accusing the king or crown prince of knowing about the murder of jamal khashoggi crosses a red line. the journalist was last seen entering the saudi conulate in istanbul in october. saudi's foreign minister rejected claims that the crown prince would have had to order the killing. a british student has been jailed for life in the united arab emirates for spying. matthew hedges was researching the country's security policies when he was detained. and this story is trending on bbc.com: a german teenager has managed to lose his driver's licence just 49 minutes after getting it. he was just returning from his successful test when he was clocked travelling almost twice the speed limit. that story is trending on bbc.com. that's all. stay with bbc world news. and the top story in the uk: britain's prime minister is saying

she has made good progress in the brexit talks in brussels with the president of the european commission jean—claude juncker. now for asia business report. gone in the firing line, nissan expected to dismiss the chairman today as japanese authorities to extend the detention over financial misconduct allegations. black friday battle — the economy is roaring. initial retailers and online rivals fight it out for shopping dollars. good morning, asia. hello, world. it is thursday. welcome to this edition of asia business report. i'm rico hizon. we start off with carlos ghosn and it is expected that he will be fired today as nissan's board meets to

discuss the future of the chairman after he was arrested earlier this week. his attention has been extended —— detention has been extended —— detention has been extended to ten days. joining me now for more details about the ongoing sagais for more details about the ongoing saga is mariko oi. so, mariko, what has been the impact on the company? not good, as you can imagine. shares have been hammered. it is notjust nissan i am talking about, it is a alliance partners, mitsubishi motors, renault as well, and let me show you what happened to the shares firstly, which are listed injapan — both practically fell off the cliff shortly after the news that he was going to get arrested, down 5% and not showing any sign of recovery as they start trading this morning. also over in europe, renault‘s share price has been very volatile. and the drama is not over because the authorities are speaking to other nissan executives as well. of

course, everybody is still wondering and scratching their head what happened to this relationship between nissan and mr carlos ghosn? indeed. it is that as a he saved the carmaker when he took over around two decades ago. as you can imagine it has been a lot of speculation, rumours about what happened. that is partly because, in a press conference following mr ghosn‘s press c0 nfe re nce conference following mr ghosn‘s press conference on monday, the chairman referred to mr ghosn‘s time asa regime chairman referred to mr ghosn‘s time as a regime and that had many people wondering when the relationship between them had started to sour. it is important to note that he was already part of senior management which drove the company into ba n kru ptcy which drove the company into ba nkru ptcy before which drove the company into bankruptcy before mr ghosn led them to their revival. there are many managers on the board. it has been said that many were not happy with mrghosn and the said that many were not happy with mr ghosn and the alliance. remember, renault is a major shareholder of

nissan with a 43% stake, while nissan with a 43% stake, while nissan owns about 15% of renault, and reports mr ghosn proposed a merger between them, and because the french government owns a stake in renault it has been reported nissan's board was not keen to have the influence of the french government. important to emphasise we have not heard from mr ghosn. the verdict is today. what will happen to mrghosn in verdict is today. what will happen to mr ghosn in the nissan hierarchy? thank you forjoining us. this year has seen markets on a rollercoaster ride as investors are buffeted by the us — china trade war and fears of a global slowdown and expectations or more interest—rate hikes. us shares steadied overnight after taking a beating in the previous session when the s&p and dow ended at the weakest point since late october. the recent downturn in global stocks was partly because of a sell—off in technology shares, a sector which has helped sustain wall

street's upswing for much of the year. and we saw some recovery in the major indices. as for oil it has gained some ground after slumping earlier in the week after concerns about global growth. currently, as you can see, they are in positive territory in asian trade. earlier, i spoke with an investment strategist, who told me what we should expect going forward. we are basically in a holding pattern between now and 29 november or we will have this important discussion between presidents trump and xi of china on trade so that will be the first time in a long time the us and china have directly engaged each other at the highest level to talk about trade issues and i really think that is what markets are waiting for. so the us- china trade war keeping investors hostage? well, i wouldn't go that far, but in terms of global growth and by extension

corporate earnings it boils down to whether these countries can set aside their differences and come to aside their differences and come to a workable deal. our assumption is by middle 2019 we should have a trade deal between the us and china. before that the us and europe and the us and japan. what about slowing growth, higher interest rates, is this impacting the bottom line of major companies? if you look at the previous earnings season in the united states most companies were quite positive on guidance, so we have a disconnect between what companies are saying and what is happening on the stock market. that is fairly typical of late cycle nervousness. in terms of fundamentals, things look very good. let's catch up on the weather team in india as whatsapp has appointed a new boss for its operations. crossing to mumbai and bbc‘s samira hashmi, is this because of incidents

happening in recent months? that is right, over the last couple of years there have been lynchings and mob beatings because of messages, fake m essa 9 es beatings because of messages, fake messages circulated on whatsapp, and ever since these incidents have taken place, ever since these incidents have ta ken place, the ever since these incidents have taken place, the indian government has been pressurising whatsapp to counter the fake news propagated across different parts of the country and they wanted whatsapp to a pointa country and they wanted whatsapp to a point a country head, they wanted them to proper team that could address this issue. now, for whatsapp, this is the first time for whatsapp, this is the first time for whatsapp they have appointed a leader. there is another reason for this appointment. on the one hand there is the issue of lynchings. on there is the issue of lynchings. on the other hand india is one of the largest markets for whatsapp, in fa ct, largest markets for whatsapp, in fact, 200 million users, and it is

