jinping this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. on the eve of the signing of the first phase of the us—china trade deal, america says it will no longer lable china a "currency manipulator". heartbreak in australia's bushland — farmers are facing devastating losses of livestock as fires rage on. and on financial markets investors are feeling optimistic with the us showing signs it is keen to seal the trade deal with china tomorrow.

let's unpack further the decision made in the us late monday. the us has reversed its decision to brand china a "currency manipulator" as the two countries prepare to wind down their trade war and sign a phase one deal on wednesday. us treasury secretary, steven mnuchin, said the us made the change because china had agreed to refrain from devaluing its currency to make its own goods cheaper forforeign buyers. china was officially named a currency manipulator in august last year when tensions were high between beijing and washington. let's talk this through with stephen mcdonell who is beijing for us. has there been any reaction from china on this at all? the chinese government has welcomed this and why wouldn't they? it is a correct

decision on the part of washington they say to stop labelling china as a currency manipulator. many observers will see this as much about politics as it is about economics. it seems to be an olive branch from washington to beijing in the run—up to the signing of this phase one part of the trade agreement to break the trade war deadlock between the economic world superpowers. for some it seems confusing. four years of the us government has been saying that china has been artificially manipulating its currency to make exports more attractive. as recently as august, this was like an official designation. now we are led to believe, because of china says we will not do this anymore, that is enough for the us and the us treasury has removed that designation. one way of looking at

it though is that it kind of doesn't really matter because china does not ca re if really matter because china does not care if in the past you are called something of brother and now you're not going to call us of that. the point is we're not manipulating our currency and if you look at stock markets the world, that has been quite a positive response to this. people are seeing both the removal of that designation and the signing of that designation and the signing of this part one of this sort of trade deal is quite a good shot in the arm for the global economy. indeed and that's only expected to ta ke indeed and that's only expected to take place tomorrow. thank you very much indeed. stephen mcdonald in beijing for us. football — or soccer for the americans out there — is more than just a sport, it's a business juggernaut and with ever more lucrative tv deals and fanatical global fan base it's showing no signs of slowing down according to a new report by deloitte. over the past year the 20 highest earning football clubs in the world generated a record $10.3 billion of combined revenues — up 11% on the previous year.

barcelona toped the list for the first time with revenues of $935 million. however despite all that money coming into the game, a staggering 60 out of 92 clubs in the top four flights of english football made a loss between 2017 and 2018. alan switzer, director, deloitte sports business group joins me now. great to see you. no problem. what is driving this constant growth in the top 20 clubs in the world? we have seen a big increase in broadcasting revenues. but also what we are seeing because they do not control tv rights, greater focus on commercial revenue because they can influence that and get an advantage

against their rivals. and part of thatis against their rivals. and part of that is around internationalisation of that. diversifying revenue, expanding internationally. a great 6 cents for barcelona. they got rid of the manager yesterday? the manager ultimately suffered from losing a 3-0 ultimately suffered from losing a 3—0 lead at anfield and in the champions league... it comes down to what happens on the pitch at the end of the day. it does. if you dig into your numbers, the biggest expense is the players. they are the talent, the players. they are the talent, the stars and ultimately they are driving the revenue therefore it is right that they share in the rewards of that but it has to be sustainable. the financial fairplay rules have had success in managing to reduce the losses in the game. we

looked at the vast majority of football clu b looked at the vast majority of football club struggling financially because of this expense of the players. most clubs cannot afford them. when you go down the leg in england and internationally, there is not that right balance between revenue generated and expenses. more work to be done. we could talk for hours but we have run out of time. more detail on mine on that story. now let's brief you on some other business stories: the uk government is considering a plan to cut air passenger duty on all domestic flights as part of a deal to save regional airline flybe from collapse. chancellor sajid javid will meet with the business and transport departments today to discuss the move, the bbc‘s business editor says. by altering the charge for every airline, the government will avoid breaching eu state aid rules. the us has warned the british government it "would be madness" to use huawei technology

in the uk's 5g network. a decision is expected this month on whether to allow huawei to supply some "non—core" parts for the uk network. now, let's talk about australia's bushfires because their economic impact are expected to run into the billions. one business community that's been hit hard are farmers. the country's agriculture minister has said at least 100,000 livestock will be lost by the end of this fire season. and the burden has fallen disproportionately on a few farmers in the bushfire zone, with some losing up to 20% of their herd. timothy mcdonald reports. neil takes a hay bale passed his dead cattle to feed the rest of his herd. he thinks he has lost 30 in all and has to buy hay for the remainder because the pasture they normally feed on has been burnt black.

