that outside forces are orchestrating protests. 22 people have been killed in the protests which began against price rises and corruption, but have broadened to wider anti—government sentiment. the united states has warned of further sanctions against north korea if it carries out further ballistic missile tests. it was responding to reports that pyongyang may be preparing another launch. and this story is trending on bbc.com. taiwan's top court has ordered a man to pay his mother almost $1 million for funding his dentistry training. he'd signed a contract agreeing to pay her 60% of his income after qualifying but later refused. that's all from me for now. stay with us here on bbc news. and the top story here in the uk: the west coast of ireland is bearing the brunt of storm eleanor. 10,000 homes in northern ireland are without power. 90 mile—per—hour gusts are forecast to batter the uk overnight.

now on bbc news, all the latest business news live from singapore. stop the incessant criticism with brexit. that is the message of the trade minister of britain. wall street closes at a record high in the first session of the year. can it be sustained? good morning, asia. hello, world. welcome to another edition of asia business report. i'm rico hizon. it's a wednesday. happy new year. welcome to 2018. it is his

first work trip this year. liam fox is arriving in china today. he has a trickyjob. nothing formal can be agreed before britain leaves next year. china is the eighth largest export market with the uk. trade between the two countries is estimated at 80 billion us dollars. what kind of deals are in store? i ask. the internationaltrade secretary cannot begin negotiating new trade deals while the uk remains, for the moment, a member of the eu. but, of course, brexit is the eu. but, of course, brexit is theissue the eu. but, of course, brexit is the issue that looms large over almost every piece of uk business at the moment. and we can be pretty sure liam fox will be trying at least to lay the foundations for a deal. what kind of things will they

focus on? well, one area in particular the uk would like china to give a little bit more room on is access to the uk's service industries, things like banking, things like insurance, those kinds of things which traditionally have been very hard for european companies to gain access on. and i think we can expect talks when liam fox is here with his counterpart, the commerce minister in china, pushing to open the ground in that area in particular, possibly with a view ina area in particular, possibly with a view in a few years' time to begin forming the basis for some sort of trade deal. what about china, john sudworth? is it pro brexit? well, china has played its cards pretty close to its chest. it recognises, of course, brexit is a fait accompli, a fact, if you like, and

at the time, it seems china was pretty ha p py at the time, it seems china was pretty happy with the eu set up as it was. it enjoyed its trade relationship with britain because it gaveit relationship with britain because it gave it access to the european union. and clearly, things have changed. but, ithink, you know, the difficulty for britain, of course, and this is a point the critics of brexit make, trying to negotiate trade deals with china on your own as opposed to trying to stand up to china, fight for your interest as pa rt china, fight for your interest as part of a much larger trading bloc, obviously, it makes it slightly more difficult. and, there are some who will say that, in terms of china's own interests, it may be able to drive a much harder bargain as a result. and, john, briefly, what are opinion makers saying? will something tangible, this is it?|j opinion makers saying? will something tangible, this is it? i do not think we are expecting any breakthroughs. as i said, the uk cannot begin negotiating any new

trade deals. but we can expect some positive mood music, common areas of interest. that is what the uk will, of course, see as positive signs of the possibility going forward into the possibility going forward into the future. john sudworth in beijing. spotify has been sued for a alleged infringement of the rights of music publishers. they are seeking damages of $150,000 for more than 10,000 songs amounting to at least 1.6 billion. spotify declined to comment. they have tried to settle a class—action lawsuit brought about by song owners. the richest man in china, jack ma, who met with donald trump a month ago, have refused his deal of $1.2 billion citing security concerns that it has joined the long list of

chinese deals torpedoed under the current administration. shares are down 8% in aftermarket trade. the plans of creating a modern—day silk road throughout asia, china is building three massive powers as pa rt building three massive powers as part of airport project. an agreement is expected he signed this month according to a minister. asian markets finished higher after wall street finished the opening session, the first for 2018, on a winning note. this is how other markets are trading. the hang seng index is open for trade. it is currently up by 0.5%,142 points. for trade. it is currently up by 0.5%, 142 points. the all for trade. it is currently up by 0.5%,142 points. the all 0rdinaries index of australia, gaining 8.1 points, a 10th of a percent. so far, a positive start for asian bourses.

