our top story: a bahraini footballer who was being held behind bars in thailand is now heading to australia, where he has refugee status. hakeem al—araibi had been convicted in his absence of vandalising a police station. he denied the charges, and was fighting extradition in thailand, where he was travelling on his honeymoon. the much—anticipated trial of the former malaysian prime minister najib razak for alleged money laundering has been postponed. it was due to begin on tuesday. mr najib‘s lawyers have succeeded in getting the trial delayed on a technicality. and this video is trending on bbc.com. russia is considering whether to disconnect temporarily from the global internet as part of a test of its cyber—defences. that's all. stay with bbc news. and the top story in the uk: horse racing will resume in britain on wednesday, after a six—day shutdown due to an outbreak of equine flu. now on bbc news, live to singapore

for asia business report. nissan without ghosn. its first set of quarterly earnings since its once all—powerful german was imprisoned. beijing's impact on the bullion. how will this week's trade tension talks impact the price of gold? good morning, asia, hello, world. it is a tuesday. glad you could join us for exciting addition of a shirt business report. nissan unveils its

earnings later this tuesday, the first since former chairman ghosn was arrested over financial misconduct allegations. the big question is looming over the company include its future alliance with renault and mitsubishi and how the slowdown in china is impacting sales. an analyst told me earlier what to expect from the numbers. the key features will include firstly and most importantly how they have been doing in the us from a profit of view. they have continued to have fairly high incentives, and their sales have been pretty weak relative to other automakers. because they record, china, a quarter behind, we know china is not doing as well as in the first half of the year but is still likely to be a positive factor for earnings. the third area we will look at is japan where quality

issues have led to a decline in sales. what about carlos ghosn? how much of that drama has played into the quarterly figures?” much of that drama has played into the quarterly figures? i don't think you see a whole lot in the quarterly numbers. i don't think people say i am not going to buy this car because carlos ghosn is in prison, so i am going to buy the car. from an individual consumer's point of view, it is much less relevant. much less releva nt it is much less relevant. much less relevant has been the inspection related problems they have suffered injapan. you mentioned nissan, it its next quarter will not be as strong as the last one. what is the forecast in the asian markets? i think that there is still potential for them to achieve a low singledigit growth rate, and overall japanese achieve a low singledigit growth rate, and overalljapanese brands are doing much better because they tend to appeal to second—hand buyers, not so much this first quarter but later in the year.

nissan is replacing what was the bestselling sedan, with the new model, and that is likely to support their sales in the new year as well. the trial of the former malaysian prime minister najib razak over charges related to a multi— billion—dollar scandal has been postponed. he was due to go on trial this tuesday for the first time. more than $4.5 billion of state money was embezzled from this fund, he denied all the charges. mariko oi joins is now from kuala lumpur. investors are watching this case very closely because malaysia's reputation as an investment destination is at stake here. that is right. the economy is really the focus for the new government, which was elected last may in a very surprising election result, if you remember. the new prime minister

said that getting some of the stolen money back is also his priority, so evenif money back is also his priority, so even if the trial has now been postponed, the prosecutor said is not a big deal, but they hope some of the procedural issues can be resolved within a few weeks in the trial can go ahead. a lot is at sta ke, trial can go ahead. a lot is at stake, it is notjust about malaysia and its corruption scandal but it involves the global financial system, including goldman sachs, which used to issue bonds for imdb. the malaysian government has now filed criminal charges against goldman sachs and it is notjust malaysia but a dozen countries around the world, including the us, singapore and switzerland, but are looking into this sovereign wealth fund, that was set up in 2009. the originalaim fund, that was set up in 2009. the original aim was to turn it into a commonwealth sovereign fund, but as we have been reporting, the money might have been stolen. a lot is at

sta ke, might have been stolen. a lot is at stake, but the former prime minister of malaysia despite this high profile cases not keeping a low profile. no, if he denies all the charges, 42 charges to be exact. everything for money laundering, corruption and breach of trust. he says that he is innocent and that this is a political vendetta against him. he has been on somewhat of a charm offensive on social media, criticising the government but also going around the country, where a p pa re ntly going around the country, where apparently some of his supporters are still there to take selfie ‘s and so on, trying to portray himself as everyday malaysia and, at that he isa as everyday malaysia and, at that he is a victim of this political campaign. thank you so much for that update from kuala lumpur in malaysia. in other business news, making headlines in the us, democratic and republican negotiators meeting to try to make a deal on the border security and avoid another government shutdown. they remain divided on the detention of undocumented immigrants and on

funding for president trump's promised border wall on the mexican border. russia is considering whether to disconnect from the global internet recently as part of a test of its cyber defences. the test will mean data passing between russian citizens and organisations stays inside the country, rather than being routed internationally. airbnb is being sued for more than $40 million over 1000 adverts for what it says are illegal rentals. —— the city of paris is suing. homeowners cannot rent out their properties for —— homeowners can only rent out their properties for 120 days a year. the trade war between united states and has rattled potential markets in the next few months, but rattled

