barbara bush, the wife of george bush sr has died. she was ninety—two. mrs bush — the mother of president george w bush — was the matriarchal figure of the political dynasty. she went beyond the traditional role of a political spouse, setting up a foundation for family literacy and speaking out in favour of abortion rights. president trump has announced the united states is having high level talks with north korea ahead of a planned summit — but he says he hasn't yet spoken directly with kim jong—un. and this story is trending on bbc.com: british pop starjessiej has won a talent competition in china, which pitches professional singers against each other. jessiej won with 48% of the vote. that's all from me for now. stay with bbc news. and the top story here in the uk: theresa may has apologised to caribbean leaders for the anxiety caused to the windrush migrants facing the threat of deportation from britain, for allegedly not

having the correct paperwork to remain in britain. now on bbc news, all the latest business news live from singapore. china makes a u—turn and eases restriction on foreign ventures. and saying goodbye to plastic. good for the environment, but is it bad for some businesses? good morning, asia. hello, world. it is wednesday. thank you forjoining us that this edition of asia business report. the latest twist to the trade row between the us and china, beijing has announced it is changing gears when it comes tojoint it is changing gears when it comes to joint ventures with foreign auto

manufacturers. officials say they will ease the restrictions that require companies such as vw and general motors to partner with domestic companies in order to do business on the mainland by 2020 to. joining me now is a chinese industrial analyst. i'm joined now by webcam from new york. thank you for joining by webcam from new york. thank you forjoining us. what do you make of this latest initiative by china? does it make sense? i think it makes a loss of sense. it was a little bit ofa a loss of sense. it was a little bit of a surprise in terms of the timing but not a total surprise. president she spoke about this at a forum earlier that this is the first time we have heard a schedule associated with the programme and there will be a full phase—out by 2022 on foreign ownership permits, that is about four years from now. what is

surprising is that as soon as this year they may lift the foreign ownership limit for any new energy vehicle manufacturers. so companies such as tesla could produce cars in china ina such as tesla could produce cars in china in a wholly—owned struck. general motors and volkswagen are already doing quite well in china. how will this to —— further benefit them? and how will this play out for other manufacturers to want to make it big on the mainland? that is the great question. china is the largest automotive market in the world and general motors and vw have the largest market share they. what you need to know is that 90% of the cars of —— sold in china, are made in china. but as of today, only 50% of

the companies can be owned by foreign owners. large global companies are shot out —— shut out from the profits. what's this change goes ahead, gm and vw will have the chance to build fully owned manufacturing operations. you think this move by beijing authorities is to counter the potential trade war between the two largest economies in the world? and could this basically narrow the trade deficit between china and the us? i am not so sure it will narrow the trade deficit because this really pertains to domestic production and a lot of the supplies and elements are also produced domestically. the timing of the announcement has something to do

with the trade tensions going on at the moment. china will claim that this was always in the works and they are doing this and following their own strategy. but nonetheless i think this is definitely a net positive as the us claims that their pressure campaign has forced a material policy change on beijing. thank you very much for your thoughts on this latest development. in other business news making headlines, an emergency on a southwest flight, an engine exploded forcing an emergency landing. the airline has said that one passenger was killed and another nearly sucked out of the plane through the window. the fatality on the flight was the first on an us commercial flight since 2009. $31 billion in global

investments in 2017. here in asia, the industry is expected to be worth 22 billion us dollars by the year 2020. many of the world ‘stop banks work together with financial technology companies to offer easy payments, loans and money transfers. china —based company is looking to tap into south east asia and has teamed up with the local singaporean bank to speed up credit checks for the bank and the customers. i spoke to the president earlier about how they plan to attract more business in the region. we work with business partners such as in the region. we work with business partners such as e—commerce companies partners such as e—commerce companies and retailers, payment companies. using our tech, their customers can have access. for the

convenience and the technology we can reach out and it is about financial inclusion. but when you talk about faces like indonesia and the philippines, thailand... many country workers who don't know anything about technology on their mobile phones or on their laptops. why would they get into this? i am a business and financial journalist andi business and financial journalist and i don't even do internet banking! what we have seen is that in south east asia the rise of mobile phone usage and also the digitisation of payments is rising rapidly and this is similar to what happened in china a few years back. with this technology widely available, even in the countryside, we can now reach out to customers where previously the older models of banks could not. we can lower the

price of acquisition for customers. we don't need to collect stacks of paper any longer. how customers -- co mforta ble paper any longer. how customers -- comfortable our customers in trusting their financial data to online companies? as a company we ta ke online companies? as a company we take data security quite seriously. this is why we partner and set up a joint—venture here in for south east asia. we will be... though reason we chose a bank to partner with is that the products will be subject to the same regulation and will be strictly compliant. theresa may this week announced an $86 million fund to fight plastic waste. she also hopes to urge leaders of commonwealth countries who are meeting in london

