theresa may has survived a no—confidence vote from her own party. mps backed her by 200 votes to 117 in a secret ballot. mrs may said it was time to get on with the job of securing brexit. she will travel to brussels later to seek further assurances over northern ireland. donald trump's former lawyer is jailed for three years, for paying off two women who said they'd had affairs with the president. michael cohen also admitted lying to congress about a proposed trump tower in russia. and this video is trending on bbc.com. french police are still searching for a man who killed three people in a shooting in strasbourg. the public is also being asked to help find the suspect, cherif chekatt. that's all. stay with bbc world news. and the top story in the uk: scotland's finance secretary has announced he won't increase the higher rate income tax threshold to £50,000. now on bbc news live to singapore

for asia business report. the result of the ballot held this evening is that the parliamentary party does have confidence... theresa may wins the confidence vote. the uk prime minister survives a ballot from her own mps. but what does this mean for brexit and business? and the future of food. how the world will feed itself as the global population heads towards the global population heads towards the 10 billion mark. good morning, asia. hello, well. glad you could join us for this addition of asia business report.

i'm rico hizon. we start off with uk prime minister. theresa may has won a vote of no confidence of the leadership of the conservative party by 200— 117. mrs may is immune to another challenge for one year. she failed to deliver the brexit that people voted for. this has been a long and challenging day, but at the end of that i am pleased to have received the backing of my colleagues into night's ballot. while i am gratefulfor that support, a significant number of collea g u es support, a significant number of colleagues did cast votes against me andi colleagues did cast votes against me and i have listened to what they have said. this is how the pound traded after that result. 0ur business editor, simon jack, traded after that result. 0ur business editor, simonjack, told is how the result is being received by the financial markets and the wider business community. business groups are calling this, my

favourite line from the many, as a chaotic d2. it feels like you are in a car chase and the lica has gone off through a bargain, chickens come out the windows squawking, and then you find that the car that is chasing is still chasing a —— chaotic car chase. we are essentially back where we were at the beginning of this week. with a deal on the table that nobody likes enough to get through. parliament, thatis enough to get through. parliament, that is causing great consternation for business. she has kicked the vote on that deal into the new year. that is when the pound began to wobble. funnily enough, today, as the markets were taking mps at their word and she was going to win this, the pound started to recover. there isa the pound started to recover. there is a famous adage in these parts of the city, which is by the rumour and sell the news. i think there is a growing realisation that, as he said, kr —— chaotic d2, but we are back on the same road we were before. they are saying it is very

ha rd to before. they are saying it is very hard to plan. those that can ha rtlett in hard to plan. those that can hartlett in industries bill. they getting licences in order. a lot of them are saying that by the time we get to happens then, it will be very much be in squeaky bum time, channelling sir alex ferguson there. they have to make some tough decisions about which supplies they think are robust enough to get through a potential deal. chaotic detour. we are back on the same road we were. it is not a very scenic tour, it is full of uncertainty. businesses finding it almost impossible to plan for. that was the bbc‘s business editor simon jackin was the bbc‘s business editor simon jack in london. making headlines, the european union and japan will launch the world's largest free trade zone early next year after an economic partnership cleared the final hurdle on wednesday. around 30% of european parliament lawmakers backed this arrangement that binds

the two economies that account for about one third of global gross domestic product. shares in chinese music streaming giant jumped domestic product. shares in chinese music streaming giantjumped on its first day of public trade in new york. it raised about $1.1 billion for the firm based on initial share price offering of 13 us dollars. some investors feared that the launch may have been hampered by the recent downturn in us financial markets and tensions in trade between us and china. the escalating i’ow between us and china. the escalating row between washington and beijing has triggered growing concerns about the future of global free trade. but according to the asia—pacific global —— asia—pacific economic cooperation, within the block ta riffs have cooperation, within the block tariffs have fallen. there are now more free trade agreements and reforms that have made it easier to trade. alan bollard, the executive director joined trade. alan bollard, the executive directorjoined me from santiago to

discuss the progress. behind the border, various government and structural reform. at the border i think progress has slowed down. some is happening. a lot of things going on. but of course we have seen more tariff build—up. on. but of course we have seen more tariff build-up. the general trend for tariffs has been on the downward trend, but agriculture is one area where tariffs are still high. why is that so? agriculture has been difficult for a number of economies to get in and liberalise. it has a lwa ys to get in and liberalise. it has always had much higher tariffs than manufacturing. we are working to make sure there is good food security and better possibilities for trading in agriculture. we will see some progress, but that has been slow. we have seen this tit-for-tat trade tariffs from the two worlds biggest economies, the united states and china, that surely undermines the purpose of the goal is

completely. no. it has made things more complicated for us. there have been disagreements around some of the wording. all the economies in a pack of saying they want more trade. there is some disagreement whether we are talking about free and open trade or the rules for fair trade, but we have hundreds of initiatives that we are working on —— apec. they try to cut down barriers that the board and get better growth out of this. china and the united states are agreed on that along with the other 19 of us, which is more than half the world's economy. we are entering 2019. what would you like to see changed next year? we want to see good corporator around the table to keep all this liberalisation grovelling to keep trade growing, but we know we are going to have to spend more time looking at the end beneficiary aries and who could be losing out of trade in all of this. —— beneficiaries. it needs to be

much more focused on digital technologies. alan bollard from the apec secretariat. joining us from santiago, chile. according to projections made by the united nations world's population is expected to grow to almost 10 billion by the year 2050. and to feed that many people, world food production will need to increase by around 70%. environmentalists have argued that modern meat production is unsustainable and ecologically devastating. there is increasing movement now to raise awareness plant —based food and other options. what does this for consumption in the years to come? i posed this question to the good food institute. my question to the good food institute. my vision for the future of food is finding a solution to basically move us finding a solution to basically move us away from traditional animal agriculture to something that is more efficient and agriculturally friendly. so everything now will be manufactured and produced in a lab?

