We start here in the uk, with travel worries for thousands of Airline Passengers as pilots at europes biggest budget carrier, ryanair, walk out on strike at the height of the Summer Holiday season. The action by ryanairs uk based pilots began at a minute past midnight and will run until midnight tomorrow, the busiest day of the year for air travel. Ryanair is due to carry over a quarter of a Million People on more than 1700 flights from the uk over the 48 hour period. Its drafting in extra pilots and has promised to operate a full schedule of flights to and from uk airports. But it says it cant rule out small delays or changes to flights. Its telling passengers to check their sms or email or the compa nys website. More industrial action by uk pilots is planned between the 2nd and the 4th of september, unless an agreement over pay and conditions is reached. Ryanair failed in a court battle to get the strike blocked by britains high court. But it did succeed in stopping a strike by some 180 pilots based in ireland. We have already informed those based in the republic of ireland that the strike has been lifted, that is clearly now not going to happen, there will be no industrial action this week. We are going to consider the ruling in detail and consult again with our legal team. Airline consultant John Strickland joins me now. Do you believe them when they say there will be no disruption . They are very confident when they say that they have lots of pilots who have called in to volunteer to fly, and they have pointed out that a number of pilots are not members of that union. So they do appear to be very confident, a great relief for many travellers today as well. Pay and benefits, and all that kind of thing, that seems to be the sticking point. How reasonable or unreasonable do you think these demands by staff over pay and benefits are . How do they compare to industry standards . The whole situation with unions at ryanair goes back a couple of years where they had rostering problems, and it was following those that they increased private salaries and agreed to recognise unions. They have seen attrition rates fall dramatically, suggesting pilots are generally happier with pay conditions at ryanair. But the intricacies and the terms and conditions about the amount of work on the Fringe Benefits and so on. Ryanair isa on the Fringe Benefits and so on. Ryanair is a low cost airline, it is highly profitable, but it makes its profits from offering low fares. It can pay higher salaries as long as it keeps up the high productivity elements. I think that is where the difficult discussion has to come. Having said that, there are no winners out of this. There has to be a sensible meeting of minds, going back to discussions around the table, andi back to discussions around the table, and i think that will happen once this all comes down. Ryanairs chief legal officer, because they have one apparently, referred to the Airline Industry as one in crisis. What evidence is there that thats the case . Airlines will be worrying about brexit even more now as we get through this last couple of months before the departure. Fuel costs arising and there is extra capacity the market. Rya nair arising and there is extra capacity the market. Ryanair have about five of the 737 max aircraft, and they we re of the 737 max aircraft, and they were meant to receive about 60 by next year. Now they will be receiving about half that if not none. They have a surplus of pilots, and that is a week position from a negotiating point of view. We have also heard of jet2 negotiating point of view. We have also heard ofjet2 asking pilots to ta ke also heard ofjet2 asking pilots to take a pay cut, and norwegian airlines, both of which by the same kind of aircraft and roots as ryanair. Lets talk about the cost of borrowing now, because americas central bank, the us Federal Reserve, was split over whether to cut Interest Rates last month and by how much. The minutes of the feds last meeting, when it cut rates by a quarter of a percentage point, have disappointed investors hoping for a hint theres more agressive cutting to come. As Michelle Fleury explains. They are actually split on that decision. You have those who dissented, basically arguing that the economy is in a fairly good place, that the Economic Data doesnt look too terrible. Then you have others who wanted more aggressive cuts. I think that is what you are seeing at the moment, as the Financial Markets a flashing red, there is this sense of which data we should be looking at, how concerned we should be. On the surface, the us economy is doing 0k but there are concerns about Donald Trumps trade policy, and how that is seeping into the economy, holding back company spending, having a knock on effect on the global economy. There is also concerns about what is happening in germany, in china, all of this is being balanced by the fed and they are characterising this as a recalibration, rather than the start ofa recalibration, rather than the start of a series of rate cuts. More on brexit now, because the uk government says it will sign a continuity Free Trade Agreement with south korea later today. It aims to replicate as far as possible the terms of the existing eu south korea deal when britain leaves the bloc in october. Shara njit leyl is following the story. Give us a little bit of context if you will to the story. Thats right, it is significant because it is the first post brexit deal with an asian country. 0fficials first post brexit deal with an asian country. Officials on both sides meeting in london to sign it. It is called a continuity Free Trade Agreement, because it will allow them to keep trading in the event of ano them to keep trading in the event of a no deal brexit on october 31. Bilateral trade accounts for about 1. 196 bilateral trade accounts for about 1. 