you are watching bbc news. my name is babita sharma. our top story: the islamic state group has been driven from raqqa — its self styled capital in syria. the flags of a us—backed militia are flying over the city. but scores of the jihadi militants are still being pursued amid its ruins. china's top officials are gathering in beijing for the start of the communist party congress, where the next five year plan is about to be revealed. and this story is trending on bbc.com: hollywood star reese witherspoon has alleged that she was assaulted by a director when she was just 16 years old. she said she was angry with the people in the film industry who had made herfeel that keeping quiet about what had happened was a condition of her employment. more to come here on bbc news. stay with us. live coverage of the conference in china here on bbc news. and the top story here in the uk: a man who'd just been released from a secure hospital —

against the advice of psychiatrists — has been found guilty of murdering his neighbour. jeffrey barry stabbed kamil ahmad more than 25 times. now on bbc news all the latest business news live from singapore. it is back to the negotiating table for the us, mexico, it is back to the negotiating table forthe us, mexico, and it is back to the negotiating table for the us, mexico, and canada, after they could not reach a deal to reva m p after they could not reach a deal to revamp nascar. and in china, people are struggling in a fight against zombies. —— nafta. not the walking dead, but large state owned companies that refuse to dive. —— die. good morning asia and hello world. happy wednesday to all of you. thank you forjoin us for this edition of asia business report. i am rico hizon. we start off at nafta. trade ministers from us, bexsero, and canada, have agreed to

additional talks. they start when they left off in 2018, where they have big issues to discuss. —— mexico. the agreement is at risk because of the america first agenda of donald trump. earlier, i asked next boat have lately it is that they come to an agreement. this will be tricky to get done. the real challenge is no one other than donald trump himself had a particular problem with nafta. and the few things they wanted to upgrade in nafta were things that donald trump had pulled them out of early this year. other than donald trump, there is not a large constituency being for an upgrade of

nafta. was the trump administration hoping that with all the differences amongst the three countries, that mexico and canada would pull out of one before the end of the year? there are a number of people suggesting that given the number of what you might argue our poisoned pills that the united states have tabled in the gender, that mexico and canada would say nothing, they are out. —— are poisoned. 0r and canada would say nothing, they are out. —— are poisoned. or at least give the united to make united states a chance to say that they had no choice but to walk away. that may give the united states. will the canadians agree to this, do you think‘s —— the united states. canadians agree to this, do you think's -- the united states. no. but they have put the united states ina box. but they have put the united states in a box. they have said that they will keep negotiating, they would say no. you keep discussing, we won't give you an excuse to make us the bad guys. you keep talking,

wikis then there, and we will see what happens. for years, state owned companies have dominated the chinese economy. they have been called zombies because some of them refuse to die. thousands of workers could be left jobless after to die. thousands of workers could be leftjobless after new changes. we got this report from china's northerlies. this is a community built around a coalmine, and it is looking like it is dying. decades, they have powered china's growth and he did its homes, but now there are fewer workers doing fewer bus rides to the coalface. i used to do 30 inches, now and it is seven. a lot of people have retired, but the company is not able to hire new employees. nobody was to come because the salary is low. people are buying less pork on the market. but this is no accident. this is

pa rt but this is no accident. this is part of china's plan to cut chronic overca pacity part of china's plan to cut chronic overcapacity and get greener. an hour away, in his taxi, overcapacity and get greener. an houraway, in his taxi, in overcapacity and get greener. an hour away, in his taxi, in a sprawling city, mr yu supports reforms, but has a word of warning. translation: i think the rule survival of the figure should apply. but isn't it true that if you —— the people should be better settled. and he knows that change because of progress. this was the site of a smelting plant where he worked before it went bankrupt. heuristic lives of the future and is part of china. they are making car seats for bmw. so what, i hear you say. there is nothing new about making car seats, even once put together mostly by robots. what is new about this place, what is different about this factory, is what it's down here.

this is an incubator. it was very different, doesn't? it is a space for local start—ups to create more than car seats. the factory owner got cheap land and set up incentives to invest. translation: the area will rely on high—tech and smart companies to revitalise the region. president xi jinping promised a decisive role for market forces in china. that is not quite happen. there are fewer of the haydon—jones, but many of the workers are still waiting to be moved. in other business news, making headlines, the boss of amazon studios has resigned from his position, according to his representative. his move comes days after he was put on indefinitely from the company after becoming embroiled in the allegations of

sexual harassment and abuse against producer harvey weinstein. he had of video content was accused of ignoring ross mcgowan‘s accusations that harvey once in rates. —— rose. the us securities and exchange commission formed a complaint against rio tinto was no former ceo, on tuesday. the securities and exchange commission says that they failed to follow accounting standards and inflated the value of coal assets that were bought for $3.7 billion and sold a few years later for $15 $3.7 billion and sold a few years laterfor $15 million us. corbert still says it is quite ready with the justice department still says it is quite ready with thejustice department in their investigation into the leaked data scandal. the japanese company has

announced that 500 customers were affected, more than twice as many as we re affected, more than twice as many as were initially thought. —— mr yu. in delhi, it is one of the most polluted cities in the world, and every diwali, it gets worse. smog covers the city. this year, the supreme court has banned the sale of fireworks in central delhi, leading fireworks in central delhi, leading fireworks manufacturers and vendor is scrambling. we got this report from tamil naidu to find out more. 100 years ago, there was nothing but farmland here. today, it is home to a thriving industry that helps adds sparkle to diwali celebrations across india. it is meticulous work. this six—year—old woman makes around 250 of these fireworks, called flour bombs, every day. —— 60 rob ——

