to be approved by both houses of congress. it managed to get approval in the house of representatives and a vote in the senate is expected in the next few hours. final approval will have to wait until wednesday. china has called on the us to abandon its cold war mentality after donald trump's speech on national security accused beijing of trying to erode american security. and this story is trending on bbc.com. a coffee shop in london's oxford street claims to be able to make the world's first selfie drink by printing a chocolate powder portrait from a photo on top of your drink. they're calling it a selfi—cino. that's all from me now. stay with bbc world news. and the top story here in the uk: police say they've taken action to foil an alleged islamist terror plot that could have been carried out this christmas. four men were arrested in counter terrorism raids. now on bbc news, all the latest business news live from singapore. will it continue to sizzle or start

to fizzle? we look at what's been driving the trend is for bitcoin and other crypto currencies. the us is getting closer to reforming its tax structure for the first time in 30 years but what could this mean for multinationals in asia? good morning, asia, hello, world, glad you could join us for this midweek addition of asia business report, i'm rico hizon. the price of bitcoin has plunged more than 10% to below $16,000 on some crypto

currency exchanges, from $20,000 earlier this week. a couple of reasons, the us securities exchange commission has suspended trading of a popular bitcoin related stock that has soared in recent weeks, citing concerns about market manipulation. their share price had risen an eye watering 1700% between the end of september and monday evening before the sec intervened. analysts are citing profit—taking ahead of the holiday period as another reason for the price. bitcoin has captured the attention of the world this year and asia has been at the forefront of the crypto currency craze with investors in japan, china the crypto currency craze with investors injapan, china and south korea driving up the price of the bitcoin and other digital currencies. but pared to traditional investments and the use of cash, crypto is are still fairly niche —— but compared. investors world urged

to use caution and some asian countries have banned some institutions from using it. but the hype around crypto currencies has more asians are looking at them despite the risks. karishma vaswani has more. cash... it is still king in so much of asia these days. in fact, a recent survey shows of asia these days. in fact, a recent survey shows more of asia these days. in fact, a recent survey shows more than half of us preferred this to any other form of digital payment. but there's a small but growing number of asians who are keen on digital currencies, all crypto currencies as they're known, both to spend and to invest in. this bitcoin atm was set up in singapore two years ago but it's only since the digital currency‘s value has shot up that more people are buying. they see it as digital gold, a form of savings. it dovetails into the saving idea of being a saving asian, that's what we're hearing from customers. but you don't need to go

to an atm to buy a bitcoin, you can also mine one. dexter set up this bit, crypto currency mining workshop a year ago, he makes and sells computers that solve complex mathematical problems. bitcoin has gone higher and higher, previously we could only sell two or three a week, now we can sell 15 to anything in the hundreds now and if more countries like japan fully legalised bitcoin and crypto currency. . . legalised bitcoin and crypto currency... more people feel they can invest in crypto currencies. bitcoin has soared more than 1000% since the beginning of the year, a lot of that demand has come from japan, china and korea but recently beijing and other asian nations have cracked down on crypto currencies, increasing volatility in the market. a lot of the easy money has already been made, if anyone wants to get

exposure 110w been made, if anyone wants to get exposure now you have to be able to stomach massive downside volatility, 50%, 70%, maybe even more. still, that's not stopping some businesses from cashing in on the crypto craze. at this bar in singapore, customers campaign for their drinks using another popular and increasingly expensive digital currency. then the payment is made! for now it makes up only 2% of transactions, but club owners expect that to grow. don't pop open the champagne yet, though, crypto is maybe worth less than a cocktail in the future. karishma vaswani, bbc news, singapore. crypto currencies gave investors a wild ride in 2017 but since it has no intrinsic value some analysts have called it an extremely risky investment. america's biggest tax overhaul in 30

yea rs america's biggest tax overhaul in 30 years is inching slowly to being real, but there was another roadblock as a bill makes its way to donald trump's desk for a signature. 0ne donald trump's desk for a signature. one of the biggest changes the plan offers is cutting the corporate tax rate to 21%. at the moment it's at 35%, the highest in the developed world. the big winners will be multinationals stoppila sunzu did i explain where the heads next. it cleared the vote in the house, rico, now it's going to the senate and we expect voting later today but we're hearing there are minor elements of the draft of the bill cleared by the house that might be in violation of senate rules, which means even if the senate clears that d raft means even if the senate clears that draft without those elements, what will essentially happen is it will need to go back to the house for approval tomorrow, which means just one more step in this long drawnout process for the republicans to get this tax reform passed and they're all trying to get it done before christmas. if and when it happens it

will be donald trump's first big legislative victory since taking office. he promised to make america great again to get this economy growing, and to bring jobs to this country, and the republicans certainly think this is one way of doing it. their pitch is that if companies are making these savings, 1496 companies are making these savings, 14% less corporate tax they have to pay, if they're making these savings, republicans say they will reinvest that money here and that in turn will create jobs. youtube has signed a second global multi—year agreement with a major music label, universal, which represents artists like taylor swift and jay z, they say the deal will provide performers with more flexibility and paid. it made you to signa flexibility and paid. it made you to sign a deal with warner music —— in may youtube signed. christmas comes early for you? absolutely. it has had tough negotiations with

