this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. the headlines: a new warning about the global economy. could slowing growth in china squeeze the outlook for the whole world? the risks remain. it will depend a lot on what happens with the trade talks. theresa may outlines her plan b for brexit, but critics say it doesn't go far enough. i'm babita sharma in london. also in the programme: the diplomatic stand—off between china and canada. dozens of former diplomats call on xi jinping to release two canadian citizens. and we'll bring you the story of how peppa pig inspired chinese twins to request a visit to see queen elizabeth. good morning, it's 9am here in singapore, and 2am

in the swiss alps, where the world's rich and powerful are gathering in davos to set their financial priorities for the year ahead. but uncertainty plagues this year's world economic forum because of news out of china. the world's second largest economy has grown at its slowest rate since 1990, and the imf is now warning of a fall in global economic growth. our business editor simon jack reports from davos. china's rapid economic growth, its expanding role in global trade, and the increased spending power of its consumers, have helped create jobs around the world. it picked up a lot of slack after the financial crisis. but that is changing. it is now the world's second biggest economy but in the last decade, its growth rate has slowed from a high of 14% to less than half that rate now.

and today, there was a warning that rising trade tensions between china and the us could see another dent in global growth. the risks remain. it is going to depend a lot on what happens with the trade talks. that is ongoing at this point. in the event that there is an escalation in the trade conflict, then we would see a bigger revision. the news that china's economy is growing at its slowest rate in nearly 30 years sent a bit of an icy blast through here ahead of the world economic forum in davos. it wasn't entirely unexpected, but china is now such a big part of the global economy that what happens there affects countries all around the world. the demand for raw materials like steel and oil is very sensitive to the chinese economy and affects the fortunes of workers from south wales to saudi arabia. so what do chinese business leaders make of the slowdown and the dangers of an escalating trade war? if the world's two largest economies are not seeing eye to eye, everybody suffers. the psychology of the trade war

is something which business is very uncomfortable with. but i am quite hopeful that there will be a deal in the next few weeks, because both sides need a deal because of domestic challenges. neither chinese president xi jinping or us president donald trump are attending davos this year, but they are still, in their absence, top of the world agenda. simonjack, bbc news, davos. well, president trump has tweeted in the last few hours. he says: "china posts slowest economic numbers since 1990 due to us trade tensions and new policies. makes so much sense for china to finally do a real deal, and stop playing around!" so, rico, that's not going to appease the chinese, is it? well, absolutely.

pressure on china to cut a deal. the truce deadline with the us is march 1st. if there is no resolution, trump will impose more tariffs on chinese goods and this will surely impact the economy. but china's economic slowdown has been predicted for quite some time. beijing has been saying that its focus is more on quality, not quantity, of growth. less reliant on exports and focus more on domestic demand. but, as the saying now goes, when china sneezes, the world catches a cold. we will have more on this economic slowdown in china on asia business report after newsday. our other top stories this hour: the british prime minister, theresa may, has outlined her next steps towards resolving the deadlock over britain's exit from the eu. mrs may said she would seek changes from brussels over the so—called backstop to avoid a hard border between ireland and northern

ireland. she told politicians here that securing a withdrawal deal was still her aim. 0pposition labour leader jeremy corbyn urged her to take a no—deal scenario off the table. let's hear from both. when people say, "rule out no deal," the consequences of what they are actually saying are that if we in parliament cannot approve the deal, we should revoke article 50. i believe this would go against the referendum results, and i do not believe that as a course of action we should take, or which this house should support. what makes her think that what she tried to renegotiate in december will succeed in january? mr speaker, this really does feel a bit like groundhog day. so the first thing she must do is recognise the clear majority in this house against leaving without a deal and rule out no deal. well, what is the reaction going to be in the eu?

0ur europe editor katya adler is in brussels. palms are beginning to get a little bit sweaty across the eu. this is an organisation that is used to doing deals at the 11th hour. but with only nine weeks to go now, eu leaders are getting nervous about the prospect of a costly no—deal brexit. and they want to be able to demonstrate to their voters back home that they have been doing their best. and if we look at the big eu powers, france and germany, they are saving no to watering down the backstop. they are telling theresa may not to come back to brussels until they can show that she has the majority of mps behind her. also making news this hour: also making news today: a car bomb attack in afghanistan has killed at least 20 members of the security forces. officials said about 30 others were wounded in the attack on a military base in

maidan wardak province. the taliban in afghanistan said they carried out the attack. russian authorities say two ships have caught fire in the kerch strait off the coast of crimea. at least 11 of the crew have died and a rescue operation is under way to find sailors who jumped overboard. it's thought the blaze started when fuel was being transferred between the two vessels. another prominent democrat has entered the race for the us presidential election next year. kamala harris was attorney general for california before she became a senator in 2016. she has one of the most liberal voting records in the us senate, and drew attention for her tough questioning of supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh. the opposition in zimbabwe is accusing the security forces of brutally suppressing its members, in response to last week's protests against a sharp rise in the price of fuel. the country's president is on his way back home after cutting short a foreign tour aimed at shoring up support for zimbabwe. from harare, our correspondent andrew harding reports. another funeral here in zimbabwe.

