i'm babita sharma. our top story: after several high—profile resignations, the british prime minister has appealed to her party to get behind her brexit deal. theresa may had been forced to defend her plan following a day of stinging criticism inside and outside parliament, including from the man who set up the deal, the brexit secretary, dominic raab. a planned repatriation of rohingya muslims from bangladesh to myanmar has been delayed after a mass protest. more than 700,000 rohingyas fled myanmar last year to escape violence and military operations which targeted them. and brexit is trending on bbc.com. and this story is trending on bbc.com. one of the greatest works by the british painter, david hockney, has set a new record at the new york auction house, christie's. portrait of an artist — pool with two figures fetched $80 million. you are up—to—date. stay with us. and here in the uk: nhs england is reviewing cancer screening programmes following a series of recent blunders. it's emerged that nearly 50,000 women haven't received smear test

reminders and test results. here is rico with asia business report. the pound gets pounded as the uk government is involved in turmoil over its brexit deal, the prime minister theresa may remains defiant. and canadian leaderjustin trudeau on trade in an exclusive interview, the prime minister tells the bbc why he thinks multilateralism will overcome nationalism. good morning, asia. hello, world. welcome to this friday edition of asia business report. i'm rico hizon. well, we start off with the pound, and it is tumbling down against world currencies, such as the japanese yen and the us dollar, as

the uk government is in crisis over the uk government is in crisis over the brexit agreement with the european union. in the face of a series of ministers resigning and the threat of a no—confidence vote, prime minister theresa may promised to get a deal signed off in brussels and put it to mps in parliament. one of my cricket heroes was always geoffrey boycott and what did you know about him? he stuck to it and he got the runs in the end. for more, iam he got the runs in the end. for more, i am joined he got the runs in the end. for more, iamjoined by he got the runs in the end. for more, i am joined by mariko. he got the runs in the end. for more, iamjoined by mariko. how he got the runs in the end. for more, i am joined by mariko. how is it faring? it is not doing well at all. as we both know, uncertainty is something markets don't like. that is exactly what we have got. let me show you this chart, which really shows how the pound fell sharply as ministers announced the resignation. but if you are wondering why it in asia we should carry about it, it does have quite a bit of impact on asian companies, especially japanese carmakers, which have been investing heavily in the uk, using the country

asa heavily in the uk, using the country as a way to get into the european market. so we've heard from the chief executive officer of toyota, making a harsh statement saying, please avoid a no—deal brexit at all costs. it is quite surprisingly strong worded coming from a japanese ceo. japanese companies were quite vocal against brexit ahead of the referendum. now we have the statement urging lawmakers to try and come to an agreement. well, sooner and come to an agreement. well, sooner rather than later, everyone hopes. thank you for the update, mariko. world leaders have wrapped up mariko. world leaders have wrapped up the asean and east asia summit in singapore and have moved on to papua new guinea for the apec summit. us president donald trump's absence raise questions about commitment to the region while leaders from china, india andjapan the region while leaders from china, india and japan are focusing on building multilateral trade arrangements. in an interview with the bbc canadian prime minister

justin trudeau told us who is winning ina justin trudeau told us who is winning in a world divided by multilateralism and nationalist visions. we have to recognise that citizens are anxious, anxious about the pace of change, anxious about transformation in our economies, anxious around the new waves of immigrants and of migrations around the world, anxious about their plays and their future and their kids' place and their future, and there are two choices in politics, you can either amplify those fears with a politics of populism and division or you can allay those fears with concrete, sometimes complex and reasonable solutions. i am very much obviously in the latter camp and i think that there is no question that, no matter what citizens you talk to a round—the—world, of which country, canada is an example of this, but not the only one, if you come to people with a thoughtful, reasonable, positive vision, they will respond, and that comes from my

deep faith in human nature and my understanding that, if you give people an opportunity to rise to meet the challenges, they always will. canadian prime ministerjustin trudeau. meanwhile china's xi jinping has arrived in papua new guinea as donald trump has skipped this apec summit. president xi will have the floor to discuss trade agreements amid rising tension between the world's two largest economies. 0ur asia business correspondent told me why china has invested so heavily in papua new guinea. that is one of the main key points and themes i think we will see play out over the next couple of days as president xi gets under way with his state visit here in papua new guinea. as you are saying china has really concentrated on this country in particular, but also around the pacific. it has spent hundreds of millions of dollars building things like roads, highways, many of the venues, rico, for the apec summit in papua new guinea have actually been bankrolled

by beijing. you know, by far the australian investment in this place still outweighs china but there is a real sense that the kinds of things that beijing is building, infrastructure, is what papua new guinea really needs, that's what i have consistently heard from a lot of people i have been speaking to and look at how important the relationship is becoming between the two sides. 0n the eve of the state visit all of the national newspapers had president xi's face plastered all across these newspapers, and there is going to be an massive parade later on as they welcome this very new friend in town, that's causing tensions to rise elsewhere. no mention on the front pages about the presence of the united states because you have vice president pence also there. how is it playing out economically? that's a very good point and out economically? that's a very good pointand a out economically? that's a very good point and a lot of people have told me that half the battle in trying to

convince another country especially in this part of the world in asia and the pacific is to basically show up and the pacific is to basically show up if you want to convince them to be your ally or you want to do business with them. part of that arrangement isjust business with them. part of that arrangement is just simply showing up. and president xi is doing that in real glamour i think is the right way to put it because he is going to be here for the next five days for the state visit and for the apec summit. the us via —— vice president isn't staying in port moresby. he is literally flying in for a speech he will make at the apec summit. we will make at the apec summit. we will see the competing visions from the us and china. it will be up to papua new guinea and the pacific to decide which direction it wants to go in. our correspondent at the apec summit in papua new guinea. moving on to other news and walmart saying

