joaquin "el chapo" guzman, has been found guilty at his drug trafficking trial in the us and faces a mandatory life sentence. once among the world's richest men, he was arrested in january 2016 after escaping from prison through a tunnel, then was extradited to the us. australia has announced the reopening of a controversial immigration detention centre on christmas island. it comes after the government lost a vote allowing sick refugees to be treated in australia. and this video is trending on bbc.com: police in houston, texas were called when a group of men who broke into an empty house found a fully grown tiger. it's still not clear how it got there. it's now at an animal sanctuary. that's all. and the top story in the uk: the government is being warned by the police federation that the public is being exposed to increased risk

—— the public is being exposed to increased risk because more front—line officers are having to work alone, that the warning from the police federation. now on bbc news, live to singapore for asia business report. optimism from the white house. talks rise as the twin threats of the second us shutdown and a deepening trade war ease. game on. shares in the maker of world of warcraft in after—hours trade increase. it is wednesday, everyone. good morning, asia. hello, world. iam glad wednesday, everyone. good morning, asia. hello, world. i am glad you canjoin us asia. hello, world. i am glad you can join us for this edition of asia business report. i'm rico hizon. the lead story, wall street and the avoidance of us government shutdown, shares have jumped in

avoidance of us government shutdown, shares havejumped in asia as avoidance of us government shutdown, shares have jumped in asia as well as the us and donald trump said a second shutdown is unlikely after lawmakers agreed to a deal. the president also suggested that a deadline for raising tariffs on chinese goods may be extended. michelle fleury has the details from new york. the mood on wall street was upbeat this tuesday. all three major us indexes gained more than 196. major us indexes gained more than 1%. there was a tentative deal to avoid another us government shutdown. that cheered investors even though the spending agreement didn't contain the $5.7 billion in funding that donald trump wanted to build a wall on the mexican border. still, markets took this as a sign that the american government will stay open. there was also some positive developments on us— china trade talks with president from saying that he would be willing to let the march first deadline for a trade agreement slide. now that means tariffs on some $200 billion worth of chinese imports are due to go worth of chinese imports are due to 9° up worth of chinese imports are due to go up from 10% to 25%. if you look

back, us advisers called the march first a high deadline. for the world's two largest economies to hammer out a deal. it now seems fears of a sharp increase in tariffs have at least temporarily been pushed back. as mentioned, it is crunch time in beijing as us treasury secretary steven mnuchin and robert lighthizer prepare to meet chinese vice premier tomorrow. riley waters, from the american think tank heritage foundation, told me why he thinks the deadline for raising tariffs may be extended. today the president said a few things related to the fact we might not have a trade deal by march first. one of the theories are floating around washington for the last couple of weeks has been the idea of once again delaying the potential tariffs from march first so potential tariffs from march first so you know you could theoretically perhaps have another 60 days or 90 days or we don't have these tariffs. the real question in everyone's mind

is whether we will ever get a deal. the president seems calm and happy with the idea that the us is collecting billions and billions in revenue from american importers of chinese goods. so if that is the case, when do you think a deal will be forged at all? well, you know, likely if perhaps any time at all it might be something around the time of early march, perhaps early april. now, i do believe that presidents will have a chance to meet when president trump goes to vietnam later this month. i also don't think president trump will be going to the forum in china at the end of march. so it will either have to be president xi coming to the us mid march or early, sorry, or early april. it looks like tech transfers and intellectual property are posing the biggest challenges for these ongoing talks. do you think china

would make significant concessions on this front? i think they will try to make concessions where they can. the problem has always been with the united states, complains that they have with china, i mean, it is hard to establish a mechanism for basically grading and measuring a reduction in cyber enabled tech. how can we measure that? right now the us is having this problem figuring that out. now, chem china give structure reforms in other areas that might appease the administration? yes, —— can ci. they should come to an agreement, the question is whether they will and i don't think so until march or april. riley waters from the heritage foundation from washington, dc. this week we are looking at how japan is tackling its culture of unsustainably long working hours. in today's edition of work like japan, mariko oi reports on some of the innovations aimed at redressing the

balance in the country's workforce. a drone on patrol in the office. it is monitoring the workers, but not for their daily performances. the drone is being used to encourage them to go home. wow, it is quite loud. speaks japanese. so, them to go home. wow, it is quite loud. speaksjapanese. so, he says the noise is probably a enough to send most people home. over the last few years, there have been many innovations related to employees' health. this one analyses how focused people are. so these classes monitor the movement of my eye balls as

classes monitor the movement of my eyeballs as well is how often i am blinking and how i am moving my head. and by analysing all the data, it tells you how focused i am at this moment. the aim is to help employees realise when they need to ta ke employees realise when they need to take a break. these are small steps that corporate japan has taken, but to achieve a lasting change requires them to tackle the more basic issue of how much work employees are expected to do. mariko oi, bbc news, tokyo. tomorrow on worklife japan we will hear from tomorrow on worklife japan we will hearfrom a tomorrow on worklife japan we will hear from a company tomorrow on worklife japan we will hearfrom a company pioneering flexible working conditions. we turn now to the battle in the video gaming industry and the maker of war craft and call of duty has seen its

