to kasia madeira and bbc news. but top story, president trump's former fixer michael cohen has made a series of explosive claims about his ex—boss, labelling him a conman, cheat and racist. he testified that donald trump knew beforehand that his democratic party's opponents‘s e—mails were being hacked. he also said that he signed the cheques used to pay off stormy daniels. it is brought that donald trump and kim jong—un will consider a roadmap to getting rid of nuclear weapons in the korean peninsula. and this story is trending on the bbc news website. a five—month—old baby has left hospital after six months in intensive care. when he was first born, he could be held injust two cupped hands, that he is doing well

now. goodbye from me. a top story here in the uk, jeremy corbyn has now confirmed that labour will now back another eu referendum after his pa rty‘s back another eu referendum after his party's plan for brexit was defeated in the house of commons, now let's cfoss in the house of commons, now let's cross over in the house of commons, now let's cross over to singapore to get the latest business news live from singapore, it asia business report and rico hizon. financial markets in india and pakistan retreat as the kashmir crisis intensifies. president trump and kim jong—un get set for a second day of talks in vietnam's, as the north korean leader is urged to denuclearise. —— vietnam. good morning asia, hello world. it isa good morning asia, hello world. it is a thursday, glad you could join us is a thursday, glad you could join us for another exciting addition of asia business report, and rico hizon. we start off with developments in south asia and many

carriers agree about in flights and thai airways has taken the decision to cancel all of its journeys to europe. this comes as the airspace has been closed as the kashmir crisis intensified. india has demanded the release of a fighter pilot shot down by pakistani warplanes. it came after india struck what it says was a terrorist training camp in retaliation for a suicide bombing which killed 14 indian troops in kashmir. earlier, i spoke to an economist in london who says neither country can afford for the crisis to escalate. my view is it is not going to continue to escalate. i think all heads will prevail, you have already seen prime minister imran khan asking the un to help mediate, and india turning to the us, uk, china and france. —— cooler. indeed, both countries do not want this to escalate because

pakistan they have economic issues, pakistan they have economic issues, pakistan just had an international monetary fund bailout, so they would not want this to be a problem going forward. you're absolutely right, neither country can afford for this to get out of hand. right now, it is good, good news for and good fodder for their domestic voter base, but in reality, neither country can afford for the escalate. china, pakistan as you rightly point out is right in the midst of an imf bailouts, in the meantime, the macroeconomic outlook is deteriorating for pakistan. the budget deficit is expected to run at 796, budget deficit is expected to run at 7%, the current account deficit is running at 6%, the growth outlook has been slashed by two percentage points, so they really cannot afford to go to war. india, while narendra modi has an election and this all

helps, india cannot afford either from an economic point of view. their market has been treading water since december, something like this is not going to help foreign investor sentiment, that is already slightly on edge because of legal uncertainty ahead of the elections. —— political. us president donald trump and kimjong—un —— political. us president donald trump and kim jong—un have started their second high—profile summit in vietnam's summit up and away. the men shook hands before having dinner and they are expected to talk about the denuclearisation of the korean peninsula. both have communist governments that for drawnout wars with the us, but southeast asian expert malcolm cook says pyongyang will not necessarily see the same outcome. hosting big events like the trump kim summit in hanoi costs are huge amount of money, so what is in

it for vietnam and can the economic and if it is our way financial cost? let's find out for my colleague, mico ollie. is it really worth that? well, that is the big question, to a nswer well, that is the big question, to answer those questions though, let's look at the last summit writing in singapore. —— mariko oi. because the country spent about $15 million in total, remember singapore paper kim jong—un‘s flights and accommodation, so was jong—un‘s flights and accommodation, so was it worth the? some estimate that it gained over $550 million in exposure, not bad at all. we are talking about 38 fold return, we all remember how the country hosted thousands ofjournalists remember how the country hosted thousands of journalists from remember how the country hosted thousands ofjournalists from around the world and i remember the press kit which was his division on day one. this was a picture that i took back then and had all sorts of ads and local businesses, and when the north korean leader went on a walk around the marina bay area, it made the front pages and many newspapers

around the world and of course, the singapore skyline also appeared on many news bulletins. the hotel also gained a lot of attention, notjust whether the summit took place but also the two hotels were mr trump and mr kim stage, which were the shangri—la and saint regis. the big question is who is paying for this summit in vietnam? is unlikely that the vietnam did the same as singapore, nonetheless the local businesses are trying to make the most of it and selling special sta m ps most of it and selling special stamps like this one, but my favourite is trump tin cupcakes. i am really counting on our colleagues in hanoi to bring back next week. 0k, in hanoi to bring back next week. ok, looking forward to that vanilla and chocolate flavoured cupcakes. sharanjit leyl, and chocolate flavoured cupcakes. shara njit leyl, if and chocolate flavoured cupcakes. sharanjit leyl, if you're watching in hanoi, please bring home this wonderful gifts. thank you so much for joining wonderful gifts. thank you so much forjoining us, mariko oi. let's now ta ke forjoining us, mariko oi. let's now take a look at other news and congress has warned president trump that any trade deal with china needs

to secure real policy change. there are concerns mr trump may fail to resolve disagreements over intellectual property and unfair trading practices. at a committee hearing, republicans and democrats urged the administration to continue taking a tough approach. shares in one of the world's biggest mining companies rio tinto surging to their highest level in more than a decade, the firm has just announced a bumper dividend following its highest underlying annual earnings since 2014. in technology, apple says it plans to cut 190 staff at its self driving car unit, called project titan. ina driving car unit, called project titan. in a filing the state regulators, the firm says the layoffs will be from seven different facilities and its california headquarters in cupertino. in economic news, the industrial outlook in japan falling by economic news, the industrial outlook injapan falling by 2.7% in january, its third straight month of declines. it was also much deeper

