i'm kasia madera with bbc news. top stories — the chinese premier has unveiled millions of dollars of tax cuts as he forecast a slow growth for the year ahead. and here hello, everyone, this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. isa the headlines: growth for the year ahead. and here is a gathering outside the jail in china's premier announces tax cuts to prop up the economy, tokyo where the former nissan boss as he warns of a tough carlos co h n tokyo where the former nissan boss carlos cohn is being held. it is struggle ahead. thought he could walk out on bail, will carlos ghosn be going home? which was set at $9 million by a we're watching this jail in tokyo after the ex—nissan boss japanese court —— ghosn. this story was granted bail. is treading on bbc .com. the world's most expensive car has been unveiled at the geneva motor show. worth more than 15 million euros, that's $17 million, and french car manufacturer bugatti revealed its latest design i'm kasia madera in london. to the media before the event officially kicks off also in the programme. later this week. that's all. help from australia arrives stay with bbc world news. at the scene of an oil spill and the top story in the uk: in the solomon islands as the threat grows to a protected coral reef. and we talk to pakistan's first transgender supermodel

about challenging stereotypes in her first film role. good morning. it's 9am in singapore, 1am in london and 9am in the morning in beijing, where the chinese premier has unveiled tax cuts designed to boost the slowing economy. he warned the nation to prepare for a tough struggle. li keqiang said the chinese economy faced a crucial year, as he addressed the opening of china's annual two sessions. it's the country's biggest political meeting of the year. our china correspondent john sudworth reports from beijing. under a cloud of pollution they streamed in to take their places in a largely ceremonial

parliament devoid of dissent. many too guarded even to acknowledge the biggest issue of the day. are you worried about the economy, i ask. of course i'm not worried, she says. our country is strong. the economy is getting better and better, this man says. inside though, the message from china's leaders was much more candid. with a list of the serious mounting economic risks. translation: downward pressure on the economy is increasing, growth in consumption is slowing. the difficulty private firms face in getting financing has not been resolved. and the financial sector contains many risks and hidden dangers. so, to shore up growth, he promised tax cuts, more bank lending, and, in a clear nod to washington, fairer access for foreign companies.

premier li keqiang mentioned that the us—china trade dispute head on, calling it "a profound change". it is — no us president has ever challenged china's economy quite like this, and at a time when growth is already slowing. what china's one—party state no fears most are large—scale job losses, and social instability. these young job—seekers say there's been a noticeable change in their prospects. translation: i would say this year is much more difficult, it takes ages to get a response to an application. translation: for example, one position they only recruited three to five people, but around 5,000 people applied for it. the competition is very stiff.

as they streamed out of the hall, few delegates can now be in any doubt that china's economy is in uncharted territory. and the way ahead, they've been told, lies in more economic stimulus and a tightening of political control. john sudworth, bbc news, beijing. let's bring you some breaking news. we are getting reports from the philippines that an earthquake has struck. it was an undersea earthquake and it was 5.7 magnitude, it struck around 211 kilometres north—east of davaos at a depth of 60 kilometres. at the moment this is news coming in from reuters news agency, but we are continuing to monitor report. reports of an undersea earthquake a striking

north—east of davao in the philippines. we will continue to monitor that as and when we get any more details. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. here in the uk, counter—terror police are investigating three packages containing explosives, which were delivered to heathrow airport, london city airport and waterloo railway station in london. detectives say the small improvised explosive devices were found in postal bags. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford reports from waterloo station. the first of these devices was discovered in the head office building at heathrow airportjust before 10am this morning. that's the device that went off, slightly melting the packaging. then a second device was discovered in the post room here at waterloo railway station just before 12pm. and a third device discovered just after midday at london city airport. neither of those devices was opened and neither went off, but both seemed to be designed to also cause a small fire. all three packages looked the same, they were white plastic postal envelopes of a4 size with a5—sized brown jiffy bags inside them containing the device. and all three of them had two postage stamps on with—heart motifs

