this is business briefing. i'm ben bland. uneasy riders. willa legal crackdown see the wheels come off the multibillion dollar e—scooter business? plus, another awkward call for huawei as the us piles on more charges, including stealing trade secrets and racketeering. and on the markets, stocks turn negative as fears grow about the scale of the coronavirus outbreak. investors seeking safety in us assets — boosting the dollar.

hello there. we start with electric scooters. green urban transport of the future — or a dangerous menace? whatever you think of them, they have become a hugely controversial issue. they are not currently legal to ride on the road or the pavement here in the uk, although many people do. and today german politicians vote on measures that could see them banned in many cities. germany legalised e—scooters last year and has now become the biggest market in europe. but safety concerns have led to calls to tighten regulations on how and where they can be used. there aren't global safety figures for e—scooters, but the us has seen more than 1,500 accidents since 2017 — and there have been several fatal crashes around europe. that hasn't stopped huge investment though, e—scooter ride sharing schemes are now in 90 cities around the globe. the market is currently thought to be worth around $18.6 billion and supporters say the growth potential is vast. according to one estimate, in ten years it could be market worth up to half a trillion dollars.

but a lot depends on resolving the legal question marks around e—scooters. something britain is trying to do at the moment, as greg mckenzie of bbc london reported recently. le sommer, police in the capital attempted to crack down on the use of e—scooters. some unlucky writers got away with a warning or a fine. but now the department for transport is to hold a consultation on whether riding an electric scooter on public roads, cycle paths, and pavements should made legal. did you know about the legislation, is kind of a grey area. you are not allowed to

ride them on public property, on the road, on the pavement, but they have written past police no problem. what you make of the consultation? they wa nt to make of the consultation? they want to put it into consultation. think it should be legal. they are no less safe than a bicycle. they have been riding the scooter over two years now. i write it because they can commute around london much faster and cheaper so i have invested in these beautiful department for transport acknowledges that the invention of the bikes and e—scooters, as well as demand for less polluting modes of transport, is changing the way people get around. mps are due to start the consultation in the coming months. that was greg mckenzie. anya navidski is founding partner of the venture capital firm voulez capital. welcome to the programme. nice to see you. how big a problem do you think this is that there is no kind of uniformity when it comes to regulation and

rules ? it comes to regulation and rules? because every country has a different approach.” don't think it's the only place where everyone has their own set of rules. if you compare rome downtown to downtown manhattan you will have a different experience, different types of roads and experiences for pedestrians. so you have to factor that in. the main issue at the moment is the lack of regulation. there is a lack of understanding how this new technology fits into the existing framework such as legal and highway code ‘s and things like that. and do we, because we don't know how those question marks will be resolved, example in london, at the moment, they are not legal to be used, in fact, in the uk, they are not legal to be used on the road on the pavement, so isn't there a risk for investors that, actually, if places ban them completely, suddenly the market has been vastly overvalued. absolutely. does the risk most new technologies. we have had that issue when cars first hit the road is about 150 years ago. at

some point we have to resolve it. the technology is moving at a quicker pace than the civil service and the regulatory and civil service branches. how do we fit this new technology into the way of life day today, safely? the thing i have noticed, they have used these e—scooters on city breaks, the first time there was a novelty. there was one brand of scooters, now there are so many different companies and e—scooters sharing schemes. do you think it has moved to a point where it has become an overly crowded market and some, inevitably, won't survive because you're absolutely. and thatis because you're absolutely. and that is the name of the game. at some point there will be consolidation and they will start buying each other out. at the end of the day, customers don't care which brand of scooter it is. they grab the nearest one to them. it is a land grab, literally, for most of them. two have raised over 125 million dollars. that is

crazy money for companies that are still losing money. but in are still losing money. but in a way you are moving in a world of ebbo evaluation is through the roof. a lot feel they are missing out. a lot of them missed out on ebbo ipo, so suddenly they are piling into this new mode of transport, so evenif this new mode of transport, so even if they pay over one tenth of overs they are still making money. will be scooters eventually start making money and where is this money ‘s come from? it is nice of thinking of rich people in california doing a cool new amazing thing, but when it is your pension money going into that that is a very different picture. 0k, thank you very much anya navidski. the us government is upping its fight against chinese telecoms giant, huawei, now accusing it of racketeering and stealing trade secrets. huawei has dismissed the new charges as a further attempt to damage its reputation — saying it will prove them to be unfounded and unfair. samira hussain has more from new york.

