carried out the lorry attack on 3 berlin christmas market — which left 12 people dead. german prosecutors have released the sole suspect, a pakistani asylum seeker, saying they had insufficient evidence to link him to the crime. at least 26 people have been killed in a series of explosions at a fireworks market north of mexico city. dozens more have been injured. the market was busy ahead of new year celebrations. the video is trending the at bbc.com. at least 2a cities across the north east of china have declared extreme air pollution alerts. millions of people are confined indoors to avoid the toxic smog. flights have been cancelled and highways closed because of low visibility. stay with bbc world news. and the top story here in the uk — scientists have made a remarkable breakthrough in the treatment of early stage prostate cancer. now on bbc news, all the latest business news live from singapore.

the bitter feud — the bitterfeud — between businesses and the ousted chairman might be headed for the courtroom next. restrictions on converting yuan is fuelling more demand for us dollars in china. good morning, asia, hello world, it's a wednesday. glad you could join us for this mid—week edition of asia business report. i'm rico hizon. we start off with india and a very public boardroom battle will be the top of the agenda at a number of meatings being held this week by

companies belonging to the con gam rat tata. the meetings were originally called to remove the director. but he resigned from six companies on monday. we have the details from mumbai. by details from mumbai. by resigning in the remaining six posts, the director no longer holds any executive position in the tata group, but tata firms are still going ahead with the respective extraordinary general meetings which we re extraordinary general meetings which were originally called to remove the director. the sons, the main promoter of the con gom rat, wanted to use the meetings to justify his decision to sack the chairman in october. the corporate battle has damaged the group's reputation. it has also raised serious questions regarding corporate governments, something that the group has always prided itself on. the firms want to

use these ioms to reassure shareholders and investors that there are no reasons to worry about. there have been a series of accusations and counter—accusations from both sides. but the chairman has announced he'll be lodging legal action against the tata group which means this public spat is far from over. moving to other business news making headlines. european commission has charged facebook with providing misleading information which could result in the social networking company paying a fine that would amount into the hundreds of millions of dollars. well, the issue lies with a whatsapp privacy policy change in august when it said it would share user phone numbers with the parent company facebook. the social networking site has previously indicated to the commission that it was unable to match the identity of users who are both facebook and whatsapp accounts. nike, one of the world's top brands

in sports wear apparel has reported better than expected quarterly earnings thanks to higher demand from western european, greater china and the emerging markets. revenues rising to $8 billion for the three months to november and that is a 6% jump months to november and that is a 6% jump when compared to the previous period. the malaysian rig get is making headlines this week falling to levels not seen since the 1998 asian financial crisis, although the strengthening us dollar has put in asian currencies under pressure, malaysia is particularly hard hit. i spoke to the asia pacific economist for ihs and i asked him what's behind the ringgit falling so steep. i think you need to look at the depreciation of the ringgit against the broader context the us is strengthening because of the fed hike that happened a few days ago and because of the expectation that

the fed is going to tighten more in 2017. but is the ringgit's problems also the one scandal that has not left headlines agitating global investors 7 left headlines agitating global investors? i think there's a number of factors for the rinnggit‘s wea kness of factors for the rinnggit‘s weakness and one of those is that the overall foreign exchange reserves of malaysia have come down in the last three years so that's looking a little bit thinner than it was two or three years ago, and also because there's a perception in the market that malaysia's vulnerable to capital outflows because there's a very high level of foreign ownership in both the equity market and in the malaysian government securities market. but we see now the currency at levels not seen since the 1988 asian financial crisis, they‘ re at levels not seen since the 1988 asian financial crisis, they're at fear that they could reintroduce capital controls to stem the fall of

the currency. i think if you look at the currency. i think if you look at the indonesian rupiah, the philippine peso and also the ringgit, they're all down to the east asian crisis levels. the ringgit isn't alone. '5 not the right to put in the capital controls. there is a broader structural trend of the us dollar rising and i think we will see turmoil in asian currency markets next year. because of the additional fed rate hikes that are expected. so i think there's many other currencies that will also be seeing significant depreciation next year. when you say asian currency turmoil in 2017, so could we see a repeat of the financial crisis from 1998?” don't think the fundamentals of asia are bad. i think the economic fundamentals are much better. this is really about the dollar. it's

because the dollar was operating under very low interest rates for a very long time since 2009. so i think we need to see this not as a crisis in asia, but more about the normalisation of interest rates in the us. how will this impact asian economies next year?” the us. how will this impact asian economies next year? i think we will see probably quite significant appreciation of the dollar still to come against many asian currencies. so on the currency side, we will see somewhat more weakness for many asian countries, and that may help their exports. but it also brings with it concerns about capital outflows because the strong dollar and stronger us growth will attract capital into the us assets and out of asian currencies and asian assets. so that is a risk that if there is significant capital outflows, it could create some pressures on some of the currencies in asia. so it is one of the