this one for a young footballer, shot in the head by police. there's grief, for sure, but a deep sense of shock, too. after all, this country was supposed to have left the bad instead, for over a week now, the security forces have been on the rampage. beating, torturing, using live ammunition against angry but unarmed protesters. and the crackdown is not over yet. this. “afgfl‘giflgz‘ 3—22 saw; 9“?sz amhj-‘z’lf ,, w? 77 hiding in a private clinic. in a car outside, another new casualty. this man, as you can see, does not ... . 12. z... 1" zggzwi lif‘izséelerzg;z;.&%s*§zaesfz . .... =

buh—htgovefi’rmefihs—ufirepefitant i, w. . . . .. e there has to be a return to democracy. we thought that by mr mugabe exiting the stage, we were going to have a new dispensation, but it's not a new dispensation. if anything, the mask has been removed, you know, the mask has fallen off. the truth is that we still have the old system, probably worse. zimbabwe was supposed to be on the mend by now. mugabe gone, a new, gentler government, promising to fix a broken economy. instead, as we have seen in these past few violent days here, old habits are hard to kick. and so a question looms.

will fear now keep the protesters poised for deeper turmoil? andrew harding, bbc news, harare. the diplomatic stand—off between china and canada has intensified. more than 140 former diplomats and academics are calling on president xijinping to release two canadian citizens detained last month. in an open letter, former envoys to china from seven different countries say the arrest of diplomat michael kovrig and businessman michael spavor, on charges of "endangering national security", will leave both china and canada worse off. a short while ago i spoke to one of the people who signed that letter, guy saint—jacques. he served as canada's ambassador to china between 2012 and 2016. we are experiencing a problem that other countries have experienced

as well and i think it is important to underline to china that what they are doing is contrary to international rules and therefore they should refrain from taking such action. i am very glad to see the number of people who have signed the letter and there are some foreign affairs ministers from australia and the uk, and as far as i know there was not a big effort to try and rally support for this letter, in fact i suspect that more people would like to add their name to the ladder in coming days. i just want to remind our viewers, if i can, of the sequence of events that led to these two arrests, which have led to the deterioration in relations

between china and canada. firstly, the canadian authorities arrested an executive of huawei, a chinese executive, and robert schellenberg in china on drug charges was sentenced to death after a sudden retrial. have you ever seen such a dip in relations between the two countries? i would say that we are probably going through the worst part of our history since we establish diplomatic relations in 1970. what we have seen with the retaliation that took place after the arrest of mrs meng at the request of the united states

is something similar to what i saw when i was ambassador back in 2014 when two canadian citizens were arrested after the arrest of mrs meng. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: australian police charge six people for allegedly smuggling stolen baby milk formula to china. also on the programme: fighting fake news. whatsapp limits sharing on its messaging service. of capitol hill in washington. faqu‘u» ”t‘a ,,,,,, " . . w

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this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. picking the i'm babita sharma in london. our top stories: the international monetary fund has cut its prediction for economic éifiiigrf 52343 iii? 35 §fifi§iéiiz increase for nearly three decades. theresa may has refused to rule out and has warned that holding a second referendum could threaten the country's national cohesion. sir david attenborough has told the world economic'fomm in davos'e on climate change. on tuesday, he'll take part let's now take a look at some of the front pages from around the world. singapore's business times. it warns that top bosses in south—east asian countries

are much more pessimistic about the future than their global counterparts. the a survey reveals 46% of asean ceos think that global economic growth is set to decline, compared to just 29% of business leaders in other parts of the world. there's more number—crunching in the japan times, focusing on the ultra—wealthy, whom the times nicknames ‘davos man'. it says that despite ten years of political upheaval, the fortunes of a dozen 2009 davos attendees have soared by a combined $175 billion. the philippine daily inquirer reports on a referendum which could put an end to decades of violence in mindanao. if this is ratified, the new law would give the muslim minority greater autonomy. those are the papers. the messaging service whatsapp is limiting its members to forwarding any single message up to five times. the company announced the expansion of the forwarding limit —

