foreign ministers from 20 countries have met for a summit about north korea's nuclear programme. but two key players, china and russia, aren't involved in the meeting. it comes just days after inter—korean talks about north korean involvement in next month's winter olympics. us media is reporting that donald trump's former chief strategist steve bannon has been ordered to testify before a grand jury as part of an investigation into alleged russian interference in the presidential election. and this video is trending on bbc.com. the philippine province of albay has declared a state of calamity as mount mayon spews lava beyond the limits of a no—go zone. people have been fleeing their homes as tourists have been descending on the area to watch the spectacular lava display. that's all from me for now. stay with bbc news. and the top story here in the uk: meetings between unions and mps will continue today, following the collapse of the construction firm carillion,

leaving thousands ofjobs at risk. ministers have ordered a fast—track investigation into its directors. now on bbc news, all the latest business news live from singapore. us banking giants taking major financial hits from president trump's new tax reform programme. and australia's pokie problem tops the list of the largest gambling losses in the world. good morning, asia. hello, world. it's a wednesday. welcome to another edition of asia business report. i'm rico hizon. we start off with the us burning season. some of america's biggest banks are putting this week. likely announce large one—time

charges in the fourth quarter. that will surely erode their profitability. that is a result of president trump's tax overhaul at the end of last year. i am joined by marika oi. last weekjp morgan showed better than normal earnings, but are taking a hit. it is a similar story with city, also reporting overnight. if you are wondering, wasn't the tax reform of president trump supposedly good for big corporations like these banks? it is, but only in the long—term. for example, city, the fourth—biggest us bank, it expects the tax rate to fall 25% from last yea r‘s the tax rate to fall 25% from last year's 30. that will be good in the future. but it has a one—time charge

of $22 billion. it meant it lost $18 billion, to be exact. this is the first loss since 2009. besides the major tax charge, they topped expectations. the ceo said tax reform could be the boost the us economy needs. we will hear from goldman sachs later today followed by morgan stanley on thursday, likely a similar story. big one—off charges, but better profitability in the future. a full week ahead of earnings. thank you for updating us, marika 0i. the country with the biggest gambling losses in the world is australia to be according to the

economist magazine, it is down to pokies, electronic gambling machines. they have the most in the world. we think of the melbourne cup, which stops the country. we think of the sharemarket. and we think of the sharemarket. and we think of the sharemarket. and we think of 200 of these slot machines, pokies as they are known, for those who play them they are harmless. they have flashing lights and enticing sounds. winning has nothing to do with skill. they are computers that randomly make money. but speaker campaigners in australia, they believe these pokies, poker machines, are having a pernicious effect on australian society. they believe they have similar elements to cocaine. they believe gambling problems and these machines are responsible for about 400 australians taking their own lives each year. it is indeed an

addiction. australians lose more per person gambling than any other country. rounding out the top three are singapore and ireland. in singapore they are strict with gambling laws because locals have to pay their way into the casino. does australia have these regulation is? i could take you down the road from where i am sat here to many, many small venues, bars and clubs, in the city, that are everywhere. and they are common everywhere except western australia, where they are restricted to casinos. it is worth pointing out the gambling industry says it takes corporate and social responsibilities seriously. if we go into one of those gambling venues there would be signs telling us to gamble responsibly. there would be helplines for people with problems.

0n helplines for people with problems. on line wagering industry is here in australia are setting up a register where people who believe they have a problem canjoin. where people who believe they have a problem can join. —— where people who believe they have a problem canjoin. —— industries. . they are essentially excluding themselves from gambling services. they say they are taking social responsibilities seriously. 0n the other hand, campaigners believe the problem, especially of pokies, in australia, is getting out of hand. india's supreme court will resume hearings challenging the biometric identification system called aha. it started out to help people get welfare benefits and food subsidies. but now it is mandatory, and links to phone numbers and bank accounts. we will cross to mumbai. thank you for joining we will cross to mumbai. thank you forjoining us. they are calling the hearings today the biggest test of the system yet. why is that? well,

it is the world's largest unique digital identity scheme. india has more than a billion people in it, and more than that are already registered. lots of those people are poor and get food subsidies. it is thought around a quarter of those food subsidies are stolen because of the distribution system being so inefficient. that is the argument of the government. they say they have saved hundreds of lives of dollars since it came in because it links people with subsidies they are entitled to. —— hundreds of billions. the supreme court will challenge the validity of it. many people say it challenges the rights to privacy, a fundamental constitutional rights in india. they are also challenging the way biometric data is collected and the

