votes to a7. it came after a series of divisive confirmation hearings about his record on civil rights. president trump has criticised the clothing retailer, nordstrom, for dropping his daughter ivanka's clothing line. critics say his comments on twitter are inappropriate. and this video is trending on bbc.com. a huge fire has swept through a crowded shanty town in manila leaving 15,000 people homeless. the fire raged overnight before being put out on wednesday morning. incredibly, no deaths have been reported. that's all from me now. do stay with us. and the top story here in the uk: mps have overwhelmingly agreed to let the government begin the uk's departure from the eu as they voted for the brexit bill. the draft legislation was approved

by 494 votes to 122, and now moves to the house of lords. now on bbc news, all the latest business news live from singapore. press rewind. the us and japan. and flying high, indian carriers are expanding their reach in aviation. good morning, asia. hello, world. i'm rico hizon. thank you for investing your time in asia business report. it's a thursday. we start off with japan's prime minister, shinzo abe. he has his work cut out for him when he meets with us president donald trump tomorrow. this is important symbolically. shinzo abe is the first asian leader

to meet the new us president. the sta kes a re to meet the new us president. the stakes are high. president trump has had direct criticism ofjapanese companies and japan. it has put them on again. last month he criticised toyota motors. they said they would invest more in america. the fall in the yen is a reflection of the relationship between the us and japan in the 1980s. are we in for deja vu? there is a huge difference between what happened in the 1980s and is now. at the time, the deficit, how much japan was selling to the us in comparison to how much the us was selling to japan was a really wide gap. that situation is not the same today. if anyone can be accused of dumping products into the us it would be the other favourite sort of villain in the story that

president trump likes to bring up, thatis president trump likes to bring up, that is china. the deficit between japan and the us has really shrunk comparative to the us gdp over the last three decades. and japan is going to try to point out that there are massive differences between what was going on then and what is happening now. so, with this fear of a protectionist policy from the trump administration, it seems like the japanese are trying to be more aggressive in, basically, building a relationship with the donald trump administration. well, they don't have much of a joint. back in the 19805, have much of a joint. back in the 1980s, one of the major considerations for tokyo to give in to concessions was the political factor. basically, japan needs washington as a major us ally in its backyard. the seine is today. the situation on that front has not changed. —— autor. things like

autos, trade, that is what will be on the agenda. and for analysis of the meeting with donald trump in washington, dc with shinzo abe, you can read more on her blog topic that is on the website, bbc .com. japan is on the website, bbc .com. japan is not the only country nervous about a trade war under the administration. i asked which asian economies will be affected the most. i think the us border adjustment task will hit vietnam the hardest, along with korea, taiwan, and malaysia. these are the economies which export a lot to the us. the nature of their products, electronics, durable goods, they are highly responsive to price changes. if there is a price hike in the us they will be impacted the most.“ thatis they will be impacted the most.“ that is true, by how much could this impact gross domestic product and economic growth? by adulation, even

with the direct impact, it could be in the tune of 0.6 — 0.9% of the gdp. that is significant already. that could have knock—on impacts with domestic investment as well. so, in countries like vietnam, it could be bigger than 1% gdp. knock—on effect on the direct investment and a lot of lostjobs in these countries. yes. potentially, it will not just these countries. yes. potentially, it will notjust be investment. it will have an impact on employment which would also impact consumption. so we are really thinking about the potential scaling down of some of these trade related impacts which could really impact the economy. so, how can many of these asian economies which could be impacted by the trade pacts basically skirt the reduction in growth? is it through bilateral agreements with the united

states ? bilateral agreements with the united states? i think that is probably one channel. at a company level, there will be a great incentive to invest and have domestic presence in the united states. of course, that will be viable for some industries, but not be labour intensive industry, for example. it is not the easiest thing to do. it depends on the industries, what you can do. the second thing is they will probably look to each other more, increasing trade within the region. i think china, asean, there will be a great amount more of chinese regional investment to counter this. in other business news, we have what looks like a case of mistaken identity. snapchat announced its plans last week. that seems to have gotten some investors slightly ahead of themselves. shares of the completely unrelated company called snap

intera ctives unrelated company called snap interactives has since soared by more than 160%. shares of the actual snapchat company, snap inc, will start trading only a week from now. there was an announcement that all restrictions on cash withdrawals will be removed from next month in mumbai. the decision not to cut rates may have come at a huge surprise for the markets and investors. the decision to remove all curbs on cash withdrawals has, the huge relief for people all across the country. in 2016, there we re across the country. in 2016, there were restrictions regarding how much money people could withdraw from banks and atms. it was a surprise move to withdraw two high—value rupee notes from the system. the head of the reserve bank said that

