has postponed the vote which she hoped would back her brexit deal. knowing she was likely to lose, the prime minister promised parliament that she would go back to her fellow european leaders and ask for reassurances about the northern ireland backstop deal. but the eu has said the current deal can't be reopened. after a fourth weekend of violent protests, france's president macron has promised a rise in the minimum wage and new tax concessions, in an adress on national tv. —— address. and this story is trending on bbc.com: nasa's voyager 2 space probe has become only the second man—made object to leave our solar system for interstellar space. the craft was launched in the 1970s with the aim of studying the outer planets, jupiter, saturn, uranus and neptune, but kept on going. that's all. stay with bbc world news. and one other story here in the uk: a convicted paedophile has been found guilty of murdering two schoolgirls who were found strangled and sexually assaulted near brighton

32 years ago. now on bbc news, live to singapore for asia business report. sterling slump. the pound tumbles as the uk prime minister delays are crucial brexit vote to buy more time to renegotiate her exit deal with the eu. rbi resignation, the governor of india's central bank quits after a month long tussle over policy with the government. good morning and welcome to asia business report, live from singapore, with me, mariko oi. the pound has slumped after the uk prime minister confirmed that a crucial vote planned for later today will now be postponed. in an address to parliament, theresa may said she was

confident of getting reassurances from the eu on the northern ireland border plant. the bbc‘sjonathan joseph brought us the latest from london. it has been another day of brexit uncertainty in london. if you look at the financial markets and you want to take the pound sterling asa you want to take the pound sterling as a barometer of how the brexit pi’ocess as a barometer of how the brexit process is going, it hasn't been a good day. just after 8am local time £1 would have brought you almost one 1.275 dollars, but that fell on reports theresa may and her government were planning to delay this crucial brexit vote on whether oi’ this crucial brexit vote on whether or not parliament would back the deal she negotiated with brussels. when she actually confirm the news that she was delaying that vote in the middle of the afternoon, there was a much steeper fall in the pound against the dollar, falling to of

about 1.255 dollars. there were falls on the stock market, the ftse 1000 was down, and the ftse 250, who have a bigger exposure to the market asa have a bigger exposure to the market as a percentage of their business, fell even more. what this tells us is investors a re fell even more. what this tells us is investors are concerned about the brexit process as a whole, and whether any deal at all will be. to another surprising development now, in india. late last night the governor of the country's central bank resigned from his post citing personal reasons. his resignation comes amid reports of a rift between him and narendra modi's government. urijit patel‘s resignation has come asa urijit patel‘s resignation has come as a bit ofa

urijit patel‘s resignation has come as a bit of a surprise. recently there were signs both sides had arrived at an uneasy truce. last week when i attended a press conference at the reserve bank of india addressed by mr urijit patel, he was asked repeatedly about the relationship between the government and india's central bank and he refused to answer that, which only added to the belief that all this still not well between the two sides. interestingly, his resignation comesjust sides. interestingly, his resignation comes just four days before the next rbi board meeting, during which some contentious issues we re during which some contentious issues were supposed to be discussed. now, the rbi board has many government appointed members who have been pressuring india's central bank to agree to some of the demands of the government, but so far the rbi has been trying to resist. now, many critics and observers have been saying that the government has been trying to undermine the reserve bank of india's autonomy. the charge that the government has denied all this while, but urjit patel‘s resignation is only going to reinforce that

belief. in terms of the economy, mr patel‘s resignation could not have come at a worse time, because economic growth has slowed down in recent quarters, and mr patel‘s resignation is only going to make international investors even more anxious going ahead. the big question is who will be appointed as the next governor of the reserve bank of india, and more importantly, will the governor have the autonomy and independence to carry out decisions which the reserve bank wa nts to decisions which the reserve bank wants to implement? in other business news making headlines, a canadian court has adjourned for the day with no decision on whether to grant bailto day with no decision on whether to grant bail to meng wanzhou, the chief finance officer of huawei, as she awaits ruling on her extradition to america. ms meng faces accusations she misled banks about huawei's control of a company operating in iraq, putting them at risk of violating sanctions. the

chief executive of the think—tank control risks told me they will be forced to take major steps next year to survive the fallout from the trade war. it was started earlier in the year as kind of argument and disruption mac discussion about steel tariffs on agricultural products. i think the chinese government to start with thought this is domestic us politics being played out on a bigger stage. we will go along with this, we will be flexible, we will push back when necessary. but this is really all about president trump shoring up that kind of midwestern base that got him elected in the first place. i think is the year has progressed, i think is the year has progressed, i think china has begun to realise, actually, this is notjust about the president. there are other lobbies and agendas in the united states that see this as much more kind of seismic and confrontational with china, notjust seismic and confrontational with china, not just about the seismic and confrontational with china, notjust about the products of yesterday, as it were, what about

the whole technology space, who is going to dominate that, and really america trying to rewrite the script somewhat in terms of kind of china's inexorable economic rise. so much bigger stakes, the chinese have woken up to that, and i think as we look forward to the business climate for 2019, it is going to have much more potency than probably people thought six months ago. because that is also going to have some impact on the rest of asia as well, isn't it? do you foresee asian countries possibly having to choose between the two biggest economies of the world ? the two biggest economies of the world? yes, i don't think it is going to come down to ticking the box for america or ticking the box for china, i think countries that wa nted for china, i think countries that wanted to have a kind of both ways, thinking back to the 0bama administration, wanted to be in tpp but also wanted to have very close relationships with china, that kind of flexible friends with everybody approach is increasingly less

