in indonesia after an earthquake and tsunami. four days on, some remote areas are only now being reached, rescuers are struggling with a shortage of heavy equipment as they try to reach victims calling out from the ruins of collapsed buildings. the dead are being buried in mass graves. the death toll currently stands at more than 840, but as emergency operations gain access to remote areas, there are fears the number of dead could end up in the thousands. and this story is trending on bbc dot com: as president trump says he wants a comprehensive fbi investigation into his supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh, a former classmate of the judge says he has not been telling the truth about his drinking in his past. stay with bbc world news. and the top story in the uk: a factory worker from the west midlands is facing a life sentence after he was convicted of murdering his eight—year—old daughter. 55—year—old william billingham stabbed mylee at his home near walsall in january,

after her mother started a same—sex relationship. now on bbc news live to singapore for asia business report. it is always a challenge for us in indonesia as a geographic in terms of the scope is huge. indonesia's finance minister talks about the challenge of having a nationwide tsunami alert system. and over in south australia, american firm tesla sets out to create the world's largest virtual powerplant with the help of the residents. it is tuesday, everyone. glad you could join us foran tuesday, everyone. glad you could join us for an action packed edition of asia business report. as you

hurt, desperate efforts are under way to rescue people trapped by friday's earthquake and tsunami which slammed onto the indonesian island of sulawesi, and questions are being asked about the effectiveness of the country's early warning system which was put in place after the indian ocean tsunami in 2004. place after the indian ocean tsunami in 200a. critics say government budget cuts held up funding for an improved system, which could have saved lives. indonesia's finance minister says the focus right now is on getting help where it is most needed. she spoke with my colleague john brithley. we improve the system, the budget in terms of supporting geophysics institutions to establish tools along many of the shore in indonesia, it is big, geographically, so there are challenges for us to put priority.

of course we hope that we can understand the pattern of this natural disaster pattern in indonesia, but there is always a challenge for us to cover indonesia asa drear challenge for us to cover indonesia as a drear —— geographic, in terms of scope it was huge. there were budget decreases that might have impacted the spending available for this new early warning system. yes. my this new early warning system. yes. my own understanding, as finance minister back then and today, i think the amount of budget that we spent for many other government agencies has actually never decreased in this case, except for 2016, when i did a very severe cut because, at that time, we saw that the budget was not sustainable. this was very unpopular, but necessary, when the macro economics stability was at stake. is it something you regret now, the cut in 2016? we will continue to evaluate and improve

from what is being mentioned. this is not about a small budget cut in this case. and we are not supposed to shift this issue into that, because it's not going to create a better way for the country. i think we are always able to actually provide. so it is a matter of priority for indonesia to manage our budget and what is the most important for the people and the economy. indonesia's finance minister speaking with john economy. indonesia's finance minister speaking withjohn bithley. donald trump has touted trade arrangement with canada and mexico asa arrangement with canada and mexico as a victory for us workers. washington and ottawa reached agreement late sunday to update the north american free trade agreement and give it a new name. the united states, mexico, canada agreement, the us president singling out farming and auto sectors as beneficiaries of the trilateral

trade pact. this new deal is an especially great victory for our farmers, ourfarmers have gone through a lot over the last 15 yea rs, through a lot over the last 15 years, they have been taken advantage of by everybody. once approved, this will be a new dawn for the american auto industry and for the american auto industry and for the american auto industry and for the american auto worker. trade a nalyst for the american auto worker. trade analyst explained how the deal could drive up operating costs for carmakers. very expensive to produce a car in nafta because of the local content requirements mean that every pa rt content requirements mean that every part of a car more all this has to be made in nafta markets, there is a labour requirement to use $16 an hour on average labour for a labour requirement to use $16 an hour on average labourfor a big portion of the car components, and to export will be very expensive. what does it mean for the south korean and japanese car manufacturers? i think that interesting, and again the implications are tough but maybe they have a better shot of having markets outside the us. they are already deeply embedded inside the us and nafta markets so i think they will continue to be there for the domestic markets. but outside of that they should be very

competitive. car industry executives have gathered in the french capital to gearupfor gathered in the french capital to gear up for the paris motor show and the us is the number one destination for eu built cars with exports worth more than $411 billion us in 2017. despite the truce between donald trump and the eu'sjean—claude juncker in july the trump and the eu'sjean—claude juncker injuly the us president retreated last month, hitting european vehicle exports with 25% tax. there are been warnings as well from carmakers about the damaging impact ofa from carmakers about the damaging impact of a no—deal brexit of the industry. toyota says output at its facility in the english midlands, which produced almost 150,000 cars last year, would be temporarily halted. speaking of toyota, the carmaker will stop selling diesel powered cars in britain and europe by the year end. and it is in the race towards producing more electric

vehicles, but is it too late in the game? here is a response from the carmaker‘s europe chief. game? here is a response from the carmaker's europe chief. no, i don't think we are behind. we launched the first hybrid vehicles more than 20 yea rs first hybrid vehicles more than 20 years ago, we have sold more than 12 million hybrid vehicles, hybrid is a main technology but doesn't mean our only technology, based on what we've learned from hybrid technology we will have electric vehicles, plug—in hybrid vehicles and in future of course we already have our fuel cell hydrogen vehicle and we will continue with that. and as the markets become ready for the vehicles we will roll them out into the market. for instant in china we will have battery electric vehicles and of course injapan we will see more fuel cell vehicles, so the market structure and the market will determine what is required for that specific market. but i want to say again we will have all those technologies in europe as well. so you have been left behind, that's

