our top story: north korea says it has the right to hold nuclear weapons to defend itself against the us. it comes as america's top military chief arrives in south korea. generaljoseph dunford will meet president moonjae—in in seoul. torrential rain has caused landslides in the indian state of himachal pradesh, and in nepal. rescue workers are struggling to help the people missing or cut off by flash—floods. and this video is trending on bbc.com. shooting stars have littered the sky, as the perseid meteor shower reached its peak over the uk. at the weekend, up to 100 shooting stars an hour were visible. the perseid meteor shower occurs everyjuly and august. that's all from me for now. stay with bbc news. and the top story here in the uk: the chancellor and international trade secretary have made a joint pledge saying that a transition period will not be a back door to remaining in the eu. now on bbc news, all the latest

business news live from singapore. on the upward trend. japan charts another quarterly growth for the sixth time in a row. is abenomics finally working? and a tale of two economies. we focus on india and pakistan as they mark 70 years of independence from the british empire. welcome to asia business report. live from singapore. let's kick off with what is on the business calendar this week. japan just released its latest economic data. the world's third biggest economy expanded at an annualised

rate of 4% between april and june. that is the sixth straight quarter of growth, driven partly by private consumption. mid week, the bank of thailand will be deciding on the cost of borrowing and later in the week, on thursday, a lot of focus will be on alibaba as it releases second—quarter earnings. earlier i spoke to a representative from the bank of singapore and asked about the japanese economy and whether abenomics is working through the system. it looks like growth will be between 2% and 3%, which is where europe has been in the second quarter. so they seem to be doing quite well at the start of 2017, yes. there have been lots of talks about whether abenomics has failed, but from all the data we are getting, is it actually succeeding, in your view? i think from the growth numbers it is succeeding. labour markets are the best they have been in decades, so from that perspective abenomics has worked.

where it has worked as on the structural side, where it has worked as on the structuralside, raising where it has worked as on the structural side, raising the long—term growth rate, improving the operational behaviour of companies, improving governance significantly. so they have done well to stimulate growth and get things back to normal. they haven't done much to change what normal represents, and that has been the failure of abenomics. what has been rattling the region over the last few weeks has been growing tensions between north korea and the united states. we are starting to see a rush to safe haven, in your view? certainly some safe haven flows. gold is doing well, the swiss franc, and rather strangely the japanese currency went well as well, which is strange as it is on the flight path and has a long history of tension with north korea. there is a bit of a bump, but nothing to severe. and of course, china plays a significant role in these growing tensions. there have been talks of president trump possibly signing executive orders

restricting intellectual property. what is your view on that?” restricting intellectual property. what is your view on that? i think it isa what is your view on that? i think it is a real difficulty because when you have a transactional approach to policy, there is no predict ability 01’ policy, there is no predict ability orframework policy, there is no predict ability or framework they are operating in. it is one of those things, if you help us here we will help you there, so help us here we will help you there, so you can't see what they will try to achieve. obviously they have multiple goals but they are not necessarily compatible. at the moment it looks like he wants to bully china on trade with the hope they will help with north korea. that doesn't seem like a very realistic ambition to anyone in the region. and briefly, before we let you go, we have significant figures from the chinese economy as well. what are you predicting? industrial production is tipped to grow about 7%. it has picked up in the last six months or so. people are worried about slowdown in china, it is a perpetual concern. so far the economy is doing fairly well heading into big vertical events later in the year. in other business news, the year. in other business news,

the chief executive of the commonwealth bank of australia says he will retire in the wake of a scandal over allegations of money laundering and terror financing allegations. he has been the head of australia's biggest bank since 2011 but recently it has been embroiled in civil charges stemming from alleged breaches of financing rules which wiped out the lives of dollars from its market capitalisation. he is expected to step down injune 20 18. the price of bitcoin has broken past the $4000 mark for the first time in its nine—year history. the value of the digital currency has more than quadrupled so far this year. joining me here in my studio is the bbc‘s business reporter. yet another record, but it has been rather volatile. that's right, crypto currencies like bitcoin have been on a rollercoaster ride, and thatis been on a rollercoaster ride, and that is largely because it remains an unregulated market. so unlike other currencies there is no central

bank that controls though currencies. they are also traded electronically, 24 hours a day and seven days a week. with bitcoin, the old est seven days a week. with bitcoin, the oldest and most valuable crypto currency, we saw prices past $4000 on sunday morning, he began a market capitalisation of more than $60 billion. that is really large, more than triple the price of gold. so now some people are questioning whether crypto currencies like bitcoin exist in a bubble, because some claim that these currencies basically have no fundamentals, and that they are being driven by people looking to make a quick buck. thank you for the update. we will continue to monitor the price. back to japan and its rigid education system, where children are taught to follow rules and strive for perfection. it is often blamed for the lack of entrepreneurship in the country, but what if you drop out of the school system ? as what if you drop out of the school system? as part of ourjumpstarting japan series, i caught up with a man

to find out how he found his own success. meet the brainchild of ken, and his avatar. ken created this avatar to address the loneliness he felt as a child. translation: for 3.5 years, from when i was ten, i couldn't go to school because of illness. i felt so unbearably lonely. i started to wonder if they had a healthy clone, could he make good memories at school instead of me. that was the beginning of wanting to create my own avatar.m a country which allows no room for failure, even as a child, kentaro could have been easily left out of the system, but his teacher introduced. the idea is the robot can be at places where its users cannot be. so there are 120 units that have

