with north korea. this follows north leader kim jong—un's promise to close a missile launch facility at the summit with his south korean counterpart in pyongyang. the us senate has given the woman who accused supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh of sexual assault until friday to decide if she will testify at a senate hearing. christine blasey ford says she wants the fbi to investigate the alleged assault. and this story is on bbc.com. the hunt for the final resting place of captainjames cook's ship hms endeavour may soon be over, in time for the 250th anniversary of her voyage to australia. the search has been narrowed down to just one or two sites. that's all. stay with bbc world news. and the top story in the uk: at the eu summit in salzburg, prime minister theresa may has again rejected the european commission's proposal that northern ireland should remain temporarily in the eu's customs union while a future trading

relationship was worked out. now on bbc news, live to singapore for asia business report. backing down on hisjobs promised, the alibaba boss says the escalating trade war means he will know longer create 1 million trade war means he will know longer create1 millionjobs in the united states. a look at how an createi millionjobs in the united states. a look at how an indian company is taking on big global drug companies by creating a new more affordable class of drugs. good morning, asia. hello, world. it is thursday, glad you could join us for another exciting addition of asia business report. i'm rico hizon and we start with chinese

billionaire jack, tomer hemed was one of the first chief executives to visit president trump when he was elected —— jack, ,. visit president trump when he was elected ——jack,,. at visit president trump when he was elected —— jack,,. at that visit president trump when he was elected —— jack, ,. at that time the alibaba elected —— jack, ,. at that time the aliba ba found a elected —— jack, ,. at that time the alibaba found a promise to create i millionjobs overfive alibaba found a promise to create i million jobs over five years in america but he has now rowed back those plans and it's because of the ongoing trade war between the us and china. he said it was based on the pledge of strong us china relations which have turned sour. the trade war escalated this week with both washington and beijing announcing caris. president trump accused china of meddling with the us mid—term elections, which they doing strongly denies —— tariffs. this is when china is holding the world economic forum. in an hour we will hearfrom jack ma, who has announced his retirement in a year. joining us from than during is asia business correspondent karishma vaswani. a busy day in tangerine, lots of

traffic and people around you. is this a big surprise that jack ma is backing down on his promise to create i million backing down on his promise to createi millionjobs in the us? it's quite an unusual statement but i don't think it should take many people by surprise simply because of the nature of the relationship between the us and china right now. given what mr ma said, i think it's quite clear that relationship has soured quite dramatically, particularly this week. you've got to rememberjack ma is an icon not just around the world but very much so just around the world but very much so here in china, so what he says carries a great deal of white. i think we're seeing signs of this rising nationalism in china in defiance of what many people i've talked to in china are saying is an unfair attack on china's economy. one academic said to me that the continuing trade war, the attention that the us is putting on china at the moment in the form of these

tariffs, it really feels like america is trying to hold the chinese economic rise. mr ma of course didn't say all of that but what he did allude to was the fact that trying to go forward in the united states with the plans to create these i million jobs over five years was going to be pretty difficult given the current relationship between the us and china. wow, this dispute is becoming wider. of course we also know that the chinese hold a large chunk of us treasuries, could it even get that worse, from trade, tojobs, to us treasuries? that's the big worry, of course, rico. it's often called the nuclear option, if the chinese start selling us treasuries, they hold one of the biggest amounts of us treasuries in the world. we saw a dip in those figures when they came out just last month but dip in those figures when they came outjust last month but most

a nalysts outjust last month but most analysts i've spoken to have said that's not got that much to do with the trade war and it would end up hurting china in any case. beijing has consistently said it will retaliate and it has options when it comes to the trade war. for now, though, we are pretty much at a stalemate. thanks forjoining us, karishma vaswani, in tangerine at the world economic forum, often called the summer davos. malaysia's former prime minister najib razak was arrested again and he will be of over $600 million in linked to state investment fund imdb ended up in his personal account. the australian prime minister scott morrison has announced tougher prison sentences for anyone caught tampering with the food chain. police authorities are investigating more than 100 cases of needles found in fruit, mainly strawberries, around the country. can't decide if you would like to joina can't decide if you would like to join a gym or the age of the studio?

and you don't want to be paying for two separate fitness studio memberships? —— a yoga studio. that is the thinking that led to a fitness at that gives members access to various workout studios. katie silver met with the chief executive, frans lehman, and asked how the business is faring in two minutes. on at business is faring in two minutes. onata business is faring in two minutes. on at a boxing gym business is faring in two minutes. on ata boxing gym in business is faring in two minutes. on at a boxing gym in central singapore where this company is gearing up to launch and i'm with the ceo. you have two minutes. you're already in the us, australia, the uk, what's taken so long to get to asia? studio fitness is rising quickly in pretty much every capital in asia so singapore is the launchpad. we are going to figure out how to change the approach to the market before we spread around asian cities. the market across asia is very diverse, how do you know what you're doing in singapore will replicate well in kuala lumpar, ja ka rta replicate well in kuala lumpar, jakarta and hong kong? we don't

know, great question. this is our first major launch in asia but what class pass first major launch in asia but what classpass is doing, we're not the one inventing the studio fitness market. local entrepreneurs in the cities are the one who have proven whether the market is ready for studio fitness, so the entrepreneurs behind these brands have decided and proved the market is ready. class pass proved the market is ready. classpass basically puts gasoline on the fire, we grow the market faster and we'd add capacity and solve the variety problems. a lot in asia say this sounds like a lot like guavapass, so what's different from class pass ? guavapass, so what's different from classpass? imitation is the greatest form of flattery. classpass is the only subscription where customers can go to their favourite brands as many times as they want each month. tell asked about the demographics of the average user? mostly women but we are gaining with men. you want

