a huge fire at a shopping centre in siberia has left nearly a0 people dead. dozens are missing, including many children. there's a big rescue operation underway. the fire is said to have begun in a cinema inside the huge shopping complex, which was packed with people in the middle of the day. more than 200 emergency responders have attended the scene. demonstrators have clashed with police on the streets of catalonia. they came out to protest after the region's former leader carles puigdemont was arrested in germany. and this story is trending on bbc.com. the ball tampering scandal which has sent shockwaves through the world of cricket. australia's team captain is forced to stand down in the latest test match against south africa. that's all from me now. stay with bbc news. and the top story here in the uk: jeremy corbyn has said he's sincerely sorry for the pain caused by what he describes as pockets of anti—semitism within labour.

now on bbc news, all the latest business news live from singapore. uber is selling off its south—east asia business to singapore —based rival, grabbed it. what is this mean for two of the world's guest tried hailing companies? and is the largest employer of people in india, will find out why the country's farming industry has been stuck the same old gear for decades. —— with. good morning, asian, hello, world. it isa good morning, asian, hello, world. it is a monday, hope you had a great weekend and glad you could join us for this edition of asia business support. i am rico hizon. for this edition of asia business support. iam rico hizon. we for this edition of asia business support. i am rico hizon. we start off with uber and after pulling out

off with uber and after pulling out of china, it is now giving up another, selling its business in south east asia to regional rival, grab and. two more, i'mjoined now by my colleague and business reporter. why there retreating from asia? it comes down to money, uber is reducing its footprint in asia because it is such a competitive market and they are not really able to turn a profit. so they obstruct this deal would grab, which is very similarto this deal would grab, which is very similar to what they did in china. this is what we know about the deal so this is what we know about the deal so far, it is that uber is selling its south—east asian business for an undisclosed sum. employees are expecting some redundancies but will not know any details until those companies formally announce it, which is expected later today, however uber does maintain some presence in asia. they are still operational in taiwan, japan, south korea, as well as india. now, backed by uber is reducing its footprint in

asia and specifically south—east asia. it is a very big market, but uber‘s major shareholders want the company to focus on its core markets of the us, europe, latin america, and to try and turn a profit because it has been losing billions each yearin it has been losing billions each year in the way they do this of course is to sell to regional rivals, while retaining some skin in the game by retaining some stake in this combined company that they will have would grab. one of its major shareholders is softbank, who at in both grab and in that uber, so what is next for uber now? we spoke to the ceo recently and he told us that his ambitions for grab is to have it become more than just taking you from point lead our flat become more than just taking you from point lead ourflat two point b, he wants to expand the service across the whole region. we want it to be an app that allows you to buy

a coffee and few rewards, and after that i your lunch and have your food delivered so that you do not have to go to the trafficjam. and it is that relative, —— relevance, that appeal to every customer across the 600 million base, then you create huge value. —— if it is that releva nt. huge value. —— if it is that relevant. now, the market is projected to be worth more than $25 billion by 2025, but as you just heard, they are not putting all their eggs into one basket, they are expanding to other businesses, money tra nsfers expanding to other businesses, money transfers between people, as well as the delivery, and so this is a very smart strategy. and by uber still holding a share in grab, they can still be part of the growth story within this very big region of the world. uber selling off the rival grab in southeast asia, in other

business news making headlines, facebook boss mark zuckerberg has published full—page adverts in the us and vidic newspapers apologising for the compa ny‘s recent us and vidic newspapers apologising for the company's recent data privacy scandal. he admitted facebook could have done more to stop millions of users having that data exploited by political consultancy group cambridge analytica in 2013. he said we have a responsibility to protect your information, if we can't, we don't deserve it. around 600 million indians, roughly half of the population, depend on growing crops 01’ population, depend on growing crops or rearing animals to survive, but agriculture makes up less than 20% of india's gdp. many farming practices, along with india's agricultural markets and infrastructure have barely changed in decades, so it is reformed long overdue. we take a closer look at industry, ticking off our week—long

series in india's farming economy. india's prime minister promised to increase the income of farmers by 2022. little has changed, and they are going to extreme lengths to get the leadership‘s attention. marching hundreds of kilometres, holding the skulls of farmers who killed themselves out of desperation. some even pretended to perform the last rites of the deceased farmers. the sector is made up of millions of small—time farmers, for whom cost are higher. 0n small—time farmers, for whom cost are higher. on one hand, unseasonal rain can damage crops, on the other hand, some regions have suffered from consistent droughts for many yea rs. from consistent droughts for many years. for irrigation systems and water shortages mean productivity is extremely poor. the government sets

prices low to control inflation, and so prices low to control inflation, and so after paying traders to get their goods to market, farmers do not recover the cost of growing the crop. then there are wider issues like poor transportation, patchy infrastructure and inadequate storage facilities, so is anything being done? well, the government has introduced several schemes in the past, as soil health card that advises farmers on nutrients and fertilises the use to increase productivity, and electronic trading platform for produce, and the crop insurance scheme against the failure of crops. several states have announced that they will waive our minds, but schemes have been poorly implemented and many farmers say they have not had their debt forgiven yet. in the national budget last month, the government proposed better prices for certain crops but farmers say the hike still does not cover a ll farmers say the hike still does not cover all of their costs. well, according to a survey which reviews the indian economy, more efforts need to be made to bring science and