trying to build a payment record. so this record will help in expanding that business once they get permission from the central bank of india, from india's central bank rather to launch at the payment services, the reasons why they've gone ahead and appointed a new head for india. all right, strengthening corporate operations, thank you so much for that update on whatsapp. in other news making headlines, the uk prime minister will return to brussels for last ditch brexit talks on saturday as the two sides try to doa on saturday as the two sides try to do a deal in time for a summit of european leaders. theresa may said progress had been made during discussions with eu officials yesterday and work would continue on outstanding issues. talks over future relationships have been held up future relationships have been held up over future relationships have been held up over concerns over future relationships have been held up over concerns over fishing rights and the future of gibraltar. americans celebrate thanksgiving today, traditionally a day to be with family, it is also marking the

start of the holiday shopping season, with the us economy roaring, spending is expected to be strong, but who will win the battle for those shoppers' dollars? traditional retailers or the online rivals? the bbc‘s michelle fleury has more from new york. a big show to get you to buy things — the holiday windows at fifth ave. to grab people's attention, retailers and mauls are relying on the experiences to drive traffic. —— malls. a few years ago retailers we re malls. a few years ago retailers were desperate to avoid this fate. crickets. at this new york mall, the trees are, santa is coming and the ice rink opens next week. leading into the holidays people have a lot going on. people generally come and spend time here. the more time that they spend here

hopefully the benefit is they spend money in the shops. in new york thousands are wide—eyed as these figures herald the annual parade. the macy's parade, which began in 1924, the macy's parade, which began in 192a, introduced spectacle to the holiday. since then a lot has changed, especially with the growth of online shopping. black friday has become synonymous with frenzied scenes like this. but shoppers are growing tired. they want something fresh. more than ever you have to offer the customer and experience. they want to be able to eat, to be able to experience, health and wellness is important to them. they wa nt wellness is important to them. they want it all at one—time and it is not just want it all at one—time and it is notjust coming in to make a transaction. if they want a transaction. if they want a transaction they go online. so if brick and mortar stores want customers to open their wallets this holiday season they can't just customers to open their wallets this holiday season they can'tjust rely on sales, they have to include a show. before we go, here is a look at the

markets, and asia is recovering some lost ground this thursday after a brutal two—day sell—off on wall street. the nikkei two —— 2115 gaining 57 points, and the hang seng indexis gaining 57 points, and the hang seng index is opening for trading and thatis index is opening for trading and that is gaining a hefty 168 points. thank you so much for investing your time with us. i'm rico hizon. sport todayis time with us. i'm rico hizon. sport today is coming up next. see you in the next hour. the top stories for you now from bbc news: saudi arabia's foreign minister has told the bbc that claiming the king or crown prince knew about a plot to killjamal khashoggi is inaccurate and saying anything disparaging about them crosses a red line. the united arab emirates has jailed a british man for life, on charges he was spying for the british government. whale song has intrigued scientists and sailors for centuries. now it seems the distinctive chorus

of squeaks and groans can change over time, and not all whales sound the same. researchers in australia say humpback whales undergo major changes, which mean their song is constantly evolving. here's our xcience correspondent helen briggs. —— here's our science correspondent helen briggs. humpback whales are known for their haunting songs, and, much like human tunes, they can quickly spread until all whales in the group are singing from the same song sheet. whale song. this signature song evolves gradually over time, as individual males add embellishments, and others copy. seen here off the east coast of australia, this is what the whales were singing two years later. but every now and then, a song completely disappears from the oceans, and it is replaced by something new in what scientists call a "revolution event".

normally, when a song is evolving through gradual changes, you can hear the songs from one year to the next and hear those similarities. but with a revolution, the song is completely different, they essentially they start from scratch with a revolution. researchers studied whales over 13 years and found when they changed their tune, the new ballads were almost always more simple. it tells us there could be some kind of limitation to that learning, so there might be some kind of cap either in terms of how complex a thing that they can learn, or how much new material they can learn at one time. and that could explain how the crooners of the sea adapt and change their songs, ensuring their musical repertoire stands the test of time. helen briggs, bbc news. engineers in italy have revealed that the leaning tower of pisa is not leaning quite so much as it used to. 17 years after the first phase

of rescue work ended, and it was re—opened to the public, new measurements show that it has continued to straighten, and the top is now four centimetres closer to vertical. the tower has leaned ever since it was completed in the 14th century. time now on bbc news for sport today. hello, this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: australia win the opening match of their twenty20 series against india, as the weather plays a part. we will take a look at the next nominee for bbc african footballer of he year, ghana's thomas partey. and the mclaren formula 1 team say the door remains open

for fernando alonso, despite this weekend's abu dhabi grand prix being his last. hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with cricket, and the news that australia beat india byjust four runs on wednesday in the first of their twenty20 international matches in brisbane. australia were sent in to bat after india won the toss, and glenn maxwell top—scored with a8, as the home side made 158—4 in 17 overs. the match started on time, but their innings was interrupted by rain, so india were set a target that was revised upwards to 173. despite the efforts of shikhar dhawan, who made 76, india were restricted to 169—7, meaning the aussies go 1—0 up in the three—match series, with the second match to be played in melbourne on friday. we've got good memories of the team. we've got good memories of the team. we