been rented out across japan, and they are thinking of exporting it as well. and his robot is helping those with motor neurone diseases like als. this 30—year—old is learning how to use it so he can continue participating in society. translation: i learn that even when i use all my muscles my eyeballs will be able to move —— when i lose. soi will be able to move —— when i lose. so i want to prepare myself by learning different tools to communicate. kentaro 's innovation has given bedbound people the power to be part of the workforce, and it can be used by the elderly, or mothers with small children. from an awkward child, kentaro has regained

his confidence and found his own success. as we told you want newsday, 70 years ago britain pulled out of india, marking the end of empire on the subcontinent. so what has become of the economies of pakistan and india? how do they differ and how much do they rely on each other? our correspondent reports. since partition, india and pakistan have charted very different economic parts. india's economy was bigger than pakistan's right from the start, because of the size of its population and the fact that it inherited financial and government institutions. today, india's economy is almost eight times bigger than its neighbours. but what is interesting is during the first 50 yea rs interesting is during the first 50 years both nations saw similar economic growth. in fact, the average income per person in pakistan was higher than india during this period. but, since the start of the 21st century, india's economy started to grow faster, widening the gap. this is largely

down to the economic reforms in india in the 1990s when it opened up its markets for foreign and private investments. today, india and pakistan are the largest economies in east asia, but they don't trade with each other much. their trade is less tha n with each other much. their trade is less than what they trade with smaller neighbours like bangladesh, sri lanka and nepal. part of the reason is what pakistan calls its negative list, which bans the import of more than 1200 goods from india. these goods range from toothbrushes and diapers to cars and even cricket bats. india also levies taxes on goods imported from pakistan. that said, informal trade between the two countries is thriving, and it is estimated to be close to $5 billion. that involves shipping goods to a third country. traders both in india and pakistan used to buy two get

goods to each other —— use to buy. —— duabai. the total trade between the two countries could touch $10 billion every year. checking the markets, despite the fairly solid gdp figures, the japanese nikkei is down because of the strong yen, which is seen as a safe haven currency as tensions grow between the united states and north korea. australia is also down by almost 1%. that is it for this edition of asia business report. thank you for watching. the top stories this hour: america's top military chief arrives in south korea, as the north says it has a right to have nuclear weapons to defend itself against the us. torrential rain has caused landslides in india, while rescue operations continue in nepal, where flash—flooding has turned streets into rivers. learner drivers are to be allowed

on to motorways in england, scotland and wales for the first time next year. a change in the law will mean drivers can take lessons with an approved instructor and in a dual—controlled car. the department for transport believes it will be better preparation for independent driving after learners have passed their test. daniela relph reports. they can be daunting for young motorists. driving at speed, surrounded by bigger vehicles. from next year, learners will get motorway lessons. sean curley passed his driving test six weeks ago. it took him a further two weeks to brave a motorway on his own. you're going up the slip road, and you can see all the cars. you're going to have to merge over onto the right,

and there's cars going 70mph, sometimes faster, and you've not experienced anything like it. you're on your own. it's terrifying. young drivers are much more likely to crash than older motorists. 1.5% of uk licence holders are under 19, but that age group is involved in 9% of fatal or serious crashes. in general, young drivers are seven times more likely to have an accident. if you're a motorist like me, i'd much rather have somebody next to me on a motorway who's been taught how to drive on a motorway than somebody who's just left the test centre and driven straight down onto the motorway for the first time. i think this is something that will mean a safer environment for all motorists. there will be strict rules for learner drivers on motorways. they will have to have an approved driving instructor with them, and they must be in a dual—control car, where the instructor can take over if necessary. some road safety groups believe the motorway lesson should be compulsory, but only once you've passed your test. there is, though, widespread support for this change to the rules. this is all about making it a controlled environment, making sure that, you know,

that nothing can go wrong, or if anything does go wrong, there's a fully qualified and fully trained professional next to them, that can help guide them through those situations. not the type of thing i would maybe recommend for mum and dad to help outwith. motorway driving won't be tested. it is additional training, to make new motorists drive safely with confidence. daniela relph, bbc news. 17 former army instructors will come before a court martial next month charged with assaults on recruits. the group from the army foundation college, in harrogate, are due to appear at bulford court martial centre. they face 40 charges, including actual bodily harm and battery. time now for all the sports news in sport today. hello there i'm tulsen tollett. this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: justin thomas wins his first major

title claiming the us pga championship in north carolina by two strokes. caster semenya defends her 800m title on the final day of the world athletics championships in london. and romelu lukaku scores twice for manchester united as they put four past a hapless west ham at old trafford. hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with the news that justin thomas in the past couple of hours has claimed the uspga championship at quail hollow in north carolina. the american was a two stroke winner on 8—under to win his first major title. some remarkable play on the last nine holes saw the 24—year—old from kentucky fire four birdies in a seven—hole stretch with one on the 10th that hung on the edge of the hole for what seemed like an eternity, before eventually dropping in. like magic.