—— i am ben bland. our top story: president putin softens his pension reforms after an outcry. the partial backdown follows protest earlier this year. in a rare televised address he said the retirement age for women would go up gradually from 55 to 60. but for men it will still jump from 60 to 65. australia's aboriginal leaders have expressed outrage at the appointment of former prime minister, tony abbott, as special envoy on indigenous affairs. the community questions his track—record. and this story is popular on bbc.com a fish and chip restaurant in yorkshire in the north of england, has translated its menu into mandarin and cantonese, after an increase in chinese tourists. scotts fish and chips, near york, has seen coach loads of visitors wanting to try the traditional dish. and those are the latest headlines on bbc news. here in the uk, our top story. is alex salmond has resigned from the scottish national party, he is

facing allegations of sexual harassment, which he strongly denies. now time for all the latest from singapore in asia business report. the clock is ticking for the us mexico and canada to agree on a new trilateral trade arrangement, but will a breakthrough in negotiations benefit everyone, especially in asia. and a coffee war is brewing. it was tradition —— traditionally known in a tea loving nation. good morning asia, hello world. it is a thursday. glad you could join us for another exciting addition of asia business report, i am rico hizon. we are hours away from a deadline to decide the future of the trade pact worth roughly $1 trillion and the

world ‘s largest economy. earlier this week united states and mexico on concessions relating to the auto industry and labour right. canada says they are in very tense negotiations with america over the revision of the north american free trade agreement. also known as nafta. but the white house has warned it a not win the approval in congress. cow could it impact asia? angela says the carmakers in south korea will feel the pinch. there is quite an audience in that nafta region, japan develops around 1 million cars. the issue there is with the new rules on local content, they are on the back foot because most of those auto—parts are produced within asia, they will have to reduce their supply chain and it will be impactful. what if canada does not play ball? and it is —— it

is just does not play ball? and it is —— it isjust a bilateral agreement. how will that play out? will this be sufficient? it will impact asian manufacturers either way, you have a situation like that would be messy for many not least canada, you would see manufacturers selling into that us mexico agreement depending on what it is. canada and asia have beenin what it is. canada and asia have been in recent years expecting something like this, increasing their own trade negotiations and trade ties to diversify. there are agreements that could be put into play between canada and asia to make sure that they can trade directly with canada. it seems like, when you ta ke with canada. it seems like, when you take a look at market sentiment, there will be a deal between the us and canada between looks of it, but does trump really want from a ministerjustin trudeau in canada and what is canada on from this deal? —— prime minister. and what is canada on from this deal? -- prime minister. trump's main position is reducing the

nominal benefit —— deficit and increasing manufacturing jobs. that is why all of these agreements, including with china, these revolve around autojobs. including with china, these revolve around auto jobs. canada including with china, these revolve around autojobs. canada has a serious deal breakers and these are these investment stake issues, where a private company in that nafta region can sue and other government for loss of profit if say, environmental regulations in canada gets past. if it has a us company it can sue them for canada. that is a dealbreaker, they can sue them for canada. that is a dealbrea ker, they want can sue them for canada. that is a dealbreaker, they want that out of the provision in addition to the dairy industry quite protected and trump wants to push that. australia's dirt and forth largest communications companies at our merging between —— our merging. the merger between vodafone and hutchinson telecom indications is said to be worth $11 billion. joining the outside vodafone shop in

syd ney joining the outside vodafone shop in sydney is how will griffith. if this materialises how much of an impact will it have? —— howell. the two companies claim that they will be able to challenge the main players and aussies will have a big customer base. vodafone has about 6 million customers in australia. ctg doesn't have customers but it will be able to bring its internet customers together. some people argue there may be if there would be lower condition if they had offered a fourth mobile network. it will be up a fourth mobile network. it will be up to the competition watchdog to decide if this is the best way. lot of customers are complaining in australia about the unreliable internet. servers are saying it is

sluggish, will this improve the service and will it mean cheaper rate is? —— rates. visitors in australia will be familiar with that. there is a national robben network rolling out but companies are under pressure to make that faster. tpg is one that offers the indian. it focuses more on five g, focusing on a connection through your mobile phone. that is what the new company might focus on, offering companies five g and winning new company is —— customers by using that to attract. —— marquetry. —— 5g. three of china's for state lenders have recorded profits for the first half of 2018. icbc, the largest of china's lenders will reveal its half—year financial

report card later today. so far this week guessing that the export agricultural anchor china up like 7% compared to a year ago levels stop in the bank of china posting a 5% hike. and china construction bank corporation netting a 6% rise. elenor explains what is driving up their profits. one of the main reasons behind this rise in profits that we are seen across the big three banks that have reported so far is actually the chinese government's two year crackdown on shadow banking and deleveraging drive has really pushed businesses 01’ drive has really pushed businesses or way from lending with the smaller banks and the shadow banking sector and towards lending from the bigger banks, which has allowed them to increase revenue. blessing that tighter crudity in china has increased lending margins for the big banks and that was especially releva nt for big banks and that was especially relevant for the agricultural bank of china as their net interest margin increased 11 basis points.