downside risks for 2017. over now to china where currency weakness is driving up demand for us dollars. the chinese yuan has lost 6.6% this year and with the american central bank, the fed expected to deliver more rate headaches in 2017, that wea kness more rate headaches in 2017, that weakness could continue. to help slow the yuan‘s appreciation, chinese authorities have placed a cap on the amount that can be converted into foreign currencies and that limit stands at $50,000 us per person. to get around this, people are putting their chinese currency into investment products that are priced in us dollars. kind of the structure products of funds provided by the banks or by the asset manager, because in china we have to quote our qdi, which is

the qualified domestic institutional investors, under this quota for those asset managers, they're allowed to invest in off—shore marks which is the bond marks or economic markets. in return, those aseat manager, they can structure the products to the kinds on the off—shore markets. that will provide them the access. and domestically it could also be as simple as a us dollar—timed deposit. could also be as simple as a us dollar-timed deposit. yes. by having these off—shore investment products, don't the officials from the people's bank of china see this as a way to skirt this 50,000 cap rule? that's in the really the case, actually. in fact, for most of the conversion, you'll still be operating within this $50,000, us dollar, quota. but for this operating within this $50,000, us dollar, quota. but forthis kind operating within this $50,000, us dollar, quota. but for this kind of products, which will enhance the return for the investors — for the investors, so that's why we have significant amount for this kind of

-... are significant amount for this kind of -. .. are investors significant amount for this kind of -... are investors in china significant amount for this kind of -. .. are investors in china looking at moving their chinese yuan into us dollars off—shore or domestically hedging against the us dollar?” would say could be both. i mean, for some chinese individuals they do have quite a lot overseas business. so that's why i prefer to move the move out of china to the off—shore accounts, but not all the chinese have overseas markets. a lot of people who don't have that kind of overseas market, they're more looking for hedging purpose. i can share with you, as you know, as of now we have about 118 billion us dollar deposit from... and despite the $50,000 cap rule, the head of can china research at ocb bank, forecasts a further depreciation of the chinese yuan against us dollar in 2017. before we go, here is a

look at the markets and as you can see in our markets boards, the nikkei 225, up about 75 points. the hang seng index gaining 42 and the all ordinaries index in positive territory. most of the regional boards are in positive territory. this is after the dowjones industrial average closed yet again at another record high. it's 17th at another record high. it's17th record since the us election, ending within 25 points off 20,000. so good day so farfor within 25 points off 20,000. so good day so far for the global markets. thank you so much for investing your time with us. i'm rico hizon, sports todayis time with us. i'm rico hizon, sports today is coming up next. you're watching bbc news. let's bring you a reminder of the top stories this hour. so—called islamic state says one of its militants carried out the lorry attack in berlin — which left 12 people dead. police have released the sole suspect. at least twenty—six people have been killed and dozens more injured — after explosions tore through a fireworks market

in mexico. now, doctors have described a new treatment for early stage prostate cancer as truly tra nsformative treatment for early stage prostate cancer as truly transformative and they hope it can be used for other cancers. our correspondent has the story. this is the technology which represents a huge leap in prostate cancer treatment. it involves a drug derived from bacteria found in the darkness of the ocean floor. this laser optic fibre is inserted into the prostate, the light activates the prostate, the light activates the drug which kills the cancer. when gerald was diagnosed with early prostate cancer, he was worried it might develop and he'd need surgery or radiotherapy which could cause incontinence or impotence. he was first successfully treated with the new light therapy and had no long term side effects. i feel incredibly

lucky ufs accepted for the trial. i'm lucky ufs accepted for the trial. i' m totally lucky ufs accepted for the trial. i'm totally cured. i can look forward to the remaining years of my life hopefully cancer free. one in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer so this highly effective new treatment known as photodynamic therapy could be hugely significant. the light sensitive drug is injected into the blood stream. it's derived from deep sea bacteria which are efficient into converting light into energy. a laser light in inserted into the prostate, the light activates the drug which destroys the cancer cells. the journal land set drug which destroys the cancer cells. thejournal land set oncology reports half the patients giving the therapy were completely clear of cancer two therapy were completely clear of ca ncer two yea rs therapy were completely clear of cancer two years later. compared to about one in seven of those given standard care. crucially, it did not cause major side effects. the harms with traditional treatments have a lwa ys with traditional treatments have always been the side effects,

urinary incontinence, leaking urine and requiring pants, sexual difficulties which occurs in the majority of men who have the treatment. to have a new treatment now that we can administer to men who are eligible which is virtually free of those side effects is truly transformative. the treatment is likely to cost around £20,000 a patient and is expected to be approved in europe following these impressive results. its use is also being trialed in other cancers. so it won't be cheap, but for prostate patients, photodynamic therapy represents a powerful new weapon in the war on cancer. now here is mark edwards with sports today. hello, i'm marc edwards, and this is sport today from the bbc sport centre.

coming up on this programme: two—time wimbledon champion petra kvitova is injured in a knife attack by a burglar in her home. real madrid will be able to sign players next summer as their transfer ban is partially rescinded on appeal. michel bourez is master of the waves as he surfs his way to victory at the 2016 billabong pipe masters. the former wimbledon champion, petra kvitova, says she is fortunate to be alive after being injured in a knife attack at her home in the czech republic. the world number 11 had an operation on tuesday after suffering an injury to her left hand following a confrontation with a suspected burglar. our sport reporter, david ornstein, has more. this