits in the past. looking at the deficit over the last 20 years, it's been averaging between 3.5—%, higher than the fiscal rules allow for in europe. now they've brought it down, it came down in 2017/18 because of stronger economic growth, but clearly they will run a higher deficit this year with the intention of reducing it next year. clearly these numbers are higher, certainly for the deficit, for this year. the overall french deficit is projected to be 3.1% of gdp, economic growth. this is a fraction above the eu target, or limit, ishould probably say. into day's world, does it

matter if things break the rules? europe might hope some countries break the rules because they would like to see fiscal policy contribute to where monetary policy has left off. we've seen debate and questions over whether the policies the european central bank have delivered are european central bank have delivered a re really european central bank have delivered are really going to achieve the goal of supporting economic growth and rising inflation, and what we've seen from the head of the central bank, mario draghi, of course, is leaving on a month's bank, mario draghi, of course, is leaving on a months time, they've said they want to government spending, lower taxes, contribute to what monetary policy is doing and it will help the policy makes a lot more, where central banks have been at the forefront of trying to support economies. they really want to see that shift to governments stop who has the wriggle room to do this? this is the problem, not many countries and. even france doesn't have that wiggle room, they would like to see the deficit come down next year —— not many countries in. germany has the most wriggle room in

europe —— not many countries are. it is the biggest they have actually got the wiggle room. the netherlands as well, much smaller economy, worth about 6% of the whole of the euro area. but also they are doing something to loosen policy. those are the two economies where you would see most support. will germany follow suit? because that would make a big difference. we probably need to a worsening of the german economy if... to see them willing to step up for school support because at the moment, they announced this big wreckage of green measures, of course, a week ago but even that was not a fiscal boost. their raising taxes to pay for some of the spending on green items. we're going to have to leave it there. gorge buckley, thanks very much. let's go to the us now, where boeing has been criticized by regulators over its warning systems and pilot procedures and training. in its assessment of the 737 max jet, the national transportation safety board said the planemaker didn't

properly consider how pilots react in an emergency when faced with multiple alarms and alerts at the same time. boeing's best—selling aircraft remains grounded after two fatal crashes that killed 346 people. the bbc‘s vivienne nunis has more from new york. the message for boeing here is it needs to pay more attention to how pilots react in emergency situations stop in the national transportation safety boa rd said stop in the national transportation safety board said the crews in both fatal boeing crashes didn't react in the ways the company and the federal aviation administration assumed they would, and boeing did not look at all potential flight alerts pilots might face all potential flight alerts pilots mightface in all potential flight alerts pilots might face in a system failure such as this. all 737 maxs have been grounded since an ethiopian airlines plane crashed shortly after takeoff in march, killing 157 people. it

followed a lion air crash of another 737 max, which killed 189 people last year. in both accidents, investigators have focused on the role played by a software system was designed to make the aircraft easier to fly. the plains will remain grounded until aviation authorities around the world deem them safe to fly. let's turn to the us—china trade war, and talks between the two sides look like they are back on for next month. shara njit leyl is following the story. sharanjit, we thought this may happen but i think we now have a date? we do. essentially it is still media reports citing sources close to those talks, suggesting that washington and beijing are preparing for a new round of talks. there suggesting this might take place on 0ctober suggesting this might take place on october the 10th and 11th. and, of course, all of this comes in the midst the trade row. there's been a

lot of exchanges between the two sides and the top chinese diplomat has said china is willing to buy more us products. a conciliatory tone from china but on the us side, expectations from the us that american firms can't supply huawei with technologies over national security fears and this will undermine hopes of a complete deal between the two sides. also new economic data from the us is likely to inflame matters even further. they show us imports of consumer and capital goods jumped in august by the most this year, widening its deficit to 72.8 billion for the month, up 0.5% from the previous month. the numbers suggest american companies scramble to beat another round of tariffs on chinese goods after donald trump announced on august the first that the us would slap 10% of tariffs on $3 billion of chinese goods starting at the beginning of september. the trump administration is moving ahead with deals with japan and india as they try to shift the focus away from

china. 0k, try to shift the focus away from china. ok, thanks very much, sharon tate. sharanjit china. ok, thanks very much, sharon tate. shara njit leyl china. ok, thanks very much, sharon tate. sharanjit leyl in singapore for us. —— thanks very much, sharanjit. now let's brief you on some other business stories. brexit carries real risk of disruption to britain's medicine and healthca re supplies, according to the uk's public spending watchdog. a report by the national audit office says the government has taken some steps to manage the risks, but there is still significant work to bedone. 37 million packs of medicine a month are imported into the uk from eu countries. shares of high—tech fitness bike firm peloton have slumped on their first day of trading on the nasdaq, closing down 11%. it's the latest disappointing stock market debut for a start—up company, pointing to a growing scepticism among investors about loss making firms with multi—billion dollar valuations. and now, what's trending in the business news this morning? and there's a definite theme!

