journalistjamal khashoggi is dead. the president made the comments to reporters. he said washington was waiting for the results of several investigations before it made an official comment. the latest european summit in brussels has drawn to a close without an apparent solution to the brexit impasse. theresa may says the uk's transition could be extended by a matter of months. and this video is trending on bbc.com. remember banksy‘s most famous picture being partially shredded just seconds after it was sold at auction? well, now the elusive artist has released a video showing how the prank didn't actually go to plan. the painting was supposed to be completely destroyed. that's all. stay with bbc world news. and the top story in the uk: recorded crime in england and wales has risen sharply, with the number of murders at its highest level for ten years.

labour say ministers need to reverse their cuts to police numbers. now on bbc news, live to singapore for asia business report. the us treasury secretary drops out ofa the us treasury secretary drops out of a global investment conference in saudi arabia, as the country is accused of killing a us —based journalist. and what value does the british royals‘ brand ring to the british royals‘ brand ring to the british economy? we try and pin down a figure as prince harry and meghan wrap up the australian leg of their tour. good morning and welcome to asia business report, live from singapore, with me, mariko oi. as we told you on tuesday, a mass exodus

is continuing from a saudi investment conference. in a tweet, us treasury secretary steven mnuchin said he will not be attending the event next week. it is of course a growing list of international leaders and businesses who have pulled out after the country has been accused of killing us —based saudi journalistjamal been accused of killing us —based saudi journalist jamal khashoggi. our business reporter in new york explains why the move is significant. this business summit in saudi arabia gives attendees an opportunity to secure lucrative contracts in the country, so the financial benefit to attending could be quite significant. but in the end there was just too much pressure on people to pull out, including us trade secretary steven mnuchin. this is from france and the uk already had, and big names in america‘s is this community like jamie diamond of jpmorgan chase and bill ford of ford motor company had already said they would not be attending. no one will

be going in steven mnuchin‘s place, and this has certainly increased the pressure on any american company thatis pressure on any american company that is still planning to attend. the fox business network has cancelled its sponsorship and will no longer be covering the conference. we will also be getting the latest growth figures from china in aboutan the latest growth figures from china in about an hour this morning. it is for the three months to september, and guess what. economists forecast the slowest expansion is in the globalfinancial the slowest expansion is in the global financial crisis. the slowest expansion is in the globalfinancial crisis. much the slowest expansion is in the global financial crisis. much of the slowdown is likely due to the ongoing trade war with the us. let‘s first rewind to the start of the year, because in the first quarter of this year the economy expanded by 6.8%. then that slipped to 6.7% in the second quarter. that was when the second quarter. that was when the trade row between the two countries was just kicking off. and of course, since then, the us has imposed tariffs on chinese exports

worth $34 billion injuly, $16 billion in august, and a whopping $200 billion in september. but our asian analyst says he doesn‘t anticipate seeing the trade war impact on the latest numbers just yet. i think it is going to be more ofa yet. i think it is going to be more of a 2019 event. we conduct surveys ona of a 2019 event. we conduct surveys on a monthly basis with about 300 individuals in china working in small and medium—sized businesses, and so farour small and medium—sized businesses, and so far our contacts are telling us and so far our contacts are telling us the trade war has not yet hit and demand. if anything, us the trade war has not yet hit and demand. ifanything, in us the trade war has not yet hit and demand. if anything, in the statistics, there may be a tailwind from the trade war because people have been positioning orders ahead of time, ahead of the tariffs being implemented. on the flipside, confidence has been hit. so almost all the people we talk to on the ground in china say that they would be more optimistic about 2019 if they had more certainty around the outcome of the trade war, and i think that risk appetite is going to impact gdp next year. of course,

beijing has been implemented in some measure is trying to cushion, i guess, the impact. what else can authorities do? well, they have a pretty big toolbox. it is more limited than it was two years ago or three years ago because gdp is at a much higher level, but they are tightening the property market. they have been conducting a de— leveraging campaign with governments and corporate is. they have an environmental crackdown which has persisted until today. if things get really bad they can start to let up on those initiatives which are being a drag on growth. what they have done so far has been tweaks in risk management, not a change in direction from 2019. we keep talking about this trade war as if it is the biggest risk, which of course it is. but there are other issues, like gatt, as well. what are authorities

doing about them? so far they have stuck to their guns and they have said that we are going to focus on our reform programmes. they view that as an important initiative to stabilise the economy long—term, and we have not seen them fully shift towards growth prioritisation over reform. and i think it is going to bea reform. and i think it is going to be a difficult balance when you look into next year, because the issue with doing another stimulus is you will get debt levels to exceed really dangerous levels. let's now talk about oil prices, because they have been volatile and heading north in the past few weeks. traders are concerned about the trade war we have just been talking about, as well as us sanctions on iran. the opec oil producers‘ cartels as there are opec oil producers‘ cartels as there a re factors opec oil producers‘ cartels as there are factors the under control. our reporter caught up with its secretary general at the india energy forum earlier this week. this yearin energy forum earlier this week. this year in vienna, we found out that we had not only accomplished our objective of bringing down stocks to

the five—year average, but we had surpassed that target by almost 47%. and therefore it was not healthy. we voluntarily, on our own, reversed course and decided to work to strive to bring down the conformity level to bring down the conformity level to about 100%. and at the moment, on course. this is a work in progress. however, there are factors that are com pletely however, there are factors that are completely outside of our control that are making this stability hard earned stability, and it has taken us almost four years, looking increasingly fragile. but iran has said that no other oil exporting nation should be allowed to take

