of the murder of the journalist, jamal khashoggi. but he said he wouldn't listen to the tape, which he described as vicious and violent. mr trump said cia reports that the saudi crown prince, mohammed bin salman must have ordered the killing were premature and it might be impossible to ever know. emergency workers in california are still struggling to contain wildfires that have devastated parts of the state over the last ten days. at least 76 people have died. and this story is trending on bbc.com... a painting believed to be by pablo picasso has turned up in romania, six years after it was stolen from a dutch museum. "harlequin head" was one of seven masterpieces snatched from a museum in rotterdam in a raid that lasted only three minutes. and the top story in the uk: the government's promising students in england the option of "accelerated" two year degree courses. they'll be about 20% cheaper than a traditional 3—year course. now on bbc news, live to singapore

for asia business report. no deal. apec members walk away without a statement over the us china trade war. board members of the indian central bank hold a crucial meeting later today after a clash with the prime minister ‘s government over their autonomy. hello and welcome to asia business report. the apec summit has ended without a joint communique for the first time in its history. that is because of deep division on trade between the us and china. at the meeting, the chinese president criticised america's america's first

policy and said that protectionist countries would, quote, were doomed to failure. mike pence criticised china's belt and road initiative and said that the us would help redevelop and naval base in papua new guinea as well is spending $1 billion for electricity infrastructure across the country. china is also investing heavily in png to win its hearts and minds. from poor moresby our reporter. a grand welcome for a new friend. papua new guinea rolled out the red carpet for chain's president xi jinping, in town for apec and a state meeting. thousands of people have give that gathered here just to catch a glimpse of the president. this boulevard was paid for by beijing and it is the same thing

across the country. 90% of the roads here are built in some way or another with help from china. this is infrastructure that papua new guinea really needs. china has not been shy about showing off where it spends its money. roads, highways, convention centres all bankrolled by beijing. but the way it does business here with little transparency has raised anti— chinese sentiment. but there are locals here to see china as a friend. this woman is the ambassador for the china papua new guinea friendship association. chinese businesses he pulled the money together to fund it. when we need something to help us, the chinese people come into the country and a perception needs to change about chinese people here in papua new guinea. they are here to help. australia has traditionally been the biggest donor and investor in papua new guinea but the chinese presence in growing rapidly and is increasingly visible to fears grow

as to what beijing wants from this region. when you look at what china has done in djibouti and sri lanka where they have taken ownership of a lease of a pot they don't build themselves, you can extrapolate that out through the pacific. that is the concern, but they will get a foothold in the pacific and overtime they will slowly slice the salami to appoint where in 20 or 30 years we have a fully fledged military installation in the pacific. that is why this country is now so important to the us and its allies to america is investing in a new naval base. the battle for influence between these two superpowers as benefiting papua new guinea for now but will also determine its direction in the future. so how do smaller apec nations choose between the world ‘s two largest economies? 0ne choose between the world ‘s two largest economies? one of those countries is she let the host of

next yea r‘s summit countries is she let the host of next year's summit in 2019. earlier i sat down for an exclusive interview with its president and asked how the trade war is impacting his economy. china is our latest trading partner, the us is the second—largest. and this tariff war between the us and china is affecting both the us, the chinese and the whole world. we hope that they will retreat because a tariff war is not good for anyone. you never know how they start and you never know how they start and you never know how they start and you never know how they finished. we have an international crisis in 1929, we reacted the worst possible way by trying to protect ourselves instead of trying to expand through trade. i think that free trade is the best way for china, for the us, for the world. taking a look at this chile's move tojoin for the world. taking a look at this chile's move to join the chinese one rogue one belt initiative. there are

concerns that this is part of china's debt diplomacy which is how it's been described. are you worried about that? yes. i would like the united states to return to this area. we negotiated the trans—pacific area. we negotiated the tra ns—pacific partnership area. we negotiated the trans—pacific partnership agreement with all of the countries, especially the us and the us was ready but they dropped out with president trump. i hope that will also change because i think the united states is leaving too much space for china, both in the asia—pacific and elsewhere. space for china, both in the asia-pacific and elsewhere. do you think the us is taking a step backwards from its role as a leader in the global state? yes. and i think that is not good for the us norfor the world. think that is not good for the us nor for the world. but in this asia—pacific area it has shown to the world that free trade is possible. and now was the chilean

president speaking to us exclusively. the reserve bank of india today will hold a crucial board meeting, the first time that the central bank officials as well as government appointed members on the board of the central bank will come face—to—face in a feud between the central bank and the indian government. bbc india business report has more. the meeting comes after the rift between the government and the reserve bank of india became public regulatory issues. among a host the matters discussed during the meeting, one of prime ones will be regarding easing lending rules for indian banks. the reserve bank of india has put in strict measures to clean up the balance sheet of indian banks. the central bank is worried that their non—performing assets could lead to long—term risks for the indian economy. due to the restrictions, many banks are unable to land and this is having a severe impact on