that come from the republic of ireland. and, not surprisingly, counterterrorism and the police are linking all three packages, though they say that they are keeping an open mind about motivation at this stage. it's worth remembering that in february, 2014, seven letter bombs were sent to army recruiting officers, some of which were posted in the republic of ireland, and on that occasion a dissident irish republican group calling itself the new ira said it was responsible. daniel sandford at waterloo station, one of the places where those packages were found. also making news today: pakistan's navy says it's prevented an attempt by an indian submarine to enter pakistani waters. the navy released this footage of what it said was a video clip of the submarine. but there's been no independent confirmation of this, nor of reports in the indian media that it shot down a pakistani drone

over the state of rajasthan on monday. there's been an escalation in tension between the two countries over the disputed territory of kashmir. the canadian prime minister, justin trudeau, is facing one of the biggest scandals of his leadership. a second high—profile minister has quit, over the government's handling of a recent corruption inquiry. it follows allegations the prime minister tried to protect a major engineering firm from a bribery trial. the philippines has called for long—standing treaty with the us to be revamped. the country's defence chief said frequent passage of us navy vessels through south china sea's disputed waters could draw his country into a war. tensions between the us and china have been rising over the sea. beijing claims the vast majority of the waters, which contain the some of the world's busiest shipping lanes. football news, and real madrid may

have won the champions league for the last three seasons, but there will be no fourth consecutive title for them. they've been knocked out of the competition by ajax, the dutch side winning in madrid 4—1 on the night, to claim a 5—2 aggregate victory and reach the quarter finals for the first time since 2003. also through are tottenham, who beat the german side borussia dortmund. more details later on sport today. and, finally, if you've ever fancied ownogn a super car, then no surprise you'd need a super budget. the world's most expensive car was unveiled at the geneva motor show. it's worth more than 15 million euros, which is around £12 million. french car manufacturer bugatti revealed its latest design to the press before the event officially kicks off later this week. a court in tokyo has granted bail to the former nissan executive, carlos ghosn.

he's been detained for three months, on suspicion of financial misconduct. the former head of the car company was arrested injapan. he denies any wrongdoing. let's bring you some live pictures now from outside the prison in tokyo. our business reporter mariko oi has been following the story and is here in the studio with me. he was granted bail yesterday for1 billion yen, that is so many zeros, what is going to happen after this? well, rico, as you can imagine, a lot of journalists and well, rico, as you can imagine, a lot ofjournalists and cameramen waiting outside the detention centre waiting outside the detention centre waiting for carlos ghosn to post the bail, because yesterday apparently he couldn't find the 9 million dolly —— dollars. the court has rejected the prosecution's appeal. so, once he finds that money he is free to

leave the detention centre as early as this morning. and his lawyer says that he is likely to hold a brief press c0 nfe re nce . that he is likely to hold a brief press conference. we might actually see him for the first time in public. mr ghosn has released a statement last night, saying that he is innocent, that he will fight his charges to clear his name. the bail conditions are very strict. he is under surveillance all the time, his communications are restricted. if he wa nts to communications are restricted. if he wants to access computers, he has to go to his lawyer's office. but a p pa re ntly go to his lawyer's office. but apparently he is allowed to travel as long as he doesn't leave japan for one to two nights. he is also a p pa re ntly for one to two nights. he is also apparently allowed to go shopping, though it's been reported that mr ghosn wasn't too happy with this very strict bail condition the most important thing of course is also that he will be around family, but his prolonged detention since the 19th of december has really put the spotlight on the japanese judicial system. that's right, the system has been criticised before domestically, the fact that a senior global auto

