i'm babita sharma with bbc news. our main stories — north korea's former spy chief is in new york, holding talks with the us secretary of state. the talks are intended to smooth the way for a summit between kim jong—un and donald trump in less than two weeks‘ time. ukraine has admitted staging the fake murder of russian journalist arkady babchenko in kiev. moscow has condemned the move as propaganda. and this story is trending on bbc.com... a report submitted to the international whaling commission says japanese hunters caught and killed more than 300 minke whales during their annual hunt in the southern ocean. most were pregnant females or had not reached maturity. stay with bbc news. there is more to come. and the top story here in the uk: one of the main ticket resale websites could be

facing legal action. viagogo missed a deadline to be more up—front about the extra prices it charges. trading standards have now been handed the case. now on bbc news all the latest business news live from singapore. the us says it will follow through on promises to slap trade tariffs on china. could the european union be next? over to india. is it the world's fastest—growing economy? we will find out later, this thursday. good morning asia, hello world. it is thursday, glad you could join us for the asia business report. more talk of trade tensions, talk of escalating tensions between china and the us has made a lot of investors uneasy. the white house

might slap tariffs on the european union. chinese state media signalled beijing was prepared to fight back if washington was looking to start a trade spat. officials say they are lining up other countries in europe in this pending trade war. it came when donald trump pressed ahead with 2596 when donald trump pressed ahead with 25% tariffs on $50 billion worth of chinese goods. we will have to see if he will follow through on his threats against the europeans. one thing we have learned, things can change quickly when it comes to us policy. until we see the final implementation, there is always room for potential negotiations or a deal. as you said, a lot of noise, a lot of rhetoric, no serious implementation, is this affecting

investors, the way trump is handling negotiations or are they starting to discount him? it has investors a bit jittery so there is a lot of news flow and the markets will react. but investors are learning to calibrate this, you don't treat every single news item, you have to wait for the outcome of the negotiations. it is still going to be a few weeks until we get some clarity on what happens on the china deal. tweets, threats, trump but now beijing is not taking this sitting down, could this change the mindset of investors, make them more on edge? they have never taken it on the chin, the chinese are quite pragmatic and they offered some concessions. we know they are talking behind—the—scenes and the chinese are probably planning ahead and there will be talks in beijing this week, early next week and probably there will be more news

coming out of that. but this news flow over the past year and a half, a lot of volatility in the markets, what are you telling investors, fred? how should they play this market? first of all, calm down, there are some positives in it, the two sides are talking, global trade is still holding up and we haven't seen too much of a disruption in trade numbers yet. wait and see the results of these negotiations. that was fred newman from hsbc. the international monetary fund has maintained its growth forecast at 6.6%. they won't be overly rapid credit growth and trade fictions could pose risks for the world's second—largest economy. china's growth at 6.8% in the first quarter of 2018, which is slightly faster than expected. influential in us

reports are recommending a sedan and its latest test that revealed an update improved the braking distance by 20 feet. lastly, there was a big loss in the car as it battles production shortfalls. has less shares closing up almost 3%. later we will be finding out if india has retained its position as the fastest—growing economy in the world when the latest growth numbers are released. the economy expanded by more than 3% in the quarter ending december over the previous year, overtaking the mainland. despite acceleration, indian exports have remained sluggish and that is putting pressure on the economy. jewellery makers at this workshop are completing a large order. it is the most they have worked in a long

time. for more than three decades, they have been producing and exporting diamond jewellery. but there has been a significant drop in international demand over the past year. and the entire is industry reeling from a suspected to billion—dollar bank fraud. translation: bisla six months have been extremely difficult. because of the fraud, banks have become scared and have restricted loans to this industry. for this industry, a co nsta nt industry. for this industry, a constant flow of credit is essential to survive. sales already down due to survive. sales already down due to lower exports, but now the business climate has become even more challenging. i's gems and jewellery industry is one of the largest in the world and makes up for a big portion of exports of the country. but it's not the only sector that is going through tough times. a few industries that also rely on international markets for business are suffering. five years

ago, indian exports touched just over $314 billion, but since then, they have been much lower. exports rose last year on the back of strong global demand, but they are still far off peak levels, seen in the past. there is one more problem, india has a large trade deficit, which is the gap between exports and imports. with global crude price on the rise, there are concerns it could widen further as india imports nearly 80% of its oil. every dollar increasing oil price is a billion—dollar increase in i's trade 93p- billion—dollar increase in i's trade gap. once the trade gap starts widening, it starts to impact the exchange rate as well. the rupee has a lwa ys exchange rate as well. the rupee has always been one of the worst performers in asia this year. whenever this kind of thing has happened in the past, it has been a

