our top story. as north korea prepares for military parade in pyongyang, its leadership says they will not be any meeting with the us during the winter olympics. offence are already under way in curling. —— the events. the leaders of the republican and democratic parties in the us senate have reached an agreement on a budget deal. if passed by the house, it would increase government spending by billions of dollars. and remember this video on bbc.com? robert kelly was in the middle of a live interview when his children burst into the room. well, professor kelly is in london for the broadcast tv awards, and guess what? he's just won the best tv moment of the year. that's it from me for now. stay with bbc news. and the top story here in the uk: two victims of the serial sex attacker, john worboys, say they're pleased to have won

the right to challenge the decision to free him from prison. lawyers will be allowed to scrutinise the parole board's reasoning. and now on bbc, all the latest business news live from singapore. a rare critique of india's argent from the governor of the country's central bank. i am live at the singapore airshow, the world is facing a shortage of airline pilots at higher pay and women pilots may bea at higher pay and women pilots may be a solution. it isa it is a thursday, everyone. good morning, asia. hello, world. glad you could join us for this edition of asia business report. i am rico hizon. usually stays quiet and this commentary to others but the

governor of the reserve bank of india has spoken out about the budget and the country's economic direction. for more on this, let's ci’oss direction. for more on this, let's cross over direction. for more on this, let's cross over to a asia business report, who attended the government's press conference. thank you so much forjoining us, what did the governor said? well, the governor opened up about various issues related to the economy and specifically the budget announcement which took place, which the government decided to introduce long—term capital gains tax on stocks. up until now in india, there was no long—term capital gains tax on stocks. if an investor bought the stock or mutual fund and sold within a year, there would be 15% tax on it. but if an investor held the stock for more than a year, they did not have to pay any taxes, but now the government has decided that they will charge 10% tax even if the stockholder holds a particular stock for more than a year. this has had

an inverse reaction here in india, especially the stock market, they have been falling since this announcement came in. in regards to that, the governor said that there are only so many forms of taxes on capital and this is the fifth form of tax that has been introduced. this will have an impact on investments and savings, he did raise concerns. this is a governor who is usually very silent, does not comment too much on the indian government and its policies, clearly this is the first time that he really opened up and said that the government should we look at this particular policies. it will surely dampen investment sentiment in india's key capital markets. thank you so much forjoining us. staying with india, one of the country's old est with india, one of the country's oldest and largest car makers is considering making an electric version of its budget car. we caught up version of its budget car. we caught up with tata motors at the auto expo

in delhi. urban mobility requires a compact vehicle, if this is going to bea compact vehicle, if this is going to be a modified car or something new, let's wait and see what kind of conclusions we draw but the lower segment is one of the segments where we believe in electrification because the urban city was the context of the urban traffic environment and with the highest level solutions, is the one where such kind of solutions is the most urgently needed. for a start, tata is betting big on electric vehicles with six battery—powered cars and a fully electric bus ready to be rolled on the indian roads. but do you believe there is infrastructure for this electric vehicle rollout? defer significance, that electric is going to take place on the fleet business, it may be a vast fleet or taxi fleet, for example. —— the first significance. because in the

moment, it you have a dedicated infrastructure where you provide charging stations, the maintenance, you have the spare parts, and the car can you have the spare parts, and the carcan be you have the spare parts, and the car can be done overnight and next morning, it goes back on duty. north korea is expected any moment now to kick off a military parade showcasing its defence muscle. this comes ahead of the winter olympic games in the south. pyongyang is believed to spend around $10 million a year —— $10 billion a year, about 20% of its gross domestic product, on its military. can it afforded given the sanctions it faces? at this point, it is really hard to assess the sanctions. the sanctions at this point in time are relatively comprehensive, on paper 90% of north

korea's exports are under sanction but these sanctions are relatively of recent vintage. the kinds of distress signals that you would expect to see, for in the black market exchange rate of north korean rice wine, cut back on the kind of gifts that the regime gives to the elites in beijing supporters, we have not seen those kinds of signs of distress, and so the sanctions appear tough on paper, we don't really see the implications on the ground level. what about the latest sanctions? could this put some stress on the north korean economy, particularly visas for north koreans working overseas, those are the targets of the sanctions, which shows that remittances are the second biggest forward exchange earners for pyongyang. could this impact the economy going forward? shawl, the north koreans probably make somewhere in the hundreds of millions of dollars from the organised export of labour. it is

important although it is not absolutely critical to the economy, but the problem with the sanctions is that although they are tough on paper, the way they have been designed almost frustrates limitations. for example, on some categories of exports, they have been put initially under ceilings or with respect to the export of labour, it is that existing contracts were able to be continued, new contracts were not entered into. so, in your view, what will really hurt kim jong—un so, in your view, what will really hurt kimjong—un and so, in your view, what will really hurt kim jong—un and the economy?“ china actually enforces sanctions. aviation in asia is in the middle of a boom as the growing middle class ta kes to a boom as the growing middle class takes to the skies. in fact, the industry is struggling to keep up with demand. let's cross over now to the singapore airshow. how i airline is dealing with pilot shortages? well, they have in it really