which had previously been trialled in india — in indonesia, ahead of elections in april. it's part of an effort to tackle the spread of false information on the platform. our business reporter kim gittlesonjoins me on set. what has prompted the change? well, i think it pays to go back to whatsapp, what it actually is. it is and that app that you download, it wa nts you and that app that you download, it wants you to send messages to does not really care he was sending them to, doesn't want to know any of your personal information essentially, that may be called privacy that is very difficult if you want to track the spread of messages and in particular, if you want to the spread of false messages, the things that lead to something like dozens of lynchings in india over the summer, it has been blamed for many political upsets in places like well. so whatsapp has said that in its efforts to try and combat the spread of misinformation and try to expand its forwarding, it had trialled it in india over the summer, then expanded it to users

around the world, you can only forward messages five times. this is something that will go into effect today, if you have an android phone and you update the app, you will see those changes. it will be rolled out later if you have an iphone. there was criticism for the way things we re was criticism for the way things were handled particularly, as he said, in india. there is value as to what whatsapp can do with its uses. so far, facebook is not really done a lot to try and make money from whatsapp. we do not see ads on and obviously, it has been trialling some ways of making money. 0ne obviously, it has been trialling some ways of making money. one of the ways in india, a way of sending money, micro— payments, at indian users were so upset money, micro— payments, at indian users were so upset with whatsapp that they threaten to withhold the license that it might need to institute this in the wake of all theissues institute this in the wake of all the issues over the summer. —— indian authorities. there is a lot

of concern over how it can police the spread of misinformation, but we do want to talk about this by affording the net. that does not mean can only to fight people, you can still said that the group ‘s, which can have up to 56 people in it. meaning that you can said one message to the 1000 people, which some people have suggested might mean that this is not go far enough to sort of combat that issue. are ways to get around it. thank you very much for that, we watch this closely to see how this changes in the coming days. thank you. —— we will. police in sydney say they're expecting more arrests over an alleged baby formula crime ring involving china, worth nearly $0.75 million. officers say six people have so far been charged, including four from the same family. they allegedly stole the baby formula from around sydney, sending it on the black market to china. this 0ur correspondent hywel griffith told me it's a complex case. the police here in sydney allege

that this family out the core of a gang utilised a network of thieves here in sydney to go and steal cans, thousands of cans of a big milk formula, to bring it to them, and they were then allegedly shipping it out to china dominantly, to sell it on and huge profit. we know for more than a decade, there has been a big demand for foreign, particularly australian baby milk formula in china, ever since the tragic death of six infants there, who drank chinese milk formula. therefore, a foreign branded formula sells well, very well, at big profit, and this family, the police allege, were scum; iii: kev): ;u:_.: z’§:: at gee-1; 1ie: “el-1: ;u:_.: 55:: at g expense ! gee-1; 1ie: “el-e: ;11:,.: ee:: at g expense of at)“ in australia, ca ns cans of : “mags-la .77 and of dollars and can 30 australian dollars and can be sold l china for about 100 dollars, and it is being

australian dollars, and it is being nicknamed in china white gold. yeah, i think at its peak, the trade was something like that, incredible profit. and what we have also seen here in australia personal shoppers go into supermarket and the pharmacies to try and stockpile stuff to sell it on at potentially three times the value. now, that trade is balanced out a little bit more recently with australian firms managing to sell themselves through online e—commerce portals in china, so online e—commerce portals in china, so the profit is starting to shrink and clearly, it is alleged that some gangs still see a lot of money to be made, particularly when the baby milk formula is stolen. it is true to say that some supermarkets here in sydney and australia still rationing baby milk formula to two cans perfor rationing baby milk formula to two cans per for family to rationing baby milk formula to two cans perforfamily to make rationing baby milk formula to two cans per for family to make sure that there is enough supply here, but it is not all finding its way to the asian market. and what are authorities planning to do with the stolen authorities planning to do with the stole n ba by authorities planning to do with the stolen baby formula milk that has been taken back from these chinese criminals? well, i don't think the

huge amount has been recovered. they estimate that thousands of cans have been sold for several years, so a lot of it will have disappeared into the market. however, they will try to recover the proceeds of crime, the hundreds of thousands of dollars they allege that this family has made, and there will be, they say, making more arrests in the near future. so six arrests so far, they estimate possibly another six people could be arrested as they uncover more about this scam and the network of criminals they allege were working under it. now, many world leaders consider tea with the queen a high point in any visit to the uk. so when an episode of the popular children's tv programme peppa pig featured just such a visit, it thrilled twins in china, who then posted a video asking if they too could visit the queen. john sudworth takes up the story. she's a pig with a little snout, and huge global clout. you can't walk around a muddy puddle! this episode, in which peppa pig

