rubbish, including plastics, and will no longer recycle 2a categories of overseas waste. it is the world's biggest market for waste. but beijing says the materials it imports often contain dirty or hazardous matter that pollutes the local environment. south korea welcomes the north korean leader's suggestion of sending a group to the winter olympics. kim jong—un also warned the us that the nuclear launch button was on his desk. and this story is trending on bbc.com: hundreds of women in the us entertainment industry have started a campaign to fight sexual harassment. the group, called time's up, has raised millions of dollars to provide legal support for victims of abuse, particularly in low—paid jobs. that's all from me for now. stay with bbc news. and the top story here in the uk: four young men have been killed in stabbing incidents in london amid new year celebrations. three were stabbed on new year's eve and a fourth in the early hours of new year's day in unrelated incidents. police have made five arrests.

now on bbc news, all the latest business news live from singapore. all that rubbish — china bans the import of waste. so where will all of the garbage go and what businesses are most affected? and we look at how china will plans to shake up the oil futures market, but will foreign traders buy it? happy new year, and welcome to asia business report live from singapore. did you know that china has been the biggest importer of foreign rubbish? everything from paper waste, textiles to used plastic is sent to china for recycling. but not any more. these imports are now banned

because beijing is trying to clean up because beijing is trying to clean up the country's environment and improve public health. but the ban will disrupt billions of dollars in trade. in 2016, china imported $18 billion in waste. from hong kong, danny vincent reports. recycling in hong kong — this is where plastic waste ends up. used plastic near and far. recyclers must change the way waste is processed. china's has introduced a ban on recycling products. hong kong has a challenge when it comes to dealing with plastic waste. right now the majority of the west coast to mainland china. but that could be set to change. the change also represents an opportunity for recyclers. waste management is big business. some companies in hong kong want to recycle the plastic rubbish themselves. the man in the

driving seat is mr lam. the ceo of one of hong kong's largest recyclers. he has invested close to $1 million to upgrade his equipment, ready for the ban. translation: the recycling industry in hong kong faces many obstacles that these days. the chinese government has put in place certain restrictions on importing waste plastic. because of this, the industry has to look at how to deal with the imminent demand of how we process it. hong kong has a relatively underdeveloped recycling sector. activists hope the chinese ban will encourage hong kong companies to do more to develop the industry. andy lee is the founder of a community—based recycling programme. if the chinese policy is changed, i think they don't want to accept changed, i think they don't want to a cce pt waste changed, i think they don't want to accept waste from the other

countries. they want good quality items, good—quality recyclable materials. for years hong kong companies are dependent on chinese appetite for waste product. now that many plastics are no longer welcomed, these hong kong companies will have to process the rubbish themselves. that is if they wish to make a profit. in other news, airbus begins the year with a record number of deliveries in 2017. the aircraft maker is expected to be its target of 700 deliveries with staff having to work through the holidays to make up to work through the holidays to make upfor to work through the holidays to make up for earlier delays. there is still no word on a crucial $15 billion deal with emirates. south korea's hyundai has a dim outlook of 5 million cars for 2018. they lost 9 million cars last year over labour

strikes affecting sales in its big market. saudi arabia has raised local gas prices in the kingdom. the initiative is aimed at more efficient energy use and is part of a programme to gradually eliminate fuel subsidies as the kingdom seeks to overhaul the economy and balance the budget. now, in the oil sector still, china is edging closer to opening a domestic market to trade oil futures contracts, which means chinese buyers will be able to lock in oil prices and pay in local currency. foreign traders will also be allowed to invest — a first for chinese commodity markets. oil prices saw a fair bit of volatility last year — this is the benchmark of crude last year and earlier i spoke with an energy expert, john year and earlier i spoke with an energy expert, john driscoll, year and earlier i spoke with an energy expert, john driscoll, about the outlook for oil, and he said he is sceptical about chinese plans for an oilfutures is sceptical about chinese plans for an oil futures market. this time there appears to be more conviction

but the real question is are if a chinese energy futures contract can ascend to the same kind of level as the cme in the states, or the intercontinental futures exchange in london, which are the main benchmark futures exchanges for crude oil and products globally. it has to also gain acceptance from the industry at large. you can look at some commodity contracts in china and see that there are large volumes traded, but they are more speculative. it seems almost like a casino for yield seeking punters, large interests, and long forward trade. the other question will be the role this chinese central government will play. if you are a foreign trade and wa nt to play. if you are a foreign trade and want to enter the chinese market, would you be willing to take on the yuan denominated exposure, versus the us dollar? will there be