over the export from iran. where does opec stand on that? we are working with the non— opec producers in the declaration of cooperation, in which iran is a very important member, and collectively, trying to ensure that the market remains well supplied, and the market continues to be ina supplied, and the market continues to be in a state of balance. as you have been hearing, prince harry and meghan are on a 16 day tour of australia and new zealand. it is of course their first official royal tour since their wedding in may, and comes off the back of news that the duchessis comes off the back of news that the duchess is now pregnant and is due to give birth next spring. the appeal of the british royals are undeniable, but there are also many critics who have complained that a royal tour such as this costs the british taxpayers too much money. but branding expert stephen

mcguinness says it is hard to quantify the value of their brand and that the benefits outweigh the costs. lets put this in context. the british royal family are an incredibly successful brand. if you think coca—cola is big, coca—cola has been around for about 130 years, the british royal family has been around for about 130 years, the british royalfamily about 1500 yea rs. the british royalfamily about 1500 years. and you don‘t survive that long unless you are giving the customer what they want. so there really is a set of messages and something about the royal family that gives reassurance, a heritage, provenance, a sense of real well—being, not just to provenance, a sense of real well—being, notjust to the british but potentially the ex— colonial countries, australia, parts of africa, and the rapture with which they are greeted is phenomenal. this is with harry and wills, kate and meghan, and this is monarchy 3.0. they have the aspiration, they are

fun, they are friendly, but they don‘t move into that soap opera territory that perhaps the royal family in the 90s did. but there are critics who say that this kind of tour is a complete waste of money. is there a figure that we can put on, i guess, the tourism impact, the economic impact of the royal family? well, what the budweiser get from the world cup? what do nike get from ronaldo? what the royal family do fall brand britain is very strong. those elements of history are what british brands sell abroad and what british brands sell abroad and what british brands sell to tourists. that resonates with a global market and is really powerful, especially ina and is really powerful, especially in a post— brexit universe, where what is written going to stand for, what is written going to stand for, what does britain mean? the royal family isa what does britain mean? the royal family is a mental shorthand for what written stance for in a way that perhaps germany or france or

belgium would not have if they were to leave the eu. -- britain. and the nikkei has opened sharply lower, down by nearly 1.7% after wall street fell yet again, in fact, for the ninth time in the last 11 sessions. we will continue to monitor shanghai, because they dived almost 3% to the lowest level in four years on thursday. the us trade war we keep talking about continuing to affect the stock market. that‘s it for this edition of asia business report. thank you for watching. this is bbc news. the top stories this hour: the pressure is ramping up on saudi arabia. president trump says it certainly looks like the missing journalist, jamal khashoggi is dead. another summit ends with no sign of a brexit breakthrough. theresa may suggests the uk could stay tied to the eu for longer than planned.

a jury has been retracing the last known movements of two nine—year—old schoolgirls who were found dead on the south downs 32 years ago. russell bishop is on trial for the second time, accused of murdering karen hadaway and nicola fellows. he denies the charges. sarah campbell reports. court number 16 of the old bailey relocated 50 miles south, to brighton. this is the first of the locations we‘re going to be at. this is the entrance to wild park. brian altmann qc, the lead prosecutor. and, in the green coat, thejudge, mrjustice sweeney. he told the seven men and five women of the jury, who can‘t be filmed, to wear sensible shoes and bring something to write with. their first walk took them within view of the wooded area in which the girls‘ bodies were found on 10 october 1986.

karen hadaway and nicola fellows lived less than half a mile away from the park. they were both nine years old, and had been strangled and sexually assaulted. the jury members were taken on a route which passed this permanent memorial to the two girls. the judge had warned them yesterday that they wouldn‘t stop here — not out of disrespect to the victims, but because it isn‘t relevant to the trial. here‘s the area of land, just beyond the fence... the site visit was a chance for the jurors to get to know the geography of this area, seeing for themselves the locations they will hear about throughout the course of this trial. the defendant, russell bishop, who is being tried for the second time for the girls‘ killings, chose not to attend the site visit. we‘ll go ahead. tomorrow, the judge and jury will be back in the more familiar surrounds of the central criminal court, as the case continues. sarah campbell, bbc news, brighton. the scottish government has confirmed a case of bse, or so called mad cow disease, at a farm in aberdeenshire. movement restrictions have been put in place at the farm while further

investigations take place. there have been 16 cases of the disease in the uk since 2011, but this is the first in scotland for ten years. officials say there is no risk to human health. the online retailer amazon says it will create over 1,000 new high—skilled jobs in the uk, including 600 in manchester. edinburgh and cambridge will also see hundreds of new roles as part of what the web giant calls its long—term commitment to british innovation. the new jobs will focus on software development, advertising technology and personalised shopping. don‘t forget you can get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter. i‘m @bbckasiamadera. now on bbc news, sport today. hello, i‘m chetan pathak, and this is sport today,

live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: pakistan give us one of the strangest run outs you‘ll ever see, but australia have little else to celebrate in the second test. history—maker. ons jabeur becomes the first tunisian to reach a wta tournament semi—final after another upset in moscow. and a journey into wayne‘s world. we hear from rooney and why he‘s loving life in washington. thank you forjoining us. not even a bizarre run—out could derail pakistan, who are well on their way to winning the test series against australia in abu dhabi. azhar ali made 64 before his dismissal which got everyone talking, and babar azam felljust one run short of a century, but pakistan still managed