than anticipated, however manufacturers in the country expect output rise this month will stop shares in the brazilian mining giant vale have tumbled after moody ‘s downgraded the compa ny‘s vale have tumbled after moody ‘s downgraded the company's debt. the mining company has been under intense scrutiny after a dam ru ptu red intense scrutiny after a dam ruptured last month, killing at least 169 people, more than 141 are still missing. saudi arabia's energy minister says he is leaning towards extending oil production cuts, despite demands from president trump to keep prices down. opec began in lamenting a six—month deal in january to cut output in a bid to shore up sagging prices. and now, how is the world's biggest economy faring? we should get agreements later today with the latest gdp numbers. we have the greatest economy ever in the history of our

country! donald trump frequently biased about us economic growth. we're so proud of the economy. and he could soon celebrate another major the economic stance which began injune major the economic stance which began in june 2009 major the economic stance which began injune 2009 was on its way to becoming america's longest. an economic miracle is taking place the united states. is this economic miracle built to last? lolly view of current economic conditions as healthy and the economic outlook is favourable, over the pass my few months, we have seen some crosscu rre nts months, we have seen some crosscurrents and conflicting signals. us economy maintained solid growth throughout most of 2018, but economists expect gdp numbers released on thursday to show the pace slowed down at the end of last year. -- past few months. in many ways, the us economy is just like america's craft brewing industry, which has tripled in size since the start of the decade. never mind

happy hour, it has been a happy few yea rs. happy hour, it has been a happy few years. this is our pilsener, this is the beer we are probably best known for. we may just the beer we are probably best known for. we mayjust shy of 1000 models in ourfirst yearand for. we mayjust shy of 1000 models in ourfirst year and then we for. we mayjust shy of 1000 models in our first year and then we made 2000 in our second year, about 2700 in ourthird year, 2000 in our second year, about 2700 in our third year, this he will do about 6000. a curve has been good. it is hardly surprising that with unemployment lower wages starting to rise, more americans are happy to spend their cash buying their favourite year but as with the economy, many in the craft brewing industry are wondering how longwood times can last, a subject for debate over a glass of foaming beer. let's now take a look at the asia pacific markets and how they are faring in mid—morning trade, currently lacklustre just like

yesterday's action, with the nikkei now down by around 92 points, the all ordinaries index flat to higher by 2.5%. the hang seng index of hong kong has just opened for trading and is currently a touch lower by 37 points, this is after us stocks were also flat overnight after testimonies to the us congress from trade and central bank officials, as well as president donald trump's former lawyer brought the major surprises. as you can see on wall street, the dow jones surprises. as you can see on wall street, the dowjones industrial average, the s&p and the nasdaq were mixed. thank you so much for investing your time with us, i am rico hizon, goodbye for now. let's bring you up—to—date with our top stories the sour. donald trump's formerfixer top stories the sour. donald trump's former fixer testifies that the president is a liar, cheat and racist and produces the cheque that he says mr trump used to pay off a

porn star. at a summit in hanoi, president trump and north korea's kim jong—un president trump and north korea's kimjong—un are president trump and north korea's kim jong—un are expected to discuss the way back for taking nuclear weapons out of the korean peninsula. a woman from surrey is fighting a landmark domestic abuse case to have a murder conviction reduced to manslaughter on the grounds that she was a victim of her husband's coercive control. she was jailed for life in 2011 and her lawyers say the emotional abuse she suffered at the hands of a husband led her to kill him. sally challen's case has been taken up by the campaign group justice for women, and today her supporters were out in force at the appeal court with her family. her son, david, grew up witnessing the way he says his mother was treated by his father. he controlled what she could or could not say, where she should go, how she should look, cut the cables in her car to stop herfrom moving, you know, gaslighted her, made her question her sanity over

facts and figures and records over his cheating, and made herfeel that she was losing her mind. the couple were married in 1979. she was just 15 when they met, and he was her only boyfriend. they made their home in surrey, which was where they raised their two sons. richard challen ran a successful car business. the couple had an active social life here and they took their sons on foreign holidays. but beneath all this was said to be a fearful family home, dominated by richard challen's controlling personality. by 2010, the couple had split up — but said to be still emotionally dependent on her husband, sally challen had asked for a reconciliation. she drove back to her old family home. in her handbag was a hammer. after discovering that richard challen had been in contact with another woman, she struck his head more than 20 times with the hammer. at this appeal, her lawyers are arguing that it was decades

of provocation and psychological abuse which led her to kill, but this is being questioned. sally challen, appearing by video link from prison, listened as a psychiatrist employed by the crown prosecution service insisted she wasn't suffering from a mental disorder at the time of the killing. but a psychiatric expert from sally challen's side described her as having a borderline personality disorder, which would have been made worse by coercive control. all the evidence has now been heard, and tomorrow her family will be back at court as the lawyers make their final submissions. june kelly, bbc news, at the court of appeal. now it is time for sport today. hello. iama i am a tulsen tollett. this is sport today,

live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: sadio mane scores a first half double for liverpool as they remain top of the premier league table beating watford 5—0 at anfield. former liverpool player luis suarez scores twice for barcelona in their el clasico win against real madrid seeing them through to the copa del rey final. and roger federer keeps his bid for a 100th atp tour title alive as he moves through to the quarter—finals in dubai. hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with the news that the top two teams in the english premier league both won on wednesday — which means liverpool remain a point clear of manchester city. liverpool were in devastating form as they hammered watford 5—0 at anfield. the bbc‘s steve wilson was watching. a thrashing for watford and a message to manchester city— liverpool are back in the groove. sadio mane with