inews. 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. now on bbc news, live to singapore

for asia business report. global warning from davos, the imf cautions the us— china trade war could undermine world economic growth. davos makes it big —— peppa pig makes it big in china — how the new year movie promo is breaking the country's internet. good morning, asia. hello, world. welcome to this edition of asia business report. i'm rico hizon. we start with the world economic

forum and the gathering starts today. the imf has warned the trade war could damage the global economy. president donald trump called for china to do a real deal after it posted its slowest expansion in almost three decades. sally bundock has more. here in davos, the imf has announced it has revised downwards its outlook for the global economy for this year and next. i spoke to the newly appointed chief economist, who told me that china's slowdown could be faster than expected if the trade dispute is not resolved. the risks remain. it is going to depend oi'i risks remain. it is going to depend on what on what happens with the trade talks. that is ongoing at this point. in the event that there are is an escalation in the trade conflict, then we would see a big revision. gita, you have revised

your forecast for the global economy for this year and next. you talk about risks for more significant downward revisions in the future. what are the biggest risks? the revisions we have made a fairly modest, but the risks are very high. among the risks, gita gopinath are important, one is escalating trade tensions, and is the second is the financial escalation and trade tensions. they are costly because they become intertwined, which wasn't the case for 2019, given that many countries in the world still have high levels of debt, any further increase in borrowing costs will be costly for them. and with trade, any disruption in the global supply chain, that would have a bigger effect on the global economy. she also added if china's slowdown is quicker than expected, it could

lead to an abrupt sell—off on financial markets, so the imf is calling for global cooperation to resolve trade disputes and that new barriers must not go up. sally bundock, bbc news. whatsapp is limiting members to forwarding any single message after five times in an effort to tackle the spread of false information on the platform. the facebook owned business introduced the policy in india six months ago. let's cross to devina gupta in delhi. so is this initiative working in india? well, rico, we have seen since lastjuly, when whatsapp try to curb misinformation and spam being circulated in the largest market here in india, with all the rumours turning deadly with people being killed by mobs and that's when whatsapp was under pressure to do

something. so for example, if i go to my whatsapp account, if i forward any message, i will get a label which says "forwarding" and in this message i can only do so five times. but in reality, a group like this one which i am on has around 256 people. so even if i can forward the message five times, this means i can share it with around 1300 people in one go. and that has been concerned with the indian authorities. they haven't really seen curbing of misinformation in spite of this limit. they want more access now about the data that is shared on whatsapp. now, remember, it is end—to—end encryption. that is what it is. it doesn't let the authorities know whether data is coming from. it is difficult to trace it. that is why it in india there is more pressure on them to share more information. whatsapp however has refused to share any

data whether this has helped in india, but it is now taking a step globally to limit its forward messaging from 20 to five. thank you for the update from delhi, india business report devina gupta. devina gupta is australia's culinary queen, creating a business including tv shows and cookbooks. in the latest edition of foodie empires we look at the next step for her after the closure of her magazine. food needs to look beautiful in the bowl, on the plate, and i guess my creative spirit wanted everything to be beautiful as well, to sell people who dream. i love the styling, i love the creative process behind every book, every magazine. the magazine can be a little bit

more flippant, a little bit more creative, a little bit more macro —— arty, whereas books i think need to bea arty, whereas books i think need to be a little bit more classic. when you write recipes, you naturally become a perfectionist if you want them to work and if you want people's trust that if you are going to be that one of your recipes, follow it, it looks great, it looks like the photo. we have dabbled in homewares. i have baking ranges in the supermarkets. little bits and pieces that we just wanted to have fun with. it was a really, really a huge struggle for me. i was quite happy to sit behind my brand and be the person just working away as the little stylus. that was a real game changer coming in front of the camera and learning not to be so shy and... —— stylist. horrible times,

when you first do it. i haven't got sad yet. i am just really excited and proud of what we have achieved. i love the website, i love working in digital. i love the clarity of the pictures and the crispness that you get on digital but i am still a big lover of paper so i am torn between the two. and let's face it, what i do next has to be amazing. 0h, oh, look at all that food, it is making me really hungry. the children's cartoon character peppa pig is popular on chinese social media thanks to a trailer promoting

