jerusalem as the capital of israel. at least 31 palestinians have been wounded in clashes in the gaza strip and across the occupied west bank. the palestinian militant group hamas has called for a third uprising, or intifada. the united nations security council meets later to discuss the holy city. meanwhile, there are reports the palestinian president may refuse to meet the us vice president when he visits the region. and this video is trending on bbc.com. it shows australia's lawmakers celebrating after an overwhelming vote to change the law and make same—sex marriage legal. the result follows a decade of often bitter debate and a national poll last month which backed the move. that's all from me for now. stay with bbc news. and the top story here in the uk: intense negotiations are continuing through the night to try to break the deadlock over the irish border in brexit negotiations. now on bbc news, all the latest business news live from singapore.

find out how japan find out howjapan is considering rewarding businesses with a tax cut. and china releases trade data for the month of november. we find out what we can expect. hello and welcome to this friday edition of asia business report, i'm sharanjit leyl. we've been talking a lot lately about donald trump's tax bill but the japanese government is also considering some new rules to boost the economy. the package will go to prime ministers shinzo abe's cabinet today, where it is expected to be approved. the package rewards businesses that increase wages and investing productivity growth by

offering tax cuts. for more we are joined by our business report of carrico i. —— reporter mariko oi. the tax rate in the pan has been coming down significantly under the current prime minister, shinzo abe —— injapan. when he came to power in 2012 the tax rate was almost as high as the us, at 38%. but for the upcoming fiscal year, starting in april, it is expected to go below 30%. and if this new package gets the green light it could go down as low as 20%, but there's a catch. it only applies to companies which reward their employees with a pay rise of at least 3% and invest in productivity. basically it's a measure to stop companies hoarding higher profits. do we now how japan co m pa res to higher profits. do we now how japan compares to the rest of the world, especially countries in this region that do we know. if it goes down to

20% that's fairly low, even lower than the asian average, just over 2196 -- than the asian average, just over 21% -- do than the asian average, just over 21% —— do we know. it isn't low as hong kong, for example, which is at 16.5%, the lowest among developed economies, or singapore at 17%. but it becomes on a par with china at 20%. 0f it becomes on a par with china at 20%. of course, japan isn't the only country considering cutting the corporate tax rate. the united states, as we've been talking about, the corporate tax rate combining the national and state taxes roughly about a0%, but donald trump is really trying to push through his tax reform bill to cut that rate down significantly. the japanese package is expected to get approved by the cabinet today and it will go to parliament. we will be watching that very closely. thanks for that. staying with japan, the country's economy expanded at an annualised rate of 2.5% between july and

december according to the latest government data, revised up from a preliminary estimate of 1.4%. the revised figure came in well ahead of a nalyst revised figure came in well ahead of analyst expectations. the us government has averted a possible shutdown but only temporarily. the house and the senate have now passed a stopgap measure to avert the shutdown, leaving fights over budget priorities and a range of other controversial issues for the coming weeks. and another day, another record. bitcoin has rocketed to a lifetime high ofjust shy of $16,000, that's a 60% gain for the week. it's intensified the debate about whether the crypto currency is in a bubble thatis the crypto currency is in a bubble that is about to burst. thejp morgan chase it the called bitcoin a fraud in september. china is due to release new trade data for the month of november in the next few hours.

in recent years the government has intensified its crackdown on polluting industries and financial risk but economists believe those measures have put pressure on china's economic growth. earlier i spoke to a senior china our nest at a frontier strategy group and i asked how the economy would handle the government's new direction —— a nalyst. the government's new direction —— analyst. china are walking a fine line with trying to initiate another slow down to the risk the financial system but on the other hand not doing too much to cause a domino slowdown effect that could hurt china —— de—risk. slowdown effect that could hurt china -- de-risk. to some extent we have seen the economy do well in other parts, retail sales, you had the big bonanza singles day then, to what extent are those bits of the economy of setting the elements that are slowing down? unfortunately consumption is still such a part of the economy —— offsetting. i think the economy —— offsetting. i think the slowdown will continue

regardless even if consumption is a relatively positive story. we know the chinese relationship with its trade partners hasn't always been good, they've always had a massive surplus, particularly with the us, but we've seen donald trump's trip to china where they came away with $250 billion of trade deals. the trade surplus actually narrowed somewhat recently as well, so our we seeing china's trade relationship with its major partners going forward 7 with its major partners going forward? look at the us, we will see trade tensions picking up against. the us is relying on china with north korea and the expectation is they won't be able to. we have seen rhetoric heating up again. you have the trade representative investigating china's intellectual property practices and rules on enforced technology transfer and an undersecretary at the treasury who said comprehensive economic dialogue has been stalled because china isn't

doing enough to address the imbalance or to liberalise its economy, and the us is trying to block china from accessing market economy status at the wto, saying it's just not a market economy status at the wto, saying it'sjust not a market, economy. how flan _ 3:12. i‘iii appetite ei- appetite g globalatite g global leader themselves as being a global leader and open for business, globalisation, but the reality is often different with foreign companies complaining about being discriminated against. now, when it comes to technology and innovation, disrupters are very much in vogue and one of the most famous is will.i.am. he's the seven time grammy award winning musician and front man for the black eyed peas. his company is blending fashion,