tycoon has been in detention for over 100 days before he has even been found guilty of any of the charges that he is facing, that has put a lot of international spotlight on japan's judicial system, especially in france, where he led france's renault of course, there has been a lot of criticism, some even describing the system as draconian. so, as you can imagine, once the court granted bail yesterday, there was some speculation whether this is the japanese authorities bowing to the external pressure. of course, we would never know. i personally doubt it. i think this is his new lawyer who has only been in the job for less tha n who has only been in the job for less than a month, who has a nickname of mr razer, with a track record of winning high—profile cases, he pushed for this bail and he has at least managed to win limited freedom for mr ghosn. we will find out if razer is successful and we will be watching out for that release today. thank you so much for that update, my colleague mariko oi. yes, we will certainly be keeping an

eye on that. coming up on the programme — australia sends more help to the solomon islands as large amounts of oil continue to spill from a damaged tanker. first, the plates slid gently off the restaurant tables. then suddenly, the tables, the chairs and people crashed sideways and downwards, and it was just a matter of seconds as the ferry lurched onto her side. the hydrogen bomb. on a remote pacific atoll, the americans had successfully tested a weapon whose explosive force dwarfed that of the bomb dropped on hiroshima. i had heard the news earlier, and so my heart went bang, bang, bang! the constitutional rights of these marchers are their rights as citizens of the united states, and they should be protected even in the right to test them out, so that they don't get their heads broken and are sent to hospital.

this religious controversy — i know you don't want to say too much about it — but does it worry you that it's going to boil up when you get to the states? well, it worries me, yes, but i hope everything will be all right in the end, as they say. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. i'm babita sharma in london. our top stories: china's premier announces tax cuts to prop up the economy as he forecasts slower growth for the year ahead. and it's thought ex—nissan boss carlos ghosn might be about to walk out of this jail in tokyo, after being granted bail. let's now take a look at some front

pages from around the world. the south china morning post reports on the plan by hong kong flagship carrier cathay pacific to acquire budget airline, hong kong express airways. the purchase would allow cathay pacific to tap into the lucrative low—cost market. let's now turn the page. the international edition of the japan times is one of the papers picking up on that story we were reporting on earlier, that the ex—nissan chairman carlos ghosn could be released as soon as today. ahead of his 65th birthday on saturday, the paper says mr ghosn may see his birthday wish come true: regaining his freedom, albeit conditionally. and finally, the new york times reflects on the deadlock at the academie francaise, the official guardian of the french language.

four vacancies have opened since 2016, yet the academy, after three votes, hasn't managed to appoint any new member. now, which story are sparking discussions online? well, we touched upon already in detention between india and pakistan over the dispute regarding kashmir. do you remember this man? he's the indian pilot who was freed by pakistan last week, after the two countries scaled back their confrontation over the disputed kashmir region. his signature winged moustache has sparked a bit of a trend in india, especially in the southern city of banglore, where men are flocking to barber shops to get their moustaches trimmed in a style inspired by the pilot. that story is doing rather well on our website. what do you think, would a winged moustache sydney? maybe. thank you so much. —— fit me?

president trump will go to alabama on friday, following catastrophic tornadoes that left 23 people dead. rescue crews are now going house to house, hoping to find survivors in the wreckage. a local sherriff says it is the worst destruction his area has seen in 50 years. the bbc‘s chris buckler is there with this update. the destruction caused by these tornadoes stretches for miles and miles, and this is what you find. houses completely ruined by the high winds that have just thrown trees right into them. you can see right into this home. it has lost its walls, and you can see just how powerful the tornado has been because this is a victory that has been uprooted here. of course, in some places, there are no homes left. we travelled into one of the worst affected areas in beauregard with a resident. as we drove in, you could not see any buildings. there was no sign of the houses that had

been there until you got up closer and you saw that a breed of people's lives, there were also startling sights like a car wrapped around a tree, and of course, in this area there were people who died. the lee cou nty there were people who died. the lee county sheriff's office has been releasing more information about the big this, the youngest was just six yea rs big this, the youngest was just six years old, the oldest was 89 years of age. we have one family connected by marriage, but we have lost seven lives in one family. people have been telling me that the whole community is heartbroken, but there are also people telling me they feel very lucky to be alive because they we re very lucky to be alive because they were inside their homes as the tornado made its way through the area. this man lost an entire room of his house as a result of the force of the winds. man that, it was, at this year, we just had so much fear that the roof was fixing to leave. we picked the roof up, but

