after being acquitted of blasphemy charges. her release from prison has triggered angry outbursts from hardline islamist groups, who have filed a petition calling for the decision to be reversed. but her lawyer has told the bbc she is free to leave the country. the trump administration says it will restrict the ability of illegal migrants to seek asylum on the southern us border in a move previewed by the president last week. and this video is trending on bbc.com. models have been gracing the catwalk in beirut. nothing really out of the ordinary you'd say, but look closer, these dresses are made with chocolate. they are the creations of thirteen lebanese designers and thirteen pastry chefs. that's all. stay with bbc world news. and the top story in the uk: official figures show diabetes prescriptions are costing the nhs in england more than £1 billion each year. the biggest recent increases have been in treatments for type two

diabetes, which is closely linked with a poor diet and lack of exercise. now on bbc news, live to singapore for asia business report. fed on hold. no rates move from the us central bank but asian markets follow wall street's lacklustre lead on expectations of a december hike. and how some companies are seeing business opportunities as pollution in delhi rises to dangerous levels. hello and welcome to asia business report, i'm sharanjit leyl. the us fed has kept interest rates on hold and while the decision was widely predicted, that doesn't mean markets we re predicted, that doesn't mean markets were entirely unfazed. shares in asia have followed on wall street's lacklustre lead in a sign analysts

continue to expect a hike next month. meanwhile, oil prices have slipped further as traders focus on rising global crude supply, and this comes as i nvesto i’s rising global crude supply, and this comes as investors continued to digest the outcome of the mid—terms and the firing of attorney general jeff sessions. let's look at the asian markets and how they've opened. they are lower, the nikkei expanding on some of those earlier losses. lots of concern there about the volatility and instability in the volatility and instability in the markets. market strategist michael mccarthy gave me a rundown of the fed announcement. this is a much more moderate statement from the fed than the markets were expecting, and in particular they talk about the balance of risks being quite even at the moment, it might have surprised some. the trading session last night was 5°99)” trading session last night was soggy, we saw trading session last night was soggy, we saw pressure trading session last night was soggy, we saw pressure on us shares and most major indices in the red book for the late rally and that is in sharp contrast to the previous night. the two sessions are related,

with the risk of the mid—terms out of the way, investors were introduced but also they were infused about the idea the republicans couldn't prosecute their stimulus agenda, we should see a softer approach from the fed. we didn't see that in the statement and that disappointed investors. what's interesting about the statement and the mini is released is they make no mention of the market volatility in october that got donald trump so riled up —— the minutes released. could be take a step back from the policy? it's not impossible. the fed sees market reactions as a secondary effect of their broader operations —— could they. they are worried about a wealth of fact, a falling market impacting consumer behaviour but the fall in asset prices is not an issue for the fed and nor our political concerns and they demonstrated that with the neutral statement overnight. what about oil prices, we saw them slumping

overnight, this in a week when iranian sanctions went into effect. it's been an extraordinary fall, but the exemption of eight nations from those sanctions and the increasing supply we're seeing, not only in the us but other nations around the world, means oil has been on the slide for some time, since the beginning of october west texas prices are down more than 20% and that concern is not only on the supply side, there's also concerns global demand is softening due to the trade disruptions and both of those factors are pushing oil prices lower. michael mccarthy. air pollution in the indian capital has risen to dangerous levels after firecrackers we re dangerous levels after firecrackers were set off to celebrate give our league despite a court ban and by some estimates, breathing the air in delhi is like smoking a dozen cigarettes a day and now some companies and start—ups are cashing in and turning this toxic situation into a business opportunity. divina

gupta reports. a demo for breathing clean air in delhi. as the air gets more toxic, the students are urging people to wear masks. it is one of several ways people in delhi are coping with the pollution and businesses are cashing in. master sales have skyrocketed, these ones, back $50, have seen demand rising. —— mask. companies making nasal filters have seen demand rising. —— mask. companies making nasalfilters and say the filters can stop matter entering the body through the nose. it is more affordable than a normal face mask because you can put nasal masks on for the whole day. we are able to produce more than 250,000 nasal filters per day. doctors

orders are to stay indoors when pollution is bad, it's opened opportunity forfirms pollution is bad, it's opened opportunity for firms selling green technology. this is a unique greenhouse. there are 3000 plants here, just like this one, where there are small fans attached to the pot. they take the oxygen from the root, release it into the air and this oxygen is then taken in by the vents, which are stored up on the roof. these ducts capture the oxygen and transport it into the offices in this building. what we have here is definitely a solution, rich people can look at, experience, see if they can look at, experience, see if they can do it. my thinking is, in all offices and all malls, it be done. it is catching on but it is slow. while health experts caution none of the solutions are 100% effective, for the 19 million people living in delhi, breathing clean air is

priceless. the international monetary fund team is in pakistan for talks on a possible bailout package. prime minister in rank an has been looking for ways to boost of the struggling economy since taking power in august. my next guest says islamabad is trying to avoid another imf bailout. she is the lead economist at oxford economics. why is pakistan having to resort to these loans in the first place, why is the economy struggling so much? struggling once again. they are in a position where they spend more than what they're saving. we've had large fiscal debt as it is, the government spends with as it is, the government spends with a low revenue base, and that pushes up a low revenue base, and that pushes up imports —— deficits. they're relying on foreign investors. foreign investors, as we've seen in other emerging markets, we've seen outflows. that's meant unfortunately