so—called safe haze and investments like the us dollar and gold. so—called safe haze and investments like the us dollar and goldli so—called safe haze and investments like the us dollar and gold. i think a couple of things. yes, i can link it and it has been a very, very solid optic, really something about 13% since last year, in us dollars and other currencies, is substantially higher than that. that is paid into it, also the brexiteers and us and global stock markets a loss. how much of an upside you still see the gold going forward? it has already gone higher into the double digits? well, it is at the right. also, it is sitting around that $1315, in august, it was higher. there is momentum to push it higher, there are trade talks in beijing this week and when president trump said he would not meet president xijinping trump said he would not meet president xi jinping until after the first of march, it all push gold higher and i feel as though

first of march, it all push gold higher and ifeel as though it first of march, it all push gold higher and i feel as though it will consolidate and there is movement is perhaps the 4% in the short term. and a lot of investors are basically scratching their heads right now why the us dollar continues to rise, when you have a potential federal government shutdown yet again that, you also have a slowing global economy, and consumer confidence at its lowest level in the us. the us dollar indexes, the benchmark, that is up around 9% since this time last year but the other side of it of course is you have got the eurozone down and 2019 is going to be a brief year on about here last year, so things are worse in other parts of the world bank compared to the us, and that is where we have that momentum pushing it higher. the fed reserve is sitting on its hands, we're not sure whether we are going see three, two will one rate rises this year and that is or creating, acting for safety angle people are buying us dollars. and briefly, where does that leave the japanese

yen as a safety class as another class ? yen as a safety class as another class? i think that will probably appreciate further, you also have shinzo abe in terms of stimulus for the japanese economy. 0verall, shinzo abe in terms of stimulus for the japanese economy. overall, i feel like there is probably further upside there. in other news, making business headlines out of the uk, the food industry, bayer has threatened to stop cooperating with the uk government. a letter to michael gove says they are too busy trying to stave off the impact of catastrophic no—deal brexit. struggling uk department store chain debenhams is understood to have secured a cash injection of more than $50 million. the fresh funding would help the company by extra time as it battles to secure a longer term deal with lenders. the uk

gambling industry can breathe a sigh of relief as horse racing in britain will resume later today. race meetings had been shut down for the last six days following an outbreak of equine flu. a total of 174 racing sta bles ha d of equine flu. a total of 174 racing stables had been placed in a lock down. let's have a quick look now at the asian stock markets and how they are faring in mid—morning trade. the nikkei 225 up by 14 points. the all 0rdinaries also up in positive territory, at the hang seng down. i am rico hizon in singapore. thank you for investing your time, goodbye for now. this is bbc news — the top stories this hour: bahrain drops its request to extradite a footballer who was being held in a thai prison. hakeem al—araibi is now on his way back to australia, where he has refugee status.

(pres) the economy grew at its slowest rate in six years —— the economy grew at its slowest rate in six years in 2018 after a sharp slowdown in december. the office for national statistics pointed to a sharp fall in the manufacture of cars and steel products — and a decline in construction. labour said it was time for the government to end austerity policies. 0ur economics correspondent dharshini david has been looking at the figures. protecting metal gate posts from the ravages of the weather is all in a day's work at this zinc galvanising plant. but insulating the business against outside forces has been tough. in fact, their sector has been one of the hardest hit. 2018 was a challenging year for us. we had rising zinc prices and rising steel prices for our customers reduced order books, and a high employee turnover. business investment tends to rise and fall. but anxious times meant companies spent less and less on equipment and buildings in 2018, squeezing overall growth. lower investment affects how efficient companies are and so may impact profits and ourjobs and wages in the future. so is there an effect from brexit? the chancellor admits a lack of clarity is hurting. there's no doubt that

the uncertainty around brexit is taking a toll on the economy. that's why we want to get the deal done so that we can put this issue behind us and move on, growing our economy, creating morejobs, creating higher wages. the continuing stalemate over brexit has contributed to the weakest year for growth since the financial crisis. the figures out today cover everything from investment to income and spending. they're the best guide to our financial well—being. and it's notjust about brexit. even if those clouds clear, there are other factors that could impact our prosperity. the uk's biggest car—maker, jaguar land rover, blamed notjust brexit, but weaker demand from china when it recently announced job cuts, which is part of a global slowdown. we've seen weaker growth in china, we've seen a slowdown in germany, italy is in recession. and it's down to a number of factors, in particular trade wars. there's been a slowdown

in trade and there are also geopolitical concerns. those are concerns that the bank of england warned ofjust last week. the bank of england has pointed out that the world is moving into a period of slower economic growth. what they're forecasting for the uk next year will still put us ahead of germany, ahead of japan, ahead of italy. and the bank of england confirmed also that there is upside to come for the uk economy if we get a good deal. but their central forecast is for business investment to fall by even more this year, and that's even with a deal. so talking of a dividend is a little bit unrealistic, isn't it? no, i don't think so. i think if we get the right deal, consumers will feel more confident and as consumers recover their confidence, businesses will feel more confident. 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: 28 years after his first pga tour title, american phil mickelson wins his 44th after victory at pebble beach in california. and another manchester united legend becomes a manager, as paul scholes takes charge of the english league 2 side he supported as a boy. and a return to form forjoe root, as england's captain hits a century on day three of the final test against the west indies. hello, welcome to the programme. thanks forjoining us. fading light with two holes to play prevented him from closing out victory a day earlier in california, but nothing was going to stop phil mickelson from securing a record—equalling fifth title at the pga tour event at pebble beach on monday.