this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. carnage on the markets — us stocks see their biggest falls since 2018 as washington calls beijing a currency manipulator. and in hong kong, we asssess the damage to the economy after a third consecutive night of protests. this is how markets are trading in asia right now. some recovery from steep losses earlier, we'll be live to the region shortly for the latest.

let's start with the huge sell—off currently taking place on global stock markets, which over the past 2a hours have seen their biggest falls since 2018. in the us, the dowjones and s&p 500 both fell by almost 3% on monday, and tech—heavy nasdaq was down by 3.5%. investors are concerned about the latest developments in the trade war between washington and beijing. a few hours ago the white house officially called china a ‘currency manipulator' after a sharp fall in the value of the chinese yuan against the dollar. it passed the seven—per—dollar level for the first time since 2008. nervy investors have been pouring their money into safe haven assets as a result, with gold futures currently trading at a six—year high, hovering around the $1,500 level. let's get more now from samira hussain, who sent us this

report from new york. it is clear that investors here on wall street were spoke by china's moved to devalue its currency. us financial markets and their worst day in all of 2019. investors interpreted the move as an escalation of the trade war between us and china. said, the dramatic actions by china could also be explained by other things that are happening within the us economy. trade tensions have exacerbated the concern over weakening corporate profits for all of 2019. it has exacerbated the fed not taking an aggressive enough approach, and now with additional tariffs being thrown

on by the us and the chinese responding with a weakening of their currency, i think all that has caused investors to say "i'm going to sell first and ask questions later". what now? it may be that investors experience a pop, which is something that can happen after these dramatic falls. it is also possible we will see further declines, especially if there is any sort of escalation in the trade war by either china or the us. that said, it is in the interest of both countries to find a resolution. sammir hussein, gauging the mood on wall street after a pretty serious activity. well let's see how the asian markets are faring in trading today. sharanjit leyl has more for us from singapore. we have seen serious losses, but there seems to have been a recovery.

that's right, a bit of a recovery, but still in the red. this is despite the fact that the chinese central bank can set the midpoint rate at a slightly higher point than yesterday, suggesting the markets recovered a bit. it is possibly a hint that the chinese don't want their currency to weaken that much. we know that the people's bank of china, each day essentially they set a rate for the yuan, allowing it to trade within a band against the dollar. they have allowed that to slide below what has been a psychological redline, a key seven yuan to the dollar level, it is the first time it has been that low since 2008. there has always been offshore chinese currency used by investors and banks, which fell to a record 7.09 against the dollar. and that move by the us treasury to

label china currency manipulator has not helped, as it is the first time they have been given that label since the 1990s, when china was also the target. the us government will have to seek negotiations with the government accused of the manipulation, but we know that they have already been engaged in trade talks for more than a year now, and all of this, as you said, is leading markets lower, driving investors to safe havens like japanese currency, the yen, which is near seven—year highs, which is bad forjapanese exporters who need to repatriate their earnings, and gold, another safe haven, is also rising. markets very much still in the red here. thank you. over to hong kong now, where police have arrested more than 80 people after a third consecutive days of protests. monday's demonstrations disrupted many businesses and also led to many flight cancellations at the hong kong international airport

which closed off a runway. mariko 0i nowjoins us from hong kong. she has been there for us throughout. good to see you again, and what are people saying today in the light of the huge demonstrations that turned violent? sally, things are now back to normal now here in hong kong after seeing those violent clashes between the protesters and the police overnight. yesterday, when we spoke, this place was full of tens of thousands of protesters all dressed in black, which has of course become somewhat of their uniform. according to the union, which supported the strike yesterday, some 350,000 people participated, from teachers to

construction workers to security officers, they were all on strike. today they are back to work, but the question remains on what happens next. neither side is backing down, and uncertainty is starting to worry economists. we heard from the city's financial secretary yesterday, which said that hong kong's economic growth would turn negative if this continues to happen, especially with the us china trade war continuing. 0thers the us china trade war continuing. others are starting to agree that they wouldn't be surprised if hong kong's economy falls into contraction. and other areas like hong tourism being affected,, and money moving outside of the country because people are worried about what is going to happen in the country. government is keen to continue the situation, and nothing has really changed, but for day—to—day business it now back to

normal. now let's brief you on some other business stories. uk consumer spending fell to a record low of 0.5% injuly, as lower wages and uncerainty over brexit kept shoppers away. according to the british retail consortium and the accountancy firm kpmg, a "challenging retail environment" was taking its toll on both the high street and online. the uk's data privacy chief, elizabeth denham, has issued a warning over facebook‘s proposed digital currency, the libra. denham, who runs the information commissioner's office, has signed a statement alongside counterparts in the us, canada, australia and the european union. the statement said they have "shared concerns" over "privacy risks posed". and strike action planned at heathrow airport on tuesday has been called off after the airport group and the union unite reached a deal over pay. workers had planned to walk out on both monday and tuesday in a row over wages.