thenit to leave. we picked the roof up, but then it said it backed down. —— the wind. there are still areas deliberately closed off, with electricity companies trying to repair all of the downed power lines, and there are still search teams working, trying to find those people who have been reported missing and still have not been found. and that is why there are these warnings the death toll could yet again rise. more help is being sent by australia to the solomon islands, to prevent an ecological disaster. huge amounts of oil continue to leak from a cargo ship that ran aground last month, next to a precious marine unesco world heritage site. some 75 tons of oil have already spilt from the hong kong—flagged solomon trader since cyclone oma pushed it onto a coral atoll — a ring—shaped coral reef located near the southern—most tip of the solomons. the ship is stuck in

kangava bay on the rennell island. —— islands. that's the world's largest raised coral atoll and home to several species found nowhere else on the planet. the australian government says it's "profoundly disappointed by the slow response of the commercial entities involved and their lack of adequate communications with and responsiveness to the solomon islands government". i spoke to jamie tahana from radio new zealand, who told me that the ship belongs to the company, king trader limited. they initially said that they were sending teams, but the australian and new zealand governments have said that was very slow. it took about two weeks and when the ship ran aground at kangava bay the salvage teams to arrive and only then, australia deployed equipment and expertise. and it is really only in the past week that we have seen any particular momentum going towards containing the spill, there we re towards containing the spill, there were not even any boons put up

around the ship, which has now been leaking oil in the debris. there is also quite a bit of anger towards the mining company, an indonesian company. they initially put out state m e nts company. they initially put out statements in the solomon islands newspapers saying they had no responsibility for this because they only charted the ship, it is really only charted the ship, it is really only in the past few weeks that they have contributed by sending water around to the villages affected and stuff. so really, it has been frustratingly slow response to quite a serious oil spill in quite a pristine area. it could actually get a lot worse because as you said tons of oil have leaked so far, there is an awful lot more oil in this cargo ship. 600 tons of oil is still on this ship, i understand from speaking to the disaster office in the solomon islands yesterday, that they have not even started pumping that oil off the wreckage, so they

arejust that oil off the wreckage, so they are just working now to stabilise the ship and it could be a few days before they even start pumping the oil of that ship, which would take a few days in itself, it would be a slow process. yeah, we still have all this oil leaking into the reef at kangava bay. we're hearing from villages in rennell, which is a really remote islands, but dead fish are washing up on shore, it has killed crabs. there is a car like, bitumen like substance and the odour is making them ill, so they cannot go for their protein, there water sources have been contaminated. it is all about not very good for the people of rennell. -- around. a film about pakistan's transgender community has had its premiere in karachi. rani features the country's first transgender model in the lead role. the movie hopes to raise awareness

of the discrimination faced by transgender people. the bbc asian network's shabnam mahmood has more. rani is a short film that tells the story of a pakistani transgender woman who takes an abandoned baby from outside a refuge centre. it's set in karachi and stars the country's first transgender supermodel in her debut role. translation: we are very visible in pakistan, but we are very invisible for the society as well, because society takes us not as a normal human being. they take us as, like, ok, you are a transgender, you are a sex worker, or you are something, you are doing something — no! that's why ijust break this stereotype down. transgenders can do anything, they can do modelling, they can be a doctor, it is all about opportunity and a platform.