1 of total british trade. However, that is paltry compared to trade with the eu, which accounts for 48 . We know that south korea is among the uks top 15 trading partners in terms of british export sales, but todays agreement is not a permanent trade deal because it will actually need to be renegotiated within two years. And it gets more complicated, because the uk will need to obtain south koreas consent to maintain existing tariff terms, uk goods with significant eu components, and vice versa. It is notable the uk has not been able to replicate such a deal with other big trading partners. The uk has signed i3 deal with other big trading partners. The uk has signed 13 such trade continuity agreements, because we know if the uk leaves without a deal it will immediately not be part of around a0 free trade deals the eu has signed over the years. Now lets brief you on some other business stories. Argentinas new treasury minister, hernan lacunza, has pledged to use the countrys dollar reserves to shore up the peso as fear of a default grows. Argentinas central bank has spent over 700 million trying to stem a collapse in the currency since the 11 august primary election, which saw president Mauricio Macri beaten by centre left rival alberto fernandez. Australias Qantas Airways says annual profit fell i7 last year, worse than investors were expecting. Its been hit by the weakest australian economy since the Global Financial crisis a decade ago, coupled with higher fuel costs. People may have to give up private cars if the uk is to meet its Climate Change targets, according to members of parliament. A report by the science and Technology SelectCommittee Says sufficient emissions cuts cant be made by swapping to cleaner cars and that widespread personal vehicle ownership does not appear to be compatible with significant decarbonisation. And now, whats trending in the Business News this morning . Wired has an in depth investigation on what it calls three years of misery inside google. Sexual harassment. Hate speech. Employee walkouts. It describes the tech giant as trapped in a war against itself. And theres no end in sight. Bloomberg dives into the details in the us sanctions busting case against the huawei executive, meng wanzhou. Their headline reads huawei used code names for syria, sudan activities, us alleges. And the wall streetjournal looks at alleged wrongdoing at africas Biggest Online retailer, which is now trading below its ipo price. The company is struggling with internalfraud and legal threats as losses widen in the second quarter. And dont forget, let is know what you are spotting online use the hashtag bbcthebriefing. Thats it for the Business Briefing this hour but before we go, here are the markets. Stock markets in asia pacific were mixed on thursday, following on from a rally for us stocks after minutes from the Federal Reserve . S latest meeting showed a split among officials. Trading activity has been reduced this week ahead of fed Chairmanjerome Powell . S address on friday. £36 billion pounds has now been paid out in compensation to people who have been mis sold payment protection insurance. The Financial Conduct Authority, which published the new figure, is urging people who think they might be victims of the misselling to put in a claim before a deadline injust a weeks time. Heres our personal finance correspondent, simon gompertz. Michelle from gravesend in kent has already won a ppi payment, which is how she bought the new car she is driving, some of the £22,000 of compensation for decades of charges to her credit card. What did you think when you saw how much money you are going to get . think when you saw how much money you are going to get . I couldnt think, i wasjust you are going to get . I couldnt think, i was just shocked. You are going to get . I couldnt think, i wasjust shocked. Taken aback. You just dont expect that amount of money. So, yeah, shocked, pleasa ntly amount of money. So, yeah, shocked, pleasantly now, the Financial Conduct Authority wants more people to claim, like michelle, before its deadline next thursday. Thats if they were sold payment protection insurance they didnt want or need for loa ns insurance they didnt want or need for loans or credit cards. 12 million claims have been upheld, £36 billion has been paid by banks and others, with the average payment just over £2000 so far. People are being told to avoid fee charging claims companies. Michelle used a free service, resolver, to get her money, or you can go straight to the website of your bank and fill in a form. A 25 year old man has been arrested on suspicion of murdering Hull University student libby squire. Her body was recovered from the humber estuary six weeks after she disappeared on february the ist following a night out. Hundreds of Police Officers and members of the public were involved in an extensive search after the 21 year old was reported missing. This is the briefing from bbc news. The latest headlines british prime minister, borisjohnson, is heading to paris for brexit talks with french president emmanuel macron. The white house is proposing to change long standing rules on the detention of migrants to allow families to be held indefinitely while their future is decided. More allegations about prince Andrews Links with the convicted sex offenderjeffrey epstein. Buckingham palace says any suggestion of impropriety with minors is categorically untrue. Now its time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. We begin with the guardian which, like several of the front pages, leadson german chancellor Angela Merkels suggestion that an alternative to the irish backstop plan could be found within 30 days. Mrjohnson has called for the backstop, which aims to avoid a return to physical checks at the irish border, to be removed from any brexit deal. The daily mirror reports that mrs merkel has called the prime ministers bluff. It describes mrjohnson as stunned in his reaction to the german chancellors demand that the uk must find a realistic alternative to the backstop. Now on to the financial times. It says the cost of servicing the debt of developed countries has sunk to its lowest level for more than four decades and that the sharp decline is putting pressure on governments to borrow and spend more in order to jump start the flagging global economy. The copenhagen post online says that denmark is picking up the pieces