possible in a world in which kind of china sees the rest of asia very much as it's kind of economic hinterland —— china. very much not america's, and the united states kind of somewhat confused about how it wants to play out its asia strategy. now to tokyo, where former nissan chairman carlos ghosn has been indicted by prosecutors for underwriting his compensation. carlos ghosn has also been rea rrested carlos ghosn has also been rearrested and is likely to be detained until at least the end of the year. he has denied all charges. 0ur analyst told us earlier what the cases highlighting. what this whole incident has brought to the fore is really very inadequate corporate governance measures at nissan. and so the first thing for the three independent direct this is to select a new chairman. but after that, the keyissueis a new chairman. but after that, the key issue is going to be to put in

place much more robust corporate governance. this case has also put a bit of a spotlight onjapan's justice system, for example in french media there is quite a lot of criticism of how mr ghosn is treated. well, japan'sjustice system is what it is. when you come here to live and work, you are aware of it. it is not the same type of justice system as we experience in western countries. i don't think it would be much more pleasant to be in aus would be much more pleasant to be in a usjail, would be much more pleasant to be in a us jail, perhaps would be much more pleasant to be in a usjail, perhaps in a cell with three orfour a usjail, perhaps in a cell with three or four other inmates. so a usjail, perhaps in a cell with three orfour other inmates. so i think it is more the fact that he is being held for so long without the opportunity of bail, rather than the conditions he is being held in, that are perhaps where the spotlight should shine. before we go, let's update you with other business news. a london court has ruled that a tycoon can be extradited from britain to india where he faces

fraud charges. it is now in the hands of the home secretary for approval. india wants to bring criminal action related to $1.1; billion in loans. his company, kingfisher, took them out and authorities argue he had no intention of repaying them. he has denied the charges. japan's softbank is set to launch the biggest ipo in its history. the group already controls the world's biggest technology private equity fund, worth nearly $100 billion. the stock will debut on the tokyo stock exchange on 19 december. and action camera maker has said it will move most of its camera production out of china by summer 2019 as it tries to avoid the potential impact of inclusion on any new tariffs lists

as the us — china trade war continues. production of its cameras for markets outside of america will remain in china. and let's bring you all the latest markets now, because we are seeing a lot of uncertainties and volatility because of that latest development of the brexit in the uk. japan's nikkei down 0.7% and hong kong down by 0.5%. that's it for this edition of asia business report. thanks for watching. this is bbc news. the top stories this hour: there is turmoil in westminster as theresa may delays a crucial vote at the last minute on her brexit deal, that she seemed certain to lose. after a fourth week of violent protests, france's president macron promises a rise in the minimum wage and new tax concessions. crossrail, currently britain's biggest engineering project, will need up to an extra £2 billion before it is finished, and its completion date is unlikely

to meet a new deadline of august next year. the project will provide a new rail line running east—west through the heart of london. 0ur transport correspondent tom burridge reports. it is a feat of british engineering — years to bore a tunnel underneath central london. but the new rail line, east to west, could cost up to £2 billion extra. the whole project was supposed to come in at around £15 billion. the chairman, sir terry morgan, forced out last week, and while trains sit idle, there is disagreement over when london's mayor knew the project was delayed. we've still got to fit out the stations, we've still got to co m plete the tunnels and do the testing.

and while it's incredibly frustrating, which is why i've not hidden my anger and frustration since i was told that 9 december date would be missed. this is the new crossrail bond street station, by no means finished. and to think that this was supposed to be ready and open to passengers this week. delays to the infrastructure are part of the problem, but sources close to the project tell me that the new trains are still not compatible with signalling systems on the line. the crossrail project is all about showing that british engineering is absolutely world—class. and, indeed, the tunnels and the process of digging it has been very successful. but now, with these setbacks, it will cast something of a black mark over the whole scheme. government loans will cover the overspend. london will have to pay it back. but, as things stand, new management cannot say when crossrail will be finished. tom burridge, bbc news. cuts to legal aid funding in england and wales have led to a big increase in the number of people representing themselves in court. analysis by the bbc also found more than a million people living

in areas where there is no legal aid provision for housing. the ministry ofjustice says it takes urgent action whenever it has concerns over the availability of legal services. you can reach me on twitter. i'm @babitabbc. now on bbc news, sport today. hello, i'm sarah stone and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: chelsea have suspended four people from attending matches while an investigation into the alleged racial abuse of raheem sterling takes place. barcelona have abandoned plans to play a la liga fixture

against girona in miami that was scheduled for the 26th of january. and liverpool go into their final champions league group game against napoli needing a win on tuesday. hello there and welcome along to the programme. we start with football, where chelsea have suspended four people from attending matches, whilst an investigation into the alleged racial abuse of manchester city forward raheem sterling takes place. it comes on the day the professional footballer‘s association in the uk says clubs must take ‘the strongest possible action' if fans are found to racially abuse players. sterling was the victim of alleged abuse at chelsea over the weekend, and the pfa back sterling's criticism of some press coverage, saying they are in no doubt that ‘negative narrative, influences public opinion and emboldens racist rhetoric‘. here's the former liverpool and england starjohn barnes' take on how he thinks the media play a part.