would you take your children to work? sharmaden reid, founder of the tech start—up beautystack, decided she wanted to offer childcare to her employees, but on her own terms. here's her advice on running a modern company, part of our series this week focusing on young ceos. ijust thought, i just thought, what would ijust thought, what would i have wa nted ijust thought, what would i have wanted when i was a new working mother? 0ne wanted when i was a new working mother? one of the big wings about being a new working mother is that i was astounded at the lack of childcare in the workplace —— things.

i love working, and i think it is super important for my son to see me at work and see what i do and know that i contribute to the household. look after the people, and they will look after your business. i really learned that when i focus on the tea m learned that when i focus on the team and what makes the most productive at work, it is much better than only ever focusing on the end customer or consumer. that's it for the business briefing this hour. but before we go, here are the markets. we are seeing some we are seeing some recovery as you can see, but all the markets across

the region are still firmly in the red. real concerns about the escalation of the trade discussions, the escalation, the rhetoric between the escalation, the rhetoric between the us and china. holidaymakers on a flight from heathrow to spain had to be evacuated after smoke filled the cabin shortly before landing. the 175 passengers on board were told to use emergency exits to leave the plane and slide down the chutes. british airways has blamed a technical issue. 0ur reporter michael cowan has more. the final minutes of a british airways flight to valencia. 0ne passenger described it as being like a scene from a horror film. ba flight 422 a scene from a horror film. ba flight 422 took off from heathrow yesterday morning, but ten minutes

before landing in valencia, passengers were surrounded by an acrid smoke. very quickly, you couldn't see the passenger two seats down from you. it became very thick, and we were descending quite quickly at that point. there wasn't an official announcement about what was happening, but people were saying "get down, get down", so we were to try and breathe in the clean air towards the floor of the cabin. try and breathe in the clean air towards the floor of the cabinm has been reported the cockpit was so smoky that pilots also wore oxygen masks. another flier told the smoky that pilots also wore oxygen masks. anotherflier told the bbc smoky that pilots also wore oxygen masks. another flier told the bbc as the plane came into land, some passengers were crying. fire crews greeted the flight on the runway in valencia, where all the passengers were helped to safety. british airways says three customers were taken to hospital as a precaution but have since been discharged. the airline has drawn criticism from those travelling, with one passenger

taking to social media saying... british airways has apologised, saying... this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: america mourns the victims of gun violence in ohio and texas. president trump announces he will visit el paso. north korea conducts its fourth weapons test in two weeks. reports say it's fired two unidentified missiles into the sea. pakistan accuses india of playing a dangerous game after it strips the disputed region of kashmir of its special status.

now, let's have a deeper look at a few of the stories making the headlines today. we start with the financial times and the latest stage of the trade war between the us and china. beijing's decision to let the value of the renminbi slide is seen as a major escalation. the paper notes that the chinese currency now at its lowest level since the 2008 financial crisis. in india, the business standard focuses on the highly controversial decision by the government there to remove the special status of the disputed region of jammu and kashmir. it shrugged off warnings that the state could become another kosovo. here in the uk, there's increasing talk of a hard brexit. the daily telegraph, which is arguably the newspaper closest to borisjohnson's political outlook, leads with the claim that the rest of the eu now expects a no deal outcome at the end of october.

the same paper has a worrying story that the number of british adults paying no income tax is now at a record high — 43% of the adult population. by contrast, the top 1% of earners pay 27% of the country's income tax. and, finally, the guardian is one of a few papers carrying allegations by the uk consumers association that facebook is failing to take effective action against floods of fake reviews on its pages. it apparently found 3,500 generated in just a single day. iam happy i am happy to say we have priya with us. she is the founder of century tech, an education technology company. great an education technology company. to see you agaii financial great to see you again. the financial times is focusing on this trade war escalation. since this was

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