you are watching bbc news. our top story: the british prime minister, theresa may, prepares to unveil her latest brexit proposals after her deal was rejected by mps last week. a cross—party group of mps have been discussing how parliament could take control of the process and stop a no—deal brexit happening. the government have accused them of trying to hijack brexit. china is rapidly modernising its military and improving its ability to fight regional conflicts. that is the key finding of a new report from the us defense intelligence agency. and this story is trending on bbc.com. police say they have spoken to the duke of edinburgh after he was spotted not wearing a seatbelt, just two days after being involved in a car crash. that's all. stay with bbc world news. and the top story in the uk: police say they believe a dissident republican group, the new ira, was behind a bombing in londonderry. four men have been arrested.

now on bbc news, live to singapore for asia business report. trade war impact. numbers due today are expected to show china's economy has slowed to a rate not seen since the global financial crisis. and putting on the brakes. france's finance minister plays down talk of a merger between carmakers renault and nissan. hello and welcome to this monday edition of asia business report, i am sharanjit leyl. growth figures out very shortly, in a few hours‘ time, are expected to show

that the world‘s second economy is expanding at its slowest pace since the global financial crisis, that is the global financial crisis, that is the trade war with america starts to ta ke the trade war with america starts to take its toll on the head of a meeting next week between the two countries. our correspondent robyn brandtjoins us countries. our correspondent robyn brandt joins us from countries. our correspondent robyn brandtjoins us from shanghai. we know these figures are due to be released very shortly. is there a general consensus in china as well that there will be a slowdown? there is, ithink that there will be a slowdown? there is, i think there is no doubt that these figures for the last three months of 2018 will confirm that the second largest economy in the world is still growing at a rate that would be much admired, particularly from some western capitals —— robin brant. at that rate of growth is slowing. the numbers are expected to come in at 6.5% growth for the fourth quarter of 2018. that may point towards overall growth last year of around point towards overall growth last yearofaround 6.7%, point towards overall growth last year of around 6.7%, but as i say, thatis year of around 6.7%, but as i say, that is slowing. and all of this is

in the context of particularly worrying concern about consumer demand here in china. we saw demand for automotive cars last year dropped by more than two decades and a warning from apple‘s ceo, tim cook, that demand for apple‘s products here in china had fallen sharply towards the end of last year. they are expecting that to have a fairly significant impact on the company‘s overall revenue. so what we have in this country is managed slowdown, and from the very top, president xijinping, it is clear the government has accepted that, it is trying to deal with that. the focus is on the quality of growth, less on the sheer quantity of growth, so we are seeing elements of growth, so we are seeing elements of the stimulus from the government as they try and deal with that managed slowdown. but that stimulus cannot be on the scale that we saw some ten years ago, because frankly when it comes to debt there isn‘t

the wiggle room there was for china a decade ago. it is interesting, you talk about that managed economy, but somewhat more unmanageable has been the trade war with the us, and that has certainly led to a lot of uncertainty in the markets. what has been the impact? yes, there is very negative sentiment about the impact of the trade war. and i think, looking back to last year, there is a growing consensus that the reason that china‘s economy is slowing down is more about the squeeze on debt, the squeeze on credit led by the government, but figures towards the end of last year show that that trade war appears to be beginning to bite. now, the shanghai index has lost about a third of its value in the last year, and i think that is mainly because by that companies here in china in particular are really suffering. there has been less support from the government, it has been harderfor a long period of time for private companies here to get credit. public companies are more supported but we have had declarations from the very top of government about the two unwavering aspects, unwavering support from the

top of government and from private companies and elements of the stimulus in place. that is not going to be on the scale we had some ten yea rs to be on the scale we had some ten years ago. and you will be watching those figures when they are due out injust under those figures when they are due out in just under half—an—hour‘s time or so. in just under half—an—hour‘s time or so. here is what else we are looking at this week. british prime minister theresa may has to publish an updated plan of to parliament on monday. her brexit deal was rejected by lawmakers last week. a full debate and a key vote on it is scheduled for next week. and the world economic forum‘s davos forum kicks off, but no members of the trump administration are attending due to the government shutdown. an a nalyst told due to the government shutdown. an analyst told me how investors are reacting to those developments. still highly uncertain, u nfortu nately. we still highly uncertain, unfortunately. we were kind of hoping for some new news coming out over the weekend, but it looks like various conference calls have gone

on and not much has happened. i think the key thing is over the next day or so whether theresa may starts to lose control of the debate, and i think that is probably the key thing that markets are looking for. and we know that hasn‘t had much of an impact on the asian market, but the notion that the uk‘s parliament could hijack wrecks that, as the trade secretary, liam fox, says, is that something that could really worry investors —— hijack brexit. that something that could really worry investors —— hijack brexitlj think the thing is if she loses control than the markets will start to figure out what the next step is. and i think although it is highly uncertain at the moment, some sort of deal that involves joining the customs union looks probably the most likely path. and i think markets, if indeed that happens, markets, if indeed that happens, markets will actually feel fairly co mforta ble markets will actually feel fairly comfortable with that. and of course, an impasse as well in the us, where democrats in the congress have rejected president trump‘s

compromise plan on immigration. that makes the us shutdown now the longest in american history. will at put a dent in growth in the us? so that‘s quite interesting, because at the moment markets have seemed to look through the shutdown. and in january, so far, it has been one of the strongest month for the s&p 500 for a very long time. so the market seemed to be looking through that. at the moment estimates for economic growth impact range about 0.5% to gdp in theresa may, but obviously that comes back in future quarters. so the market at the moment is looking through it. but again, negotiations are going on, still very much in deadlock, i‘m afraid. france has downplayed talk of a merger between renault and nissan. the finance minister, bruno le maire, told a newspaper there is no plan to remodel the two decade alliance. his comments come as

