he touched down on air force one within the last few hours. it's where he made his inauguration speech eight years ago. he's expected to make a parting plea to americans not to lose faith in their future. donald trump's controversial nomination for the post of attorney general, senatorjeff sessions, has been defending his record as he testifies at a congressional hearing, saying he's no racist and never supported the ku klux klan. and this video is trending on bbc.com his clip has gone viral of the malaysian footballer — mohd faiz subri — fumbling on his phone to look for his acceptance speech after being named winner of the fifa puskas award for scoring the best goal of 2016. and the top story here in the uk: a teenage girl remains in police custody in connection with the death of a 7 year—old girl in york. katie rough was found seriously injured in a playing field

in the woodthorpe area on monday — and died soon afterwards. president obama says good buy. we discussed his economic legacy in asia. trump says hello. we look at possible conflict of interests. good morning, asia, hello, world. it is a wednesday. glad you could join us. as president barack obama prepares to deliver is farewell message in chicago in less than an hour ‘s time, in asia we are reflecting what his eight years in office did for the region. a signature free—trade deal, the pacific partnership will

be scrapped by donald trump. i spoke to senior economist. if you look at trade, for examples, trade between developing asia and the us, it increased by a 30% by 2010 and 2015. of course, part of this is explained by the economic recovery but it is a positive sign none the less. the official effort to deepen ties, is the free—trade agreement which will celebrate its fifth anniversary this year. increase in trade between the us and asia and a rise in investment in us business but there is trepidation about the incoming trump

administration and potentially his protectionist policies and bringing back these businesses from asia back to the us. that is true. i think no matter who is in power in the us, trade between the us and asia will remain important. most asian economies are export—oriented. the us is the number two destination after china. from the us point of view, asia is that the region where half of the world ‘s population lives and it is a great performer so it will be attractive for business and investment in the coming years. concerns and fears we could see a face—off between china and the us. what legacy did president obama leave in terms of relations between

the chinese and the americans? leave in terms of relations between the chinese and the american57m leave in terms of relations between the chinese and the americans? it is a good question. deepening the working relationship between the us and emerging powers like china was a key element of the obama administration and strategy. president obama has been highlighting that the us — china relationship is the most important bilateral relationship of our time and he has been welcoming the rise of china and i think that is where we will go from there. donald trump is scheduled to hold his first news conference on wednesday since winning the residential election. chief among the questions is that what he will do with his businesses while his commander in chief. the potential conflicts, start in his hometown of new york city. i am

outside a0 wall st, in front of the building that is managed by the trump 0rganisation, effectively making mrtrump of trump 0rganisation, effectively making mr trump of the landlord. trouble is, several of the tenants are being investigated by government regulators and, if they are found guilty of any wrongdoing, they could stop operating, which means they will no longer be paying rent to mr trump but, as president, mr trump could push for more lenient sentences or could push for more lenient sentences 01’ make could push for more lenient sentences or make the charges go away, effectively ensuring he continues to make money. if we make way further uptown, we find ourselves at deutsche bank, one of mr trump's biggest lenders. the german bank continued to work with him even as several of these businesses went bankrupt. deutsche bank is facing billions of dollars in fines from the us government

stemming from the financial crisis. regulators could rule with a softer touch given the bank ‘s history with president elect donald come. 0ne., i have shaded to examples of potential conflicts. move overjust a few blocks and you end up at ground zero for the trump business. these conflict of interest and multiplied many times over. massive global holdings and international ties mean opportunities for corruption go far beyond new york city is. foreign countries could question how their treatment of the president ‘s business interests will impact diplomatic relations. this is a truly unprecedented territory for an american president. democrats are proposing legislation that will force mr trump proposing legislation that will force mrtrump and proposing legislation that will force mr trump and his family to sell any assets that could cause any conflict that it is unlikely to

pass. german carmaker volkswagen is set to make a deal with the us authorities over the diesel emission scandal. the settlement comes after the company admitted to fitting out 11 million cars with software that reduces emission under testing to pass controls are then switches off under real driving conditions. as pa rt under real driving conditions. as part of the deal, volkswagen will face independent monitoring over the next three years. australian blender, anz, has agreed to sell a subsidiary to a chinese group for the 100 and $60 million as part of its efforts to streamline its business. —— a60 million. the financial institution is also considering the sale of its australian wealth and life insurance business. economy will gain speed