the music labels to come to this deal with universal music group as well as warner and according to reports they have a third label under their belt, giving them the license of sony music. essentially youtube is looking to pave the way for a music service as early as march next year so they'll be taking on the likes of spotify and apple music, because youtube is being seen as behind the curve on the trend of people listening to music online through certain streams. what they've agreed to with sony and universal music is to protect copyright, to police it more strongly as well as to give them a cut of the royalties when it comes up. youtube is popular with millions of subscribers so the next logical step is for them to set up another tierfor people to step is for them to set up another tier for people to pay for certain streams of music they want to subscribe to. are you into music streaming? i am, i have a spotify account and i watch youtube all the

time. i still have my cds and my vinyls! i don't know what will happen to them! thanks very much! a south korean start—up has unveiled a huge robot designed to make humans stronger and more mobile. the machine is the work of rainbow robotics, a spin—off from south korea's advanced institute of science and technology's robotics lab. this robot can be used for carrying a person from a two b without his or her physical effort, that means it can help a disabled person and also

his arm is very powerful and it can be used for carrying heavy trays. there are many possible applications in the future. this kind of robot is not ready to be used in very critical areas yet. instead it can be used for more entertaining purposes. it can be used for some kind of amusement park or events. technology and innovation, star wars is here! let's have a quick look at the markets. you can see, asia is moving

sideways. at the moment the nikkei 225 up by 13 points and the hang seng opening lower by 55 points and the all 0rdinaries an inch higher at 6165. this is after us equities slipped overnight as selling crept into the market as most traders see the positive impact of the tax—cut bill already being priced in. with that we end this edition of asia business report. thank you so much for investing your time with us. i'm rico hizon. have a great wednesday. you're watching bbc news. damejudi dench, one of britain's most famous actresses, has spent 60 years on stage and screen, and is known for her passion for shakespeare. but now at the age of 83 she's indulging another rather more unlikely passion — trees. helen briggs reports. trees in their winter glory, but

they're more than just beautiful, as damejudi they're more than just beautiful, as dame judi dench learned they're more than just beautiful, as damejudi dench learned in a new bbc documentary, they're an ally in the fight against climate change. i'm told that all those leaves are helping the tree breeding more carbon dioxide, which it will then use to grow more branches. it's not just about planting more trees, it's about the right trees in the right places. these dry and trees are very important at drawing down carbon dioxide but in addition, it's important for removing matter from the airand when important for removing matter from the air and when you have denser trees you love, countless instances of respiratory problems with pollution. this map shows how growing trees soak up carbon dioxide in the northern hemisphere summer. every

year the trees here at que take up tons of carbon dioxide from the air, but they're notjust carbon capture machines, there are a living laboratory for scientists. and we're co nsta ntly learning laboratory for scientists. and we're constantly learning new things about them. every now and again a little blip. like a little popping sound? yeah. yes. that little popping sound is the sound of the water travelling up is the sound of the water travelling up from the roots all the way through the thousands of tiny little tunes called xylem troops just behind the bark. qew has thousands of rare and exotic trees. the man who looks after themselves there is no end to their uses. trees give us everything we use today. they give us everything we use today. they give us the oxygen we breathe and the carbon dioxide to do that. they're good for reducing the amount of

run—off and preventing erosion, they're the best air conditioners, they're the best air conditioners, they clean pollutants out of the atmosphere, good for our well—being and their aesthetically beautiful and their aesthetically beautiful and that is so important today and becoming more and more relevant. scientists said trees have a big role to play in pollution control, but we'll only get the benefits if we plant the right trees in the right places. helen briggs, bbc news. mike embley will be here injust under 15 minutes with the rest of the day's news. don't forget you can get in touch with me on twitter, i'm @babitabbc. we'll be back same time, same place for newsday tomorrow. time now for all the sports news in sport today. hello, i'm tulsen tollett, and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: claudio bravo to the rescue as manchester city move through to the english league cup semi finals after a 11—3 win on penalties over leicester city. former wimbledon champion

marion bartoli is making a tennis coming, more than four years after retiring. and we talk to the men's surfing world champion john john florence after he makes it back to back championships. hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with the news manchester city have moved through to the semi—finals of the english league cup after a tense penalty shootout win over leicester city. the match finished level at the end of normal time afterjamie vardy‘s penalty in the7th minute of stoppage time cancelled out bernardo silva's opener. pep guardiola whose side have gone 16 matches undefeated in the league made nine changes to the team that beat tottenham on saturday but it was goalkeeper claudio bravo who saved riyahd mahrez‘s effort after vardy had put his attempt wide that proved to be the hero as his side progressed 11—3 in the shootout.