this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. breaking the glass ceiling. european central bank boss christine lagarde heads a growing list of women in top business jobs. but men still dominate global boardrooms. plus — cheap money's here to stay. the fed keeps borrowing costs on hold after three cuts this year and signals they'll remain that way throughout 2020. and on the markets: those comments from fed chair jerome powell boosting stock markets in the us and asia. all eyes though now on today's election here in the uk.

we start with gender equality — and the rising number of women at the top levels of business and finance. today christine lagarde oversees her first policy meeting at the head of the european central bank. she'll be named later as one of the world's most powerful women by forbes magazine — alongside the bosses of general motors, ibm and banco sa ntander. let's put this in context though. this year the number of women running america's top companies hit a record high of 33. but that's still only around 6%. the number of female board members of companies around the world has almost doubled in the last decade — but still, on average just 20% of board directors are women. according to research by the bank credit suisse —

gender diversity is good for business — with companies with both male and female directors outperforming male—only—run companies. also figuring on the forbes list today will be ursula von der leyen — as of this month the first woman to head up the european commission. as the first woman to be president of the commission, every member will have a gendered balanced cabinet. for the very first time. and by the end of our mandate we will have gender equality at all levels of management for the very first time and this will change the face of the commission. kat usita is senior economist at the official monetary and financial institutions forum. welcome. great to hear ursula there

saying that gender equality will be front and centre now at the european commission. christine oversees her first monetary policy committee meeting at the european central tank. two very powerful women at the centre of europe. and it has taken a long time for women to take from te na nts long time for women to take from tenants but even if this is definitely a good thing, there is a long way to go because von der leyen is one of 1a women heading central banks all over the world considering there are 173 banks, that is still a small number. and janet yellen, the first woman to head up the us federal reserve and she was cut short to a degree by the incoming president at the time, president trump, who was not keen on her. but from your perspective, what needs to

change to increase the number of women in these positions? different institutions need to look at what they are doing in order to support they are doing in order to support the hiring and retention of women within their ranks but also making sure that the women who do stick around are able to progress in their careers, regardless of any made, whether they want to start a family and raise children or have responsibilities at home. these are financial institutions have to look at what doing eternally to make sure that we support women in their ranks because there will always be a fact of life that family will be in people's lives. and that is the case for many of these young talented skilled women who come into a career ina skilled women who come into a career in a central bank. it is about retention, isn't it? if you have a family and a few children and they

ta ke family and a few children and they take half a year or even a full year of maternity leave, how they come back into the workplace and how they continue to progress in their career. i'm sure you've heard of a lea ky career. i'm sure you've heard of a leaky pipeline, statistics saying that on entry—level, most financial institutions would have 50—50 in terms of gender ratio at entry—level positions. but as the individual‘s progress, the proportion of women, the sheriff women go down and it is because of those reasons you mentioned earlier stop we recognise that there could be structural issues but then do people leaving these companies have to do what in order to address those? thank you for sharing your views on that story with us. it is something we keep a close eye on here, gender equality in the workplace and in high positions such as central banks. let's go to the us now where borrowing costs could be

on hold for the forseeable future. the world's most powerful central bank — the us federal reserve — has left its benchmark interest rate unchanged — at its current range of1.5 and 1.75%. fed chief jerome powell described the economic outlook for america as ‘favourable' — boosting financial markets. but he said he wanted to see a resolution to the us china trade war. samira hussain was at the fed in washington. the federal reserve acted as predict that, making its decision it said that, making its decision it said that a strong us labour market and continuing spending by consumers. but the ongoing trade disputes have been a thorn in the side of the central bank as it tries to continue this momentum in the us economy. when asked about the approval of us trade deals between mexico and canada and the us said that china's trade deal — meant they said that

china's trader was much more pressing. i think the difference between nafta and the us mca is smaller than the difference between current arrangements with china. mr powell has stressed that uncertainty is bad for the us economy. and getting a trade deal with china would go a long way in making business feel more confident about the future. as samira was saying there — the us—china trade war is an ongoing worry for the fed and us business. and it could be about to escalate. president trump is expected to meet with top trade advisers later to discuss whether to go ahead with a fresh round of tariffs on some $160 billion in chinese goods — due to come in on sunday. rico hizon is following the story in singapore. nice to see you.

