son—in—law, jared kushner, as a senior white house adviser. mr kushner is married to donald trump's daughter, ivanka. the appointment does not require senate approval, but some experts have questioned whether it will violate an anti—nepotism law. freezing temperatures across parts of europe are continuing to have a devastating affect as thirty people have now died. charities are worried about refugees crossing the continent on foot or living in informal settlements. and this story is trending on bbc.com. scientists have found that a drug used to treat alzheimer's disease encourages teeth to regrow as well as repairing cavities. it's thought the discovery might reduce the need for fillings in the future. that's all from me now. stay with bbc world news. and the top story here in the uk: commuters on southern rail are facing the first of three days of strikes by train drivers, the latest industrial action in the dispute over the role of guards, which has been going on for almost ten months.

now on bbc news, all the latest business news live from singapore investors are loving it. donald trump sells a $2 billion stake in his trainees operations. and we take a look at whether it will be smooth sailing or choppy waters for the cruise ship industry in 2017. good morning, asia. hello, world. i'm rico hizon. welcome to asia business report. it's a tuesday. glad you could join us. we start off with the fast food giant mcdonald's and its decision to sell a controlling stake in its business in china and hong kong, a sign of another company admitting they need help in this

huge and unique market. in a $2 billion deal, the chinese state owned conglomerate civic will take a sta ke. owned conglomerate civic will take a stake. coni group will take a 28% sta ke. stake. coni group will take a 28% stake. mcdonald's will be holding on to the remaining 20%. earlier, i spoke to someone and ask them if the sale is a good move for mcdonald's? this will help them a lot. if you look at how mcdonald's has performed in china over the last couple of decades it has done quite well but is still looking to expand further into third and fourth tier markets. they need cash to do that so this is how they can do that without the bottomline taking a hit. has china become a revenue burden for mcdonald's? it has. if you look at the quick service restaurant space in the last two years consumers have been more concerned about their health and safety issues and have

cut back on spending. that has helped to mark hurd mcdonald's. but growth is coming back a little bit. there is still room to adapt and thatis there is still room to adapt and that is what mcdonald's is banking on going forward. do you think these two groups that have no experience in the food and beverage business will be able to grow the food and beverage business of mcdonald's? the challenges they do not have a lot of experience in that market. on the flipside, they have a lot of experience in china and have good real estate connections in china. that is the name of the game in china. can they get good locations and spend the money to refurbish their stores? they have a strong tea m their stores? they have a strong team in the chinese market. they can use that to adapt the menu. they need the cash to allow them to open new restaurants quickly. do you think the new ownership taking a majority stake in the china business will affect customers?” majority stake in the china business will affect customers? i don't think the average customer is going to know or care that much. as long as

the restaurants continue to work well. mcdonald's is a good visual presence. 0rdering well. mcdonald's is a good visual presence. ordering is efficient in store. if they can maintain that, consumers will be happy to continue to go. china market research in shanghai. shares of japanese pharmaceuticals are currently, as you can see, they are trailing for the first time and are up 1%. that is since they said they would buy another company for 4.7 billion us dollars. they make drugs for patients with rare cancer. they are paying for each added share. that is nearly 75% more than the previous closing price. it is a big day with alibaba. 8.6 billion—dollar agreement with hong kong to privatise the department store. the company has accepted the chairman

jack met donald trump. the company claims it can create 1 jack met donald trump. the company claims it can create1 million us jobs by helping small businesses sell their products to china and asian consumers. here is what he had to say about the meeting. we talked about small business and young people and american agriculture products in china. and we also think that china — us relationships should be strengthened and the more friendly. that was alibaba's jack ma. the chief executive will not join the board of the newly created holding company once it has killed with verizon completely. —— made a deal. they are creating a new company to handle its purchase of yahoo e—mail, websites, and advertising tools. new figures suggest the association of southeast asian nations is making an increasingly important contribution

to the global economy. this year, it is estimated the combined economies of their ten members will be worth 2.6 trillion us dollars, which makes it bigger than india, the uk, and france. also, it makes more than twice as much as australia's economy. i asked what is driving this economic growth and will it continue? what we have seen for many yea rs continue? what we have seen for many years is that the asean region has been growing strongly. but it has been growing strongly. but it has been below investors' radar because until ten years ago, it was less than1 until ten years ago, it was less than 1 trillion. in the last decade we have seen phenomenal growth, particularly because indonesia is a key driver for us when it comes to accounting for 40% of asean. private consumption is fuelling the growth of asean more and more, with the big

population is of indonesia, the philippines, and so on. domestic consumption is a key driver of growth, but 2017, there will be a lot of red flags, vulnerabilities, for the asean economy, like the new donald trump policies, brexit, and the slowing chinese economy. there are headwinds, like last year as well. but we expect their gdp to reach 2.6 trillion in this current year with a growth rate of about 4.6%. i think exports already were facing headwinds in the last two yea rs. facing headwinds in the last two years. many countries last year saw some negative growth in exports. more and more it is depending on private consumption and infrastructure investment. quickly, what will be the top three asean economies this year? in terms of pure economic rapid growth, it will be the frontier economies, plus the philippines. the philippines is doing well, which you will be glad

