the former model is reported to have said she had achieved everything she could in the role. the decision to step down was confirmed by the white house. hope hicks was one of the first people to join donald trump is my presidential campaign, and she was seen as being fiercely loyal to him. it is unclear when she will leave. president trump has met with members of congress from both sides of the isle to discuss gun control. it comes as students in florida returned to school for the first time since the shooting. and this story is trending on bbc.com. these deer were spotted walking down the street in scotland amid the morning snow. the white stuff has fallen across large parts of europe. and it's caused disruption in many places. luckily these commuters weren't affected. that's all from me now. and the top story here in the uk: three men have been arrested in connection with an explosion in leicester in which five people died. the men are being questioned on suspicion of manslaughter. now on bbc news, all the latest

business news live from singapore. music do investor's years, streaming giant spotlight goes public in a billion—dollar listing. vietnam's government is hoping its young tech savvy population willjenna and generate new sources for growth. good morning, welcome to asia business report, live from singapore. the world's biggest music streaming service, spotify, has gone public on the us stock exchange. of the ten—year—old compa ny‘s public on the us stock exchange. of the ten—year—old company's planning to do ina the ten—year—old company's planning to do in a rather unique way. spotify plans to hold a direct listing, selling up to $1 billion‘s

worth of shares on the new york stock exchange. our us business correspondent explains why they chose this method. everyone is watching us closely because it is very unusual for watching us closely because it is very unusualfor a watching us closely because it is very unusual for a company to list in this manner. normally, when a company does when it lists or goes public is there are new shares traded on the stock market, and there is a broker or investment bank in between. what is happening this time is actually, spotify is not going to the markets to make money, it is not going to the markets to generate money. what it seems to be doing is giving current investors, so doing is giving current investors, so people who already own the shares in spotify. it is giving those people an opportunity to share those —— sell their shares. it is unclear if it is heavily oversubscribed, what happens to the price of the stock. at the moment, what we know is that about $1 billion, the value of the stocks, will be sold at $1

million. we do not know what percentage of stock in the company will be traded in the market —— $1 billion. the company is the world leader in industry, but are there risks in its business? one of the key risks they have pointed out his rivals, like apple and google. they say that these companies actually produce devices which could have their streaming service is built in. the other thing they pointed out quite clearly is they do not own the content, nor do they have any control over the providers of the content. the way it works is spotify has to pay royalties to the people who provide the content, so that is music companies, production companies, artists who make the songs, and when you go public you must reveal what your revenues are, where your money comes from, where it goes, and the risk is that artists and production companies could then start asking for more money from spotify. staying with the

us, exxon mobil will pull out of exploration and research joint ventures with the state owned royal dutch oil companies. timothy mcdonald has been following this story. why have they made this decision that? is sanctions, because there are sanctions on one of the major oil companies in russia, it is half owned by the government. the issueis half owned by the government. the issue is the sanctions were imposed in 2014. at that time, the head of exxon mobil was no other than rex tillerson. interestingly, he was the one who pushed for exxon mobil to get into russia, but the stations have now, online and they have been there since 2014. for a very long time, exxon opposed to them, they see these operations as fairly untenable now now the sanctions are in place. there is an entirely different set of sanctions, mainly

on russian individuals, but that does not seem to be the issue here, it is the ones that apply to the uk —— ukrainian crimea issues, as opposed to the ones from the us election last year. as to whether he will mean anything to exxon, probably not. this is a company that makes $200 billion in revenue, and this is maybe a $200 million loss. thank you. in other business is making headlines, india has reclaimed the title of the world's fastest growing economy from china. their economy grew by 7.2% on an annual basis in three months to december. china's economy grew by 6.8% in the same period. the iconic motorbike manufacturer, harley—davidson, is caught in the middle of a trade spat between india and the united states. makers of two vehicles have been eyeing india for a long time, more bikes are sold

there than anywhere else in the world. but president trump's latest comments threatened to hurt american companies hoping to wrap up sales there. at an event in delhi, harley—davidson unveiled its latest models, new and shiny bikes for a very promising market. of imported goods from manufacturing... the launch comes at a very different —— difficult time for harley—davidson in india. the motorcycle makerfound itself at the centre of controversy after the us president said that the us was being taken for a ride. he was criticising indian prime minister's recent decision to lower import taxes on motorbikes to 50%, half of what they used to be. import taxes on motorbikes to 50%, half of what they used to belj import taxes on motorbikes to 50%, half of what they used to be. i said 0k, half of what they used to be. i said ok, but so far, we are getting nothing. we get nothing, he gets 50, and they think they're doing us a favour? that's not a favour. donald trump may want zero import taxes for

