this is bbc world news. our top story. the nobel committee says china bears heavy responsibility for the death of nobel peace prize winner liu xiaobo. the dissident died in hospital in china from cancer after being transferred from prison. a number of western governments have expressed their support and are calling on the chinese authorities to allow his pa rent chinese authorities to allow his parent —— is family to move around freely. donald trump has hinted he might change his position on the paris climate accord. he withdrew the us from the agreement, but says after meeting president micron in paris that something could happen. this video is trending on bbc.com. this video is trending on bbc.com. this elephant was swept out to sea off the coast of sri lanka. it was rescued by the navy. it used its trunk as a snorkel. it took the same as 12 it to shore. that is all from me. stay with us on bbc world news. our top ourtop uk our top uk stories. the government is preparing a review of northern

regulations in england in the wake of the grenfell tower disaster. combustible cladding and installation has now been found in around 200 high—rise buildings. —— installation. let's get the business news from singapore. us banks will release second—quarter earnings later today. how do they benefited from the improving us economy? —— how they benefited. and find out why a japanese giant is investing big in football. hello, and welcome to asia business report. i'm sharanjit leyl. the us economy has improved. the banks have passed their stress test and the federal reserve chairmanjanet yellen, has said any rate hike will be permitted gradually. so will all

this translate to higher profits for us banks? che citigroup, jp morgan and wells fargo will all be releasing their second—quarter earnings later today. friday marks the big kick—off of rank and earnings, when three big financial institutions report. what can we expect? analysts are not expecting this past quarter to be much amazing. you'll remember when donald trump was elected, us markets we re donald trump was elected, us markets were downright euphoric. the tax reforms and infrastructure spending we re reforms and infrastructure spending were going to boost the economy. fast forward to july, and were going to boost the economy. fast forward tojuly, and not much has happened. that is leading many to believe the trump ump may be dead. what does that mean for banks? bank stocks were a big winner when it came to be trump bump. they were one of the best performing spec is —— sectors. now the reason for the bump, trump's legislative agenda, is

no longer looking as plausible as before, that has analysts wondering if this will mean the gains made by ta nks if this will mean the gains made by tanks may start to come down. —— banks. in news just in newsjust in, the in news just in, the latest growth numbers from singapore show that its economy has dodged recession thanks toa economy has dodged recession thanks to a pickup in the second quarter and strong gains in manufacturing. the trade reliant economy grew 2.5% in the three months tojune, compared to the same period one year ago. let's go live now to our reporter in the heart of singapore's shopping district. were these numbers pretty much in line with forecasts ? numbers pretty much in line with forecasts? no, the numbers that you just cited, that 2.5% growth, missed market expectations by 1%. we have narrowly dodged a technical recession. to get some reaction i am joined by an economist. thank you for joining joined by an economist. thank you forjoining us. what do you make of

the numbers? we can expect this, primarily driven by the services sector, we expect it to do better but it was not as strong a rebound as expected. first—quarter read both —— growth was revised down for the same reason. so —— growth was revised down for the same reason. 50 what are —— growth was revised down for the same reason. so what are some of the factors dragging on consumer spending on the services sector? uneven growth, obviously. some sectors are doing better, led by the exports side, which is why trade related to transportation and logistics did better. but the labour market growth has been much softer than any time over the last ten years. we have seen far more cautious sentiment on the ground from local households. generally that causes constraint on the growth, and we have that foreign worker policy as well. all of that contains sentiment on the ground. as

a result, the spending side constraints services in general. we have seen a slight uptick in global trade, as well as singapore's manufacturing sector, at the government here is really concerned about certain world politics factors like protectionism. how will that impact singapore going forward?m the near term, the rebound impact singapore going forward?m the nearterm, the rebound in trade, at least for singapore, certain exports and certain many faction sector related chemicals —— certain manufacturing sector related... apologies about that, we seem to have lost that interview. in other news:, there are reports that singapore warehouse operator global logistics properties has decided to start negotiations with a

chinese consortium, in a deal that would value the company at $10 billion. if an agreement is reached it would mark the egos buyout of an asian company by a private equity firm. e—commerce companies like alibaba are firm. e—commerce companies like aliba ba are driving firm. e—commerce companies like alibaba are driving a boom in demand for warehouse space here in asia. a proposed class—action lawsuit has reportedly been filed in new york against the american aluminium company which supplied cladding panels used at the grenfell tower in london. dozens of people died in a fire there last month. the complaint against arconic says that shareholders suffered losses as a result of its failure to properly disclose its use of the highly flammable panels. arconic shares recently suffered their biggest intraday all sense it was spun off from alcoa last november. the head of japan's largest e—commerce company is broadening his reach to football, and not just

company is broadening his reach to football, and notjust any old scene. these are the european champions, fc barcelona. he has signed a sponsorship deal signed $58 million to have his name, his company's name, rakuten, prominently displayed on theirjerseys. who is the man willing to play such a premium? we caught up with him in tokyo. did you purchase anything online before you found the rakuten?” did you purchase anything online before you found the rakuten? i did, yes. what was your first ever online purchase? i think it was japanese udon noodles. there was a very popular online bookstore. what is your most recent online purchase. most recent? what did i buy... i bought some screen. do you actually go to any stores to buy anything, or