the us justice the usjustice department says huawei and subsidiarity ‘s confidential agreements to get intellectual property from six american technology companies, they then allegedly use the information for their own gain. the justice department says this went on for years and resulted in the company getting details on robotics, cellular technology, and internet router source codes. the department of justice also charges huawei with further violating us sanctions against iran and north korea. and all of this is in addition to the charges already filed by the us government last year, which include fraud and violating us sanctions against iran. the us currently bans companies from selling components and technology to huawei, citing national security concerns. but in the last few weeks both the uk and germany have agreed to use some of huawei's technology, a move which appeared to anger the trump

administration. samira hussain there. let's stay with those trade tensions between the us and china, because they are set to come down a notch today as tariffs are cut on billions of dollars worth of goods, as part of a ‘phase one' agreement. mariko 0i is following the story. good to see you. just explain how much of a cut in tariffs this is and how significant it will be. it is significant in a way that this is the first time that we are seeing those ta riffs that we are seeing those tariffs being reduced. 0f course, the us china trade war has taken somewhat of a backseat because of the coronavirus out rate, but as of today, on the chinese side, beijing will cut tariffs on $75 billion worth of american products, primarily fish, seafood, and auto parts. but, there is a big part, the big product affected by the trade war like soybeans and pork, they will only see a slight

reduction in tariffs, reduced only 2.5% points —— percentage points. they are cutting ta riffs points. they are cutting tariffs on hundred and $20 billion worth of chinese goods by half from 15% to 725%. the question really remains how much these cuts will actually help and if beijing can actually afford to keep its promise and buy more american product as they agreed in that phase one trade deal that you mentioned, as the economy has been hit really hard by the coronavirus outbreak. thank you very much, mariko 0i in singapore. now let's brief you on some other business stories. a usjudge has ordered a temporary halt on a $10 billion defence contract with microsoft, following a challenge by amazon. it had been favourite to win the cloud computing deal known as jedi — joint enterprise defense infrastructure — but sued after it went to arch rival microsoft. amazon has accused officials of bowing to pressure from president trump who has often attacked amazon and boss jeff bezos.

universal music, home to global stars including taylor swift and drake, is set to sell shares to the public in the next two years. universal is the world's biggest music label — the most prized asset of french media giant vivendi. it has seen a year of record profits according to vivendi's latest results — the paris based group says the share sale will go ahead by early 2023 at the latest. uk construction equipment maker jcb is cutting production and working hours as it faces a shortage of components from china due to the coronavirus outbreak. it says there will be reduced working hours for the 4,000 staff from monday and an immediate suspension of overtime. more than 25% ofjcb‘s suppliers in china are closed, while others are working at reduced capacity. and now, what's trending in the business news this morning. the sec is looking into tesla's

finances, according to business insider. in its annual report tesla revealed it had been subpoenaed by the wall street regulator in december asking for information on its financing arrangements. 0n the wall street journal, coronavirus 0utbreak slams iran's embattled economy. iran's crude—oil sales have been battered by a sudden downturn in demand from its last big trading partner, china. and, strangely, on valentine's day, quartz has seven new rules for breaking up in the digital age. don't look at what your ex is doing on social media is one. and don't forget, let us know what you are spotting online — use the hashtag #bbcthebriefing. that's it for business briefing this hour, but before we go,

racism in the lgbt community leaves people from ethnic minority backgrounds suffering with poor mental health according to a leading charity. research by stonewall shows that 61% of black and asian lgbt people have experienced racism through dating apps or in person. the bbc‘s lgbt correspondent, ben hunte, has been to a club in london to hear people's experiences. a sold—out party in the centre of london, with a pretty unique set of revellers. in younie they used to say, if it ain't white, it ain't right. they came up to me and said you are really hot a black guy. came up to me and said you are really hot a black guylj came up to me and said you are really hot a black guy. i have come to the u.k.'s —— one of the u.k.'s only club is dedicated to black and asian lg bt dedicated to black and asian lgbt people. i'm hearing about their dating expenses. would you say you've experience racism in the community? 100%. 0h racism in the community? 10096. oh god. sometimes they would go oi'i oh god. sometimes they would go on apps and it was a no dark skinned people, no black people, no asians. i have

deftly been rejected because my race in the past, 100%. deftly been rejected because my race in the past, 10096. what can you do? what can you do? keep on moving to stop as a black man you have to be hyper— masculine or you are the entertainer. you start, always free to go, aggressive, a thug. according to stonewall, racism is leading to isolation, loneliness, and poor mental health. things which this club night's founders say the event is fixing. i'd love my culture and isa is fixing. i'd love my culture and is a space in which they can dance and express myself, but safely at the same time. after five years, tickets are still selling out and party is saturday they still need this event. -- say they still need this event. something we were told to be a shade of —— ashamed of, being queer, being dull, being late, the all here embracing it. we're just celebrating. it feels so good. it feels like i'm free. . ben hunte, bbc news.

this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: china has confirmed 5,000 more cases of patients with the new coronavirus and 121 deaths. donald trump's attorney general says he won't bow to political factors, amid questions over his agency's independence. now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. we begin with the financial times and comings and goings in the government here in the uk — notably the change of chancellor as sajid javed resigned in protest at being told by the prime minister's office to sack his advisors. on to france's le figaro and president macron calling for the fight of the century on climate change after a visit to mont blanc left him shocked at the depletion of the glacier.

and on the subject of climate change, buzzfeed news is among many covering the hottest start to a year on record, yes last month was the hottest january ever in 114 years of record keeping. still plenty of coronavirus coverage in the media — here the guardian focuses on the latest known infection in the uk — and the fall out from the victim taking an uber to the hospital in contrary to official advice. and finally, would you say yes, if your lover proposed with a £1 engagament ring? well, there are 40,000 people who could answer that question after record sales at budget retailer poundland. will get into that one just a moment. so let's begin with me isjoel kibazo, partner atjk associates who's a former director of communications at africa development bank good to see you as ever. let's

start with this news in the