business, especially medium and small sized firms who are unable to borrow capital. in indian elections scheduled next year and the government is worried about growth swinging down. to ease these rules, the central bank has refused to budge from its position. the government has also exerted pressure by initiating a rule that has never been used before which allows the government to intervene on matters of public importance. so far, new delhi has restrained itself from taking the next step under this power which gives it the authority to ask the reserve bank to follow directions issued by it. this is why this meeting is crucial as the government appointed members on the board will form a majority who try to push some of those demands. many news organisations have reported over the last few weeks that if the government tries to enforce its demands then the governor will provide —— resigned. but science of

tension to fusel have been seen. but signs of tension lessening have been noted. the last few days have been dominated by the fallout from the d raft dominated by the fallout from the draft brexit agreement. later today and ministers from the eu 27 and to discuss the deal and finalise the future —— declaration. so what are the concerns and what do they mean for europe? the draft withdrawal agreement includes a financial settle m e nt agreement includes a financial settlement from the uk, thought to be worth about $50 billion, or part of the so—called divorce deal is the uk prepares to leave the eu. northern ireland exported around $6 billion worth of goods to the eu in 2017 and concerns over a harsh irish

border issue has been a major sticking point in negotiations. the d raft sticking point in negotiations. the draft agreement says the eu would work with the uk agree trade deal in order to avoid physical checks on borders. if talks fail, the so—called backstop measure would be used to keep the border open. the d raft used to keep the border open. the draft agreement also gives london's financial centre only basic level access to the eu markets, similar to that enjoyed by american and japanese firms. we have plenty more making use including japan's exports which rose over 8% in october, reversing declines in the prior month. imports jumped 20% reversing declines in the prior month. importsjumped 20% in the same period in the trade balance came toa same period in the trade balance came to a deficit of almost $4 billion. having a look now at the markets and how they react to this. the trade numbers are helping lift sentiment there in japan. the trade numbers are helping lift sentiment there injapan. you can see their market is a higher. but

mostly because of some reduced issues, reduced tension around us china trade spats. we know that there are many other things concerning markets including brexit which i spoke about. italian politics as well. so we see the australian all 0rdinaries lollo and of course we are waiting for the hong kong market to open. it is thanks given in the us that they a shortened week. —— thanksgiving in the united states, so they have a shortened week. this is bbc news. the top stories this hour: president trump has said he's been briefed about an audio tape of the murder ofjamal khashoggi — but has not listened to it himself — because it's so violent. emergency workers in california are still struggling to contain wildfires that have devastated parts of the state. at least 76 people have died and over twelve hundred are still missing. the former welsh

rugby and lions captain, gareth thomas, has been the victim of a homophobic hate crime in cardiff. the 44—year—old — who in 2009 became the first professional rugby union player to announce publicly that he's gay — appeared bruised in a video posted on social media. steffan messenger reports. on and off the rugby pitch, gareth thomas has a record to be proud of. the first welshman to win 100 caps for his country, he played for and captained the british lions, as well. in 2009 he made history by becoming the first national rugby union player to announce publicly that he is gay. speaking to the bbc at the time, he urged an end to homophobia in sports. in the future, there could be somebody out there who's 18 and has found out at the age of 16 he was gay, so he put his boots in the cupboard. maybe, and if — if all my messages is clear and right, then he could well go back to his boots,

dust them off, put them on and go back out there and play rugby. but on a night out in cardiff yesterday, the rugby star—turned—role model was assaulted. bruised and visibly shaken, he took to social media to describe what had happened. that i was a victim in my home city of hate crime for my sexuality. why i wanted to be positive — because i want to say thank you to the police who were involved, and were very helpful, and allowed me to do restorative justice with the people who did this, because i thought they could learn more that way than any other way. and also to the people of cardiff, who supported me and helped me. because there's a lot of people out there who want to hurt us, but unfortunately for them, there's a lot more that want to help us heal. messages of support have since been flooding in for him online. love that you concentrate on the positives, said neville southall. keep being a role model.

top guy. south wales police confirmed that a 16—year—old boy had been dealt with by way of restorative justice following the incident on saturday night. we are told the teenager admitted the assault and has apologised to gareth thomas. some of britain's biggest companies are urging the government to honour a promise to give mental health in the workplace the same status as physical health. executives from fifty companies — including royal mail, wh smith and ford — have written to theresa may, asking her to follow through on last year's manifesto pledge to update health and safety legislation. the government says it will bring forward the recommendations of an independent review. you can reach me on twitter — i'm @bbckasiamadera. now on bbc news, sport today. hello, this is sport today,

live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: alexander zverev stuns world number one novak djokovic to win the season—ending atp finals. switzerland overturn a 2—0 deficit to thrash high—flying belgium 5—2 in the uefa nations league. and francesco molinari caps a fantastic season by winning the european tour's race to dubai. hello and thanks for joining us on sport today. alexander zverev recorded the biggest victory of his fledgling career after seeing off novak djokovic in straight sets to win the nitto atp finals in london. the world number one a heavy favourite to win what would have