headache for policymakers and also create significant business uncertainty. the imf says the indian economy is on track to grow by more than 7% over the next two years. but first, i must find a solution to its flagging exports in order to sustain that amount of rapid growth. about 1 that amount of rapid growth. about1 million that amount of rapid growth. about 1 million employees that amount of rapid growth. about1 million employees from 20 state owned, 12 private and seven foreign banks in india are in the middle of a two day strike. this is after several rounds of talks and a 296 after several rounds of talks and a 2% salary hike failed to convince bank unions. it is expected to impact millions of customers, disrupt business and increase traffic across machines. the bbc asked some of the striking workers about their concerns. translation: i have been to three bank atms. i went to union bank, there was no money. then i went to

another bank and it didn't have any money. citibank also declined. it said there is no money in this machine, where do i go now? what if someone machine, where do i go now? what if someone in my family falls ill and what is the point if we cannot have access to our own money when we need it? because of the strike, i didn't know about this and i tried to do some transactions but the banks are closed today and also tomorrow, which is surprising. the strike hasn't impacted me, i am dependent on internet banking and mobile banking so the closing branches doesn't make difference to me. the voices of striking bank union workers in india. how long would you be willing to sit in an airline seat? singapore airlines has said it is set to reintroduce a direct flight is set to reintroduce a direct flight from singapore to the us. it is the world's longest flight, so

why are they doing this? can we afford it, katie? i am not sure, it is not likely to be cheap, but it is far. it is the longest commercial flight far. it is the longest commercial flight and it will go from here in singapore to new york. it is 16,700 kilometres which makes it the world's longest commercial flight. the journey will take almost 19 hours and it will cross a dozen times zones. it is a gamble for the airline because they have offered this route before. from 2004 to 2013, but they cancelled it because it wasn't making enough money. nowadays, more airlines are offering these long haul flights. nowadays, more airlines are offering these long haulflights. they nowadays, more airlines are offering these long haul flights. they have taken off and had their maiden voyage in the last five years. they are possible because aircraft are lighter and more fuel—efficient and airlines like it because they can charge a premium for offering the

convenience of a direct flight. interestingly, this new singapore airlines flight won't be available for economy travellers, just for premium business class, which means it is out of action for me. premium business class, which means it is out of action for melj thought there was an economy class. we cannot afford it, surely. thank you so much. with that, we end this edition of the asia business report. follow us on twitter. the sport is coming up next. the top stories this hour. one of the north korean leader's closest aides has arrived in new york for talks with the us secretary of state about plans for next month's trump—kim summit. moscow and several international organisations have criticised ukraine after it admitted staging the fake murder of a russianjournalist in kiev. the website viagogo, which resells tickets,

could face legal action after missing a deadline to make its prices clearer. the advertising standards authority said viagogo was continuing to mislead customers by not being transparent about additionalfees and delivery charges, added at the end of the booking process. the culture minister has told music fans to boycott the site, as our correspondent chi chi izundu reports. he is one of the world's biggest artist but ed sheeran isn't a fan of ticket resale sites, last week he cancelled more than 10,000 tickets bought on the website viagogo. but this isn't the first time fans have had issue with that site. two years ago claire tried to buy tickets for her kids to see ed, it ended up costing her over £1,000. she got her money back and helps other fans who have been ripped off do the same. we speaking out, it is unacceptable,

we don't want to see other people ripped off as we have, and we are determined to ensure that it is much more saferfor consumers. now the add very teasing standard authority says it is recommending now the advertising standard authority says it is recommending trading standards take action against viagogo for not being transparent enough on the final cost of a ticket. one of the other issues that the asa had with viagogo was the 100% guarantee it had on the website. that is because it said that gave fans the impression they would always gain entry into a venue like this. and that hasn't always been the case. in fact, fans have been rejected from venues with tickets bought on resale sites and james bay wants more government action against them. it is plainly wrong and unfair and it needs, entirely like amending. it doesn't sit well with anybody who plays gigs for a living because we all started out going to gigs. stubhub seatwave and getmein

were given the same warnings but none of those platforms complied voluntarily. they have had to be dragged in by statutory agencies, and now the advertising standards authority. we need more enforcement action. resale sites aren't the only place to get a sold out ticket. box office fan clubs and promoter sell them if you fine yourself desperate the see your favourite act. don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter — i'm @ babita bbc. time now for all the sports news in sport today. hello, i'm ben mundy. this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. here's what's coming up... he's up and running at the french open — but can novak djokovic really return to full form in paris.

how manny fights does pacquiao have left? he says his next will show whether he'll retire. and, from football to fairways, we'll explain why nfl star peyton manning's been doing this! hello, thanks forjoining us... we're starting with tennis and the french open. where, novak djokovic was left dissatisfied, despite a straight sets win on wednesday. and, world number one simona halep began her bid for a first grand slam title with a gutsy fightback. adam wild has the details... it has taken until day for before simona halep began herfirst round. she struggled to get going, not that she was ever allowed