donald trump has announced a major change in united states policy towards the middle east. he has formally recognised the disputed city jerusalem as the capital of israel, calling it a "long overdue step" that will help bring bring about peace between israel and the palestinians. israel's prime minister has called it a "historic day" for his country. but leaders from around the world have been warning of the danger violent reactions. the palestinians say it marks the end of the peace process. and this video is trending on bbc.com... wildfires in california have destroyed hundreds of buildings, and another 12,000 homes are under threat. the fire is burning about 80 kilometres north of los angeles. nearly 30,000 people have been forced from their homes. the state's governor, jerry brown has declared a state of emergency freeing state funds and resources to assist. that's all from me for now. and one other story from here in the uk: the irish prime minister, leo varadkar, has suggested that theresa may is planning to come up with a new formula to find a way forward in the stalled brexit negotiations in the next 2a hours.

voters in nepal are casting their vote as they look to and use of poverty and political instability. meet the designer for apple who created the most profitable real space in the world. good morning, asia, hello, world. glad you could join us for another exciting asia business report. the polls have opened and voters are casting their ballots in at election in nepal. in the last three decades, they have

suffered an earthquake and political instability including an 10—year violent insurgency. we report from the capital, kathmandu. the election are described as a watershed moment what this country. it witnessed a 10—year insurgency which ended in 2006 and then the monarchy was abolished two years later. it took ten yea rs abolished two years later. it took ten years for the politicians to agree on a constitution, that was last year, and that is why this election is important. the first after they have adopted a new constitution. in this election, the congress is taking on a coalition. first of all, they have the best infrastructure and create more jobs. the country witnessed a devastating earthquake in 2015 — that had a

negative impact on the economy. 0ne of the priorities will be what to do with china initiative. nepal approved in principle which aims to boost productivity in asia and the pacific region. the idea is to build a road from their all the way to kathmandu. politicians here hope by investing millions of dollars with chinese help, it will help to boost the economic road in this country. the international monetary fund has published its most recent report, looking at the stability of china's financial system which has fine at short debt. —— financial debt. in order to meet targets and avoid

heavy job losses, i order to meet targets and avoid heavyjob losses, i spoke to business consultant. i asked him how concerned we should be about the debt problem? not terribly concerned. the imf sounded the warning is several times over the past couple of years looking at the debt rising from two up to 300% by 2022. china has been actively addressing that debt, whether it is controls are round lending, looking at the bigger pic is in investments going overseas, in addition, continuing the growth path so that it continues to outpace the level of debt. from its overall path and gdp, it is only around a thousand per person yet, in comparison to around the world it is low. china has a

long way to go. they have a massive debt but even though it is their it also needs to look at the assets. china has a great potential out there. as a management consulting firm we look at some of the risks. where you see increased in interest rates, whether you see impact on trade and potential disruption. as china looks at investment, you are looking at pushback from countries and regions like the eu. whether it is robotics. in the us you are seeing it in high—tech sectors. that could constrain the growth and could

pose additional challenges of china in the future. as brexit talks continue, many businesses are readjusting. we asked one how the shift in political and economic ties are impacting the multinational bank. 50 are impacting the multinational bank. so much of our business is outside of europe. it is an expensive inconvenience on the margins. we are a bit clearer of euros meaning that once companies have settled their accounts in euros we facilitate that and we do that from a branch in frankfurt and we need to convert that to subsidiary and that will have to have fresh capital and have to be licensed by the regulator in germany. bill winters, the ceo of standard chartered bank. which company has

the most profitable retail space in the most profitable retail space in the world? it is apple. $5,500 per square foot beating harrods and tiffa ny square foot beating harrods and tiffany ‘s. when the first one opened, it was actually considered risky move. it is argued they could not possibly make money by the late steve jo bs not possibly make money by the late steve jobs was convinced not possibly make money by the late stevejobs was convinced they not possibly make money by the late steve jobs was convinced they would be successful and, of course, the rest is history. the man who designed the store is now based in singapore and we caught up with we started in 1987 when stevejobs came back to the company. he asked

us came back to the company. he asked us to think about how to present apple in various public realms. my business partner and myself started on the whiteboard. we met with him every week for 12 years and grew the programme through a number of processes and helped to be a part of that transformation from what was a relatively small company. it was $2.2 billion in value and now it is 750 plus. apple develop much more significant differentiator products at that time. what has happened in the industry is it has become... strong revolutionary brands out