60—year—old. that would be banned from the supreme court of sales in the capitalfor this from the supreme court of sales in the capital for this diwali, from the supreme court of sales in the capitalfor this diwali, they have suffered. 400 factories in this area supply 80% of fireworks in india. delhi is usually the largest market. the supreme court decision means there could be major losses. and with the bank coming just a week before diwali, there is no new markets they can be found in time. the current owner of this factory says thousands of people will lose theirjobs across says thousands of people will lose their jobs across the says thousands of people will lose theirjobs across the industry. we are looking at a 20% drop in production. 90% of the pollution is happening because of other factors, and ona happening because of other factors, and on a religious celebration, you

make is banned, and not talking about everything else that is happening on the other 300 city for days, is that just happening on the other 300 city for days, is thatjust as? and hide a major in the festive season, his company produced $150,000 of fireworks this year. he is ready shift most of it, but he fears that not all of his customers will pay him. dealers in delhi are worried, too. translation: i have $4000 of fireworks stock. what should i do that? went away salad? but in a city where air pollution has reached alarming levels, environmental activists have welcomed the move. the supreme court decision is a ready hurting business banking on the bumper season. but as people prepare to celebrate diwali, some are looking forward to clean air. many are wondering if diwali without

fireworks will ever be the same. and to everybody who is celebrating the season, happy diwali to all of you! in the markets, investors were happy with the early morning trade. as you can see, asia is scaling multi—year highs again after us jobs rose again. the nikkei is up for 11 consecutive sessions, now. that is more than a two decade high. they give reversing time with us. i am rico hizon. sport today is coming up next. —— thank you for investing your time with us. you're watching bbc news. a reminder of our headlines these hours: us—backed forces have driven the so—called islamic state out of raqqa — the syrian city the group once claimed as its capital. gathering of the party's elite — china's communist leaders

are about to reveal their new five year plan. the son of a maltese journalist who was killed in a car bomb on monday has blamed a ‘culture of impunity‘ for his mother's death. daphne galizia was an investigative reporter who wrote a widely—read blog focusing on corruption. thousands of people attended a vigil in the capital valetta, as our correspondent daniel sandford reports. the twisted burned—out chassis of daphne caruana galizia's peugeot 108 hire car, in the field where malta's most influential investigative journalist was murdered — her body blown clean out of the vehicle by a huge explosion, ending her career of exposing political corruption and organised crime. "i saw a small explosion coming from the car and i panicked", said frank sant, who saw the whole thing. "a few seconds later, there was another larger explosion. the car skidded down the hill at high speed, full of fire, and into the field." daphne caruana galizia made her name writing stories in newspapers and then on her blog that were often deeply embarrassing

for those in power in malta, particularly the labour party who are currently in government. today, her son matthew said the government had been negligent in failing to protect his mother. "this was no ordinary murder and it was not tragic", he wrote. "tragic is someone being run over by a bus. we're a people at war against the state and organised crime, which have become indistinguishable. this is where we are, a mafia state." the maltese prime ministerjoseph muscat had to call an election this year because of allegations about his wife's offshore money which daphne caruana galizia extracted from the panama papers leak, but he has promised an unbiased investigation. translation: my duty is to make surejustice is done, and i won't have a moment's rest until that happens. the fbi has been asked to help investigate the car bomb, but trust here is shaken after one maltese police officer appeared

to celebrate the killing. sainsbury‘s is planning to cut around 2000 jobs as part of a cost—saving plan. the supermarket says a rapid change in the retail sector has prompted the cuts. the roles will be lost in departments including payroll and hr. argos and sainsbury‘s bank could be facing staff cuts too. where lesson about 15 minutes from the opening of the chinese communist pa rty‘s the opening of the chinese communist party's people's congress. we bring you live congress speeches. but now here is sport today. this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme... in match three of the euopean champions league real madrid and tottenham play out an enthralling 1—1 draw at the bernabeu.

saudia arabia's al hilal are through to the asian champions league final after a 6—2 aggregate victory over persepolis. and 48 hours after winning herfirst tournament in over two years, maria sharapova is knocked out in the opening round of moscow's kremlin cup. hello and welcome to the programme where we start with the champions league news that real madrid and tottenham have played out a 1—1 draw at the bernabeu in spain, meaning they remain first and second respectively in group h. the defending champions had the better of the chances early on but it was a raphael varane own goal from a deflected harry kane effort in the 28th minute which saw spurs take a lead on a night where both goalkeepers were fully tested but the scores were level when cristiano ronaldo converted a penalty minutes before the half time interval and it stayed that way.