41 people injured. the explosion happened at a restaurant in the city of sapporo, at least one person is said to be in critical condition. before the blast, people nearby reported a strong smell of gas. north korea has condemned the trump administration for imposing new sanctions on its citizens, warning of a possible permanent block on any denuclearisation plans. last week, the us imposed sanctions on three north korean officials. this story is popular online. one of the greatest tennis players of all time billiejean king has been honoured with the lifetime achievement award at the bbc‘s sports personality of the year show. she's been recognised for her sporting success and her fight for gender equality. that's all. stay with bbc world news. and the top story in the uk — theresa may is to tell mps another brexit referendum risks breaking faith with voters. it comes as a senior minister says parliament should vote

on other options. now on bbc news, live to singapore for asia business report. after a sharp fall on wall street, asian shares are opening flat and trying to bounce back from being deepin trying to bounce back from being deep in the red. and a trip to thailand inspires three entrepreneurs to clean up the environment one can at a time. good morning and welcome to asia business report, why from singapore. —— live. asian markets are kicking off the trading week after wall street saw all three indices entering correction territory last friday and this week will be keeping a close eye on major central banks.

the us federal reserve will be meeting on wednesday to make its final rate decision of the years. meanwhile, thursday will see the last policy announcement of 2018 both from the bank of japan last policy announcement of 2018 both from the bank ofjapan and last policy announcement of 2018 both from the bank of japan and the bank of england. and shares in japan's softbank start trading on wednesday in which will be the second largest stock listing ever. 0ur analyst says that the us central bank is expected to raise rates. we hearan bank is expected to raise rates. we hear an awful lot from president trump about interest rates but i think the federal reserve has the ability to increase interest rates. you have a look at the us economy, it has got inflation, economic growth and therefore i think interest rate need to rise. when you look at the real interest rates, what the nominal rate is minus the inflation rate, it is zero so therefore it should be increasing. that wouldn't be making president

trump too happy. what about the bank of japan trump too happy. what about the bank ofjapan and trump too happy. what about the bank of japan and the trump too happy. what about the bank ofjapan and the bank of england also making their rates? those two central banks do not have the ability to increase rates, even though there is a little bit of inflation, they don't have the economic growth in order to justify a rate increase. in the case of japan, the economic growth annually is zero so therefore it cannot do so. is zero so therefore it cannot do so. if you have look at the uk, it has economic growth, but at the same time it has got this big roblin called brexit and brexit is making the decision for the bank of england very difficult. it doesn't quite know what to do because if it increases interest rates and tries to keep a lid on inflation, when you look at the interest rates of 0.75% and inflation running at about %, its interest rate should be above the rate of inflation but it cannot do so as if it does and it causes the economy to is, then everybody is going to point the finger. they will

blame it, rather than the government. theresa may came back from brussels with no confirmed solution. and she woke before a long time, by the way. —— she won't be for a long time. softbank, ipo, what are you thinking? a lot of people wa nt are you thinking? a lot of people want this because they look at softbank and think out of all the companies in the world at the moment is the most exciting. when you look at them, they seem to work magic, people want a bit of it, i think there will be a huge demand for the softbank ipo and why wouldn't you? don't know what people do next and therefore you want a of that action. even though there was disruption in service of softbank and its link to saudi arabia's government, that has come under a lot of criticism you don't expect that to effect market sentiment. i don't think so and guy

has a track record. yes they have links with the telecom industry and they are not the most loved at the moment because of the problems we have seen, but i think in the case of softbank he will probably ride above that. i think he has that ability to find the right kind of investment. let's now bring you up—to—date with other business news making headlines. france's renault has sent a letter to mr, urging the carmaker to send —— hold a meeting as soon as possible. its deputy chief officer said carlos's indictment has created significant risks to renault and its shareholders. tensions in the partnership surfeit —— surfaced last month, due to the arrest of their boss accused of underrating his income. the co—founder of vine has

been found dead in his apartment in new york. people said they found colin crawl, after his girlfriend reportedly asked them to check on him. the death of the 35—year—old is being investigated as a suspected drug overdose. thousands ofjobs at jaguar land rover are expected to be cut early next year as part of the country ‘s £2.5 billion turnaround plan. weak demand from china and a crackdown on diesel cars and concerns over the impact of brexit has rattled the u k's carmaker. sales in september fell by 13%, with every major region showing a slowdown. let's catch up with our tea m slowdown. let's catch up with our team in india because mastercard has agreed to start deleting data of cardholders from its global service under new regulations issued by the country ‘s central bank. the reserve bank of india now requires payment companies to store all information regarding transactions of indian

customers solely on computers with them in the country. for more, i am joined by our indian business reporter. 80s a much forjoining us. has the company set out a date to start deleting data? not until now because according to reports, mastercard has proposed a certain date to the indian central bank, saying they will start deleting indian customers data from the other service and the global service, until now, the date has not been specified in the public domain. but this is an interesting development because india's central bank came out with the regulations way back in 0ctober, which asked all of the foreign companies to store data locally. it says that it needs these companies to comply with the indian standard of regulation. also, the experts have said that if data is here in india, it will mean that it will be also liable for tax payments