there's 11100 acres between the three properties and the first property on new year's eve was burnt out. luckily i only had 12 head. and they all survived. then on saturday afternoon/evening, the fire came through those two properties here. he's had a stroke of luck — offered an overgrown paddock where the remainder of his livestock can feed but he just has to get them there. this family had to make a hasty retreat when the fires appeared suddenly on new year's day. probably for a good 100m or so we were driving through the flames on both sides of the road. looking both sides. licking both sides. when they returned, they were faced with 11 dead cattle and another nine were so badly injured, they had to be euthanised. they must have been in so much pain. that's what's really, really hard. really, really ha rd. you know, you don't want to see that. you don't ever want to see that.

they have sent other cows to the abattoir because there's not enough for them to eat. this was a hay shed full of bales. look at it, nothing. they are relying on donated hay for the rest of the herd. they have vowed to rebuild but to get up and running again, they will need rain. 2019 was australia's hottest and driest year on record, and the bushfire itself is likely to stretch water resources even further. the drought put enormous pressure on agriculture and in addition, with the loss of massive forest, when those forests regrow, they will use a lot of water so our catchment is diabolically impacted. there's good reason to think the damage could get worse because even though huge areas have been burnt out, there are still plenty of tinder dry places that could go up between now and the end of the season. for some, they want to get out altogether.

i'm 70. i have limited time. i have to rebuild the infrastructure, defence, i have to rebuild the infrastructure, the fence, get it working, who wants a farm where they have to rebuild all the fences? he has lots of work ahead of him. timothy mcdonald, bbc news. let's show you the financial markets. all of them are open. japan was shut on monday. a busy week for news that will move the market. later on wall street for example, some of the us biggest banks are reporting early, the likes of jpmorgan, bank of america, god and sex and others. a biggie for the financial sector is. —— goldman sachs. that's it for the business briefing this hour.

a report on a company which runs mental health services that was the subject of a bbc undercover investigation has raised serious concerns about the treatment of patients. the industry regulator, the care quality commission looked into hospitals run by cygnet health care and found its patients were more likely to be restrained, compared with other similar services. higher rates of self—harm were also noted by inspectors who quizzed managers and analysed records at the company's headquarters. here's our social affairs correspondent, alison holt. this hospital in county durham was run by cygnet healthcare. last year, undercoverfilming run by cygnet healthcare. last year, undercover filming showed some

patients here being taunted and intimidated. that led to the regulator taking this intensive look at the culture and leadership across the company and inspecting 37 of its services. the care quality commission says compared to similar nhs services, in cygnet healthcare hospitals and found high levels of restraint, self—harm and patient on patient assaults. it also said lines of accountability were not always clear. walton whole has now closed but cygnet healthcare says many of its services are rated good or better. it looks after some patients others cannot support and it is improving quality. alison holt, bbc news basic safety checks are still not being carried out by probation officers on offenders they are supervising, according to the watchdog. the report also found attempts to monitor more than 100,000 offenders were being hampered by staffing shortages. the comments by the chief inspector of probation came as he was questioned about the failings in the case

ofjoseph mccann. the convicted burglar was freed by mistake and went on to carry out a series of sex attacks on women and children. more on that story and others on brea kfast. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: british scientists say australia's fires are a taste of what the world will experience as temperatures rise. the us says it no longer considers china to be a currency manipulator, just days before the two seal the trade deal. 20,000 people have now fled from taal volcano in the philippines, experts say an explosion could be imminent. now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the worldwe begin with the daily telegraph, and the outcome of the crunch talks

between harry, meghan and other senior royals about their future role within the family. they write of prince harry's regret that the split has impacted his fellow family members, as well as details of the agreed transition period, as the sussex' shift away from public life. climate change is at the top of the agenda for a number of outlets today — unsurprisingly the sydney morning herald is one of them. they cite a nasa report that smoke from the bushfires is so severe, that it is expected to complete a circle of the earth. the financial times has published details of the annual football money league standings, which show that barcelona have become the richest football club in the world for the first time. the rankings also show a continued trend of premier league dominance in club revenues compared to other leagues.

the la times runs a piece examining both the continued lack of diversity in this year oscar nominations, and the emergence of netflix as the leading financers of prestige films. films produced by the streaming site had more nominations than any of the tradition movie making companies. and finally the times reports of a new policy being considered by celebrity chef heston blumenthal, at his michelin stared restaurant the fat duck. he's become so frustrated by customers letting their food get cold whilst taking snaps for social media, he may ban food photography at his restaurant all together. we can't avoid the world, it would look at the telegraph ‘s got a picture on the front page of the queen and harry. in this article

looks in detail about