videos gaming studio classes? -- tell us. we like to test new concepts in our home market to modify them for international audiences. forbes has called class pass audiences. forbes has called classpass the next billion—dollar start—up, what are your plans? classpass the next billion—dollar start-up, what are your plans? we wa nt to start-up, what are your plans? we want to go public, we want a generational technology company to expand beyond being a studio fitness and a gym membership. we started testing wellness, massage, acupuncture, cryogenic treatment. we've added gym partners, they can go to we've added gym partners, they can gotoa we've added gym partners, they can go to a fitness gym, lift weights and we're testing other concepts all the time. i'm ready for my morning workout! from fitness to pharmaceuticals in india, and it's one of the largest makers of generic drugs in the world. the country's largest biopharmaceutical company has been focusing on a new class of drugs that will bring down the costs of

medicines for critical diseases, and its powder and chairperson, one of the richest indian entrepreneurs, is 110w the richest indian entrepreneurs, is now taking on the big global drug companies —— its founder. we have the details. over the last few years, scientists at bio con have been focusing on developing biologics. it's a new class of drugs that are made from biological sources and are different from medical medicines produced from chemicals. biologics and their cheapo cousin, bio similars, are starting to play a bigger role in the treatment of critical diseases. —— cheapo cousin. the woman behind the decision to focus on bio similars is its founder —— cheaper cousin. after building a multibillion dollar company she's taking on the big boys in the pharma industry. a blockbuster drug in the west is a billion—dollar drug, right? for me it's about a billion

patients. traditional drug companies recover their high research and development costs by charging high prices and selling them in countries that can afford to play those —— pay those rates, but she wants to do the opposite, by selling drugs that cost less to many more people in less developed countries. it might sound like a daunting task but her confidence stems from her past failures. afterfailing to confidence stems from her past failures. after failing to get into medical school in india, she's studied brewing in australia but when she returned home she couldn't get a job because she was a woman. even after starting by o'connor, the road to success wasn't always smooth. i keep telling entrepreneurs that india is intrinsic to entrepreneurial success so don't fear failure entrepreneurial success so don't fearfailure —— by o'connor. endure failure and get to the finishing line. they have been put one step closer to the finishing line. along

with its us partner, the company is telling two bio similar cancer drugs in the us, one to treat with cancer, and one used to increase white blood cells in cancer patients. the company is also focusing on to diseases, cancer and diabetes to help push revenues far above their level of $600 million. afterfacing rough weather last year, the company has also seen profits rise in the previous two quarters. going ahead, they are expecting its revenues to grow faster over the next two years as it gets permission to sell its bio similar in new markets. thanks for watching. i'm rico hizon. you're watching bbc news. a reminder of our headlines for you this our:

—— this our: the us says it's ready to restart negotiations on completely denuclearising north korea after north korea promised to close a key missile test site. the us senate has given the woman who accuses supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh of sexual assault until friday to decide if she will testify. two people have died after storm ali swept across ireland and parts of the uk with winds gusting to over 90 miles an hour. scotland and the north—east of england have also been affected as our correspondent emma vardy reports. a casualty of the extreme weather which lashed the west coast of ireland. early this morning, police received reports of a caravan blown onto a beach in county galway. the body of a woman in her 50s was recovered, believed to be a tourist visiting from switzerland who'd been asleep inside. as the storm ravaged northern ireland, a near miss for this driver in lisburn, just south of belfast. the treacherous conditions, forcing more quick thinking, this time from a ryanair pilot, just metres from the runway,

aborting a landing at dublin. and obliteration of a hospitality tent in scotland at st andrews, hampering preparations for next month's european tour golf event. powerful winds wrenched a cruise ship from its moorings at greenock port in inverclyde. the nautica had to be secured at sea by tugs. and a major incident was declared in dumfries and galloway, after people were injured by flying debris. the danger became ever more apparent. a man was killed by a falling tree, and another injured in county armagh, as northern ireland recorded its strongest ever winds in september. more than 2000 homes and businesses lost power, as branches fell on houses and cars. i heard a thud over the back of my roof, which i was a bit worried about. but it was smaller type branches.

it was only about five minutes later i went out to the front and i noticed all the big branches down. dozens of routes around belfast were closed as debris blocked the way. there's two large trees that have come down across this road, taking the power lines with them, and there's now teams working on site here and across the country to clear up some of the damage that storm ali has caused. we're still experiencing extreme gusts of winds and more problems are occurring. we definitely do at this stage expect to be working through the night and into tomorrow and having customers off supply into tomorrow at least. tonight, many homes are still without power. but with the worst of the storm and are believed to have passed, the clear—up operation is well under way. emma vardy, bbc news. emmy vardy with that report. that's it from me. i'll be back with you next week for more news days. you can keep in touch on twitter, i'd love to hear from you. martin can keep in touch on twitter, i'd love to hearfrom you. martin is

here in 15 minutes with the rest of the day's news. now on bbc news, sport today. hello, i'm tulsen tollett and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this program: a big night of champions league football and ronaldo sees red on his european debut forjuventus. competition favourites manchester city were beaten at home 2—1 by leon in their opening match. naomi osaka is into the last eight in tokyo after winning herfirst is into the last eight in tokyo after winning her first match since claiming the us open title. hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with what was a rather eventful night in the way the champions league on wednesday. less than 30 minutes into his european debut with juventus, this chap than 30 minutes into his european debut withjuventus, this chap here, cristiano ronaldo, was in tears after being sent off after tangling with a player in the