air, bringing a once—in—a—generation deep freeze. the arctic air is gripping the midwest and eastern states, where temperatures have plunged to —40 celsius in some places. at least five deaths have been attributed to the icy weather. in venezuela, peaceful demonstrations have been held in support of the opposition leader, juan guaido. earlier, president trump assured him of us support. the us has imposed sanctions against the country. and this story is trending on bbc.com. tributes have been held for the footballer emiliano sala, who went missing in an aircraft over the english channel last week. an underwater search for the plane that was carrying the footballer will take place later this week after cushions were found on a beach in france. that's all. stay with bbc world news. and the top story in the uk: the eu says it won't renegotiate the brexit deal, despite theresa may pushing for an alernative to the so—called irish backstop. now on bbc news, live to singapore for asia business report.

the third on hold. the us central bank signals it will not raise interest rates any time soon. facebook soaring. the world's biggest social media network post record profits in the face of privacy scandals. —— fed on hold. glad you could join us for another action packed edition of asia business report. i'm rico hizon. we start off with us stock markets, higher after the federal reserve pledged to be, quote, patient over raising the cost of borrowing. the

updated numbers, the nikkei 225 up by 1% in the all ordinaries index marginally higher, 15 points. this marks an abrupt turnaround from earlier statements which suggested it would gradually increased the cost of borrowing. our north america business correspondent was outside the federal reserve building in washington, dc. patient, that was the word of the day as fed officials signalled they would take a wait—and—see approach to interest—rate policy. by unanimous decision, officials inside he voted to leave the key interest rate unchanged in the range of 2.25 — 2.596. unchanged in the range of 2.25 — 2.5%. they also indicated their balance sheet, which grew considerably in the wake of the financial crisis, would remain sizeable. now, after the decision was announced at a press conference held by fed sharejerome powell, he said the us economy remains strong. but he also warned of crosscurrents, citing slower growth in china and the eu as well as brexit and trade

talks. and he seemed to have a warning for politicians here in washington about the damage should there be a second us government shutdown. if they were going to be a permanent effect or a lasting effect, let's say, it would be from a longer shut down or perhaps a second shutdown, and that would be through the channel of a loss of confidence in our ability to make policy in the united states. the reaction from the financial market was instant. the dowjones industrial average was up some a50 points on the news. part of the reason is that it caught many people by surprise. after all, for the past few years, the federal reserve had been raising interest rates. now, it is taking a pause. facebook has posted record quarterly numbers, sending its shares soaring in after—hours trade. it made $6.8 billion in the last three months of 2018, and that beat wall street estimates, and comes as the company

wrestles with a raft of privacy scandals. david lee gave us more on the reaction to those numbers. scandals. david lee gave us more on the reaction to those numbersm has absolutely delighted them, shares have jumped on has absolutely delighted them, shares havejumped on the news of its earnings. and i tell you, in the past day we had reporting on the latest crisis facebook has been facing about how it does market research with teenagers. and as we we re research with teenagers. and as we were heading into today, i wondered what kind of impact a whole year of scandal is going to have on facebook. what these earnings have shown is that users have for the most pa rt shown is that users have for the most part turned a complete blind eye on the various scandals that facebook is mired in. compared to 2017, 2018, which had a lot of problems for facebook, 2018 saw facebook‘s profits rise by 39%. so this isn't just facebook‘s profits rise by 39%. so this isn'tjust a company that is surviving, despite scandals. i think many people will look at this and say that facebook is thriving. in his first interview since his arrest

in november, the former head of nissan has accused the company of plotting against him. carlos ghosn said some in nissan opposed his plans to integrate renault, the french firm he headed with his japanese partners, nissan and mitsubishi. he has reiterated he is innocent of financial misconduct charges levelled against him. rupert wingfield hayes has the details. from japan's nikkei newspaper he was given 20 minutes to talk to them and during this he has made some pretty serious allegations. first of all we learn from mr ghosn that last year he was planning to further integration of nissan here injapan with his parent company, renault in france. he says he discussed those plans with the ceo of nissan in september last year. that is just two months before he was arrested at tokyo airport. and then he makes a very serious accusation. he says it essentially the case against him is political, and he uses pretty strong

language, accusing fellow nissan executives of plotting and of treason. and the reason for it, he says, was to try and undo that further integration that he was planning. 0n the specific charges that have now been laid against him by tokyo prosecutors, he says all the financial dealings he had while he was chairman of nissan were signed off on one or more other executives. there is a specific charge that he paid 15 million us dollars to a saudi business associate. well, he says that payment was signed off by less nissan's middle eastern chief executive and four other officers in the company. he says if any of the financial dealings he is now accused of were wrong, well, then nissan's lawyers should have known that and they should have told him. it is day two of the trade negotiations between the us and china in washington, dc. the world's two biggest economies are hoping to strike a deal to halt a further