that was eleanor joining margin increased 11 basis points. that was eleanorjoining us from sydney. off to china, where we are hearing about the mainland being a vast market for all manner of goods and services. over recent years, online payments have the way chinese resident hire bikes, shop and go about their day—to—day activities. now a new front has been opened up in the country which invented tea. stephen o'donnell sent us this report from beijing. —— mcdonald. this store one year ago had zero

outlets, now they have got, wait for it, over 800 and the plan is to have 2000 by the end of 2018. welcome to modern high—speed capitalism, chinese style. this is one of the chill, alleyway cafes in the old heart of beijing. here it is perfectly normal to hang out for as long as you like chatting, reading 01’ long as you like chatting, reading or doing some work. that's not the business model here, the idea here is you get them in, you give them their take wagering quickly and outlaid to make out they go. —— their takeaway drink quickly. —— and out they go. translation: our business model is

suitable for the chinese economy. against mobile technology is widely used in china. whether it is its other countries, we will have to wait and see. in china, like nowhere else on the planet, people have embraced online payments and virtual shopping. but what about the copy paste? it's it virtual as well? —— coffee paste. on that respect, mine is to. no, mine is better. mine is better. no coffee

01’ is better. mine is better. no coffee or tea to me. thank you so much for joining us. before we go, here is a look at how the markets are faring. after wall street went into record territory, on the back of the deals for the free—trade pact. currently we are seeing good signs in asian trading, with nikkei and the all ordinaries index in positive territory. 84 investing your time with us. sport today is coming up next. —— thank you for. this is bbc news. the top stories: president putin has soft and unpopular proposals to reform pensions in russia. it follows protest earlier this year. australia's aboriginal leaders have expressed outrage at the appointment of former prime minister, tony abbott, as special envoy on indigenous affairs. the community questions his track—record.

alex salmond has resigned from the scottish national party after allegations of sexual harassment, which he strongly denies. in the video statement posted online, he says he was resigning in order to prevent opposition politicians attacking the party. lorna gordon is in glasgow with the latest. he has been a colossus to scottish politics, he took his country to within 400,000 vote is of becoming independent. he is by many definitions, the snp's most successful leader. independence really is a in his blood and his former party, the snp, is part of his dna. he has dedicated 45 years to the snp, 20 of those as party

leader and yet, this evening within the last couple of hours the issue that statement of social media saying he is quitting as a member of the snp. his resignation of course, comes 24 hours after it launched a legal case against the scottish government over its handling of the misconduct, the sexual misconduct complaints against him, complaints which he absolutely refutes, but he indicated in the statement that his resignation was to avoid potential divisions within the party and he will be hoping, by resigning, that ahead of the scottish parliament return next week, he will be puncturing any pressure the snp is facing from opposition parties. he did say it is his absolute intention to reapply for party membership once he said he has had the opportunity to clear his name. within the last few we have had a statement from nicola sturgeon, she has said that she feels a huge sadness that the whole situation, calling alex

salmond herfriend whole situation, calling alex salmond her friend and whole situation, calling alex salmond herfriend and mentalfor almost 30 years of. she said his contribution to the snp and the independence movement speaks for itself, but she said while the decision to resign has been alex alone, she said the region she understood —— the reason she understood —— the reason she understood this bread questions from the day—to—day business of the snp going campaign for independence. —— ongoing. when paris has raced authorities between clashes between english and french fishermen on the english and french fishermen on the english channel over scots on the normandy coast. now it is time to sport today. —— for. hello, i'm chetan pathak, and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: sloane stephens battles back from a set down to maintain the defence of her us open title. benfica hit four to book their place

in the group stages of the champions league. and with an eye on making history, india prepare for their must win fourth test against england. welcome to the programme. we start with tennis, and day three of the us open in new york where the defending women's champion sloane stephens is through to the third round. but she had to come from a set down to beat the ukrainian anhelina kalinina, who is ranked 134 in the world. stephens, the number three seed, finally came through 4—6, 7—5, 6—2, and she'll now face the former world number one victoria azarenka.