they've had to devalue the currency and raise interest rates, but the problem is they're facing an external financial crisis. they've had less than two months of import cover with theirforeign had less than two months of import cover with their foreign reserves. quite dire straits there. we no, it's not the first time the imf has had to bail out pakistan, they've done so several times since the 19805, done so several times since the 1980s, but this time it could be different because we know the us is the biggest shareholder in the imf and they're the biggest shareholder in the imf and they‘ re concerned the biggest shareholder in the imf and they're concerned about these loa ns and they're concerned about these loans pakistan has been taking from the likes of china for instance. any negotiation if they do go to the table for discussions with the imf over a bailout will be rocky, a bit tricky, because of these loans. christine lagarde has come out to say we need transparency of all sovereign debt, that would include china. china has been reticent about providing this information, as has pakistan, so negotiations will be interesting. we know they've taken lots of loans from the saudis, $6

billion it in october, so we'll be imf see this, the fact pakistan keeps going to places like saudi and china to get loans, will they see this as a positive or negative? —— will be imf. pakistan don't want to go to the imf for a bailout —— will be imf. that's like saudi arabia and china who provide some loans longer term pakistan does need an imf bailout to move beyond to a medium—term sustainability in their fiscal and medium—term economy. thank you so much for explaining that for us. former goldman sachs boss lloyd blankfein is reportedly the unidentified high—ranking executives mentioned in us court documents attending a 2009 meeting. former malaysian prime minister

najib razak, involved in the one mds scandal. this is according to bloomberg news. the meeting was set up bloomberg news. the meeting was set up and attended by malaysian businessman joe lowe up and attended by malaysian businessmanjoe lowe and former goldman partner tim eisner. no comment from goldman and mr blank signed said he was not aware of senior managers missing red flags in the case. the success of marvel‘s and man and the wasp has helped improve disney profits and revenue above wall street expectations. it saw more visitors flock to the theme parks. they said total revenue rose to more than $14 billion from $12.7 billion. the personal effects of the late stephen hawking, including a signed copy of his 1965 phd thesis, have raised almost $2.4 million. a total of 22 items owned by the cambridge physicist, who died

in march, were auctioned by christie is. a copy of the thesis sold for more than three quarters of $1 million. that's it for this edition of asia business report. i'm sharanjit leyl in singapore. we have sport today coming up next. remember, if you want to reach us via twitter, you can do so and that's it for this edition of asia business report. hello, i'm ben bland, the top stories this hour: the lawyerfor asia bibi, the pakistani christian woman acquitted of blasphemy, has told the bbc she's free to leave the country. us authorities say they will prevent people who illegally enter the country from claiming asylum. the international trade secretary, liam fox, says the uk must be able

to decide when to leave any temporary customs arrangement with the eu. vicki young explains. a deal is almost done and cabinet ministers want to know exactly what they'll be asked to sign up to. they've come to read details of progress so far. it's 95% done, according to the prime minister, but the remaining 5% is proving difficult. some are worried the uk will be closely tied to the eu for years, unable to break away. we have an instruction from our voters to leave the european union. that decision can't be subcontracted to somebody else. that needs to be an issue for a sovereign british government to be able to determine. and this is the sticking point. both sides are committed to making sure there are no border checks between northern ireland and ireland. one option, known as the backstop, is for the uk to stay in a customs arrangement with the eu until a free—trade deal is ready. in paris today, the foreign secretary went public with his concerns. we cannot, as a sovereign country, be trapped in legal arrangements

relating to customs, for example, that could exist in perpetuity even if it was against the sovereign will of the british people at some stage in the future. the row over this slightly complicated technical issue mirrors a broader complaint from many brexiteers about theresa may's plans. for them, brexit is all about the uk seizing control of its own destiny, not following eu rules for years with no say over them and no obvious way to escape them. getting the trading relationship right after brexit is crucial. brexiteers have been accused of glossing over the importance of the existing trading routes with the continent. even the brexit secretary, who's dealing with all of this, admitted he'd underestimated it. we want to bespoke arrangement on goods which recognises the peculiar, frankly, geographic economic entity that is the united kingdom. i hadn't quite understood the full extent of this, but if you look at the uk and you look at how we trade in goods, we're particularly reliant

on the dover—calais crossing. hello, i'm just on the phone and i'm afraid. but before trade talks can start, ministers need to finalise the withdrawal agreement. it's an excellent document. we should be really proud of what the prime minister has achieved to get this far and i'm looking forward to supporting the final deal. and no—one knows how long that will take. vicki young, bbc news, westminster. now on bbc news, sport today. hello. this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: the highs and the lows as arsenal qualify for the europa league last 32, but lose danny welbeck to a nasty looking ankle injury. a keatonjennings century puts england in a commanding position of the first test against sri lanka in galle with two days remaining. and sergio garcia will take

a four—stroke lead into the second round of the nedbank golf challenge in south africa. hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with the news that arsenal suffered bad news in their goalless europa league draw with sporting lisbon. danny welbeck suffered an horrendous ankle injury inside the opening half an hour which will more than likely spell the end of his season. the 27—year—old england international fell awkwardly inside the opposition penalty area and was stretchered off, as the gunners qualify for the last 32 in a match that saw former barcelona defenderjeremy mathieu sent off for taking down pierre—emerick aubameyang in a scoring position outside the box. but unai emery‘s side did extend their unbeaten run to 15 despite failing to score although the welbeck injury was the manager's focus.