is critically ill in england after being exposed to an unknown substance. sergei skripal has been living in the uk since a prisoner swap between russian and the us in 2010. he is being treated in salisbury, in the south of england. delegates at china's national people's congress have welcomed a plan to abolish presidential term limits, which could hand the current president, xijinping a mandate for life. and this story is trending on bbc.com: a man is being held on suspicion of stealing frances mcdormand's oscar after the awards on sunday. terry bryant was arrested after the statuette went missing. it has since been returned to the best actress winner. and the top story here in the uk: britain's most decorated olympian, the cyclist sir bradley wiggins, has told the bbc he is not a drugs cheat, after a parliamentary report accused him of using an asthma drug

to enhance his performance. now on bbc news, all the latest business news live from singapore. global shares are higher, as investors shrugged off fears of a trade war. and electric cars move into the fast lane. how new technology is bringing radical changes to the auto industry. good morning, welcome to asia business report, live from singapore, with me, mariko oi. after a few days of panic selloff switch we saw, investors seem less nervous about president donald trump's threat to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium. on wall street, the dow broke a four they losing streak, up 1.496. broke a four they losing streak, up 1.4%. investors started broke a four they losing streak, up i.4%. investors started to see the

president's comments as a negotiating tool after he tweeted that canada and mexico could avoid his proposed tariffs if they agreed ona his proposed tariffs if they agreed on a new north american free trade agreement. we are now seeing asia following wall street, with the nikkei up by 2%. but is their enthusiasm premature? i put that question to my colleaguejoe miller in new york. they do seem quite optimistic about it at the close today, but earlier this morning, when the president tweeted those things and seemed to tie the fate of these tariffs to nafta, initially these tariffs to nafta, initially the read on wall street was that this was bad news, that this was the president doubling down on these plans to put 25% tariffs on steel, 10% on aluminium, that they thought in turn would hurt us businesses like car makers which rely on us steel. but as the day wore on, despite the fact that president in

the oval office said he was not backing down when it came to these tariffs, i think people started to see this as a negotiating position, as you said. the reason for that is we have seen a really strong backlash from people within the president's own republican party. we have seen house leader paul ryan coming out to say he strongly urges the president to reconsider, and we have seen other senate republicans say similar things. so it is beginning to look as though the ink has not dried on these tariffs yet, and there may be some tempering of this position. that is why we have seen the markets, or at least the dowjones, closed seen the markets, or at least the dow jones, closed some seen the markets, or at least the dowjones, closed some 300 point up today. in other business news, speaking on proposed tariffs on imported steel and aluminium, car giants general motors and ford would suffer a $1 billion profit hit according to analysts at goldman sachs who say the tariffs proposed by president trump could result in increased costs. harley—davidson

says a punitive or territory tariffs on its motorcycles in any market would have a significant impact on its sales there. the european commission's president last week threatened to impose tariffs on their products if president trump followed through on a plan to impose global duties on aluminium and steel. harley said in a statement that it supports free and fair trade and the proposed import tariffs would drive up costs for all products made with aluminium and steel regardless of their origin. as you can imagine, president trump's threats to impose those tariffs have certainly caused a stir ahead of this week's geneva auto show. most people in the industry appear to be waiting to hear more details before they decide on how to respond. meanwhile, at the show itself it is business as usual and carmakers continue to prepare themselves for the radical change which new technology is bringing. part of that

change is a move towards electric ca i’s change is a move towards electric cars which is steadily gathering momentum. more can convenient motoring is the dream of every car owner britain. the commuta could well be one of the answers to that dream. electric cars have been around for years but for a long time they had an image problem. they were seen as they had an image problem. they were seen as quirky but slow and unable to go far before the batteries ran out. then tesla came out with its model s. launched in 2012, it showed electric vehicles could be powerful, fast and have decent range but choice was limited. if you wanted a high—performance electric car you had to buy a tesla. now, that might be allowed to change. this is a new carfrom jaguar which is be allowed to change. this is a new car from jaguar which is attracting a lot of attention at the geneva motor show. it is a battery electric carand motor show. it is a battery electric car and the reason that matters is it is the first high—performance electric vehicle to come on the market to really challenge tesla's

crown. so let's see what it can do. this car matters because it is sporty, it can do zero to 60 in 11.5 seconds and it has a maximum range of 300 miles. as we know, range is all—important. of 300 miles. as we know, range is all-important. the way the market is going, there is no doubt about that. there are still very few electric vehicles sold, one in every 200 last year, but the market is shifting towards alternative drive vehicles and we are shifting with it so this is us entering the market. so jaguar may have won the race to be the first real challenger to tesla at the top end of the market, but it won't be the last. because porsche are bringing out another high—performance electric vehicle. mercedes have something similar in the pipeline, and so does audi. this could become quite a crowded market. finally evs have been pushed into

the mainstream, and i think with tax incentives and people wanting less pollution in city centres people are starting to see the benefit in an electric car and they are starting to see that they are quite an addictive, luxurious, relaxing thing to be in. of course, most people m i’ 3455115535 t"? 777: 77 7 v people more likely to buy something more affordable. —— teslas. for this, nissan's leaf. it is day two of china's annual meeting of parliament and we are waiting on details from a super regulator which will keep insurance and banking industries under one watchdog. it is one of the crucial measures the president has been looking at the counter risks to the financial system. growth is slowing down in china, andi