escalation in the trade war. president donald trump and xi jinping agreed truce until march. for more details, a business reporter. who are the key negotiators in these talks? well, it is quite fascinating, even though president trump and his tweets keep getting all the attention on the us side, the sky is leading the discussions. he is the us trade representative, and he isjoined by four other men, treasury secretary mnuchin, will ross and larry kudlow and peter navarro, who is trade adviser. mr navarro is especially known for his hardline views on trade. he recently said, quote, china is stealing ourfuture. but mr lighthizer has also been very vocal since the late 1990s, in fact warning against china joining the wto. he was worried the us would

have use leveraged over china to push them to be more democratic. so tough negotiators facing a chinese tea m tough negotiators facing a chinese team led by the vice premier. he is a harvard educated economist and was hand—picked by the president, who he has apparently been friends with since they were teenagers, and he has been called the brains behind china's shift in economic policy away from export driven growth and towards domestic consumption so the economies are less reliant on external factors. we will see what they can come up with. hopefully we will find a resolution sooner rather than later. thank you all my up —— thank you for that update. china's biggest firm has established 360 restau ra nts biggest firm has established 360 restaurants around the world. the popular chain opened beijing's first robot aided restaurant and it has prompted panasonic to spread this

concept. this is our latest report on mouthwatering food empires across the asia pacific. when you think of a chinese restaurant, do you think of robot kitchen hands? robot waiters? galactic visions? well, perhaps that perception is about to change. translation: in our industry, labour will become more expensive, while machines will keep getting cheaper. translation: it's really good. i'm a

loyal fan, and this place has robots serving you, so i have brought my friends here to see it. translation: the older hotpot restaurants didn't have this field. it is something novel, it is new. translation: robots have no feelings. they do what is asked of them without introducing anything harmful from them without introducing anything harmfulfrom outside. it improves food safety and productivity. in other business news making headlines, the european union's chief negotiator has said the irish backstop is, quote, part and parcel

of the uk's brexit deal and will not be renegotiated. speaking at european parliament, michel barnier said it was a realistic solution to preventing a hard border. tesla boss elon musk has said the company's finance chief is retiring. speaking on an earnings call, musk announced he will continue to serve as a senior adviserfor, he will continue to serve as a senioradviserfor, quote, he will continue to serve as a senior adviser for, quote, probably yea rs senior adviser for, quote, probably years to come. with that we end this edition of asia business report. thank you so much for investing your time with us. i am rico hizon in singapore. sport today is coming up next. this is bbc news. the top stories this hour: parts of the us midwest have been hit by a deadly blast of cold air, known as a polar vortex, with temperatures dropping to at least —30 celsius. the eu says it won't renegotiate the brexit deal, despite theresa may pushing for an alernative to the so—called irish backstop. the uk supreme court has upheld a ruling thatjobseekers should not

have to disclose minor convictions from their past. the case was brought by three people who claimed they had been refused work because of offences committed long ago. campaigners say the ruling could affect thousands of people with criminal records. our legal affairs correspondent clive coleman has more details. eight years ago, joshua torrence was convicted of possession of small amounts of cannabis and ketamine, and received a £200 fine. he believes job applications were binned as a result. i slowly realised that the only way for me to getjobs was to start lying on these applications and in interviews. and i started saying that i didn't have any criminal convictions, and hoping that they just wouldn't check. the object of the multiple convictions law... currently, having more than one offence automatically triggers the disclosure of all offences.

if a person has more than one conviction, then his entire record is disclosable. but the supreme court found that rule, and another by which police warnings and reprimands given to young people are also disclosed, in breach of the right to a private life. this landmark ruling from the supreme court finds that the current system, which means that people with multiple minor convictions, or even a police warning from their distant past, have to disclose that to prospective employer is simply too harsh. it is too blunt an instrument, and one which can blight not only their employment prospects, but sometimes even the rest of their lives. some believe employees working with vulnerable groups and in positions of trust should have minor convictions and reprimands disclosed, but delighted campaigners believe today's judgment will have significant impact. it stands to affect thousands of people that have old and minor

criminal records, that they may have got many years ago when they were young. they are affected, they have shame, stigma and embarrassment, and it anchors them to their past. the government will consider the ruling. joshua, now working for a drugs charity, would like to see a disclosure system where the minor offences of the young don't hamper the rest of their lives. many other people i can think of are now in quite a bad situation in life, and it stems from that original conviction for something quite minor. it's sort of like a knock—on effect. now on bbc news, sport today. hello, i'm holly hamilton, and this is sport today, from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme:

leciester deny liverpool a win at anfield as the league leaders drop two points, but still go five clear of manchester city. "tous sala." nantes pay tribute to their former striker in their first game since his disappearance nine days ago. and australia's most successful trainer is arrested following the discovery of equipment used to deliver electric shocks to horses. hello and welcome to the programme. we start with the english premier league, where liveprool had —— we start with the english premier league, where liverpool had the chance to go seven points clear of manchester city at the top of the table, but instead they had to setttle for a draw at home to leicester. the bbc‘s guy mowbray was at anfield. all square in the enfield snow and ice. it is still a 1—point