use of it by government agencies. there are pros and cons, but when will the supreme court make a decision? if it is scrapped, what will happen next? well, the supreme court is only resuming hearings today. there have been a lot of protests. there are many concerns around digital privacy and surveillance, as i mentioned. and also around privacy. so, the problem is that it is being used and is being linked to many bank accounts and phone numbers, but people are saying it is voluntary, why should we have to do it if it is not required? thank you so much for updating us. joining us from mumbai. mcdonald's. they say all packaging worldwide will come from sustainable sources and sources by 2025. they

wa nt sources and sources by 2025. they want all items like bags and cuts to come from recycled or renewable materials. so, what is behind this new green goalfor materials. so, what is behind this new green goal for mcdonald's? samira hussain explains. there are a few reasons. wine, there is pressure from customers who have always said this is something they want. —— one,. given the turbulent for mcdonald's in the past few years, revamping their menus to get more people to come through their stores, to try and adhere to what the customers really want, i mean, that is part of it. the other part, i would say, is the industry is changing. if you look at the new fast food restaurants coming onto the market, many of them used sustainable items when it comes to cutlery and when it comes to their packaging. they make an effort to do a lot of recycling. and so there is that pressure within the restaurant industry for mcdonald's to do this.

if you look at north america and europe, for example, facilities already exist to try and create sustainable utensils and packaging, but in other parts of the country, or rather, other part of the world, that will be a lot more difficult. mcdonald's response to that is they will invest in countries that do not have that already for infrastructure. they want to put personal investment in this as well. leslie is selling their confectionary business to ferero for $3 billion. the maker of nutella become the largest chocolate company. become the largest chocolate com pa ny. nestle become the largest chocolate company. nestle put the chocolate business up for sale last year and says it wants to focus more on products like bottled water and baby food for future growth. the markets. asian stocks are negative after wall

street pulled back at the close after the decline in oil and metal stocks. the hang seng index hasjust opened, down from record highs, lower by about 80 points. well, in the us currency, it strengthened overnight, gaining against the euro and the japanese yen. thank you so much for investing your time enough. iam rico much for investing your time enough. i am rico hizon. sport today is coming up next. this is bbc news. talks are under way in canada, where 20 countries are trying to pressure north korea to give up its nuclear ambitions. us media is reporting that

president trump's former chief strategist, steve bannon, has been ordered to testify before a grandjury. there's been a mixed response to the announcement of a £70 billion plan to improve road and rail links across the north of england. transport for the north which was set up to coordinate improvements says the scheme will connect major cities and reverse a long—term gap infunding. danny savage reports. the hills of the north. beautiful, but a physical barrier between the conurbations either side of the pennines. travelling by car can be painful. the few routes over the top are often congested. as for the trains, they're frequent but relatively slow, and can be overcrowded. because there's always delays on the train, we do want the train service to be a bit more quicker than what it usually is. and, well, halifax to leeds, are like this, are like an old bus, draughty, hot, old. recent key infrastructure projects have included crossrail in london, with crossrail two

now being proposed. and hs2 from london to birmingham and beyond is still on the cards. the strong feeling in the north is that it is time for some simultaneous big projects there too. improving transport links across the pennines is nothing new. this is the leeds liverpool canal built more than 200 years ago. but instead of taking a few days by water, the hope is, for example, getting from leeds to manchester by train down to about half an hour. after years of discussion about improving things, there's now a plan the northern cities agree on. there used to be a train tunnel between sheffield and manchester. that's long gone. but a new road tunnel, like this one in norway, is proposed, and could halve the current journey between the cities. and a new trans—pennine railway line will link leeds and manchester by bradford. i think we also need to make sure that we cover hull, sheffield, newcastle, so,

and manchester, of course, so all our major city regions. this is vitally important for the north. but remember, this is a 30—year plan and is still only at the idea stage. former transport secretary, john prescott, walked out of the launch in hull today, unconvinced. it'll have no powers. it can talk to the treasury along with the strategic bodies, but it can't make a decision. it doesn't get any money. it's a bloody fraud. and it's the government that will have to be convinced to stump up the money for these ambitious projects to upgrade northern transport. danny savage, bbc news, leeds. time now for all the sports news in sport today. hello, i'm sarah mulkerrans and this is sport today live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: live in melbourne for

rafael nadal‘s match. history in english football, as kelechi iheanacho becomes the first person to score a goal using the video assistant referee system. and the war of words betweenjoshua and parker continues. lots more on all those stories to come but first let's head to melbourne where day three of the australian open is underway. the star attraction on court later, is rafa nadal — the world number one, up against leonardo mayer of argentina. 0ur tennis correspondent russell fuller, is in melbourne and we canjoin him now and before nadal, we'll have the british number two, kyle edmund in action...