for brexit, after voting to take control of the process from the government. they are set to stage a ballot on wednesday on which options they would accept. meanwhile, there are signs theresa may's deal is winning over some critics, depite questions about her future. syria's kurds have called for the creation of an international tribunal to try thousands of suspected members of the islamic state group. and this story is trending on bbc.com. a theme park in indonesia has covered the bare chests on two mermaid statues, 15 years after they were put in place. a spokesperson for the ancol dreamland injakarta says they now want to respect "eastern values." that's all, stay with bbc world news. and the top story in the uk: a massive decline of british wild bees and hoverflies could seriously

damage food security, according to a new study. the insects, which pollinate a third of the crops we eat, are being hit by habitat loss, the use of pesticides, and climate change. now on bbc news, live to singapore for asia business report. high—stakes brexit high—sta kes brexit votes. high—stakes brexit votes. uk mps set out their plan to consider options for leaving the european union. opioid lawsuit, the sacklerfamily owned purdue pharma reaches a $270 million settlement. good morning, asia. hello, world. it's wednesday, glad you could join us for another exciting mid week edition of asia business report. i'm rico hizon. we kick off the programme with brexit, and brace yourselves for more high drama in the uk. mps have set out

details of their plan to consider options for leaving the european union. voting on alternatives is due to start later and is likely to continue into next week. at the same time, prime minister theresa may has come under pressure to step aside to secure backing for her brexit deal. let's have a quick look at how the pound is faring in mid—morning asian trade, currently at1.319, pretty steady on the global currency markets. earlier i spoke to simon littlewood, and he told me about the alternative brexit initiatives. littlewood, and he told me about the alternative brexit initiativesli would alternative brexit initiatives.” would not be surprised if theresa may has not actually got her deal through. her approach has been to frighten everyone with the possibility of an ideal brexit, which would be catastrophic, everybody agrees, and the bbc and other channels were showing wonderful pictures of lorries backing up on the m6. she is wearing the right wing of her party because

this is an internal struggle in the tory party. she is trying to get them to on side to vote for her deal. some of them have already said that her deal is better than no deal, and they have asked her to commit to resigning once the vote has passed. what about the referendum, a second one? is that still possible? i think it is highly unlikely, the view of the government, the tory party, has a lwa ys government, the tory party, has always been that they called for the referendum, they need to follow the result of that referendum although it wasn't the one that they wanted, mostly, and if they had a second referendum and it went the other way, that would simply demonstrate that they have wasted two years of everybody‘s time. so they are going to be very reluctant to hold a second referendum. how likely they would cancel brexit and remain in the eu? i think that is highly unlikely. they dismissed the result ofa unlikely. they dismissed the result of a petition with nearly 6 million people signed pretty much out of hand. so the debate is not around is there going to be brexit? the debate is around what would be the nature

of brexit and what will be the timing? brexit watcher simon littlewood. in the united states, purdue pharma has reached a 270 million us dollars settlement in a lawsuit which claimed its opioids contributed to the deaths of thousands of people. purdue pharma, owned by the billionaire sackler family, is one of a number of families named in a claim which allege they used deceptive practices to sell opioids. samir hussein told us to sell opioids. samir hussein told us the significance of this massive settle m e nt us the significance of this massive settlement —— samira. us the significance of this massive settlement -- samira. it is a pretty big settlement, but to be clear, this is just big settlement, but to be clear, this isjust one big settlement, but to be clear, this is just one of thousands of lawsuit that still exist against purdue. but what this does show is that purdue is trying to settle these lawsuits for a few reasons, one, they want to start trying to move past it, but two, they want to be able to perhaps keep some information about the kinds of tactics that the company did use

under wraps stop now, remember that purdue in the settlement has admitted no wrongdoing. what they have done is, as you rightly pointed out, is that they are building an addiction centre. it has also been said that purdue is considering filing for bankruptcy, which would mean that the company would end up covering itself, and shielding itself from any further litigation. how would this impact the fortunes of purdue and the sackler family? how would this impact the fortunes of purdue and the sackler family7m purdue actually goes bankrupt, this isa purdue actually goes bankrupt, this is a big moneymakerfor the sackler family, so it could have a big impact there. it really remains to be seen, just in terms of how all these other lawsuits play out, and how much information from these lawsuits actually comes to light in terms of the role that the executives have and the role that the sackler family had. europe's top leaders have pressed china for a

fairtrading leaders have pressed china for a fair trading relationship. angela merkel, macron and juncker said they wa nt to merkel, macron and juncker said they want to engage with the belton road project in paris. the european union has become increasingly frustrated about how low the mainland —— slow the mainland has been to open up its markets despite granting china almost unfettered access to eu markets for trade and investment. i am joined by monica miller. and a lot of new territory here. absolutely, xi was in italy, france and even monaco as he tried to lock in these deals to complete the crucial phase of his new silk road project. $i crucial phase of his new silk road project. $1 trillion belton road initiative is an ambitious one. it aims to connect asia, the middle east, europe and africa through a network of ports, railways, roads and tunnels. now, roughly 60 countries have already signed up to this. while president xi has been on