do you buy everything online? go to any stores to buy anything, or do you buy everything online ?|j go to any stores to buy anything, or do you buy everything online? i do, igoto do you buy everything online? i do, i go to supermarkets. some people think everything will be online. i am more of a believer of the hybrid. drones. when will we get everything delivered by drones? not everything, but it will start taking place in 2-3 but it will start taking place in 2—3 years. this is what i think. i never expected anything would be —— never expected anything would be —— never expected anything would be —— never expected there would be 100% autonomous driving cars. nobody imagined that ten years ago. attic is going to take place. so we are seeing the impossible becoming possible. you have introduced in which is the official office language. how has it been? do you think you made the right choice? definitely. already, 80% of new engineers and scientists we hire a non—japanese. 60% of existing

engineering and scientists a non—japanese. many of them do not speak japanese at all. non—japanese. many of them do not speakjapanese at all. i think it is very difficult, if you want to compete against global companies, to be just japanese. that was mariko 0i speaking to the ceo of ra kuten. that was mariko 0i speaking to the ceo of rakuten. now, au and is tempered two —— now, tuktuks and tu ktu ks ca n tempered two —— now, tuktuks and tu ktu ks can be tempered two —— now, tuktuks and tuktuks can be found all of india, but now they are being found more in africa. an indian manufacturer is building assembly plants across the continent. we spoke to managers at a factory in the south african city of port elizabeth. behind me are the vehicles on the condition in which they arrived from india. they flow into a full manual

assembly line here. it creates employment and gives us the necessary controls in the assembly line. coincidentally, after doing this, this little vehicle tick sorbus important boxes. we wa nt vehicle tick sorbus important boxes. we want to tackle unemployment, we wa nt to we want to tackle unemployment, we want to empower people to start small businesses, not only locally in metropolitan areas by general areas as well. and thirdly, vic contribution —— the contribution to society. the idea is to get a different vehicles to provide specific services to these communities. what we are trying to do with these vehicles is ensure that in those communities, what you do not have that infrastructure, we have smaller vehicles that can

penetrate and navigate those areas. this is a response to these problems that we have seen. this happens all over south africa. that was a manufacturer of tuktuks in south africa. let's look at the markets. this is how the asian markets. this is how the asian markets have opened. the nikkei making some gains. they are taking their cues from wall street, where their cues from wall street, where the dowjones their cues from wall street, where the dow jones closed their cues from wall street, where the dowjones closed that yet another record high. that is all from this edition of asia business report. i am sharanjit leyl. thank you for watching. you are watching bbc news. the main stories in this hour: the nobel peace prize committee has said that china bears a heavy responsibility for the death of the peace prizewinner, jailed chinese dissident liu xiaobo. and donald

trump has hinted he might consider his position on the climate change agreements after meeting france's president emmanuel macron in paris. aristocrat has been sentenced to 12 weeks in prison after being found guilty of making menacing communications towards the businesswoman and anti—brexit campaignerjean miller. rhodri phillips, the fourth viscount saint davies wrote a post on face offering £5,000 to anybody who ran her over. —— facebook offering. the lith viscount st davids, rhodri philipps, forced to answer for his threatening abuse on facebook. well, justice will be served without pressure. i have belief in the british courts and anything that i've done wrong... no, we'll leave it till later. do you expect to come out? perhaps not, but there it is. he targeted gina miller, who took the government to court over brexit, writing "£5,000 for the first person to accidentally run over this troublesome

first—generation immigrant. if this is what we should expect from immigrants," he wrote, "send them back to their stinking jungles." at first i sort of read it and re—read it because it seemed so barbaric, but that was the first time i felt truly threatened. lord st davids was given the chance to speak to the court in person and in a passionate speech he said he'd realised that his comments were very unkind, unnecessary, self—indulgent expletives of anger which he could not contain. he said for that he was sorry. he'd claimed he was motivated by his family motto — love of country. the districtjudge, emma arbuthnot, said it was actually hatred of anyone who disagreed with his views and of those who had recently arrived here. privileged, entitled, and now heading to jail. an establishment man brought down by the menacing racial abuse he posted on social media.

dan johnson, bbc news. a former soldier who raped and killed a 15—year—old schoolgirl has been found guilty of her manslaughter more than 15 years later. he kill janet manslaughter more than 15 years later. he killjanet cummins in flint in north wales in 1976. another man has oily served six yea rs another man has oily served six years for her killing. the number of people applying for uk university places has fallen by more than li% on last year. it is the first decline since fees were increased in england five years ago. the figures from the admissions service show a sharp decline in those applying. that is all from me. what's more on our website. here is sport today. —— are lots more. hello, this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: venus williams sees off johanna konta in the semi finals

of wimbledon, she'll take on garbine muguraza in the final fabio aru grabs his first tour de france yellowjersey as froome falters in french pyrenees. look who's back! wazza with a wonder goal on his first appearance for everton. hello and thanks for joining us on sport today. depending on which side of the pond you come from it was either a very good or a very bad day at wimbledon for you on thursday. america's venus williams beating britain's johanna konta in the women's semi final. williams showing that age is but a number — at 37 years old she powered her way into her 9th wimbledon final where she will take on spain's garbine muguruza who saw off unseeded magdalena ribarikova. austin halewood rounds up the action.