is bbc news. our top story: new york's mayor says a bomb explosion next to the city's main bus station was an attempted, terrorist attack. the suspected attacker is currently in police custody and has been named as 27—year—old akayed ullah who moved to the us from bangladesh. he suffered burns from the crude pipe—bomb strapped to his body. three women who accused president trump of sexual misconduct, alleging he groped, kissed, and harassed them, have demanded a congressional inquiry. the white house says their claims are false. and this video is trending on bbc.com. the fairytale romance, the shape of water, leads nominations for the 2018 golden globe awards. it's picked up seven nominations. it could set the stage for the winners at the oscars in march. more to come on bbc news. and the top story here in the uk: detectives are questioning five people in connection with the suspected murder of three children in a fire at a house in greater manchester.

more to come. first we catch up with the business news. the us central bank starts its last meeting for the year with economists widely expecting a rate rise. and what has gone wrong. we find out why are the wheels have come off like sharing services in australia. good morning, eight, hello, world. it is a tuesday. glad you could join us for asia business report. i am rico hizon. we start with us central bank and the federal reserve starts its first policy —— last policy meeting for year. economists have been anticipating a rate hike for months

now. let us put this into context. nine years ago, 2008, the cost of borrowing was cut to effectively zero in response to the global financial turmoil. it remained there for seven years until two years ago when it was raised by a quarter of a point. since then we have seen three rate rises as the us economy has recovered. earlier i spoke to the age and chief economist, and asked ifa age and chief economist, and asked if a rate hike is a done deal. age and chief economist, and asked if a rate hike is a done dealli think it is almost a done deal that they will hike tomorrow. it is all is completely priced into the market. it will be a big surprise if they did not hike. what if they hold that, what would be the reason?m is hard to think of one. their guidance has been so strong to suggest that they will hike in december. the data has been strong. it is hard to really think, at this point, why they would want to delay

ita point, why they would want to delay it a month. the reason to do it in this month is, in december, compared to january, december they have a new economic forecasts and jenny hill will have —— yellen will have a statement. what will this have, in fa ct statement. what will this have, in fact —— impact wise? statement. what will this have, in fact -- impact wise? so far asia has largely been decoupling from this thread hiking cycle. will this put pressure on asia central banks?” think it is starting to put more pressure. we feel that as we get into next year we will see more central banks hiking. the next one we think to hike will be malaysia's central bank, hiking injanuary. much more important than this fed rate hike will be the fomc dots. at

the moment they are forecasting three hikes. if they provides update dots, it might mean that fomc will forecast four rate hikes. the market expects only two. if they are looking at three or four rate hikes in 2018, what impact could it have on the us economy and on asia? the us economy is very strong. now we get the fiscal expansion. this is really needed to stop the us economy overheating. it is good for the us economy to avoid too much froth and access. for asia, i economy to avoid too much froth and access. forasia, ithink economy to avoid too much froth and access. for asia, i think this tightening of us monetary policy could put some pressure on asian chorus —— currencies to weaken over time. over the course of next you, it will put pressure on asian central banks to start following the

fed. this year has seen many prominent cyber—attacks, everything from the breach of french president macron's campaign e—mails, the theft of personal details from equifax, could 2018 osi new threats, especially as the internet grows in cryptocurrencies like the queen? i put it to bryce bowden from fire ice. criminals always fire that might follow the money. we have seen bitcoins skyrocketing. criminals are starting to focus, turned their attention to dealing the point —— bitcoin from the currency exchanges. everyone would say this before the cryptocurrency became popular and we saw some countries starting to regulate its trading, even injamie dimon from jpmorgan said in september it was a fraud. now is saying that only if controlled and

properly regulated that we could see more support for bitcoin. there is a lot of support today. the reality is, from eight criminal perspective, it creates a huge amount of opportunity. not only can you create extortion a massive scale, you can create that in such a way that enables you to hide the traceability of the funds. that means the police and law enforcement organisations really struggle. is already a problem you see in terms of trading the cryptocurrencies and the bitcoins? are we seeing a cyber security issues? the reality is the financial organisations that are providing those exchanges are not yet at the level of security and liquidity and accountability with the traditional organisations. it is just data after all. the safeguards are not as well designed and built as we seek in the traditional markets. yes, there is a lot of risk there. i think that will come out

over the next few months. like sharing services have done pretty well in countries like china and singapore. but in australia it is another story. they are facing complaints about bicycles on the street and piling up on the beaches. will australia's ever embrace the system ? let will australia's ever embrace the system? let us find out. —— australians. they are just lying down they arejust lying down randomly all over the place. i think it is a good idea. i do not know if it will work. people have their old bikes that they write. people are trolling the system. they are parked where ever they are

