i'm lewis vaughan jones with bbc world news. our top story: nasa has successfully landed a probe on the surface of mars. there was jubilation at mission control in california, after the probe endured a dramatic seven—minute plunge to the planet's surface. it's sent back its first image from the red planet, kicking off two years of scientific discovery. ukraine has declared martial law in part of the country, following russia's seizure of three ukrainian navy ships on sunday. a number of western countries have condemned moscow's actions. and this video is trending on bbc.com. this sandstorm, which was as much as 100 metres high, hit zhangye city in northwest china on sunday afternoon. the sand was blown in from the gobi desert and covered the city in minutes. police had to help motorists and residents were forced to take shelter. that's all. stay with bbc world news. and the top story in the uk: matthew hedges, the british academicjailed on spying charges in the united arab emirates, has been pardoned and could be home within hours. it follows intense diplomatic efforts by the foreign office. his wife, daniela tejada, said she was "elated".

now on bbc news, live to singapore for asia business report. general motors drives down jobs. the carmaker ‘s decision to slash its workforce by 40,000 draws criticism from donald trump. backing down on the illegal wildlife trade, free auction houses are banned from the sale of rhino worn artefacts. what other measures can be taken to protect the endangered species? —— rhino horn. good morning. it is tuesday, glad you could join us. we start off in general motors and the us carmaker plans to stop production at five factories in north america and cut more than 14,000 jobs. the us

carmaker also announced it will also shut down three facilities outside north america by the end of next year. it north america by the end of next yea r. it follows north america by the end of next year. it follows rising costs and slower car sales, the decision has drawn criticism from politicians including donald trump. this country has done a lot for general motors, you better get back in there soon. we have a lot of pressure on them, senators and a lot of other people, lot of pressure. they say the shipping crews is not selling well, then get the car that is selling well and put it back in. we have more from new york. job losses, plant closures, not exactly welcome news for more than 14,000 workers at general motors. 0ne news for more than 14,000 workers at general motors. one month before christmas. the company says by cutting its workforce by 15% it will

save $6 billion by the end of 2020. so why are so manyjobs being cut? the demand for smaller cars has really plunged. people are no longer buying sedans and instead they are going full ago, groovier cars like pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles. all the plants that are being affected make sedans at. this is not a unique problem. ford this year earlier said they would stop making smaller cars for the north american market and would make cut to itsjobs. american market and would make cut to its jobs. changing american market and would make cut to itsjobs. changing customer preference is not the only driving factor behind these cut, tariffs introduced by the trump administration on imported steel, picking material in the production of cars, have cost the carmaker $1 billion and the benefits of these tax cuts were designed to encourage companies like this to invest at home, are clearly not enough to offset these rising expenses. said

the company is really cutting costs to gearupfor the company is really cutting costs to gear up for what comes next. —— so to gear up for what comes next. —— so the company. let's bring you up to date with carlos gohn, the former ceo of nissan. i am joined here, it is becoming so complicated. where are we now? as we reported last week, nissan fired him and yesterday mitsubishi motors board has decided to sack him. the company was mac ceo said it would damage the reputation but at the same time, france's renault has failed to fire him, who is in police custody in tokyo. he has denied allegations that he has understated his income to the tokyo stock exchange and some details are starting to emerge. things like what

he understated was known as deferred compensation, something he would have got after he retired. so he actually has not got paid and that is probably how his lawyers will defend him because japanese rules on executives future paisleys some room for interpretation. at the same time, some experts sayjapan has a conviction rate of over 99%, so prosecutors would not have born after him if they did not feel confident that they could charge and kim. we will see what happens, but a lot of speculation there. —— charge him. thank you. let's have a quick look at the markets here in the region. asia opened up a little higher in mid—morning trade after a rally on wall street overnight, up bya rally on wall street overnight, up by a 10th of a percent, the nikkei, and he will order and mary is up by

more than three point. i dig into what is driving these moves. we saw a good rally in asian stock markets yesterday, followed that with the 350 point rise in the dowjones last night and 350 point rise in the dowjones last nightandi 350 point rise in the dowjones last night and i think we will see some follow—through today singapore. these could be stopped by 20 development that will be taking place this week on the one is the fed meeting. how are we going to see the us central bank hiking rates once again? i hope so, if they don't increase interest rates then people will be worried, people will think someone will be worried, people will think someone has borne wrong in the economy that the fed is stalling on the rises at. i think it will increase. something else putting investors on the edge of their seats, it is the xi jinping, donald trump meeting in buenos aires. will be see a resolution? i hope so. what

is happening with both economies is that they are both being affected by the trade dispute between the two countries and it is closing a slowdown in china, some kind of slowdown in china, some kind of slowdown in china, some kind of slowdown in america and american companies are hurting as well. this trade dispute is hurting the two economies, which is causing the rest of the world to slowdown also and we wa nt to of the world to slowdown also and we want to see that. you mentioned american companies being hurt and one of them is general motors cutting down 14,000 jobs over the next year. will donald trump now put more pressure on asian economies to increase their quotas and buy more american cars? the problem isn't so much that asians are not buying american cars because of any kind of trade dispute, they are not dying american cars as they don't like american cars as they don't like american cars. to big e? all sorts