that the company continues to compete with amazon by gobbling up online firms. it says it expects a strong holiday season. 0ur online firms. it says it expects a strong holiday season. our business reporter in new york michelle fleury has the details. judging by the numbers walmart‘s determination to ta ke numbers walmart‘s determination to take on amazon appears to be increasing. the e—commerce brand was boosted by the online grocery business, while store sales grew 3% in the third quarter. if you look heading into the holiday season, walmart, which also ownsjet.com is poised to overtake apple in online sales according to one survey. now this would put the world's largest retailer behind only amazon and ebay. but it has come at a price. it has had to spend more and sacrifice profit margin to achieve these competitive gains. and if you look at thursday's closing stock price, investors punished walmart for that. more generally with the us economy

doing well it is perhaps no surprise that american retailers recorded their strongest sales in five months. but the picture is definitely less rosy once you start looking at individual companies. for example, for every walmart reporting an increase in sales, there is a on which was gloomy about its prospects for this holiday season. —— there wasjc penny. for this holiday season. —— there was jc penny. in other news facebook faces new controversy this time over tactics it used to discredit critics in embarrassed rival companies. the new york times published an account of the methods facebook and a public relations firm used to deny and deflect criticism. the report has led us lawmakers to call for tighter regulation of social networks. facebook has denied several of the claims. the family of a passenger killed when the ryanair flight crashed into the sea near indonesia is suing boeing over an alleged fault with the jet‘s design. the

lawsuit accuses the us plane maker of failing to inform pilots and air lines of a feature with its new 737 max aircraft system that could "push the nose down unexpectedly". the ryanairflight the nose down unexpectedly". the rya nair flight was carrying the nose down unexpectedly". the ryanair flight was carrying 189 people when it crashed last month, killing everyone on board. the us treasury department has sanctioned 17 individuals over the alleged roles in the killing ofjournalist jamaal khashoggi. washington says the targets of the sanctions include saudi crown prince ben salman‘s close adviser and blacklisted for gross human rights abuses. yesterday saudi arabia's public prosecutor concluded that an intelligence officer ordered his murder, not the

crown prince. let's have a quick look now at the markets before we go. as you can see, the nikkei 225 is down 26 points in early trade. it was up almost 50 points, a reversal of fortune there. the all 0rdinaries index gaining ten and the hang seng opening the new trading day lullaby 67 points despite gains on wall street overnight. a lot of uncertainty, though, for brexit. thank you so much for investing your time with us. i'm rico hizon. goodbye for now. this is bbc news. the top stories this hour: despite stinging criticism, and a string of ministerial resignations, the british prime minister has promised to see her brexit deal through. let's stay with that story: we've been asking people who voted in the referendum what they think of the way brexit has turned out so far. danny savage visited newcastle. how is life going to be different for people after the last 2a hours in british politics?

at this science centre in newcastle, people were still wondering what it all means. i just sort of want something to come out — just to sort of say, what is actually happening? what is the plan of happening? when is everything going to go ahead? is it going ahead, because there's sort of been back and forths? i just want to know what is actually the plan of brexit. and there was some sympathy for theresa may. i didn't vote conservative but i do feel she's got a really... i don't think anyone could do the job, to be honest at the moment. i think she's got an impossible job. gosh! aren't you shiny, happy people?! the artificial intelligence hadn't quite caught up with the public mood. if the actual government can't agree on it, it seems to suggest nobody really agrees on what's going on at the minute and it's alljust a bit vague really. 0utside another north—east institution, there was more food for thought. are we out, are we in? are we europe, are we not? just let us know what's happening.

because you feel as though you don't know at the moment. haven't got a clue. in a city which was divided down the middle in the referendum, three mechanics who voted out still want out, but... so, would you like a deal, no—deal or no brexit? i'd take a deal, to be honest. aye. deal? deal. i think it's an absolute shambles at the minute. i don't think we're getting any further forward. get on with it. why has it took so long? i appreciate that we've got 30 years in the eu and they can'tjust undo it, like, but it seems shambolic the way they're going about it. the thickness of the ice the government is skating on at the moment is definitely up for debate. as the day's resignations happened, people here made up their minds. they either back it or they don't. so, don't back it and leave. if they get new people, in, they do be leaving it. do you think she should resign? no. as the brexit exit plan was gutted and filleted, students at newcastle college are worried. i want to work abroad. i want to work on cruise ships, and there's going to be a lot more

paperwork for me to do to maybe even get a chance at thatjob and that's not good for me. to some, it may feel like we're going round in circles but for now we just have to watch westminster sort itself out. danny savage, bbc news, newcastle. that is it from me. keep in touch. you can reach me on twitter. i'm @babitabbc. mike embley is he with the rest of the day's news of course and the latest development on brexit here in the uk in15 latest development on brexit here in the uk in 15 minutes. but now let's catch up with all of the sports news in sport today. see you soon. hello, i'm tulsen tollett and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: croatia score a late winner against spain to set up a winner takes all match against england in sunday's uefa nations league clash. roger federer beats kevin anderson in straight sets

to qualify for the atp finals in london and the second round of the dp world tour championship tees off shortly as francesco molinari remains on course to win his first race to dubai title. hello and welcome to the programme where we start with football and spain have missed the chance to be the first team through to next year's uefa nations league finals. they'd have qualified with a win in croatia but were beaten 3—2 in zagreb. after a goalless first half, the home side led twice — through andrej kramaric and tinjedvaj but each time they were pegged back with goals from real madrid's dani ceballos through andrej kramaric and tinjedvaj but each time they were pegged back with goals from real madrid's dani ceballos and sergio ramos. in the 90th minute, jedvaj won it for croatia — to avenge the 6—nil thrashing they suffered in spain earlier in the season — and to keep alive their hopes