to hear. also vietnam, cambodia, laos, they will be very strong. from ihs. 0ne industry set to ride the waves of economic uncertainty in 2017 is the cruise ship industry. 25 million people are expected to cruise this year. an increasing number of them are from asia. karishma vaswani caught up with the boss of a cruise to find out more. red carpet welcome for every guest. this is the boat here docking in singapore for the first time. cruising is still relatively new in asia. it is seen as a holiday for retirees. most of the passengers are from the us, europe, or australia. this ship, according to the company that owns it, is one of the most luxurious in the world. it is on its maiden for it to asia. asia is a massive market for the cruise liner industry. in china has become a

particular focus, industry. in china has become a particularfocus, despite industry. in china has become a particular focus, despite the fact that economic growth is slowing down there. asia is a huge market. a large part of it is completely and penetrated, that is china. plus the rest of asia is growing. the middle—class is growing. australia has been one of the fastest growing markets, growing almost 30% a year for the last ten years the bite economies in asia are slowing down. china is still slowing down. do you feel you have missed the boat? it is so feel you have missed the boat? it is so and penetrated —— unpenetrated it almost doesn't matter. you can only produce so fast. they were unpenetrated. even though things are slowing, there are many millions of people who can still and will cruise. it has not all been smooth sailing. a few years ago, more than 30 people died after one of

carinval‘s ships, the costa concordia, thank. it spent years trying to build back its reputation. that was eight terrible tragedy. we learned some things from it. something that had nothing to do with us. but we still want to examine it closely. we look at every incident that happens anywhere in the world. since that time, of course, we have advanced a number of safety systems on the ships, which we do ona safety systems on the ships, which we do on a continuous basis anyway. safety concerns do not appear to be dampening their prospects in the industry. at least a dozen new ships are set to hit the seas this year, and profits are soaring. they are finding new and younger passengers willing to take a cruise. but they mightfind willing to take a cruise. but they might find that a challenge. bbc news, singapore. and before we go, let us have a quick look at the asian financial markets. as you can

see right now on the screens, lacklustre in early tuesday trading. this is after energy and financial stocks weighed on the us markets overnight ahead of the earnings season. overnight ahead of the earnings season. you have japan back in action after the holiday break. it is currently done by two fifths of 1%. wall street, they slept overnight by 76 points. the nasdaq was up wide ten and three quarters. thank you for in the thing your time with us. i am rico hizon. the sport news is coming up next. you are watching bbc news. a reminder of the headlines. donald trump is to appoint his son—in—law, jared kushner, as a senior white house adviser. 30 dead as freezing weather and icy conditions hit parts of europe. being attended to within four hours of going to an a&e department has been a key target for the nhs in england. but today, jeremy hunt, the health secretary,

said that it should only be for "urgent health problems." speaking in the commons, mr hunt said there needed to be an "honest discussion with the public about the purpose of a&e departments." here's our health correspondent, elaine dunkley. accident and emergency departments struggling to cope is a familiar story at this time of year. the nhs is under unprecedented pressure. secretaryjeremy is under unprecedented pressure. secretary jeremy hunt. today, the health secretary said hospitals on the whole are coping, but warned that high numbers of people are using accident and emergency unnecessarily, putting waiting times in jeopardy. it is unnecessarily, putting waiting times injeopardy. it is clear unnecessarily, putting waiting times in jeopardy. it is clear we need an honest discussion with the public about the purpose of these departments. there is nowhere outside the uk that commits to all patients that we will sort out any health need within four hours. since

the targets were introduced in 2000, there are nearly 9 million more visits to emergency and accident departments. nhs england says 80% of those attending should not be there. if we are going to protect our standards, we need to be clear it is a promise to sort out all urgent problems within four hours, but not all of them. —— 30%. problems within four hours, but not all of them. -- 30%. while the government warned that they should not go to hospital, labour plays the problem at the door of number 10. this current crisis could have been averted. hospital bosses, council leaders, patient groups, mps from across the house, urged the chancellor to give nhs and urgent ca re extra money chancellor to give nhs and urgent care extra money in the autumn statement. those requests fell on deaf ea rs statement. those requests fell on deaf ears and we are now seeing the difficult consequences. the government says it is committed to maintaining that patients are seen

within 24 hour waiting time, but they must be urgent cases. —— the four hour. you up—to—date. first it is time for sport today. this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: leicester city manager claudio ranieri is fifa's coach of the year, while cristiano ronaldo picks up the award for world's best male player. and reigning champion stephane petterha nsel

extends his lead in the dakar rally. thanks forjoining us. you all know the story by now — despite starting the season as 5000—1 outsiders to win the premier league, leicester city stunned the football world by taking the english league title last season. and on monday their manager claudio ranieri was rewarded again, by being named fifa coach of the year. as expected, cristiano ronaldo was men's player of the year, with american carli lloyd picking up the women's award. 0ur sports correspondent richard conway was at the ceremony in zurich. what a night for claudio ranieri and what a year as leicester city manager, named best coat of 2016, in recognition of leicester city's premier league title. he thanked fa ns premier league title. he thanked fans and players and