not a problem? no, of course, we need to be agile and we need to respond to the market, so we will speed up as quickly as possible, but when the market is ready, we will be ready. toyota motor europe ceo speaking with business reporter theo leggatt at the paris motor show. tesla is trying to create what it calls the world's largest virtual power station in the south of australia, the first 100 out of a potential 50,000 homes have been given batteries and solar panels which can feed into the grid. our correspondent reports from adelaide. shirley and ron's home might not look like a power station but it is pa rt look like a power station but it is part of a plan to build a giant new energy source. so how topped up is it normally? the solar panels on the roof is connected to the battery which stores the energy. when it is full, access electricity is fed into the grid. it has halved the

electricity bills, as they rarely ta ke electricity bills, as they rarely take energy out of the network. on a nice, sunny day the battery is fully charged and you are pretty much of the grid. she is one of the first 100 people to be given them a new tesla batteries for free and it is claimed 50,000 homes across south australia will eventually benefit to create the world's biggest virtual power stations. over on the other side of adelaide, victoria has also been connected. we can look at where the power is flowing, so that is the solar... she keeps a close eye on every kilowatt coming from the panels for access electricity which will pay for the new system. for us it felt like winning the lottery, we felt like part of a new experiment. we are well known for having problems with power in this state so it makes sense to try to change it. south australia has been keen to develop new energy sources after yea rs of develop new energy sources after years of summer blackouts. the state is also home to another tesla project, the world's biggest lithium

battery, powered by this windfarm, it has started to bring stability. these are huge projects, they are used to promote the technology around the world, but he in australia although there is plentiful sunshine and big open spaces, many people are still sceptical about the power of renewables, and their reliability. australia's new prime minister has a lwa ys australia's new prime minister has always been keen to remind people that this is a country still rich in fossil fuel. this is coal, don't be afraid. scott morrison came to power in the midst of a row over energy and carbon emissions. energy has become a political battleground that is driven by ideology rather than what we know about climate policy and science. what that means for the average australian is that the majority of their energy will still come from coal based sources and for some australians they have an attachment to the coal sector even though that is now changing. south

australia's new virtual 250 megawatts powerplant will take more than four years to complete and will depend on both political will and private investment to make it a reality. and before we go, here is a look now at the asian markets, and currently in positive territory, led by the japanese nikkei 225 after the us and ta matta japanese nikkei 225 after the us and tamatta to rescue nafta with mexico driving up global stock markets and the nikkei is at a 27 year high. thank you so much for interesting your time with us. i'm rico hizon. sport today's coming up next. this is bbc news. the top stories this hour. desperate efforts continue to rescue people trapped in indonesia after an earthquake and tsunami. the dead are being buried in mass graves. the death toll is 844, but there are fears it could end up in the thousands. millions of small plastic

pellets, known as nurdles, have been discovered on a beach near portsmouth. it isn't clear where the microplastics have come from, but experts warn they can release toxins with potentially devastating effects for marine life, or indeed any creatures on land which consume them. a team of local volunteers has taken matters into its own hands, as our correspondent duncan kennedy reports from hayling island beach. they're called nurdles. tiny plastic pellets that have washed up in their thousands on this hampshire beach. so many, in fact, that volunteers have collected more than 20 sacks full of them. millions of them, and we couldn't physically sit here and pick them all up... they include bianca carr, who says the nurdles are used by industry to make everything from bin liners to bottles. and to give you an idea ofjust how bad the problem is here, take a look at this jar. in one small section of beach,

two metres by two metres, one volunteer spent two hours collecting all these, and found a total of about 1000 of these nurdles. no—one knows where these tiny white nurdles have come from. we're horrified by what we saw, in terms of all of these tiny, tiny plastic nurdles, which are about the size of a lentil and they're used in plastic manufacturing. they are everywhere around here. all around the shoreline. the discovery in hampshire coincides with tonight's documentary on the wider problem of plastic pollution. they have found their way on to nearly 75% of britain's beaches. the vast cost as have coincided with a bbc documentary tonight on plastic pollution. this is a river in indonesia.

oh, look at that, yeah.... while this is howe island, off australia, and the shocking discovery of what this bird has ingested. 0h! look at that. stomach full of plastic. one, two, three, four, five... 16 pieces of plastic. oh, look at that. yeah. six years ago, this wasn't snow in the pacific, but more nurdles, washed up in a typhoon. volunteers everywhere are cleaning up a worldwide deluge of plastic, but from hong kong... ..to hampshire, ourseas, rivers and oceans remain in a fragile struggle with human activity. duncan kennedy, bbc news, on hayling island. that is it from me, mike embley is here with the rest of the day's news. now it is time for sport today. see you soon. hello, i'm marc edwards and this is sport today,

live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme — jose under pressure, mourinho's man united gear up for their champions league clash with valencia. all roads lead to hoffenheim. maybe not all but the tiny village does welcome manchester city to south west germany. see you in la. it's a fiery first press conference ahead of the fury wilder world heavyweight clash. hello and thanks forjoining us. it's matchday 2 of the champions league this week and a chance for manchester united to bounce back from a torrid run of matches that has seen them record their worst league start in 29 years. they were also knocked out of the league cup by second tier derby county. they welcome valencia to old trafford with the pressure piling on jose mourinho asjoe lynskey reports.