led to a partial us government shutdown has broken up without agreement. as they left the white house, republican and democrat congressional leaders accused one another of intra nsigence over the cause of the dispute — mr trump's demand for $5 billion for a border wall with mexico. apple has warned investors that its latest revenue figures will be sharply lower than previously expected. the company said it hadn't foreseen the scale of the economic slowdown in some emerging markets, particularly china. and this video is delighting people all over the world: two giant panda cubs born last october in east china have been practising their feeding skills. sway—bao and sinojin are learning to drink from a bowl and eat bamboo shoots, just like their parents. that's all. stay with bbc world news. and the top story in the uk: the home secretary, sajid javid, has cast doubt on whether migrants trying to cross the english channel in small boats are genuine asylum seekers. now on bbc news, live to singapore

for asia business report. apple crumbles — shares in the tech giantare apple crumbles — shares in the tech giant are bruised after it warns of slowing sales in china and lower than expected iphone demand. more trade war in pak — how the conflict is hitting chinese investments and in the united states —— pact. good morning, asia. hello, world. it is thursday. i am glad you canjoin us for asia business report. i'm rico hizon. and we start with apple and the stock price slumping in after—hours trade after the technology giant warned its

first—quarter revenues, blaming a variety of factors for the lowering guidance, including a slowdown in china and lower than expected iphone apple and watch sales. michelle fleu ry apple and watch sales. michelle fleury reports. tech giant apple said revenue for this quarter would be lower than forecast. trade tensions between china and the us we re tensions between china and the us were partly to blame as well as fewer people choosing to upgrade their iphones. apple shares fell more than 6% on the news. in a letter to investors, the boss of apple, tim cook, said we did not foresee the magnitude of the economic deceleration, particularly in greater china. he went on to add, we believe the economic environment in china has been further impacted by rising trade tensions with the united states. the financial markets, this is likely to add fuel to the fire after another day that saw the main us indexes swing back and forth from negative into a positive territory. investors are worried that weakness will

ultimately hurt the us economy. as well as trade markets also worried about the federal reserve and their plans to raise interest rates this year. could it be another factor that could choke growth? comments from the white house on wednesday didn't appear to have much of an impact. president trump claimed a glitch for the market's poor performance in december for the glitch for the market's poor performance in decemberfor the s&p 500 and the dow that was the worst performance since 1931. donald trump predicted that they would sort again after trade deals were completed. michelle fleury in new york. in less than two weeks british lawmakers will be casting a crucial vote on prime minister theresa may's brexit deal. whatever the outcome, strengthening trade relations with the rest of the world will be key to the rest of the world will be key to the uk's future. foreign secretary jeremy hunt was here in singapore hoping to dojust jeremy hunt was here in singapore hoping to do just that in asia. he said britain has some of the best connections of any country, but what about free trade agreements, like the rebooted tra ns—pacific partnership, now called the cptpp?

this is what he had to say. we said we'd be very interested in being pa rt we'd be very interested in being part of the cptpp, which i think would be a very big opportunity. we are would be a very big opportunity. we a re interested would be a very big opportunity. we are interested in having any trade discussions with asean, you opening any omission in jakarta discussions with asean, you opening any omission injakarta precisely to enable those discussions to happen ona enable those discussions to happen on a more co—ordinated basis. enable those discussions to happen on a more co-ordinated basis. uk foreign secretary jeremy on a more co-ordinated basis. uk foreign secretaryjeremy hunt. the negative impact of the us— china trade war is starting to show clearly manufacturing activity shrank in december for the first time in19 shrank in december for the first time in 19 months, and america is becoming less favoured as a destination for chinese companies. figures reveal that chinese investment into the united states fell by more than 90% in the first half of last year, and that is even as merger and acquisition activity in the asia—pacific region hit the second—highest level on in 2018. one member of allen and overy told me what is behind the move.

i think it's a combination of factors. i think trade wars have certainly played into that. we identified probably three main reasons. one is really the chinese foreign exchange control, whereby the chinese government has banned a list of industries for the chinese investors to invest in, including real estate, hospitality, entertainment and sports, and that has quite a significant impact on the deal flow into the united states. and then, secondly, there is the domestic deleverage. and, thirdly, the us review which is supposed to address national security concerns for the united states. and many deals were blocked in 2018 by that review and this report is estimated at 8 billion us dollars. are these concerns in your view justified? dollars. are these concerns in your viewjustified? i think every

country is free to define their own national security issues, however with the blurring of the economic competition and political competition, sometimes it's really difficult to tell whether it has crossed a line to blocking legitimate investment. i think we have seen a perfectly legitimate deal with a willing seller and the buyer and with all of the commercial justifications that the deal was abandoned because of concerns arising from a potentially difficult review. all right, we have seen many chinese companies grow by leaps and bounds in terms of innovation and technology over the last decade, are the americans worry about giving the chinese the economic advantage?” think technology is certainly at the centre of the strategic rivalry between the two countries. i think the united states has all the reasons to be confident in its own innovation power. in other news making the headlines,

tesla shares falling sharply after the other car manufacturer revealed that it missed expectations for deliveries and it is cutting prices by $2000 in the us. deliveries and it is cutting prices by $2000 in the us. the price cut which will apply to model s, model x, is in response to a reduction in green tax credits. tesla delivered more than 90,000 vehicles in the three months until december. president donald trump had shrugged off december‘s wall street slump and said it would go up again once he negotiates trade deals with china and other countries. speaking during and other countries. speaking during a cabinet meeting at the white house, he said, "we had a little glitch in the stock market last month, but it is still up since his election." that was two years ago. he also said we need a little help from the us central bank. the us congressional leaders haven't been able to strike a deal to end a partial shutdown of the federal government at a meeting with donald trump. the president has now invited