it is reasonably confident that by next month, the situation will be under control. there will be enough liquidity in the system. it is why it is confident banks will be in a position to provide the new currency notes without any problems. bbc news, mumbai. staying with india, their airlines are flying high, with their airlines are flying high, with the middle—class flying at even greater volumes. they are rushing to expand their fleet to take advantage of the growth. this one is one of them. they are paying for a new boeing aircraft. they had to close operations a few years ago due to financial difficulties we have the details. for airlines, financial difficulties we have the details. forairlines, india has a lwa ys details. forairlines, india has always been a land of opportunity. a growing population, rising disposable incomes, and an increasing thirst for travel, these are helping the aviation sector in the country finally take off. when indians have extra money on hand,

they usually buy things like cars and gadgets. but now more than before, they are choosing to travel, with many opting to fly overseas. last year, air passenger traffic grew by 23% but overall, only 100 million people flew, a fraction of the1.2 million people flew, a fraction of the 1.2 billion people in india. million people flew, a fraction of the 1.2 billion people in indialj am thankful for the confidence the 1.2 billion people in indialj am thankfulfor the confidence in... low—cost airlines are rushing to expand their fleets and take advantage. spicejet, the fourth biggest in india, is buying more boeing aeroplanes. it helps reduce the cost of maintenance and flights and the fuel burn, because this is a far more modern aircraft. it flies off to many more destinations than we do today. that is quite a turnaround for an airline that was forced to close operations in 2014 after running out of cash. spicejet

is not alone in expanding quickly. goair has more planes on order, and so goair has more planes on order, and so is indigo, with 400 plant. while that means more travellers can take to the skies, handling them on the ground remains a key challenge. —— planes. it now becomes a question of can the infrastructure keep up with that kind of growth? as indian airlines continue to expand, that gives a boost to aviation design and many factoring and in that sector in india, since many plant products are made in india already. with the recent large aeroplane orders, india's skies are about to get more crowded. bbc news, mumbai. before we 90, crowded. bbc news, mumbai. before we go, a quick look at the markets. so far, as you can see on the market boards, it is a mixed day for the stock markets. japan is down by 76

and a quarter points. a stronger yen is impacting the exports sector. there is concern about mr abe's meeting with donald trump in america and what comes out of that bilateral meeting in the white house. that is wall street. the nasdaq edged up to another record. there is weakness in banking stocks pressuring the dow jones industrial average. and with that, we end this edition of asia business report. thank you very much for investing your time in us. i am rico hizon. have a productive thursday. that is it for now. you are watching bbc news. i'm kasia madera. the top stories this hour: the us senate has confirmed president trump's controversial choice for attorney general, right—wing senator, jeff sessions. president trump has criticised the clothing retailer, nordstrom, for dropping his daughter ivanka's clothing line. critics say his comments are inappropriate. tara palmer—tomkinson,

the socialite, tv personality, and close friend of the royal family, has been found dead at herflat in london. she was 45. police, who were called to her home in chelsea at lunchtime on wednesday, say her death is not being treated as suspicious. the prince of wales and the duchess of cornwall say they are deeply saddened, as our correspondent, david sillito, reports. what a rock chick! at her partying peak, tara palmer—tomkinson said you should always keep your passport close because you never knew what country you might end up in. it was tatler that had"" ' ' ' spotted her on the party scene and declared her "the it girl". suddenly, life was all about flying in private planes and appearing in the papers. she was famous for being famous,

famous for being well—connected. she was a big, outrageous personality, who lived life to the full. this was tara aged 16, the slightly naughty youngest child of very well—to—do parents. there was a strapline on everything. suddenly, everyone was like, "oh, this girl is the girl of our time, she's the it girl, she's this". then after a year of all the fun parties and the fun clothes, you suddenly realise that you've done absolutely nothing and you feel a bit unworthy, i think. i've had my moments... drug addiction almost killed her. when itv packed some celebrities off to the jungle, viewers warmed to her candour. i had overdosed and i did need serious, you know, to get me back, to get my heart going again and stuff. she was a complex and very

interesting character. charming, vulnerable, talented and actually, unhappy. a guest at a royal wedding who would speak in schools, warning tomorrow's taras to avoid her mistakes. a year ago, a brain tumour was discovered. the public appearances dwindled. this afternoon, she was found dead at her home. prince charles said he was deeply saddened. but sometimes that's "fit“fluqtfi hello, you are live at the bbc sport centre, with me,

chris mitchell. coming up on sport today: light relief, as premier league champions leicester win their fa cup replay. alaves reach their first domestic cup final in spain. south korea get their skates on. it is a year until the winter olympics in pyeongchang. leicester city are through to the last 16 of the fa cup. the english champions put their poor league form behind them to beat derby county, a side from the championship, 3—1 after extra—time. the win is a welcome distraction for the leicester boss, claudio ranieri. in, my; fez-ugh. 9—2-312— !é;5>:a.:::: . : .. .. .. . but it was closer than he would have liked, or the club's tie—owners, and the fans. nigeria's wilfred ndidi, on as a substitute at the start of extra—time, a january signing from genk, scored as they took control of the tie. demarai gray's goal earlier, captain andy king put leicester