to improve their waste management. rubbish from plastic and what to do with it is a problem every country around the world is facing. to tackle it, one of india's biggest states banned most plastic product. the move has gained a lot of traction. plastic manufacturers have won warned ofjob losses which could be in the tens of thousands. aside all too common in mumbai. tens of thousands of tons of plastic waste, often dumped on canals, rivers and in the city. the government solution, a sweeping ban on plastic it means work at this factory has come to a halt. the staff still come in every day but no—one knows for how much longer they will receive a salary. workers used to make packaging for a wide range of product. and the owner recently imported this machine for over $100,000. now he does not know

how he will repay the loan. over $100,000. now he does not know how he will repay the loanlj over $100,000. now he does not know how he will repay the loan. i spent almost 28 years to reach this position and in one—day it is all finished by this law. it is disturbing to me because it is my bread and butter. thousands of pla nts bread and butter. thousands of plants across the state have had to close down. these factory owners marched outside a court in mumbai and have challenged the plan's legality. some say half a million jobs are at risk. but there is also widespread support for the ban because when plastic waste fogs so was it causes severe flooding during monsoon season which this city has witnessed over and over. it is not just plastic bags. the government is also doing away with disposable cups, spoons, plates, decorative items and a host of other products to big this is a small social enterprise that employs women living in mumbai's slum. i have been making bags from recycled paperforfive yea rs bags from recycled paperforfive years now. since the ban, there has

been a sharp increase in demand. translation: mack earlier we used to get two or three enquiries a day. now we have a minimum of 30. we are trying to train more women quickly to meet the demand. once thought to bea to meet the demand. once thought to be a boon, this material has propelled the growth of many industries. today, however, it has become a problem. wonder people across the world to not quite yet know how to solve. —— one that people across the world do not quite yet know how to solve. a quick look at the stock markets. markets are on the positive territory. the top stories this hour: the former first lady of the united states barbara bush, the wife of george bush snr, has died. she was 92. president trump admits has admitted high level talks are taking place between the united states and north korea but says he hasn't spoken with kim jong—un directly.

more on our main story now, the death of the former first lady, barbara bush. mrs bush was the wife of george bush senior and the mother of george w bush. a statement from the office of former president george hw bush described her as a relentless proponent of family literacy. mrs bush, the only woman to have seen her husband and son sworn in as us president, had been unwell for some time and had declined further medical treatment. she said she wanted to spend her last days in comfort care with her family. laura trevelyan looks back at her life. barbara bush was a commanding matriarch. only the second woman in american history to be both the wife of a president and the mother of one. she was married to the 41st occupant of the white house and raised the a3rd. born barbara pierce, she met george hw bush at a school

in world war ii. barbara was credited with helping his political career by keeping a cardfile of everyone he ever met. it all paid off when george hw bush was elected, first vice president to ronald reagan and then president. the office of president of the united states... barbara wore her trademark pearls at his inauguration, confiding they hid the wrinkles in her neck. it was this honesty that helped endear her to the american public. as first lady she focused on promoting literacy, helping the most disadvantaged americans. if more people who can read, write and comprehend, we would be that much closer to solving so many of the problems that plague our nation. during the first gulf war in 1990, barbara bush spoke for the nation in calling for a speedy end to the conflict. we are all wishing for peace. we want our people home.

when her son george w bush decided to run for president, barbara was back in the spotlight once again. after his two terms in office, she was regretting the lack of civility in public life. i just hate it. i hate the fact that people think compromise is a dirty word. it is not a dirty word. by the time her sonjeb made his unsuccessful run for president in 2016, barbara bush was a national icon. barbara bush was smart, tough and often plainspoken. an influential figure ina often plainspoken. an influential figure in a political dynasty. the former us first lady barbara bush, who has died at the age at 92. time now for all the sports news in sport today. hello, i'm tulsen tollett and this

is sport today, live from the bbc sports centre and coming up on the program: thomas muller scores a hat—trick as bayern munich book their place in the final of the german cup. holders japan are through to the afc asian cup women's cup final after a 3-1 asian cup women's cup final after a 3—1semi—finalwin over china. grigor dimitrov comes from a set down to win at the monte carlo masters. hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with news bayern munich are through to the final of the dfb cup in germany after a something 6—2 win over bayer leverkusen and they will play schalke or last year's runners—up, frankfurt. it didn't take long for the bundesliga champions to make their mark, martinez‘s shot deflected off lewandowski to