them to return to the white house on friday for further negotiations, but the incoming white house, or the house speaker, nancy pelosi, said democrat in her chamber would pass legislation to reopen the government today, pressuring senator republicans to follow suit. she and other democratic leaders didn't commit toa other democratic leaders didn't commit to a second meeting with mr trump. cathay pacific has said it will orderfirst and cathay pacific has said it will order first and business class tickets that it sold to some lucky passengers a fraction of the price, which were mistakenly sold for about $675 return. prices on the same route injuly $675 return. prices on the same route in july and $675 return. prices on the same route injuly and september cost $16,000 per passenger. well, what dell might one of the biggest themes of 2018 was the #metoo movement. in business, women speaking out against harassment toppled ceos and in politics it

helps for a wave of women elected in the mid—term polls. here in asia we often talk about a lack of female leaders, but new zealand is one country that has had three female prime minister is. the bbc‘s sharanjit leyl spoke with one of them and asked her whether she thinks gender issues will dominate the political agenda in the year ahead. it is very exciting to see the number of women elected to the house of representatives in the united states. this really was a very encouraging feature for those elections. but of course we are not there yet. as the continuing level of violence against women in countries rich and poor shows. i think the challenge is to go from being part of the #metoo movement to getting into the structures of decision—making, which actually can propel change. so, i do feel that women are on the move. i think one of the most encouraging things we can say about the world today is that the voice of women is being

heard, can't be ignored, isn't going to go away. and if women are given opportunity to lead, to be decision—makers, to participate in the economy and society on equal terms, then that will make a huge difference. now, another issue that you have championed over the years has been climate change. where will we be with climate change in 2019? we should all be very worried, because we are not remotely near meeting the aspirations of the paris climate agreement. we are on course for a three degrees plus future, and thatis for a three degrees plus future, and that is catastrophic. the problem is the political barriers in the way of that are enormous. and onejust wonders how many more catastrophes, how much more flooding, how many more landslides, how many more droughts leading close to flame and are we going to have to see it before people get the message? format new zealand prime minister helen clark in conversation with my colleague sharanjit helen clark in conversation with my colleague shara njit leyl. helen clark in conversation with my colleague sharanjit leyl. and, before we go, the lead story, shares

in apple are slump in after—hours trade. it is down about 8%, basically wiping out about $50 billion of its market value. and that's after the tech giant warned the first—quarter revenues. the company blamed a variety of factors for the lower than expected iphone and apple watch sales and this is impacting the futures market in the us with the s&p futures down by more than 1%. not much of an impact for asian markets with the hang seng down just 52 and the all ordinaries gaining 50. thank you so much for interesting your time with us. i'm rico hizon. sport today's coming up next. this is bbc news. the top stories this hour: a meeting called by president trump to discuss the budget dispute that's led to a partial us government shutdown has broken up without agreement. the tech giant, apple, is warning that revenues have taken a big hit, largely because of disappointing sales in china. the home secretary, sajid javid,

has been criticised by refugee groups, after he questioned whether migrants using small boats to try to cross the channel were genuine asylum seekers. more than 530 people have attempted the dangerous crossing in the past year, most of them since october. more than half have made it to the english coast. our correspondent duncan kennedy reports from dover. the home secretary today heading out of dover to see for himself the border force operation in the channel. sajid javid spent half an hour on board in the kind of calm conditions that many migrants use to make their crossing. but mrjavid questioned whether those coming were actually fleeing persecution. if you are a genuine asylum seeker then why have you not sought asylum in the first safe country that you arrived in? because you know, france is not a country where anyone would argue it is not safe in any way whatsoever. but some migrant support groups say those comments

from the home secretary are deeply concerning. and that these people should be treated as genuine. they also say that although more than 200 have landed since november, the numbers are minuscule in comparison to those trying to cross the mediterranean. my feeling is that it has been blown out of proportion. in the grand scheme of things, these are small numbers of people arriving from northern france. and they have their reasons for wanting to come to the uk. but although migrant numbers remain small, we flew along the kent coast today to see just how difficult it is to patrol the english channel. this cutter will soon be one of three operating here after the home secretary ordered two more to be brought back from the med. but with so many potential landing points, migrants' dinghies still difficult to detect. in fact the whole of the kent coastline is more than 200 miles

long and this recent surge of migrants since november has seen landings everywhere from ramsgate to lympne, a shoreline distance of more than a0 miles. there haven't been any migrants spotted making the crossing in the past 48 hours. it's not clear why, but few expect the flow to stop. a limited but determined group of people trying to make britain their home. duncan kennedy, bbc news, in kent. right, that is just about it from me for the moment. do stick with us, and don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter, i'm @lvaughanjones. so, do get in touch. this is bbc news. now on bbc news, sport today.

hello, i'm chetan pathak live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on the programme. four in a row. ole gunnar solskjaer‘s winning start at manchester united continues with victory at newcastle. christian pulisic becomes the most expensive american footballer in the world — after signing for chelsea. and with an eye on history. india's cricketers look to win a test series in australia for the first time. welcome to the programme, thanks forjoining us. ole gunnar solskjaer‘s winning streak as manchester united's interim manager continues, as his side made it four wins out of four since the sacking ofjose mourinho. united ran out 2—0 winners at newcastle to move closer to the top four. the bbc‘s guy mowbray was watching.