lifestyle and culture with advanced technology in a way that really shakes up the status quo. he spoke with the bbc‘s reporter. shakes up the status quo. he spoke with the bbc's reporterlj shakes up the status quo. he spoke with the bbc's reporter. i still make music. i don't want to do music for a business. that's not the smartest thing to do right now for me. for other folks, that's great, thing to do right now for me. for otherfolks, that's great, but thing to do right now for me. for other folks, that's great, but for mei other folks, that's great, but for me i don't how we compete with ourselves. i don't see myself on stage at 60 years old as a business. the fact remains that many young people are still drawn to the glamour of the hip—hop music world, the entertainment industry, they still want to see their names in bright lights, what is your message to those young people who, although they may have to do music differently, but still want to do it? to all the musicians out there with

big dreams, go out there and pursue those dreams. like, don't let anything stand in your way. but for all the folks on the fence who want to do something bigger, errm, there's nothing bigger than bill gates, there's nothing bigger than steve jo bs, gates, there's nothing bigger than steve jobs, but you too gates, there's nothing bigger than stevejobs, but you too have the opportunity to, you know, try to be that big and if you try to be as big as bill gates and don't succeed, you will be bigger than michaeljackson, i guarantee you that. now that i'm 40,i i guarantee you that. now that i'm 40, iwant i guarantee you that. now that i'm 40, i want to aim to be like, you know, the other mike, michael dell. i want to be like the other steve ede, not stevie wonder, stevejobs. i want to change will.i.am to macro free, bill gates. why not shoot and aim that way? there's nothing wrong

with making sure your dreams have a great execution squad. i want to surround myself with votes that reflect my new dream. if i can do it, coming from the ghetto, you can do it too, you just have to surround yourself with engineers and discipline future thinkers —— disciplined. if you could live in the conditions you're living in an dream this way, should be a cakewalk. the multi— award musician will.i.am speaking there. let's look at the markets now before we go. a lot of gains in asia, the markets that have opened, including the hang seng and the all ordinaries in australia have been rising most of the morning and doing well because we saw wall street doing well, those stocks rising with the technology stocks

like facebook and google parent alphabet doing well. we've been reporting about the stopgap measures as well finally being passed through in the us am so that's also going to reassure a lot of investors. looking at australia still, looking at the energy stocks rising in tandem with oil prices. woodside petroleum doing well and origin energy gaining 4% and at one point hitting its highest in two years. that's it for this edition of asia business report, thanks for watching. the top stories this hour: there have been violent protests after president trump's recognition ofjerusalem as israel's capital as the un security council prepares its response. late—night negotiations are under way in london in an effort to break the deadlock in brexit negotiations. it's the largest and most expensive warship ever built for the royal navy and on wednesday the queen commissioned hms

queen elizabeth at a ceremony in portsmouth. the ship, which won't take part in military operations until 2021, cost more than £3 billion and has become the flagship of the fleet. our defence correspondent, jonathan beale, has more. a day of pride for the royal navy and for the nation. the queen's already named her. today she made her first visit onboard to commission hms queen elizabeth into service. almost lost in the cavernous hangar, still waiting for aircraft. as the daughter, wife and mother of naval officers, i recognise the unique demands our nation asks of you, and i will always value my special link with hms queen elizabeth, her ship's company and their families. the raising of the white ensign means she's now legally recognised

as a royal navy warship. over the past few months, hms queen elizabeth and her 700 crew have been testing her at sea. she's the first of two new carriers. russia's already described her as a large convenient target, but the government insists she will be a potent weapon and symbol of british military power. this isn't just the largest warship ever built for the royal navy, it's also the most expensive, costing more than £3 billion. the f—35 jets that will eventually fly off her will cost billions more and this at a time when the defence budget is under severe pressure, with the prospect of further cuts. today the only cuts being made were to the elaborate cake, made to mark the occasion, but the navy is having to consider axing other ships in the fleet. they still believe it's worth it. we knew this ship was coming and her sister ship,

prince of wales, and the f—35s that they will operate, so we've been on a long, complicated, but committed journey to get to this point and the commissioning of the ship is a key milestone in thatjourney. work on the ship began before the youngest crew member was even born. but, like the queen, she'll be expected to offer decades of loyal service. built for the next 50 years. jonathan beale, bbc news, portsmouth. time now for all the sports news in sport today. hello. this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: cristiano ronaldo wins the ballon d'or for the fifth time matching his great rival lionel messi. after a week which saw him hospitalised, south africa's keenan davidse leads after the first round of thejo'burg open.

and five time winner ronnie o'sullivan struggles, but eventually progreses to the quarter finals of the uk snooker championship. hello and welcome to the programme. we start with the news that cristiano ronaldo has won the ballon d'or for a record—equalling fifth time in a poll of football writers from around the world. his latest victory means he joins lionel messi on the most number of wins and it comes at the end of a year in which he helped real madrid to a 33rd spanish league title and 12th european cup victory. ronaldo also scored 15 goals for portugal as the european champions qualified for next year's world cup finals as john bennett reports. it's official. footballjournalists from around the world have voted cristiano ronaldo the world's test player this year. year started well