desperate and in fact, they have actually raise the retirement age for pilots from 55 to 60 and then to 65, but now that can't be extended any furtherfor 65, but now that can't be extended any further for safety reasons, so they are looking into hiring more people, offering more money. it is some anecdotes of retired pilots being offered a lot of money to come back from retirement and fly again. but even though at the singapore airshow, we have not really seen that many orders, that shortage is real. it is notjust pilots, engineers and technicians as well. lastly, i went to a training facility here in singapore to find out what they are doing to produce more pilots. training to be a pilots, it takes up to two years to learn how to deal with emergencies inside and around an aircraft. for 28—year—old dean, it was his childhood dream. when i was young, i

took a flights to new zealand and around the mountains, and just being away from everything, it was just fantastic. but it is competitive to get in. here in singapore, 600 apply for 60 spots annually and it is not cheap, up to 140,000 us dollars to com plete cheap, up to 140,000 us dollars to complete the course. many of the cadets, including this 24—year—old, paid for the training themselves. the price is a bit on the high side but i think that it is worth it for the investment because in the long run, this is my passion. i think it is worth it. and he will likely get his money's worked because there is an acute shortage of pilots. air plane maker boeing is forecasting that global air airlines will need to hire 637,000 new pilots over the next 30 years. some 40% of that demand comes from asia. to address

the chinese market that has effectively tripled their pilot numbers, and this trend is going to continue for the next 20 years, we have effectively quadrupled our capacity in terms of pilot training in australia. but take a look at this classroom. where are the women? well, this school has seen three to five female cadets each year but globally, only about 3% of all the pilots are women. it is still very much male dominated, the training is also not conducive for females. i think we have to start very early on, motivating, encouraging and making it possible for women to have family life and become a pilot as well. this pilot shortage has even cause some airlines to cancel flights and more asian carriers are now making efforts to hire women, not just as ground now making efforts to hire women, notjust as ground staff now making efforts to hire women, not just as ground staff will flight attendants but as their pilots. so

we may soon start hearing more female voices from the cockpit. and before we go, here is a quick look at the markets. so far so good. that is despite wall street's volatility overnight. thank you so much for investing your time with us. much for investing your time with us. iam rico much for investing your time with us. i am rico hizon, much for investing your time with us. iam rico hizon, sport much for investing your time with us. i am rico hizon, sport today is coming up next. the top stories this hour: as north korea prepares for a massive military parade — its leadership has said there won't be any talks with the united states during the winter olympics in south korea. meanwhile, japan's foreign minister has told the bbc that international sanctions are hurting north korea, and will lead to talks

on its nuclear programme. scientists say they now know what the first modern briton looked like, some 10,000 years ago — and it's something of a revelation. they believe that so—called cheddar man, who lived in south—west england, had skin that was dark to black, and blue eyes. researchers have used groundbreaking dna analysis to examine his skeleton, which was discovered in somerset in 1903. our correspondentjon kay reports. he lay here undisturbed for 10,000 years. in the caves beneath cheddar gorge, a replica of cheddar man. but now, 21st century science means we can put flesh on these bones. at the natural history museum, cheddar man finally revealed. by extracting dna from his bones and scanning his skull, experts believe they've recreated his face in unprecedented detail, and he looks very different from what they expected. the hair, the eyes, the face,

that combination of blue eyes and dark skin, really very striking, something we wouldn't have imagined and to also get from the dna details of his biology, the fact that he couldn't digest milk as an adult. look how he's changed. this is what scientists used to think he looked like. a reconstruction from 20 years ago, when dna analysis was nowhere near as developed. cheddar man and i share a common female relative. this is modern day cheddar man, adrian targett lives in the same village and shares dna with the skeleton found in the gorge. so, time to meet his ancestor. do you want to see your great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather? yes, please. yes. and... oh my! what do you think? it's remarkable, isn't it? i think there is probably some resemblance. but yes, i think there are certainly other members

in my family who he bears a resemblance to. yes. you can see that in there, can you? yes. i think my eyes are blue. let's have a look. they are blue. yes, they are blue. his hair's not quite as grey as mine is. so 10,000 years after he died, 100 years after he was found, finally, a face to fit the name of adrian's ancestor. john kay, bbc news, cheddar, in somerset. mike embley will be here at the top of the hour, so 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: eintracht frankfurt are through to the german cup

semi—finals after cruising to a 3—0 win over a mistake riddled mainz. virat kohli hits a superb unbeaten 160 as india thrash south africa in the third one day international of their series. and the olympic torch travels in style, but there are still question marks over russian participation at the winter games hello and welcome to the programme where we start with football and the news that eintracht frankfurt are through to the german cup semi—finals after a comprehensive 3—0 home win over mainz. all three goals came from defensive errors by the visitors, this back pass causing difficulties as ante rebic slotted home for the only score of the first half thanks to some help from marius wolf. defence was to blame once more, when the hosts made it 2—0 early in the second half