the nasdaq, breaking records. and a very strong year in 2017. the dow jones industrial average gained a hefty 25%. the snp was up 19%. in the nasdaq, 28%, stocks, technology stocks, up by 28%. so, will 2008 in be another bullish year? i asked the mirror hussein. in speaking to many traders at the new york stock exchange, many believe there is still more room for these stocks to grow. are we going to see another gain of 25 percentage points? probably not. but there is still some more economic news coming out that looks like it will be positive. that should still push stocks higher, for it is the first six

months of 2018. -- at least. what are the expectations? which sectors will grow the most? investors are looking at the infrastructure spending bill the president said he wa nts to spending bill the president said he wants to pass. that will have a big impact on construction companies. think big companies like caterpillar. they will do really well, because they will need construction material to improve roads and infrastructure in the us. this is supported by the recent tax support built which benefits big corporations. american airlines said they would give employees a $1000 bonus thanks to the bill. southwest said a donated $5 billion to charitable companies, organisations. sales of cars are likely to pass 90

million for the first time since 2017. asian buyers were a quarter of sales. demand for trucks remains strong. 0f sales. demand for trucks remains strong. of course, they are not as sexy as this. driverless cars. what a beauty. a few years ago, they seemed like the stuff of science fiction. not any more. there are plenty of different concepts out there. our reporter roadtested one which has just been launched by a french manufacturer, renault. now, if you have never done this before, it really does feel quite strange. we are doing 115 kilometres per hour on the motorway, and i am not touching anything. i have come here as a safety set up in case anything goes wrong, but it is driving itself. iwill do anything goes wrong, but it is driving itself. i will do something

i have never done before. we are doing 103 kilometres per hour on the motorway, and i will put a virtual reality headset on. here we go. i don't think anyone else has done this either. now, at the moment, i know i am driving along a motorway. but, because i have got the virtual reality headset on, i am actually flying over a valley. i can see la kes flying over a valley. i can see lakes beneath me. there are birds around me. umm, there is a large lunar landscape up around me. umm, there is a large lunarlandscape up in around me. umm, there is a large lunar landscape up in front. it is a com pletely lunar landscape up in front. it is a completely different world. what the company is trying to do is make you turn your mind to other things, relax, sit back, and enjoy the show. thank you so much for investing your time with us. i am driving away.

goodbye for now. the top stories this hour: the us praises demonstrators in iran, but ridicules claims by iran's supreme leader that the protests are being orchestrated by outside forces. the us warns of more sanctions, as it accuses north korea of preparing to carry out another ballistic missile test. hospitals in england have been told to postpone tens of thousands of nonurgent operations and outpatient appointments until the end of this month. the nhs says it is too is pressure on services after a busy christmas period. —— to ease. hugh pym reports. ambulance sirens. there is always great pressure on the nhs in the new year. some patients have held off until after the seasonal holiday. but the strains seem even bigger this year.

two ambulance services in england, covering the north—east and east, are on the highest state of operational alert, asking families to use their own transport to bring patients into hospital where possible. here in the north—east, they say they've prepared as much as they possibly could. it's unprecedented levels of demand that we're dealing with — you know, if i take just the period from the 23rd of december until the first of january, we've seen 30% more calls. now, you know, we do plan for winter. we start planning in the summer, so we are predicting and forecasting activity from historic periods, but we didn't anticipate a 30% increase. the trust running scarborough and york hospital said there were high numbers of patients, and staff were under considerable pressure. 0ne doctor said in his view it was unprecedented. i've worked in a number of different emergency departments around the country, and that's the worst i've seen. ijust want to do a good job, i want to do the best i can for the patients that i'm seeing. i want to do the best i can, but i'm not being given the resources to do that job properly. i feel like i'm fighting a losing battle.

i feel like i've already lost the battle, because i can't do any more. twitter carried reports from some staff at other hospitals. an emergency doctor in stoke said he personally apologised to local people for what he called third world conditions due to overcrowding. nhs england has told hospitals to postpone all nonurgent operations and outpatient appointments til the end of january, an escalation of temporary measures announced just before christmas. in that time hospitals won't be penalised for putting patients in mixed—sex wards. this is a planned response to a winter that we knew was going to be difficult, and we are managing that in the way that we expected, and we are taking early action. we're not waiting to have to respond to a problem. have you got pain at the moment? the authorities in scotland, wales and northern ireland are saying they are facing higher demand from patients and more pressure on front line services. with flu cases on the increase, the worry now is that a predicted outbreak

may become a reality. hugh pym, bbc news. time now for all the sports news in sport today. hello, i'm tulsen tollett. this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: manchester city win 3—1 at home to watford, and move 15 points clear at the top of the premier league. andy carroll scores twice, including a late winner for west ham, as they beat west brom to move out of the relegation zone. and andy murray pulls out of the brisbane international, saying he may need surgery on a persistent hip injury. hello, and welcome to the programme. we start with football news. there were four english premier league games on tuesday. league—leaders manchester city were 3—1winners at home to watford, a result that moves them 15 points clear at the top of the table.

the bbc‘s guy mowbray was commmentating on the game. a new year, no botherfor manchester city, as their march towards the title goes on. pep guardiola's team unbeaten in 13 months.