our top story: president trump says his support for saudi arabia remains strong, despite acknowledging its crown prince could have known about the murder of the journalist, jamal khashoggi. mr trump said the murder was an unacceptable and horrible crime, but he also said that the us would remain a steadfast partner of saudi arabia, and he intended to put american interests first. more than 50 people have been killed by a suicide bomber at a meeting of top clerics in the afghan capital, kabul. a spokesman for the health ministry said 60 others were injured in the blast. and this story trending on bbc.com. a dramatic rescue for this baby bear in california. the animal had become trapped in a waste bin. police carefully handled the container and the bear soon made its way out. it was last seen returning to its mother. that's all. stay with bbc world news. and a top story here in the uk: analysis by bbc news shows the nhs routinely failing to meet waiting time targets across the uk. it's the first time this has happened since the measures were introduced over a decade ago. now on bbc news, live to singapore

for asia business report. slippery slope. stocks and oil slide as the global sell—off continues in asia, and on wall street, over rising concerns about slowing economic growth. gos holds on. the french... —— ghosn holds on. the french... —— ghosn holds on. the french... —— ghosn holds on. fresh allegations from the former boss of nissan. good morning, asia, hello, world. it is asia, glad you could join us for another exciting addition of asia business report. i'm rico hizon, we start with the stock markets and the global sell—off has continued in

asia after steep declines in technology stocks and oil on wall street, and that's over rising concerns about slowing global economic growth. let's look at the stock indices in the asia—pacific in early trade. the nikkei 225 down by 1.3%, and syd ney‘s the nikkei 225 down by 1.3%, and sydney's all ordinaries index in the red by 1.2%. having a quick look now at wall street, the dow jones having a quick look now at wall street, the dowjones industrial average falling by 551 points. the snp 500 giving back 1.8%. the nasdaq in the red by 1.7%. snp 500 giving back 1.8%. the nasdaq in the red by1.7%. in snp 500 giving back 1.8%. the nasdaq in the red by 1.7%. in the energy market, we're seeing a bit of a recovery in asian trade for light crude and brent crude, but overnight in new york, they were down by more than 6.5% respectively for light crude and brent crude. the bbc‘s new york business reporter samira hussein has the latest from the us. it's been yet another rough day on

us markets, so why the sell—off? well, for tech stocks, part of the story lies in the trade war between the us and china. the two sides met over the weekend and it didn't go very well, which has investors worried that a prolonged battle between the two will mean production costs go up and goods become more expensive for consumers, and that would have a big impact on companies like amazon and apple. another contributing factor is the threat of regulations coming down on tech companies. in the face of data breaches and overall concerns around security. but that doesn't explain the more broad market sell—off. what investors are growing more concerned about is the global economy slowing down. then, of course, there's america's central bank raising interest rates to combat inflation and stop the economy from overheating. that will make it more expensive for companies to borrow and invest. and, finally, there are plenty of

market watchers who have said stocks are infact market watchers who have said stocks are in fact overvalued, so this could also be a case of investors starting to manage their risk. samira hussain in the big apple. french carmaker renault has a frame from ousting carlos ghosn. the japanese carmaker has an alliance with renault, which overnight named an interim chairman and handed new powers to its ceo —— has refrained from. earlier i asked an expert whether they can survive the scandal. indeed the alliance will survive because all three companies can't survive without it. they currently have a number of projects on which all of their... most of their future models really dependent. last year they proposed most of the platforms would be shared between the three companies, the our train, would be shared between the three

companies, the ourtrain, the technology for electricity and, for automated driving, for connected cars. these projects are the —— our train. how do you come up with an effectively do ship structure? in the trenches, people have been working on these projects which hold the future in their hands for many yea rs. the future in their hands for many years. before the arrest of carlos ghosn, there were reports he was planning a merger between renault and nissan, which was opposed by the nissan board. do you think this will still materialise even without carlos ghosn? from nissan's point of view, they can achieve all the goals of the alliance without a full—fledged merger, so alliance without a full—fledged merger, so that coupled with the fa ct merger, so that coupled with the fact that there is very little ownership of the french government in renault, and the double voting sta ke, in renault, and the double voting stake, was something the nissan board was very uncomfortable with. do you think corporate politics was a key factor with what happened with

carlos ghosn? there were reports from within the organisation that the ceo of nissan was bumping heads with ghosn. i believe there had been some rising frustrations that ghosn was not that involved on a day to day basis, but still trying to be, as it were, the puppeteer pulling the strings. there's also been policies, such as the push for market share in the us at the expense of brand image attributed to carlos ghosn. before we let you go, asa brand, carlos ghosn. before we let you go, as a brand, how badly has this issue affected the company? as a brand, how badly has this issue affected the compa ny?|j as a brand, how badly has this issue affected the company? i don't think it impacts the brand at all. people going out to buy cars base it on the research they're doing and the attractiveness of the model. nissan is at the beginning of launching a whole range of their models with the nissan intelligent mobility, that's what they're counting on to help the brand going forward. my earlier

conversation with auto analyst janet lewis in tokyo. in other business news making headlines, donald trump has strongly defended ties with saudi arabia despite international condemnation of journalist jamal khashoggi's murder. the us president said the kingdom is a steadfast partner and has agreed to invest a record amount of money in america, even hand as he acknowledged crown prince mohammed bin salman could very much have known —— could very well have known about khashoggi's murder. —— even as he acknowledged. the lion air accident was the first involving the us aircraft manufacturer's latest version of its popular narrowbodyjets. shares fell sharply in early new york trade before recovering later in the trading session. xijingping called trading session. xi jingping called it trading session. xijingping called it a milestone,