this film provides a unique glimpse into the struggles faced by pakistan's tra nsgender community. rani, a transgender woman who wants to live like a normal woman, who, because in pakistan, for the last few years, we don't getjobs or employment easily. so she tries hard to sell toys in the streets of karachi. because she doesn't want to do begging, she doesn't want to do sex work, she doesn't want to do dancing. campaigners have been raising the plight of transgenders in pakistan for years. just last may, pakistan's parliament passed a law protecting the community. it banned discrimination against them. however, many transgender people still survive by dancing as carnivals and weddings, some resort to begging, and even prostitution. those behind this film hope to raise awareness of marginalised communities. one of the primary functions of art is to challenge the way we think,

particularly in cinema, when you look at arthouse cinema or independent cinema all over the world, it challenges the way people think, it shows you stories that perhaps are there in front of you every day but you don't pay attention to. and i think that's very important, to find those stories and bring them to an audience that is receptive to those stories. and cinema has a huge part to play in that. rani has already received critical acclaim internationally. following its premiere, it will now be shown at colleges and universities in pakistan to help change attitudes of future generations. shabnam mahmood, bbc news, karachi. we have an update on a story we've been covering. it's about two sisters who went missing in woodlands in the united states for two days over the weekend. luckily, they've been found safe and well. eight—year—old leia and five—year—old caroline were discovered huddled under

a bush, having survived drinking water from huckleberry leaves and eating cereal bars they had brought with them. we found shelter close to the ground, and we had my sister's green jacket. we turned it sideways, so each of us had been on hold to stick our arms into. luckily, they were found safe and sound. you have been watching newsday. i'm kasia madera in london. and i'm rico hizon in singapore. stay with us. coming up — we've all heard about the china—us trade war, but what about one with india? well, the us has investors worrying about the fresh conflict, after president donald trump announced plans to end preferential treatment for india. we'll see what that means for business in asia. lets finish with a business stroke celebrity story, let's mix it up a bit. kyliejenner has become the world's

youngest self—made billionaire, according to forbes magazine. the 21—year—old entrepreneur has made her fortune from her best—selling cosmetics business. thank you for watching. hello there. all our weather is going to be coming in from the west over the next few days. there's a really strong jet stream tracking right the way across the atlantic and that picks up areas of cloud. this one will arrive on friday to bring some rain. this one here has already brought some rain across most of the uk. it's around that area of low pressure. those weather fronts are taking the rain further north into scotland. we are also seeing some really strong winds, especially in wales and the south—west of england. it's been another cold night across northern scotland, a touch of frost even by the morning. much milder elsewhere, but very windy, especially in wales and south—west england. but gusty winds will continue with these bands of showers. and we've got the wetter weather getting stuck across scotland

and northern ireland, notjust rain but some snow over the higher ground. let us have a closer look at those showers, they are rain bands pushing their way across england and wales. some sunshine in between. a bit of warmth, 111—15 degrees, south—east england, east anglia, and also lincolnshire. but the showers will be heavy and potentially thundery. and we're much colder as we move into scotland and northern ireland. and north of the central belt, we are going to find that wet weather continuing with some snow over the highlands and grampian. it stays wet in scotland overnight. and increasingly back into northern ireland and northern england, too. further south, i think we lose a lot of those heavy showers and temperatures will people wake to around 11—5 degrees. it will feel colder as we move into thursday. let's trace where our air is coming from, all the way from the arctic, a cold north north—westerly wind will be wrapped around the area of low pressure, which by this stage is out in the north sea. but around the edge of the low, where we're packing in a lot of wet

weather into scotland, especially east of scotland, northern england, down into east anglia too, some more snow over the high ground and wintry showers will be following in behind. probably the best of the sunshine and the dry weather, southern england and south wales, 11 degrees here. but a chilly 6 or so, i think, in northern scotland. as we head into the end of the week, that area of low pressure is moving away. it's taking away those cold winds. clearing skies, light winds, means friday could start with a touch of frost. and some sunshine too. but it's going to cloud over. we saw the cloud coming in across the atlantic. this is bringing the rain into northern ireland, wales, and the south—west of england and ahead of that, those temperatures may get to 9—10 degrees. even into the weekend, though, it stays very unsettled, some more rain and some more snow over the hills. it will be very windy. as a result, it will always feel on the chilly side.