after turning in its worst performance since the global financial crisis, that is according to the world bank ‘s latest forecast. it is tipping growth on the back of stronger commodity prices. i asked the back of stronger commodity prices. iasked how the back of stronger commodity prices. i asked how asia's economies will fare in 2017? china is going to continue with its slowdown. 6.5%. authorities have done a remarkable job taking this economy growing at double—digit rates to the rates we are seeing now. at the same time, rebalancing has been under way. we see it in servicing. they now account for a large share of output. we look at car balance being less than 3%. all in all, it indicates that despite the risks we see, there is stabilisation — housing market,

credit market, you look at those and it is stabilising. all in all, we see the region, especially in the context of china, the orderly slowdown will continue. what about india — will the strong growth continue? they have done quite a number of things, undertaking measures to improve business environment and send a strong message. we expect they will grow and continued to be about 7% in 2017. some of these reforms are going to bearfruit in the near future, including the services tax. despite these better growth forecasts, there is also considerable uncertainty regarding the outlook because it has not been able to incorporate president—elect

donald trump's policies. indeed. the reason is we do not know what the policies are, what the scope of the policies are, what the scope of the policies are. there could be tax reduction on the corporate income and personal income side. if we simply focus on those tax cuts it will translate into high growth in the us as well as in the global economy. having said that, there are many caveats that could change the outcome and could have a negative impact. an explanation of the growth forecast for asia in 2017. if all we do, a look at the markets and the region, as you can see, all green arrows, recovering some ground from tuesday. it was led by healthcare

and consumer goods. hong kong just opened for trading. 0ver role, a positive mood this wednesday trading session for asia. as for wall street, energy stocks fell following a drop in crude oil prices. thank you so much for investing your time with us. sports today is up next. you are watching bbc news. the top stories this hour: barack obama has landed in chicago where he is going to be making his farewell speech as president shortly. it'll be live on bbc news. donald trump's controversial nomination for the post of attorney general — senatorjeff sessions — has been defending his record as he testifies at a confirmation hearing.

hundreds of thousands of commuters in the south of england have struggled to get to and from work because of the latest strike by southern rail staff. the dispute, which has been going on for nearly 10 months, is about staffing duties on trains. 0ur transport correspondent richard westcott reports from east croydon. paralysed by a strike, again. more than 2,200 southern services weren't running today. announcer: platform two for the delayed 07a7 thameslink service. their passengers were forced to find other routes in. the whole situation seems like a complete joke. i'd like to know that when i get on the train, that i'm going to end up at my destination at a certain time. well, this is the queue just to get into east croydon station, all of these people are trying to get to london, it's about 8:a5am, commuter time. that's the start of the queue there. it snakes around a lot, then actually goes down the side of the station, probably about 100 metres or so,

down that way. for nearly a year, they've been rowing about changes to the role of the onboard guard. southern wants drivers to take over closing the train doors. the unions say that threatens safety and jobs. southern says no—one's losing their post and the safety regulator is happy with the changes. there's no sign of a breakthrough. this is the body shops new £1 million lab in croydon. they moved hundreds of staff here last year because of the great train service, but southern's drivers aren't working overtime at the moment, causing delays and cancellations every single day. it's having a devastating effect on the body shops staff. they're missing children's birthdays, they can't arrange meetings, they're having arguments at home. they're feeling stressed, tired and irritable and there's a number of people saying every day, from about apm, they're sitting getting more and more stressed about whether they're going to get home, at all, or on time for the commitment they've got that night.

back on board, several commuters said this. i mean, the government need to do something about it. you know, it's ridiculous. so the bbc put the question to the minister. reporter: what are you, as transport secretary, doing about it, though? don't you have a duty to step in on behalf... time now for all the sports news in sport today hello, this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme. fifa vote to expand the world cup from 32 to a8 teams. manchester united beat hull in the first leg of their english football league cup semi—final. and there's a new leader in the dakar rally. thanks forjoining us.

fifa president gianni infantino has dismissed suggestions that expanding the world cup will diminish the competition. the sport's world governing body voted unanimously to increase the number of teams participating in the finals to a8 at a meeting in zurich on tuesday. the new format will consist of an initial stage of 16 groups of three teams, with the top two from each going through to the knockout stage. speaking exclusively to the bbc, infantino said the new format is not just a money making exercise. the way we presented it was very clear. we want to do something for football. when you look at the finances, and you have too, if