technology to farmers. the years, state governments have been accused of spending less than the budget for the month on agriculture and failing to reform the sector. as national elections approach, indian prime minister narendra modi will want to keep farmers, light section of his voters, much happier than they are at the moment. president trump's announcement of $60 billion of planned tariffs on chinese goods have stoked fears of trade war but speaking on us television on sunday, treasury secretary steve mnuchin said it is something that the trump administration is not afraid of. so far, beijing has hit back with $3 billion worth of tariffs on goods. negotiations between china and the us are still ongoing. while the us is not afraid to make afraid of a trade war, they are engaging in

productive dialogue with china. i think they are leaving a lot of leeway to ensure that there is some kind of negotiation that goes on before they lurch into a fully fledged trade war. china has flagged up fledged trade war. china has flagged up $3 billion, on the sidelines, they have also said there are many other products that they could target, airlines, one of the big ticket items. if negotiations fail, how could impacts asian economic growth in the second half of 2018?” think what we saw last year was a lot of growth was led by exports, you saw semiconductors, high—tech items doing very well. that could drag down the second quarter because the us is primarily targeting two areas, one is the high—tech goods, the other is machinery and equipment via the section of its trade saying that china is infringing on its intellectual property. so japan, korea, taiwan, the big economic

powers, will certainly be affected by these tariffs? i think it goes beyond an effect, i think it is almost a direct dent in these economies. the supply chain are much tighter and more convoluted and interdependent than we realise, is not just about china, interdependent than we realise, is notjust about china, which is why all the asian countries are watching very, very closely. if you take a look at the markets last week, it korean markets plunged, although this is supposed to be aimed at china, which is telling. us president has said he has not made a decision on any specific products, there could be up to 1000 products that could be affected by these tariffs. exactly, they have i think done that so that they have some room to later decide what they want to do. steve mnuchin, the us treasury secretary also mentioned during interview that the white house had reached an agreement on revising a six—year bilateral trade

deal with south korea, as well as an agreement on donald trump's plans to impose tariffs on imported steel and aluminium. a south korean representative also said that the both sides agreed in principle on the issues. let's have a look at the markets before we go, currently all in negative territory. 0n markets before we go, currently all in negative territory. on friday, the japanese market is down by 3%. the all 0rdinaries giving back 34.5 points. thank you so much for investing your time with us, and rico hizon. sport today coming up next. the top stories this hour: nearly 40 people have died in a large fire at a shopping mall in the siberian city of kemerovo. another 30 people are missing, many of them children. demonstrators have clashed with police on the streets of catalonia. they came out to protest after the region's former leader was arrested in germany.

another 3000 training places for midwives in england will be made available over the next four years, in what the government says is the "largest ever" boost to nhs midwives and maternity staff. it's part of plans to address staff shortages. 0ur health editor hugh pym reports. providing most women with care from the same midwives throughout their pregnancy, labour and birth is the aim of the plan for england announced today. it's hoped this will reduce the chances of miscarriages and premature births. to try to achieve it, ministers say there will be a boost to the number of training places for new midwives and support staff. health unions have welcomed it, but warned it will take time. the benefits of those extra midwives is not going to be seen until four years hence and then the years after, so there's pressures in the service at the moment, which need to be addressed. here's how the numbers look right now. there were just over 22,500 midwives

in post in england in 2017. but the royal college of midwives estimates that there's a shortfall ofaround 3,500. the new plan will create an extra 650 midwifery training places next year. that'll be followed by 1,000 new places in each of the three subsequent years. but like nurses in england, the students will now have to pay tuition fees. the government knows that recruitment and retention in the nhs is a problem — one reason why it recently announced a 6.5% pay deal over three years for many staff in england. there's pressure on ministers to find more money to put into front—line services. the idea of a dedicated nhs tax has been floated, and it wasn't ruled out today. if you ask the public about the nhs, they're very clear they would like to see more money going to the nhs, they would be prepared to see some of their own taxes going into the nhs.

but they are very clear they want to know that money is actually going into the nhs and social care system, and they want to know that the nhs is going to reform. labour argues there's a need for an immediate cash injection with the nhs under severe pressure. the political debate on health and social care funding is certainly gathering pace. hugh pym, bbc news. 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 program: the icc have suspended australian captain steve smith for one match for his part in the ball tampering scandal as their thrashed in south africa. sebastien lataud gets a slice of luck to beat world champion lewis

hamilton in the season—opening australian grand prix —— sebastian vettel. and bubba watson wins the wgc world match play title with a convincing win over kevin kisner. hello and welcome to the programmes. plenty to get through but only one place to start and that's with the weekend's big cricket story, australian captain steve smith has been banned for one match and find his entire match fee by the cricketing world governing body for his part in able tampering incident in south africa. the home side won the third test by three to two runs. andy swiss takes up the story. in the eye of a cricketing storm, steve smith glued onto the field in cape town, the world's best batsman given one of its worst receptions after a scandal which has shocked a sport and shamed a nation —— booed. smith had orchestrated a plan to cheat by getting his teammate, cameron bancroft, to