deliverability on the contract? can you a ccess deliverability on the contract? can you access the domestic market? generally the central government of china is hands—on in all phases of the economy. is it fair to say this is part of beijing's effort to try to replace or challenge the us dollar's dominance in the oil market? you might take a cynical type of you and say that this is consistent with a pattern we have seen consistent with a pattern we have seen going back a couple of years, the establishment of the asian infrastructure bank, the rollout of the belt and road initiative, this is china ascending as an economic, global superpower, challenging the dominance of the west, in particular the us, their roles in the economy and leadership in asia. you could ta ke and leadership in asia. you could take that view, but there is no doubt that china, as the world's fastest growing energy consumer, the biggest year—on—year growth in imports, they feel that they deserve a seat at the table and their

currency should be a basis for settlement. we saw some volatility in oil prices. what is your outlook for this? we are going to test $70 but i see that as kind of a ceiling thatis but i see that as kind of a ceiling that is going to be difficult to breach because as the price of oil goes up it affects the demand and it makes it difficult for opec and non— opec to withhold control output, but if oil prices go up you are tempted to overproduce more and break ranks and that is what i would watch for in the coming year. if you thought oil prices were volatile it is nothing compared to the wild ride that bitcoin took in 2017 and the digital currency is tumbling and trading at around $13,800, well below the record of $19,000 in mid—december. now, to the special series, disrupters. gene editing is something you hear about in movies, but one biotech firm is developing technology to do that. they say they

have the potential to treat and possibly even eradicate genetic diseases, but it is not without controversy. let's have a look. it provides us with the ability we hope to go in, modify your dna at the point that it is driving the disease and allow us to repair the dna typo, repair it and fix it in a single or handful of treatments. this technology has the potential to

revolutionise healthcare as we know it today. the speed at which we have moved forward from discovering it in 2012 and testing in animal systems in 2017, i think, and testing in animal systems in 2017, ithink, is and testing in animal systems in 2017, i think, is unprecedented. it is the first trading day for many

of the global markets. let's show you how asia is trading now. hong kong hang seng index opening higher, flirting with the import and 30,000 mark. australia is down. japan is shut. that is it for this edition of asia business report. thanks for watching. the top stories this hour: warnings the west could choke under mountains of waste after china bans the import and recycling of plastics. south korea has welcomed an offer from the north to take part in the pyeongchang winter games, prompting hopes of thawing relations on the korean peninsula. eyewitnesses have been describing

a huge fire which destroyed up to 1,400 vehicles in a multi—storey car park in liverpool. the blaze at king's dock, next to liverpool's echo arena, is said to have spread after one vehicle caught fire yesterday afternoon. firefighters worked through the night and many people were forced into temporary accommodation as nearby buildings were evacuated. danny savage has the story. it was shortly after dark yesterday evening when fire took hold in the multistorey car park on liverpool's famous waterfront. the fire service says a small fire in a land rover spread rapidly. this is a photo taken of it at the time. as the blaze spread, cars could be heard exploding. the car park is next to the liverpool arena, where an international horse show was taking place. those attending helped get the horses to safety. ijust took it upon myself.

isaid, "right, ok, everyone, listen to me, we are going to bridle up the horses and we are going to get them out. i want you to all leave calmly now, use this exit or use the tunnel." it was soon a huge blaze. merseyside fire and rescue say it's one of the worst they'e ever dealt with. this was a challenging incident. let's be under no illusions about that. the crews worked very hard indeed to prevent the spread of this fire. the fire burned for much of the night. all the car owners could do was watch and accept they would never see their vehicles again. i've got a vehicle in there, yeah, so i'm unsure at the moment what it's going to be. we can't get anywhere near it. are you holding out much hope for your car? looking at the flames, no. this morning, the blackened building was surrounded by fire engines. it's likely it will have to be demolished. in the remains of this multistorey car park, there are many hundreds of cars which have been totally destroyed.

but we understand that right on the rooftop level are some cars which are almost untouched. and after the fire had been put out this morning, after many hours, some dogs, which had been left in those cars were safely rescued and reunited with their owners. as the dogs were handed back to their owners, there was a hug of gratitude for the firefighters. the insurance bill will run to millions of pounds but thankfully, no—one was hurt. danny savage, bbc news, liverpool. hello, this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: manchester united return to second in the premier league with a 2—0 win at everton. it is a win for germany and angelique kerber

on her hopman cup debut in perth. and taking off — the ski—jumpers leading the way in the latest round of world cup action. hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with the footballing news that manchester united have moved back to second in the english premier league, after a 2—0 win at everton on monday. jose mourinho's side had drawn their past two matches, slipping down to third, behind chelsea. but the win elevates them back ahead of the londoners, with anthony martial and jesse lingard second—half goals proving enough, although they still trail leaders manchester city by 12 points. lovely goals.