a lunar move. the promo has gone viral in china marking a turnaround for the character who was seen as too rebellious. 0ne expert tommy why it is so difficult for western companies to break into the chinese market —— told me. companies to break into the chinese market -- told me. it is not always too easy to reach the target market in china because you have to be releva nt in china because you have to be relevant and different from everyone else. you have to get it right and you can't get it half right. so many big brands try to do something about chinese new year or something... burberry had an ad with googly looking people and they said, why aren't they happy? they went all the way to china, they teamed up with alibaba, they way to china, they teamed up with aliba ba, they had way to china, they teamed up with alibaba, they had a chinese director and pick up topics relevant to the chinese consumer. this peppa pig character is rebellious. yes. a change in theme and outlook and treatment. of course it is the year of the pig. yes, perfect timing for

them. it is a good idea to come out 110w them. it is a good idea to come out now and tell the story. they haven't changed the story itself so much. leading into the story they have this beautiful trailer, five minutes online, 1 billion views they say on weibo, so they are talking about the topics that are important, organisation, all verses young, digitisation, the old being left behind, these are close to the chinese consumers‘ hearts. behind, these are close to the chinese consumers' hearts. in the past you mentioned burberry and all the western brands suffered. what advice would you give to western brands to be able to do it right in the mainland market? it is very high because chinese consumers are very critical right now as far as what western brands are doing in china. it is all or nothing. you go all out like peppa pig, with a chinese director and cast, or you don't even have to pander to the local culture. they admire you for being western,

for having a european heritage. stick to that. have a let's quick look now on the asian financial markets. as you can see, lacklustre, mostly flat in early morning trade, due to thin trading as wall street closed overnight for a public holiday. the nikkei down seven points, the all 0rdinaries 13 points and the hang sengindex 0rdinaries 13 points and the hang seng index opened for trading in hong kong lullaby seven points. —— lower by seven points. that is it for the cd shouldn't of asia business report. thank you so much for spending your time with us. —— thatisit for spending your time with us. —— that is it for this edition of asia business report. sport today is coming up next. this is bbc news. the top stories this hour: the international monetary fund has cut its prediction for economic growth in the coming year, after china reported its slowest increase for nearly three decades. theresa may has refused to rule out a no—deal brexit for the uk, and has warned that holding a second referendum could threaten the country's national cohesion.

vandals have splashed white paint over several statues and memorials around london's green park. the bomber command memorial, the canada memorial and statues of winston churchill and franklin d roosevelt were all damaged in the incident. sonja jessup reports. it is supposed to honour their courage and sacrifice, but today the bomber command war memorial was found vandalised, daubed in white gloss paint. i feel absolutely outraged, i can see no point in this, it seems absolutely senseless. you know, what are they hoping to achieve, these people? it'sjust disrespectful of what they did for this country, in terms of freedom, it's absolutely disgusting. it'sjust so sad, it's mindless. i don't know why people would do it. file footage: raf lancasters of bomber command fly through heavy flak... the memorial honours more

than 55,000 men who lost their lives with bomber command during world war ii. and those who survived, such as charles clarke, bomber command veteran who was shot down and taken prisoner. inexcusable, and pointless, because it doesn't even give a reason for it. if, for example, you put up a ticket, ban the bomb, one couldn't understand it but could perhaps see the point. but this is just sheer vandalism. it's not clear how exactly it will cost to clean this up, but we are told it will be thousands of pounds. cctv footage is being examined to identify whoever is responsible. it's not about money, it's about the people who have been affected by it, the memory of those who died, their mates, the veterans, and the families of those people who've died. that's what is the most upsetting bit, is the fact that those people have no idea why this happened. although the charity says there is no reason to think there is a political message behind this,

white paint has also been thrown over the canada war memorial, also in green park, and over this statue of winston churchill in mayfair. this is the fourth time in six years the bomber command memorial has been vandalised. unveiled by the queen in 2012, it took years for bomber command to be recognised in this way. there was an unease over the hundreds of thousands of german civilians who lost their lives, this memorial acknowledges all civilian losses. why it's been vandalised and who by, tonight, a mystery. sonja jessup with that report. stay with us. mike embley is here in 15 minutes with the rest of the news and headlines. 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 the programme... readying himself for his australian open quarter—final. rafa nadal looks to stay on course for an 18th grand slam title. juventus thrash serie a's bottom side to go nine points clear at the top of the table. welcome to the programme. thank you forjoining us. first then to melbourne, where play is underway at the australian open tennis. later, rafa nadal faces the 21—year—old american frances tiafoe in the quarter—finals, and before that, the home favourite ashleigh barty will look to become the first australian female singles semi—finalist for 35 years when she takes on the double