from cnbc, investors see companies as overpriced." the sports talent agency was the latest start—up to abandon its stock market debut on thursday. from business insider, peloton wipes out more than $900 million of investor wealth in its first day of public trading. and on bloomberg, "wework‘s credit rating gets cut further into junk." rating agency s&p turns more negative on the office sharing firm after it delays its flotation and ousts the founder as ceo. and don't forget, let us know what you are spotting online. use the hashtag #bbcthebriefing. that was adam neumann, the founder and chief executive. that's it for the business briefing this hour, but before we go, here are the markets: asia stocks are on track to notch falls for the week on friday following on from declines on wall street amid political uncertainty in the us as the white house faced accusations of a cover—up. plenty more coming up a little later on. see you soon.

a british couple have been jailed for eight years by a portuguese court for drug smuggling on a cruise ship. roger and susan clarke, who are both 72, were caught last year while attempting to smuggle 9kg of cocaine with a street value of £1 million. damian grammaticas reports from lisbon. lisbon... beautiful in the autumn sun. last december, a different ship was here. the marco parolojust arrived from the caribbean. in cabin 469, roger and susan clarke, pensioners who took frequently costly cruises, living beyond their modest income. police had noticed.

today, the couple, both 72 years old, were brought to court in handcuffs, sentenced to eight years each for drug smuggling. as the judge spoke, sue dropped her head in tea rs judge spoke, sue dropped her head in tears and roger, also shaken, turned to her and tears and roger, also shaken, turned to herand said, tears and roger, also shaken, turned to her and said, "i'll be nearly 80 when i get out, it's ridiculous!" as he left the court, he turned to me and said, "the truth needs to come out. come and visit me in prison. " but the truth is, the couple have a history. this is roger injail in norway, court 15 years ago with 200 kilos of cannabis hidden in his car and recently frequent trips to jamaica, the photo they took from the hotel, the wedding they attended. but police caught them with these cases, empty ones for a friend, they said. the drugs officer who raided their cabin found more than £1 million of cocaine in the lining of the bags. translation:-

first, they acted confident. they said, "you're not going to find anything". but afterwards they admitted all along the cases had drugs. now, instead of enjoying their sunset years, the couple may be spending the rest of them behind bars. damian grammaticas, bbc news, lisbon. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: white house officials have been accused of trying to cover up evidence that president trump used his power to solicit foreign interference in next year's election. after an election campaign marred by deadly attacks, afghans prepare to go to the polls to choose a new president. climate strikes are set to continue across the world. teenge activist greta thunberg willjoin one march in montreal, canada, with others planned in europe and asia. now it's time to look at the stories

that are making the headlines in the media across the world. the backlash against borisjohnson continues in the uk papers. the is front page has the prime minister's sister rachel joining in the criticism, saying mrjohnson is using a strongman gambit to whip up voters. "i won't surrender no—deal threat" headlines the daily express. the paper says a defiant mrjohnson has told mps to control their tempers, but insists he will keep on talking tough. the times has a warning from senior allies of borisjohnson saying that britain will face civil unrest on the scale of the french gilets jaunes protests if brexit is frustrated. meanwhile, the financial times carries the story of the white house facing accusations of a cover—up after the publication of a whistleblower complaint that alleges us officials hid the transcript of a call between president trump and his ukrainian counterpart.

the south china morning post reports that hong kongers have used their first town hall talks to condemn chief executive carrie lam over the crisis gripping the city. and finally, bbc online are reporting that japan airlines has introduced a feature on its seat booking system that shows where young children are seated, so passengers can book seats to avoid the noise. what do we make of all of that? get in touch with me on twitter on that one as well. with me is priya lakhani, the founder and ceo of century tech. let's start with this ongoing family feud going on over at thejohnstons. racheljohnson, the prime minister's sister, says her brother is using a strongman gambit to whip up voters. she says the prime minister is not

the brother i see at