left. often pushed over on the side of the row, in the gutter. they are a major issue, they are uncontrolled, they need to operate ina uncontrolled, they need to operate in a better way. based on experience from other countries, it would normally take 6— 12 months for people to get used to it or to get an understanding of that and enjoy the service. you get the service itself, after all. after that it the service itself, after all. after thatitis the service itself, after all. after that it is convenient for people, it is healthier, green. a lot of people don't understand. here in singapore, we are starting

to share not just here in singapore, we are starting to share notjust bicycles, but also electric cars. there is a service that 80 electric cars and 100 charging points across the island this afternoon. we found out more about these electric car vehicles. what do they show? that is right. we we re what do they show? that is right. we were on the side of a fairly quiet street in singapore were two of these cars parked on the side of the street. they were being charged. but they looked kind of lonely. the did not look like much if you look at the footage. no-one tried to drive them? no, they are technically open later today. this firm, bluesg, they have ambitious plans. a fleet of 80 ca rs have ambitious plans. a fleet of 80 cars now. they plan to expand to about 1000 cars by 2020. from about 30 charging stations around the

island, they plan to expand that number. that will put singapore behind paris in terms of having the largest electric car sharing scheme in the world. i talked to be firm and they said they were doing this because they thought singapore was a good place to start in asia, it has great infrastructure. and we know that the price of private cars, we have them, they are exorbitant. your regular sedan costs four times more here than it does in the us. they think all of that will make it attractive, an attractive proposition for singaporeans. singapore is acting as a microcosm to the rest of the world. there is a real transformation happening in the transportation industry. you just saw it in that bike sharing report. you have car riding apps like uber. this move away from the classic fossil fuels cars, many people have said they will stop selling those cars, china, britain, france, norway, and aggar singapore as well. will you try to drive one? i am

going to try this weekend. thank you so much. my colleague on the electric car vehicle market in singapore. before we go, let us look at the market and asian stocks. could be moving sideways. as you can see on the screens. for the hang seng and the australian market, this is after wall street and slightly higher as investors shrugged off an explosion in times square that resulted in a handful of injuries. with that we end this addition of asia business report. thank you so much are investing your time with us. sport today is coming up next. you're watching bbc news. the reminder of the headlines. a man with a pipe—bomb strapped to his body has set off an explosion in new york, injuring himself and three passers—by. he is now in police custody. three women who say they

we re custody. three women who say they were sexually harassed by president trump have called on the us congress to investigate the allegations. the broadcaster keith chegwin known to millions of children and young people in the 1970s and 80s as one of television's most familiar presenters has died of a lung condition at the age of 60. his energy, his sheer enthusiasm, made keith chegwin into a household name. welcome to our very special christmas edition of cheggers plays pop. from everybody here... merry christmas! a career on tv seemed somewhat inevitable, even in his early teens. he was a natural in front of the camera, in productions like this road safety video. do you want to swap this? just a few years later, cheggers, as the public now called him, was sharing the screen with some of entertainment‘s most famous faces. how long did it take you to actually record the album? figures who worked with keith

chegwin have been paying tribute. i knew he was very unwell. i spoke to him about four weeks ago, and he said he was recovering, so i didn't expect this. very, very sad news. his one—time presenting partner and former wife, maggie philbin, said, "it's incredibly sad. keith was a one—off. full of life, generous, and with a focus on things that mattered — his family. keith was loved by everyone who knew and worked with him." his career did decline for a time, and the public were shocked to discover that he was an alcoholic, something he spoke about when he appeared on celebrity big brother. what i did is all the tricks. you never buy a full bottle of whiskey, because you can't hide it, so you buy two half bottles. in fact, reality tv helped give him a new outlook. he was able to regain much of the fame from his early career, thanks to his honesty,

personality, and endless ability to laugh at himself. few tv stars can claim to have had a top—selling chart hit, to have entertained and delighted millions while in their teens, and then to have still been doing the same for viewers decades later. he has died at the age of 60. that is it from me. stay with us. 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: holder's real madrid will have to overcome french giants paris st

germain in the champions league round of 16 if they're to continue their bid for a third straight title. egypt's mohamed salah is voted by you to be the bbc‘s african footballer of the year for 2017. and jothohn floremce remains on course for back to back world surfing titles as he progresses at pipeline in hawaii. hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with football and the draw for the last 16 of the european champions league which has thrown up a couple of cracking ties. the pick of the games, which will take place in mid—february, is 12—time winners and defending champions real madrid up against big spending paris st germain. the other tie which really stands out is chelsea against barcelona. austin halewood reports. for some teamsjust for some teams just making it into the hat for the last 16 is a dream come true. but for others, it