in india and that is one of the big pushes from the government. while, the indian companies operating in the indian companies operating in the same space have welcomed the move, the foreign companies like mastercard, have tried to delay it and question it, saying that this in fridges on the free movement of data around the world. —— in fridges. what about payment what companies, do they face the same regulations? —— infringers. —— infringes. yes, that is one of the reason why what at‘s payment system has not been launched because they are trying to figure out how to ensure data lake —— —— data localisation in india. we think of his welcoming the move, saying this will ensure more complaints. thank you saw for -- thank you so much for the update. effort that impact that plastic bottles have on the environment. for

the founders of can0water, a trip to the founders of can0water, a trip to the beach in thailand was the impetus. they now sell recyclable ca ns impetus. they now sell recyclable cans of waters as an alternative to plastic bottles. the company ‘s founder told us what he learn to. think the message is simply if you can do it yourself, do it yourself. 0ne one of the key things when you are starting a business is keeping the pool of money there. usually entrepreneurs don't pay themselves a lot either, they are on very small wages. why would you want to pay someone else what you could possibly pay yourself? we had a pop up in old

street station where we had a huge perspex rocks and encourage people to bring a plastic bottles and deposit them and in return you gave them a can for three. that could have cost us thousands of pounds, but we decided to expect it to ourselves and spent evenings in old sheep station doing it ourselves. lot of businesses icy spending money on unnecessary things that don't ‘s early help them drive things forward , early help them drive things forward, it would innovate or increased sales but it will appear them to be a much larger company and they are. that for me, doesn't necessarily work. there will come a point in the lifespan of your own business we have the capabilities to hire people to do things, but if you are able to do something i always employ you to do it yourself. lets look at the markets before we 90, lets look at the markets before we go, asian markets are all mixed, flat to hire a. but one of the stocks are want to mention in the us

isjohnson & stocks are want to mention in the us is johnson & johnson, shares stocks are want to mention in the us isjohnson &johnson, shares fell by 10% on friday after reuters reported that the company knew its baby powder was contaminated by cancer—causing asbestos. the company rejected the claim, but shares still fell, we will continue to monitor that. i also want to show the currency board because the british pound has fallen by more than half a percent, that is after prime minister theresa may return from brussels where she failed to win assurances from the european union leaders over her brexit plan. is it for this edition of asia business report. thank you for watching. —— thatis report. thank you for watching. —— that is it. this is bbc news. the top stories this hour: a huge explosion at a restaurant in northern japan has left at least 41 people injured. pyongyang is threatening a return to what it calls "exchanges of fire" after the united states placed fresh sanctions against three north korean officials last week. bad weather and an increase in online buying are being blamed

for shoppers staying away from the high street, on what is usually the busiest weekend before christmas. retail experts say numbers across the uk over the weekend were down almost 10% compared with the same time last year. here's our business correspondent, joe miller. a bruising year has left many of britain's large retailers fighting for survival and more than ever, banking on a busy festive season. but heavy rain heaped more misery on the high street yesterday and prompted many to stay dry and shop online. there was a sliver of hope for retailers last week when footfall rose 6% on the year before. but figures from analytics firm springboard show a drop of 7% on saturday if you include retail parks and shopping centres and a drop of 9% on the high street, adding further gloom to one of the worst novembers on record. sunday saw better weather and a small recovery on the high street.

but overall footfall was still lower than in 2017 and analysts see few bright spots ahead. we've see consumer confidence drop, we've seen costs increase and in general, i think people are very nervous about spending. the british retail consortium predicts that sales will pick up in the next few days as more people rush to buy last—minute food and presents. the fate of one chain in particular may rest on such a surge. debenhams, which lost a record £500 million this financial year, has rebuffed an injection of cash from the self—styled saviour of the high street mike ashley. his company, sportsdirect, which rescued house of fraser, had a stark warning for its wounded rival. we've put this offer in to invest another a0 million, and it really is kind of the electric shock to wake them up to what is probably the last chance saloon. some suspect mr ashley, who was already debenhams's largest shareholder, wants the first claim on its assets if it collapses — an allegation the company rejects. but well debenhams and other struggling chains mightjust be able

to afford to keep the billionaire at bay, neither they nor mr ashley's retail empire can afford a disappointing christmas. joe miller, bbc news. chester zoo says it is "devastated" by the loss of some of its animals inafire. the blaze broke out in the monsoon forest area on saturday, destroying much of its roof. 0rangutans, macaques, gibbons and larger birds were saved, but some frogs, fish, insects and small birds died. cheshire fire said the blaze was "accidental" but it needed more time to determine the exact cause. an online appeal launched by the zoo, which reopened now on bbc news, it's time for sport today. hello. this is sport today, live from the bbc sports centre. dumbing up from the bbc sports centre. dumbing up on the programme, hugs all round.

—— coming up. liverpool put three past manchester united to go back to the top of the premier league. francesco molinari wraps up a record—breaking 2018 by being named the bbc world sports star of the year. and this right virat kohli's century, australia remain in the driving seat going into day four of the second test against india. —— and despite. hello, and welcome to the programme. we begin with the english premier league leaders, liverpool's unbeaten start continuing to 17 matches after a 3—1 win over manchester united at anfield. shadow security came off the bench to score the two crucial goals that took his side a point clear of manchester city in second. football correspondentjohn murray was at anfield. liverpool thoroughly deserved what is their