shares seesaw in after—hours trade in new york are as investors weigh in on blizzard's quarterly earnings. tech analyst told me how free to play games at shakeup the industry. the problem is these guys have is they are not fortnite, which commenced so much attention these daysin commenced so much attention these days in the gaming market, other companies like h worked really hard to have their hits but theyjust aren't fortnite. —— like ea. they don't have a goliath like epic games has, so investors are really annoyed with them, and the ricochet from that. so what has been the edge of fortnite, why is it so popular? my son even plays it! for sure, my career, the big popular with fortnite is it is free to play, so opposed to buying an expensive game you get this for free and you can pay to upgrade things like

character, armour, which is great for the company because they have more income from long period of time, and it is great for players as it has a lower cost of entry and they can upgrade their character as they can upgrade their character as they see fit. so generally the appeal of fortnite is it is free. and my son, a few days ago, discovered this new game from alec on it arts called apex legends which has taken the video gaming world by storm. will this revive ea's fortu nes storm. will this revive ea's fortunes going forward? great question. so apec legends incorporates the best part of fortnite, the same gameplay. it is the same genre. it is not a knock. if ea really push apex legends in the next quarter we will see a change of fortune for the company. what about sony interactive entertainment? change at the top, will this leadership shakeup change their fortunes? i think so. so,

sony's problem is it is time for a new playstation. however the tech is not there to do the upgrade. so sony has to reposition the playstation thatis has to reposition the playstation that is not just has to reposition the playstation that is notjust a device for gaming, butfor that is notjust a device for gaming, but for content. as we know, sony have a big library of movies and tv shows. if they can push those movies and tv shows to the playstation and have that as a device for gaming and a device for movies, that is a great step forward. i think that could really change their fortunes. that was technology and video games expert sam reynolds joining us technology and video games expert sam reynoldsjoining us earlierfrom taipei. in other news making headlines, ford has reportedly told british prime minister to reason me it is stepping up minister to reason me it is stepping up preparations to move production out of the uk at the country prepares the brexit —— british prime minister theresa may. according to the times the car maker told mrs may during a call with business leaders it is preparing alternative sites overseas. ford was not immediately available for comment. ina

in a speech warning of growing threats to the global economy the governor of the bank of england has urged the uk members of parliament to solve the brexit deadlock. mark carney said leaving the european union without a deal would create, "an economic shot at a time when china is slowing and trade tensions are rising". and before we go, a quick recap of the lead stories, shares have jumped in quick recap of the lead stories, shares havejumped in asia and quick recap of the lead stories, shares have jumped in asia and the us after donald trump said a second shutdown is unlikely after lawmakers agreed to a deal. thank you so much for investing your time with us. i'm rico hizon. sport today is coming up next. this is bbc news. the top stories this hour: one of the most powerful cartel leaders in history, joaquin "el chapo" guzman, has been found guilty at his drug trafficking trial in the us. australia has announced the reopening of a controvercial immigration detention centre on christmas island. convicted criminals in england could be banned from driving taxis or minicabs under new government proposals to protect passengers.

those convicted of serious crimes, including sexual offences, would be refused a license. the plans would affect drivers in england and, for the time being, wales as well. our transport correspondent tom burridge reports. sian o'callaghan caught a taxi in swindon eight years ago. she was out ona swindon eight years ago. she was out on a night out with friends and left a local nightclub to walk home. u nfortu nately a local nightclub to walk home. unfortunately she a local nightclub to walk home. u nfortu nately she left a local nightclub to walk home. unfortunately she left on her own. as she was walking home probably about 150 yards from the nightclub a car pulled up which she got into which later turned out to be the taxi driver. taxi driver helliwell abducted and murdered sian. he was given a life sentence. sian's mother says the government proposal for a national code for issuing taxi licences is overdue. clearly something needs to be done to make

this, you know, and national standard and to have national regulations, which i don't think a lot of the time the public are aware they are not already in place. we are going to look on the outside and canl are going to look on the outside and can i check your badge? in newcastle, spotchecks and tight rules on licensing have been the norm for months after private higher ca bs were norm for months after private higher cabs were used by a gang over a number of years to groom and abuse girls and young women. one measure newcastle took was to join forces with 11 other councils in the north—east of england to create a single licensing body, so the same standards and cheques are applied when issuing licences. standards and cheques are applied when issuing licenceslj standards and cheques are applied when issuing licences. i think the local authorities are all cognisa nt of the fact that vehicles and drivers will work across authority areas and therefore it is vital that we share information to between ourselves to ensure any safety issues we identify with drivers are made available to all. now the government wants a common rule book for all councils in england and wales, so if someone is denied a taxi licence in one area they can't

get one from another council which is more lenient. today that is still possible. under the plans criminal background checks would also be compulsory. mandatory cctv in all taxis is being considered, but privacy is an issue. maybe we should raise people's safety above people's privacy because maybe we should be saying to ourselves if you get into a taxi or private hire vehicle and that vehicle will have cctv, it will be stickered up, you should be aware, therefore you should watch what you are talking about, you should keep your own privacy to yourself. a government consultation on the proposals will now run for several weeks. we have more on all of our stories on our website and you can get in touch with me on social media, but now it is time for sport today. this is sport todasy live

from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme. paul pogba sees red as manchester united lose 2—0 at home to paris saint germain in the first leg of their last 16 champions league tie. a magic goalkeeper, a fine human being — the world of football pays tribute to world cup winner gordon banks, who's died, aged 81. and england score a consolation win against west indies in saint lucia despite having already lost the test series. hello and welcome to the programme where we start with the footballing news that manchester united will need to overturn a 2—0 deficit without their star player paul pogba when they head to france for the second leg of their last 16 champions league tie against paris saint germain.