of reasons at. if you look at the big car companies, they have about 45% of the us market. japanese cars have 39%. japanese cars are popular in america, see that you ask yourself what are the japanese doing right, rather than what they are doing wrong, to stop american cars from coming into asia. in other business news, donald trump expects to move ahead with boosting tariffs on $200 billion on chinese goods to 2596. on $200 billion on chinese goods to 25%. he said it is highly unlikely that he would accept beijing's request to hold off on the increase. he made the comment in an interview with the wall streetjournal, four days before it he is due to meet xi jinping at the g20 summit in argentina. auction houses will no longer take part in the selling of

rhino horn artefacts. somersby is and harrods have now followed christie ‘s, as our financial crimes expert told our colleague. christie ‘s, as our financial crimes expert told our colleaguem christie ‘s, as our financial crimes expert told our colleague. it is animals mostly from africa, rhinoceros, elephant task, many different versions, tigers from both africa and asia, all poached and causing significant challenges. both to the animal ovulation, but also to be orders and rangers who try to protect. 0ver be orders and rangers who try to protect. over 1000 be orders and rangers who try to protect. 0ver1000 killings had taken place. why is it not considered more of a financial crime because estimates are that it is worth about $20 billion per year? because estimates are that it is worth about $20 billion per year7m isa worth about $20 billion per year7m is a large number, actually the fourth most profitable financial crime between smuggling and drug trafficking. it is starting to get

presents and a number of the big banks have ta ken presents and a number of the big banks have taken a very strong position. after all, it is about following the money and all of those illegal funds have to make it to the financial system at some point. you talk of the banks, but how can people properly policed this industry? can technology take apart? technology plays is huge parts. the changes to the money—laundering rules mean that banks now understand that the source of funds, source of wealth, an official ownership, the flow of international funds. they can flow of international funds. they ca n start flow of international funds. they can start to look, to focus on geographical locations such as africa. why is south-east asia's such a big hub for illegal wildlife trade? largely because it has a lot of wildlife that is highly regarded in asian culture, including things like orangutans, many other animals

that flow through this. tim phillips speaking to my colleague there. left—hander quit look at the commodities market before we go. as you can see overnight in new york, oil prices rising overnight, recovering the near 7% fall in previous sessions, although concern over economic growth globally is limiting the game. thank you so much for investing your time with us. — hours. —— by the now. —— bye for now. this is bbc news. the top stories this hour: nasser has successfully landed a probe on the surface of mars, sparking jubilation at mission control. ukraine has declared martial law in parts of the country following russia's seizure of three ukrainian 80 ships. —— navy ship ‘s.

matthew hedges, the british academic who was jailed on spying charges in the united arab emirates, has been pardoned and could be home as early as tomorrow. he'd been sentenced to life in prison last week, but the case prompted intense diplomatic efforts by the foreign office. mr hedges had always protested his innocence, but officials in the uae say he's still considered to be a spy, as our diplomatic correspondent paul adams reports. matthew hedges' six month ordeal is almost over. five days after being handed a life sentence, he will soon be home. mr hedges will be permitted to leave the country once all the formalities are complete. the hoped for announcement came this morning, but with it a sting in the tail. the authorities in the united arab emirates still accuse matthew hedges of spying. he was part—time phd researcher, part—time businessman, but he was 100% a full—time secret service operative. but his wife has always maintained his innocence.

she's campaigned for months to secure his release. in my heart i know what matt is, he's a phd researcher. his colleagues know it and his family know it, and hundreds of academics round the world know it, and that's all that matters. the most important thing really is that now we'll have him back home safely and he'll be able to finish his thesis. matthew hedges knows the uae well — he worked there for several years before starting his phd on aspects of the country's security policy. the government here doesn't think that should have landed him injail. we've made it very clear for a number of months now, that we see no basis in these allegations. they have reflected on that, they have taken the action they can, which means that matthew hedges is going to be reunited with his family. the uae remains convinced that matthew hedges was indeed a spy. he was certainly researching some sensitive areas, including the country's military capabilities and its role in the war in yemen.

but what he and most academics would regard as perfectly legitimate, the uae saw as suspect. in the end, it seems the uae put its relationship with britain first. it's an ally, a major trading partner, and a big importer of british made weapons. more than 100,000 uk nationals live and work there. every year, over a million britons go there on holiday. there's a lot at stake. hello, i'm tulsen tollett and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: manchester city will qualify for the knockout stages of the champions league if they get just a point from lyon on tuesday. england complete a first series whitewash in sri lanka with a 42—run victory in the third test. and zagreb goes wild as the victorious croatia team show off the davis cup. hello and welcome to the programme, where we start

with football news, and there's plenty of european champions league action to look forward to on tuesday. manchester city will be through to the knockout stages with a draw or better against lyon in france. pep guardiola has every reason to be happy, with city needing just a point to secure their place in the last 16. the premier league champions have recovered from a sluggish start, after losing at home to lyon they've won three in a row. when you lose the first game at home, the group stage can become so tough. we did ourjob, winning the next three games. we were lucky that the opponents, they didn't win. draw, draw, draw, that's why we're ina good draw, draw, draw, that's why we're in a good position but it's not very close.