these luxury bikes, but that is not likely. maker sold either. the bike maker sold more 3000 chrome and steel rides in than 3000 chrome and steel rides in india last fiscal year, and despite president trump's comments, the company says it will use the lower import duties to win over more writers. if there is a reduction in import, we'll see a reduction in pricing. we welcome any reduction that allows more people to access this motorcycle. while it has been all smiles between president trump and the prime minister, this is a warning sign that there could be more trouble ahead. president trump has warned of it and aggressive tax

on indian bikes in the united states. that could affect any hopes of expansion between the two countries. to vietnam, the government there has been trying to bring back the vietnamese who have gone overseas to study and work, and that has resulted in creating a vibrant tech entrepreneur scene, where many startu ps vibrant tech entrepreneur scene, where many startups are focusing on solving everyday problems. in the country's young and highly delete this highly literate young base is looking to make this city one of asia's silicon valleys. i'm 33 years old. i studied in canada and came back to vietnam in 2009. one of the reasons i started my company is i went to of shows in canada, so i have been able to buy tickets online, but there was no online ticket company vietnam. that is why i started it. vietnam needs

to attract more talent to computer work. vietnamese who used to work overseas coming to vietnam can bring a lot of fresh ideas, and they understand how a successful overseas business works, and they can apply that expertise here in vietnam. my goal is to invest in the promising tech start here in vietnam. vietnam has most of the lucky, which is programmers. a lot of them instead ofaiming for programmers. a lot of them instead of aiming for big companies, they wa nt to of aiming for big companies, they want to do startups. one of the main challenges, there are lots of graduates who come out of the system but are not of a global mindset yet. so there is a tremendous amount of training and coaching that needs to ta ke training and coaching that needs to take place to help develop them, but i think with investment and learning the culture, you can really do it. let's ta ke

let's take a quick look at markets before we go. asian shares are down this morning. japan's nikkei is down again, china has is open for trade as well, and it is down again after having the worst monthly fall in over two years. that is it for this edition of asia business report, thank you forjoining us. the top stories this hour: another resignation, president trump's communications director hope hicks is to step down. it comes a day after she testified to congress. the children of parkland, florida, have returned to school two weeks to the day after a gunman walked in and killed their friends and teachers. they've been big high street names for more than 30 years, but now toys r us and the electrical

chain, maplin, have both collapsed, putting more than 5,000 jobs at risk. both have been struggling with poor sales and increasing competition from online retailers. here's our business correspondent emma simpson. # it's called toys r us!...# it was a force to be reckoned with, pulling in shoppers with its american—style megastores. today, the magic‘s long gone. some stores were already closing to cut costs, but it wasn't enough. it's a shame, but it's not probably a great surprise. it's been on the cards for a while. and people tend to buy online these days, i think, because it's cheaper. because i've four children, grown up now, but we always used to come here for their toys. so, you know, it's a shame. selling toys should be a magical experience. so what went wrong for toys r us? they are too reliant on these large out—of—town stores. but a lot of their problems

are actually self—inflicted. they overlooked the importance of online, where about 40% of toy sales take place. and perhaps more importantly, they've neglected their stores. toys r us has been struggling for years, a business weighed down by huge amount of debt. its american owners filed for bankruptcy protection in the states last autumn. and today, this toy story ended with the uk chain effectively running out of cash. and tonight, the man tasked with rescuing it told me that wouldn't be easy. whilst we're going to make every effort to sell the business, i think realistically there's a small chance that someone will come through. and if they do, it will be for parts of the business, and certainly not for the business as a whole, and certainly not in its existing format. maplin also collapsed today, with more than 200 stores. it blamed a slowdown in

consumer spending and higher costs. it's been a bleak winter for many retailers. today, two big casualties and thousands ofjobs on the line. the shops are still trading, but for how much longer? emma simpson, bbc news. meghan markle has joined prince harry and the duke and duchess of cambridge for their first official engagement together. they were outlining what they wanted to achieve through their charitable organisation, the royal foundation. meghan markle said she wanted to "shine a light on women feeling empowered" and would "hit the ground running" after her wedding to harry in may. 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. the coppa italia kings, juventus are through to this year's final after a 2—0 aggregate win over

ata la nta. a return to the olympic fold for russia, the ioc lifts its suspension for doping. and it was an impressive opening day for hosts the netherlands at the track cycling world championships. hello, and welcome to the programme, where we start with the news that holders juventus are through to the final of the coppa italia after a 2—0 aggregate win over atalanta. the seocnd leg played in the turin snow finished 1—0 with just a miralem pjanic penalty 15 minutes from the end proving the difference in the match, but it was comfortable win, which takes massimilliano allegri's side through to a fourth successive appearance in the final of this competition having won the last three. and they'll face milan who won 5—4 on penalties against last year's beaten finalists lazio after both legs and extra time of the second