system. growth is slowing down in china, and i spoke to a professor of chinese business at the university of sydney, who says the pressure around the topic is starting to shift. there is general consensus is that in the end growth had to be brought down from the very high, two digit levels, to a sustainable level. in fact what has happened now is that the debate about growth has shifted away from the actual figures. so whether 6.5 or slightly more or slightly less is less important than the quality of growth, and that means growth that is promoting domestic consumption, building on domestic consumption, as opposed to government investment in big projects. that is growth which is sustainable, that means growth that rings a reduction of pollution, rings among other things, better health, and thereby makes the whole economy, all puts the whole economy, ona economy, all puts the whole economy, on a much more stable basis. that is more important now than the actual growth figure. india has had its fairshare of

growth figure. india has had its fair share of banking scandals lately. now its income tax department has discovered a scam involving more than 400 companies who haven't paid 100 of millions of dollars to the government. joining me live from mumbai is my colleague. tell us the details of this latest scandal. well, it is being called yet another fraud here scandal. well, it is being called yet anotherfraud here in india. the indian income tax department says that around 461 million dollars worth of money has not been deposited with it. indian companies tax employees' salaries at course to make sauce, it is called tds, and many companies have failed to deposit that tds with its income tax department —— source. now a large construction firm and multinational it company have been implicated. according to the income tax act in india, not depositing that money

faces jail time of between three months and seven years. so it is bad news for those companies if they are named. it is also bad news for the government. apart from failing to get those revenues, it is also the latest sca m get those revenues, it is also the latest scam which has come to light after a series of scams and frauds in the last month. the biggest one was won at a state owned bank called the punjab national bank. it seems that around $2 million worth of money was defrauded of a single branch here in mumbai, so there is a lot of pressure on the government to clea n lot of pressure on the government to clean up its act and tighten its checks and balances for these kinds of things. thank you so much for that update. i am sure we will have more of the details as they continue to investigate. let's take a look at markets before we go. as we mentioned, wall street recovered overnight and now we are seeing some

rebound here in asia as well, with the nikkei and hong kong up by nearly 2%. injapan, we are monitoring the shares in steel after a business newspaper said its boss may be stepping down because of that scandal over the quality of its product, and in currencies we are watching the euro. of course, we had that inconclusive weekend election over the weekend, and that is it for this edition of asia business report. thank you for watching. the top stories this hour: a russian man convicted of spying for britain is critically ill in england, after being exposed to an unknown substance. delegates at china's national people's congress are welcoming plans to abolish term limits for the country's president. the prime minister is urging developers to do their duty and build the homes the country needs.

she says owning a property is now largely unaffordable to young people without the bank of mum and dad. here is our home editor mark easton. the prime minister donned the hi—vis today, determined to show she is tackling what she describes as a national housing crisis. but theresa may is not the first senior tory to get her shoes muddy on a building site. remember him? and him? today, the pm had the big builders and developers in her sights, blaming some of them for putting profit before their patriotic duty to restore the dream of home ownership. the bonuses paid to the heads of some of our biggest developers are based not on the number of homes they build, but on their profits or share price. i expect developers to do their duty for britain, and build the homes our country needs. some builders will tell you their first responsibility is to their shareholders, and it is unusual for

a conservative prime minister to tell private companies she is considering changing the rules to make it more difficult for them to make a profit. among possible planning reforms is the idea that developers with a reputation for not building homes fast enough might be denied planning permission by councils. not only do house—builders make returns to their shareholders, we're also cross—subsidising almost half of the affordable housing in this country every single year. so we're doing the job of government. mrs may wants lots more houses, but doesn't want to upset her core vote. oh, hello. do you know about fair oaks new tower? people like these residents in true blue surrey, who are supported by their mp, environment secretary michael gove, in their opposition to a new garden village. planning reform worries these campaigners.

i think this is going to be a backward step, and we are really worried that these sort of developments, which are really damaging to the environment and the community as a whole, will be pushed forward, against the people's wishes. some conservatives want the treasury to relax borrowing rules, so councils and housing associations can build many more genuinely affordable homes. others see the priority as protecting england's precious green landscape. it is a surprise, perhaps, the prime minister didn't think it wise to wear a hard hat today. mark easton, bbc news. 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: nemanja matic scores a cracking goal in stoppage time, as manchester united come from two down to beat crystal palace 3—2. it's all tight in group c of the asian champions league,

with three teams equal on points after three matches. and cyclist, bradley wiggins, speaks out after a parliamentary report in britain says team sky crossed an "ethical line. " hello, and welcome to the programme, where we start with the footballing news that nemanja matic score a stoppage—time winner from outside the penalty box as manchester united came from two goals down to beat crystal palace 3—2 and regain second place in the premier league. the serbian fired home a wonderful goal off his left foot to grasp the match from palace who had led 2—0 three minutes into the second half and were on the verge of moving out of the relegation zone, but it'sjose mourinho's side who take all three points to move