this is the real concern, that at the moment these chinese are slapped on imports if there is no change. absolutely. this meeting of donald trump with his trade advisors will indeed be very critical and sources say that donald trump ‘s advisors are divided about whether to proceed with the tariffs and what impacts such a move would have on us financial markets. as for china, it could cripple their slowing economy to last export numbers to the us showed an over 20% client to sally, negotiations have failed to produce deals on agricultural purchases by china. since the two countries agreed in october to conclude the luminary trade agreement. and many expected the two sides to reach a mini trade deal. ahead of the

ta riffs mini trade deal. ahead of the tariffs on sunday but that prospect now appears unlikely. the question 110w now appears unlikely. the question now is whether washington will delay the tariffs or let them take effect. according to some economists, they believe the likely scenario is a delay until december 15 to 90 days so both sides can the cosy eight further for a phase so both sides can the cosy eight furtherfor a phase one so both sides can the cosy eight further for a phase one trade deal by 2020. further for a phase one trade deal by2020.— further for a phase one trade deal by 2020. — makes a —— so —— so both sides can negotiate for a phase one trade deal by 2020. now let's brief you on some other business stories: us aviation regulators allowed boeing's 737 max aircraft to continue flying despite knowing there was a risk of further crashes a congressional hearing has heard. analysis by the federal aviation administration after the first crash last year predicted there could be up to 15 disasters over the lifetime of the aircraft without design changes. despite this, the faa did not ground the max until a second crash

five months later. the faa's new chief steve dickson, who started in august, admitted this was a mistake. shares of saudi aramco surged 10% on their riyadh stock market debut — the maximum allowed by the exchange, following the record breaking initial public offering by the oil giant. the jump gives aramco a value of $1.88 trillion, worth more than all 28 energy firms on the s&p500 put together — and further cementing its title as the world's most valuable listed company. and now — what's trending in the business news this morning. from bloomberg — australia bolsters competition watchdog to rein in tech giants. it wants to take action over the advertising market dominance of the likes of google and facebook. from quartz — how fast fashion is causing an environmental "emergency".

the $2.5 trillion fashion industry is one of the largest users of water globally — producing one cotton shirt requires 2,700 litres of water, the amount a person drinks in 2.5 years. and cnbc reports a us poll that finds 69% of americans say the economy is helping the wealthy, while hurting the poor, those without college degrees and the middle class. and don't forget — let is know what you are spotting online — use the hashtag #bbcthebriefing. tributes have been paid to the botanist and broadcaster david bellamy, who's died at the age of 86.

he presented a series of nature programmes on tv in the 70s and 80s and was a campaigner for conservation and protecting wildlife. the conservation foundation, which he co—founded, described him as a "larger—than—life character" who "inspired a whole generation". here's our arts correspondent, david sillito. there is nothing like a good drying day to put spring back into your polyester. david bellamy for the more than 30 years he was the enthusiastic face of botany on television. he failed to school exams but a job fostered a love of science and a few years later he was a lecturer at durham university, specialising in marine biology. it was that the leading to the interview when an oil tanker ran aground in 1967, raising thousands of tons of oil into the sea. the large stretch of coast was going to be changed. the whiskers, his voice and his easy to understand style led

to his celebrity. is very early days made me. i can see you through the leaf to the late 1990s he was linked to hundreds of conversation —— conservation and wildlife organisations. but after declaring climate change poppycock, invitations began to dry up. but the conservation foundation he set up in 1982 issued a statement describing him asa 1982 issued a statement describing him as a friend, a teacher and a larger—than—life character who inspired people with his knowledge and enthusiasm. and that is where all the action is. for that story and more, breakfast is coming up at six o'clock with naga munchetty and charlie stayt. they'll have the day's news, business and sport, plus polls open injust over an hour's time. it's the country's third general election in less than five years. 650 seats will be contested.

this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: the debate begins on capitol hill over the articles of impeachment against president trump. the international court ofjustice is set to hear from gambia's lawyers that rohingya muslims still face an ongoing risk of genocide. now it's time to look in a bit more depth at a few stories making the headlines this morning. we begin with the ongoing strike action in france over the pensions issue. the centre—right paper le figaro focuses on the prime minister committing himself to implementing the reforms. "he chooses firmness" reads the left—leaning le monde, on the other hand focuses on the unions digging in. the moderate cfdt union has announced that it willjoin the protest action, the first time since 2010 that it's formed a united front with the more radical a couple of takes

on environmental questions. the frankfurter allgemeine looks at comments by the new president of the european commission, ursula von der leyen, in which she said the eu must become a pioneer in saving the world's climate. time magazine has made the 16—year—old environmental campaigner, greta thunberg, its person of the year. it says, "she has offered a moral clarion call to those who are willing to act, and hurled shame on those who are not." we move on to someone who used to be a global icon but whose image has taken something of a beating recently, aung san suu kyi. one of the most reliable myanmar—based news sites, the irrawaddy, reports her defence of the burmese military‘s actions against the muslim rohingya people at the world court. finally, our own bbc news website reports a development which may be welcome at this time of year, employers granting ‘hangover days'