his trip to manila, the first by a chinese president in 13 years. but as the visit comes to an end, only around two dozen deals have been agreed on, many of them rather broad and vague. philippine president rodrigo duterte is facing criticism for making too many political concessions to china after declaring his nation's separation from former colonial master, the us. from china's perspective, though, it's eager to make more friends in the region as it continues to be locked in a trade war with the us. the chairman of president trump's council of economic advisers says beijing has ms behaved sincejoining the world trade organization, and evicting the country from the wto is an option. we never really envisioned the country would enter the wto and then behaved the way china has. they have... it's well documented the intellectual property theft is a major concern to the uk, the eu, the us. we estimate $300 billion or $500

billion of theft from the us, that's kind of a new thing for the wto, to have a member misbehaving so much. i guess the question is, can we fix that with the bilateral negotiation with china? that with the bilateral negotiation with china ? if that with the bilateral negotiation with china? if not, can we fix that with china? if not, can we fix that with reform to the wto? if not, should we pursue evicting china from the wto? these are all things being studied and considered. continued trade tensions with china and the us. let's catch up with a smart phone maker in india from china setting up stores in rural areas by the end of the year. let's go to by and we're joined areas by the end of the year. let's go to by and we'rejoined by areas by the end of the year. let's go to by and we're joined by sameer hashmi. they want to flood india with its smart phones? rico, it's already flooded in. if you look at the smart phone market, xiaomi is the smart phone market, xiaomi is the number one player in the market in the smartphone category and

they've been consistent over the last two or three quarters. looking at the smart phone segment, 30% belongs to xiaomi in this highly competitive market but what's interesting is there going to open stores. xiaomi has always been an off—line driven business model, but they've realised in india, if you go deepin they've realised in india, if you go deep in the small cities and villages were tremendous growth is expected in the next two years, sales will come from not online sales. smart phone penetration is increasing at a rapid pace in india, it's the fastest growing market for the segment in the world. last year, india sold 114 million smart phones, that number is expected to go up this year, and that's what xiaomi wa nts to this year, and that's what xiaomi wants to tap. in the big cities there already using smart phones, there already using smart phones, the next wave of growth will come from tiny cities and villages in india. in india, ruralareas are from tiny cities and villages in india. in india, rural areas are 50% of the country so huge potential. right now there are 350 million smart phone users in india, that's

expected to double over the next 4—5 yea rs expected to double over the next 4—5 years and that is what xiaomi is eyeing. the other thing xiaomi has done is a lot of other players are focusing on the big and mid—sized towns, that is why xiaomi probably thinks that if it opens these 5000 stores, it will get an edge over the other players in the market. interesting times for the smart phone market in india. xiaomi going brick and mortar, that will be very capital intensive. thanks for that update, sameer hashmi in mumbai. thanks for investing your time with us. i'm rico hizon, goodbye for now. this is bbc news. the top stories this hour: president trump has said he'll stand by saudi arabia despite acknowledging that its crown prince could have known about the murder of the journalist, jamal khashoggi. a suicide bomb attack on a meeting of muslim religious leaders in the afghan capital, kabul, has killed more than 50 people. the commissioner of the metropolitan police, cressida dick, has said she's

appalled by a video which was shared on social media showing police officers being attacked in south london. the footage, taken in merton on saturday, shows a man kicking a female police officer. her colleague is then dragged across the road, as he tries to stop a suspect. a warning, this report from our special correspondent, lucy manning, contains footage some people may find disturbing. everybody‘s fighting, look. they've got him! saturday evening, south london, and two police officers stop a car and are then attacked. a flying kick knocking the policewoman to the ground. oh, dear me! just kung fu kicked her! in the head! as she lies in the road, the man filming this appears to find it entertaining. look! i'm getting this all live. i'm getting this live, boys and girls! some people do eventually assist the officers, but those representing the police now say the public needs to think about stopping the filming to start helping. i'd like the public to intervene if they want to, to ask

the individuals to stop behaving in the way they are. to ask the police if they're ok. but not to film us and put it out in the media circles they are doing. just last night, at st pancras station, another policewoman attacked. there was a confrontation. one of these individuals head—butted a member of my staff, who's just back from maternity leave. she suffered a cracked tooth. both individuals were arrested. sometimes, mobile phone pictures can help police investigations, but not the way the latest video was taken. i was shocked. i thought it was sickening to see the violence that my officers were subjected to. i was honestly appalled that someone should be filming that and laughing about it. so, should the public intervene? it depends on the circumstances, and it depends on who you are, how fit and able you feel, and what in fact is unfolding in front of your eyes. and i would encourage

people to be involved. the law has been tightened to try and protect the police. just a few months ago, the maximum sentence was doubled, so anyone assaulting a police officer, or any emergency worker, can now face a year in prison rather than six months. the officers in this video were left very shaken with cuts and bruises. lucy manning, bbc news. now on bbc news, sport today. mike embley will be here with the rest of the day's news in 15 minutes. get in touch with me on twitter. hello, this is tulsen tulloch and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: trouble ahead for paris saint germain perhaps as neymar hobbles off injured in brazil's1—0 victory over cameroon. we check out the credentials of the next nominee for the bbc african footballer of the year — sadio mane.

and alex rodriguez drops into london and tells us why next year's major league baseball matches between the red sox and yankees will be special. hello and welcome to the programme where we start with footballing news. there were a host of international matches played on tuesday with some competitive and others friendly in name. and it seems to have been a bad night for one of europe's biggest clubs, paris saint germain, with two of their star players forced off injured. neymar could be a doubt for paris st germain‘s champions league clash with liverpool next week after limping off with a groin injury during brazil's friendly win over cameroon in milton keynes. kylian mbappe could also be a doubt for next week as he was substituted due to a shoulder injury during the first half of france's friendly with uruguay at the stade de france. the losses didn't affect either of theose players