meets the queen, made a splash a long way from britain. oh i say, that does look fun. after watching it, these chinese twins posted this message to the queen, asking if they could also visit her palace. the video's been viewed almost 4 million times. and it worked, sort of. hello, mi na and mi a. i'm the british ambassador, so i'm the british queen's representative in china. i'd like you to come and visit me in my house in beijing, and we can perhaps have tea and scones in a british style, and we can talk about making your dream come true. it's not quite the same as tea with the queen perhaps, but the twins were also given the promise of a trip to the uk. well, all of this is a sign that brand britain sees the little pink

pig—shaped icon as a huge opportunity, and that for the british government, keen to promote industries like tourism, the hope is that peppa can bring home the bacon. peppa pig is a huge british success story in china, with 18 billion, yes, billion downloads and views. she even has her subversive side, with peppa tattoos now used as a symbol of an underground cou ntercultu re. we've seen the success of premier league football here, we've seen paddington bear, we've seen downton abbey, we've seen sherlock, and peppa pig is another manifestation of the power of uk culture around the world and that's great for creativity, it's great for the uk and it's great for tourism as well. airplane! with the twins preparing to jet off to britain, diplomats must be wishing all uk —china diplomacy could end so happily.

what's that, they say, about pigs and flying? john sudworth, bbc news, beijing. we love that, don't we? peppa pig. i think we could do tea together. are you a fan of peppa pig? i love peppa pig, don't you? you have been watching newsday. i'm babita sharma in london. i'm rico hizon in singapore. stay with us. our special series foodie empires continues, and what is next for australia's culinary queen, donna hay, who's moving on from magazines? we told you about it yesterday. just going to leave you with some pictures the super blood red wolf moon. thanks forjoining us, goodbye. hello there.

it looks set to be quite treacherously icy out and about first thing this morning. we've had the overnight rain, sleet and snow giving way to wintry showers which could well wash off some of the salt off the roads, so slippery certainly out there this morning. this is the huge swathe of cloud tied in with the weather front that's bringing that rain and hill snow, and it's going to bring substantial snow and problems to parts of europe once again. behind it, cold air coming in, so we've got those wintry showers as well. we've seen a few centimetres of snow on northern hills, courtesy of this weather front, could even be some snow at times at lower levels as it clears and these showers behind progressively turning to sleet and snow, possibly even at lower levels with heavier showers and these are the towns and city temperatures so out in the countryside, out on the roads and the pavements, the temperatures at freezing and hence the risk of being quite treacherously icy. so it does what is says. that cold weather front brings in colder air behind it, with significant snow

across parts of europe. but for ourselves, a bitter north—westerly wind. so those areas exposed to the north—west wind seeing a lot of showers through the day ahead. possibly snow through the central lowlands through the morning rush, across the antrim hills, so affecting some of the highly populated parts of northern ireland as well with that wintriness, and then progressively, they'll move into north—western parts of england and wales. at the same time, we're still clearing our weather front and turning it to snow quite readily, not too far away so there is a potential there for wet snow as it clears away from east anglia and the south—east, hence the ice risk being widespread. the showers through the day progress further east turning to snow. there'll be some hail, some thunder, gusty winds near them as we've seen on the weather front and with only 3—6 degrees temperature—wise, therefore the potential‘s there for snow to lower levels across the midlands in the afternoon, and those winds will make it feel even more bitter than it has recently so through the evening, there's a potential this evening that we could see a few centimetres of snow, even at lower levels across the south—east

and east anglia, before finally the showers ease a little through the night and a widespread frost will follow, even colder through the coming night, —10 potentially across the snowfields of scotland but that does promise that wednesday should be drier, fewer showers, lighter winds, perhaps still that wintry shower risk for the east and south—east and later in the day, it clouds over in the west but it's still bitterly cold despite lighter winds and despite the sunshine. is there anything milder on the horizon? well, possibly on friday temporarily, but the cold air is never too far away. as ever, you can get all the warning information from our website. you're watching bbc news. i'm babita sharma with bbc news. our top story: the international monetary fund has cut its economic forecast for 2019 after a slowdown in chinese output. beijing put its economic growth last year at 6.6%, the lowest for three decades. the imf says the slowdown, combined with trade disputes and brexit, could affect the whole world. theresa may says a second vote on brexit could damage british social cohesion. she also refused to rule out letting the uk leave the eu without a deal in place. and the british cartoon character peppa pig is trending online.

an episode where peppa visits buckingham palace and meets the queen inspired five year old twins to post a video requesting to meet the queen too. the video has been viewed four million times. that's all. stay with bbc world news. and the top story in the uk: the prime minister has announced that the £65 fee for eu citizens who want to remain in the uk after brexit will be scrapped.