there. we can see over a number of yea rs our there. we can see over a number of years our progression from the ambition to copy and emulate other solutions to leapfrog those and become leaders. we seem that rao and grow in asia. it started to reflect to me what silicon valley seem to feel like, a genuine interest in creating something great. it is a simple food service system that allows people to have much higher quality food, still quickly, and be integrated with the way they work. 0ne integrated with the way they work. one of the things that keep you in design is that the feeling you get when you see something that started out as a sketch to people being happy and enjoying what they are

doing. bitcoin has set yet another record high, breaking through the $50,000 barrier. it was another milestone for the currency which has increased dramatically over the last year. timothy mcdonald, last week it was 10,000... now it is 14,000. since talking it has broken. shocking! it is just incredible. this time last year it was $1000 and since then it has broken through barrier after barrier to the point we arejust sick barrier after barrier to the point we are just sick of writing about the... it is sounding like a broken record. when a value increases that dramatically, you are a little bit worried about what is over the next ridge. a lot of worry about whether

this could be a bubble but the thing is that nobody really knows and people have a very hard time particular eating why it is worth this much. a lot of people have a ha rd this much. a lot of people have a hard time defining what bitcoin actually is. really, it could be a bubble, it could be anybody‘s guess. we do not know what is going to happen to bitcoin. let's have a quick look at the markets and currently asia is flat. thank you for interesting your time with us. my for interesting your time with us. my now. —— by for now. the top stories this hour: president trump has recognised jerusalem as israel's capital, discarding the official us position of the past few decades. palestinians have turned off their christmas lights in protest — but israel's prime minister welcomed the announcement as ‘historic‘. there's just one day to go before we find out which contender will be named uk city of culture 2021. sunderland is one of five places

bidding to win the title. it's up against coventry, paisley, stoke—on—trent and swansea. asjudith moritz reports a city that is perhaps best known these days for its highly efficient car making plants is keen to show it has another side. # by the harbour wall # the place you love the most #. sunderland has been shaped by the sea. where once they built ships, now they make music. culture here, inspired by the waves. so the landscape pulls on your heartstrings here? yeah, it absolutely does. i mean, just look at it. even on a kind of stormy day like this, it's still beautiful. coronation street actress melanie hill grew up near this shore. she says sunderland is special, and should be city of culture. for me, it's the community, and it's a community spirit. and since this bid was started, i've seen the communities coming together, and there's like an energy.

and people have begun to have hope again. sunderland champions social art — a way of people creating and connecting at the same time. i think there's a lot of talent in sunderland. i'm not saying i'm one of them, but you never can tell! it was once hailed as the largest ship—building city in the world. but hundreds of yards have closed down, and coal and glass have declined, too. the furnaces still burn, but here it's for artistry, not industry. for this apprentice, there's a bright future. unfortunately, that old culture and heritage has gone. but we're trying to keep it alive here at the national glass centre, keep it going. and like some of the other guys that work here, like, they've all got real experience from when they did

work in those factories. so they're still keeping it alive, and kind of passing it on to like the new generation of glass—makers, like myself. sunderland is forging a new path. with an eye on its proud heritage, the city also has a bold vision for the future. judith moritz, bbc news, sunderland. lots more on our story on the bbc website. now it is time for all the sports news. hello, this is sport today from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: liverpool qualify for the last 16 of the champions league, as phillipe coutinho scores a hat—trick in their 7—0 win over spartak moscow. russia will allow neutral athletes to compete at next year's winter olympics after the ioc banned the country from competing in south korea due to

a state—sponsored doping programme. and england head to perth for the third test against australia knowing they're on the brink of losing the ashes after the hosts won the second test to take a 2—0 lead in the 5—match series. hello and welcome to the programme where we start with champions league football in europe and liverpool have qualified for the knockout stages top of group e after a 7—0 victory over spartak moscow at anfield. jurgen klopp‘s side move through to the last 16 with phillipe coutinho grabbing the first of his hat—trick from the penalty spot before adding two more while sadio mane notched a double, the first of which was a wonderful volley and add in a goal each from roberto firmino and mohamed salah and it's easy to see why the manager was happy.