we are talking about a variety of solutions. 0ne we are talking about a variety of solutions. one of which is switching to plant —based food, because really we are in the very beginning of covering the attentions of using pla nts covering the attentions of using plants in crops as protein sources. that is an exciting space to watch. that is an exciting space to watch. that does not happen in a lab at all. that is just plant —based food. what is the best way to educate the population about the message about the future of food and what it means to our lives? i think the best way to our lives? i think the best way to get the message through is that we have a problem. the system is broken. and something has to be done about it. it is not a grim message, because there are solutions, plant —based meat is a solution, clean meat as a conclusion, and potentially that can give the younger generation a lot of good opportunity. is this challenge more

prevalent in asia, rather than the west? no, it is not. it is allover the world. the food system is really a global one. is there a future for the future of food in asia? of course, of course! we are seeing a lot of exciting developments in asia. a lot of start—ups, a lot of investors interested in this space 110w. investors interested in this space now. and many government support as well. for instance, in singapore, we talk about food security. in china, food safety. all of which are interconnected with the way we produce food. that was elaine siu from the good food —— good food institute talking about food security in the future of food. let us security in the future of food. let us look demarcus. so far so good in mid—morning trade. the nikkei up. the hang seng hasjust opened for

trading. it is up by almost a full %. gaining 231 points. this is after wall street stocks finished i reckon idoto wall street stocks finished i reckon i do to improved hopes for the us— china trade talks. —— finished up. the dowjones up by 157. the biggest gainer was the nasdaq, high you buy a full %. thank you so much for investing your time with us. have a great thursday, everyone. see you $0011. this is bbc news. my my name is mike embley. the top stories this hour: theresa may has survived a vote of no confidence in her leadership — and says she's determined to see through the brexit process. donald trump's former lawyer michael cohen has beenjailed for three years — he told the court in new york that he blamed his crimes on his former boss. debt charities are warning that some of the poorest families will have

to rely on food banks over christmas, because of changes to the benefits system. all new claimants across the uk, are being signed up to the government's flagship welfare reform — universal credit. ministers say there's no reason for anyone to be without money over the festive season, because advance payments are available. david rhodes has more. erin is one of over a million people already on universal credit. with christmas coming a single mum so she does not know how she will by her son a present. everyone says your priority is to feed your son. but he is going to think he has been naughty if sa nta is going to think he has been naughty if santa doesn't bring him any presence on sunday morning. she says she has been anguish because of universal credit. when i have paid my bills and rent i have £26 in my weight is left. i use food banks a lot. ellyse is got some warmth and

electric and things. since 2016 the government has been rolling out universal credit to various parts of the country. from today the rollout is complete. anyone making a new claim for one of the six benefits will automatically go on to universal credit. the idea is to simplify the system, combining six different benefits into one monthly means different benefits into one monthly m ea ns tested different benefits into one monthly means tested payment. charity say universal credit has pushed people into debt and poverty. in the last six months we have seen a 30% rise in the number of people saying universal credit is the main cause of their debt. they are struggling with things like the council tax. the number of people in work in uk is now at a record high. the government has universal credit works for the vast majority of people and that nobody should go without money over christmas because advanced benefit payments are widely available. but for claimants like erin, she feels that is ever could bea

erin, she feels that is ever could be a long and uncertain month. the worst street for broadband in the uk is almost 2,000 times slower than the fastest, according to an annual survey. just to put that into perspective — it means residents in abdon avenue in birmingham would be able to download all four episodes of david attenborough's dynasties in high definition injust 11.5 minutes. if you live in greenmeadows park in the gloucestershire village of bamfurlong, though — the same job would take you almost six days. now on bbc news sport today. hello, this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: leroy sane scores twice as manchester city move into the last 16 of the champions league as group winners. al—ain win their opening game at the fifa club world cup, as they come from three goals down to beat team wellington. and cycling's most successful team of recent years will need

a new sponsor, after team sky's decision to withdraw from the sport at the end of 2019. hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with the footballing news that we now know the make up for the last 16 of the champions league. only one group was left to be decided heading into wednesday night's final round of games and that was in group f. manchester city had already qualified but lyon needed a draw or better away to shakhtar donetsk and it took a second half goal from world cup winner nabil fekir that saw them equalise to snatch the point and finish second. in england, hoffenheim struck first against manchester city courtesy of an andrej kramaric penalty with the hosts needing at least one goal, but they scored twice through leroy sane for a 2—1win, making it nine goals in his last 10 matches for both club and country.