carlos ghosn, the architect of the partnership, asked the tokyo court for a second time to grant him bail after a request last week was denied. 0ur correspondent has the latest. japanese media have been reporting that the french state wa nts a reporting that the french state wants a merger between the carmakers nissan and renault. those two companies, together with mitsubishi, have for the past two years formed a global carmaking alliance headed by carlos ghosn, the man who is currently in detention in a japanese jail. he has been accused by nissan a financial ‘s conduct, which he denies. now, the french state owns 1596 denies. now, the french state owns 15% of renault, which in turn owns a big chunk of nissan, which are rather confusingly in turn owns a bit of renault. the french economy minister, bruno le maire, was asked whether this indeed was the case, did the french state what a merger between renault and nissan? he dismissed such talk, he said it was

not on the table, which is not entirely an outright denial. nissan has removed carlos ghosn as its head, and renault is considering doing the same. so who should replace carlos ghosn? well, the french economy minister, bruno le maire, was asked this question. various names have been floating around in france, including the name of the chief executive of michelin tyres. now, bruno le maire was asked whether he backed him for thejob. he said it wasn‘t up to him, it is up he said it wasn‘t up to him, it is up to the board, but of course the french state as a shareholder would have their say. and then he proceeded to lavish praise on the chief executive of michelin tyres, so chief executive of michelin tyres, so it seems quite clear who the french state might well be backing. india and france are likely to surpass the uk in the 2019 rankings of the world‘s largest economies, according to the latest projections by british consultancy giant pwc.

0ur correspondentjoins us from delhi with the latest. what else does this forecast say? well, the pwc‘s optimism forecast is based on two things, the high population in india which it feels will be including the skilled labour contributing to the services sector. the second is the payoff from the tax policy of uniform taxation, called the goods and services tax, which the consultancy firm sees as rationalising revenues for the government. but the report also says there could be two major global shocks that could impact this projection. that is the oil supply, which could hurt india‘s economy, and any disruption with the us— china trade war. this report also shows that there would be a stark challenge for the uk, which is in the middle of the brexit challenge, because britain will be stronger post— brexit, but it shows that india and france are likely to take

overin india and france are likely to take over in real gdp terms. indeed, a fascinating report. thank you very much. and before we go, a very quick look at those markets, because as you can see asian markets are all flat. there is a lot of caution ahead of those chinese growth numbers due out very shortly. but of course, these gains also propelled by gains on wall street that we saw last week. wall street having its fourth week of games, and i should mention that wall street is actually shut for martin luther king‘s birthday. that‘s it, thank you for joining us. this is bbc news. the top stories this hour: the british prime minister is due to outline plans for what could happen next in the brexit process, after her withdrawal agreement was voted down last week. a new report outlines china‘s rapidly modernising military, and its ability to fight regional conflicts. four men have been arrested

in northern ireland after a bomb exploded outside the courthouse in londonderry on saturday night. police called it a very significant attempt to kill people, and suspect the dissident republican group the new ira of being responsible. 0ur ireland correspondent emma vardy reports. this cctv shows the vehicle arriving outside the courthouse in londonderry city centre. the driver parks up, then runs away. shortly after, a group of people pass by, oblivious. the device detonates atjust after 8:00pm last night. i thought this was all a thing of the past, so it‘s a bit, you know... don‘t really know what to think, to be honest. this doesn't accomplish anything. it doesn't prove anything. what are they trying to prove? a warning was called in, but police had already spotted the suspicious vehicle some tenminutes earlier,

and were evacuating the city centre. hundreds of people were led out of the busy hotels and bars. today, four men were arrested and remain in custody. thankfully, the local community and the police service acted bravely together, and we got everybody awayjust in time. but the bomb detonated just as we were leaving the area, and it‘s only by good grace that local people weren‘t killed. this attack has been linked to the dissident republican group known as the new ira, a proscribed organisation which aims to bring about a united ireland. police say a pizza delivery van was hijacked by two armed men in derry a short time before the explosion. it was a very crude device that was placed inside this vehicle, but officers described it as a significant attempt to kill people. in a place where politics can be so divisive, today, political leaders were united.

my message to those, whoever they are, who were responsible for this action is to stop, to understand they have no support for such actions. the democratic unionist party leader, arlene foster, called it "a pointless act of terror which must be condemned in the strongest terms." scenes like this were once common in northern ireland, but not anymore. this attack reawakens memories of a darker time. emma vardy, bbc news, derry. now on bbc news, sport today. an 18—year—old will appear in court later today charged with the murder ofa later today charged with the murder of a boy in east london. the boy was unconscious when he was stabbed to death after being knocked from his notepad earlier this month. police are looking forfour notepad earlier this month. police are looking for four other suspects who fled the scene —— moped. now on bbc news, sport today. hello, i‘m chetan pathak and this is sport today

live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: three goals for manchester city. all they beat huddersfield to move back within four points of leaders liverpool at the top of the english premier league. in a stunning finish. the los angeles rams beat the new orleans saints in overtime to make it to the super bowl. and a first ever masters snooker title forjudd trump — who hammers the seven time champion ronnie 0‘sullivan in the final. welcome to the programme, thanks forjoining us. roger federer roger all of that to come but first to the australian open where play