the road and in france, he did by 300 planes from airbus, a major blow to archrival boeing, which is trying to archrival boeing, which is trying to fix its reputation after two of its jets were involved in fatal crashes. that deal with our is said to be worth roughly $80 billion. last weekend, italy made a controversial move and broke rank with its fellow g7 members. it joined china's one belt and one road initiative. even though these leaders have emphasised multiple areas where they do have things that they get along, there remain underlying tensions in the relationships. they will get a chance to iron those out next month at the summit in brussels. many eu countries are still sceptical, thank you so much for that update, my colleague in business reporter monica miller. one of the world's biggest mining companies is due to announce its annual earnings later.

vale is expected to say it made billions of dollars in 2018, but that will basically contrast with the more than 300 deaths and widespread destruction caused by one of its dams bursting in brazil in january. the bbc‘s south america correspondent reports. just two weeks after brazil's deadliest mining disaster, warning sirens went off in a nearby tourist district. the warning, it turned out, was a false alarm, but the town has yet to recover. it is a popular destination for wealthy tourists seeking adventure and fine food. now, no—one wants to come here. in a matter of hours, all reservations we re matter of hours, all reservations were cancelled, residents fled their homes, and it is now a ghost town. the few left behind our business

owners, who want vale, the mining giant responsible for the dam, to pay compensation. this woman put all of her, savings into a cafe and property here. translation: my cafe was my dream. today i have had to close it, and i don't know what will happen to it now. i keep thinking, didi happen to it now. i keep thinking, did ijust lose my entire dream overnight? it is like someone came and snatched it all away from me. mining companies like vale are decommissioning their old dams, but change is slow and costly and there are dozens of them across state. over there we can two tailing dams like the one which broke in brumadinho. they are in the process of being decommissioned, but that will take a few years to happen. meanwhile everyone here is worried about the future. one hour's drive from their lies this town. towns like this will be entirely wiped out

if the nearby tailing dams broke, but even if the fear disaster never happens, the town is already suffering because it depends on iron ore royalties to pay for its expenses. translation: our initial reaction was brief, but now we are desperate. there is no way a life can go back to what it was. we are going to have to make cuts in education, health, street cleaning. two—thirds of our money comes from mining. the accident in brumadinho took away lives, destroyed communities and left permanent scars on the environment. vale says it is fully committed to undo the damage. in the meantime, the fallout from the disasters continues to blight lives throughout the state. in other business news making headlines, cathay pacific has agreed to buy hong kong express from a cash—strapped conglomerate for $628 million. this gives it a foothold in the travel market. daimler is close

to selling a 50% stake in its small car brand smart. the deal will be confirmed before the shanghai auto show next month. let's have a quick look at the markets. despite stocks rebounding overnight asian stocks are in negative territory, still worried about the global economic slowdown and more week economic us data. the nikkei 225 down by 0.75%, the all ordinaries and the hang seng index also in the red. thank you for investing your time with us. i am rico hizon. sport today is coming up next. this is bbc news. the top stories this hour: british mps have put forward a range of alternative brexit plans, as speculation mounts about theresa may's future. syria's kurds have called for the creation of an international tribunal to try thousands of suspected members of the islamic state group.

pollinating wild bees and hoverflies are disappearing from areas of great britain, posing a potential future threat to agriculture, according to new research. experts studied more than 350 species of the insects between 1980 and 2013. they found that a third of the species were present in fewer areas than before. it is springtime, and honey bees across the country are out foraging. these bees have a safe home here, but today's landmark report reveals their wild cousins, along with dozens of other key pollinating insects, such as hoverflies, are struggling to survive. they've vanished from a quarter of the places they used to live. the reason — a complex mix of climate change, habitat loss, and intensive farming. this isn'tjust about insects, it's about our food security, what we put on our plates. many farmers do all they can to help nature. julian gold is one of them. agriculture's got to learn how

to live in harmony with nature. it's all very well producing food, but we don't want to destroy the food factory at the same time. also at stake is the colour palette of the english landscape. all these wild flowers that people like seeing when they go out in the countryside, most of them depend on pollinators. if you don't have those pollinators available, then you're going to see a decrease in their ability to maintain in the wider environment. there are fears that familiar visitors to our gardens, and to the wider countryside, will have less to eat. there's all sorts of different birds, from flycatchers to sparrows, which are all dependent on this rich, vibrant life of flying life out there, that this report tells us is declining across the uk. some good news did come out of the study. these bee species help to pollinate flowering crops, and their numbers are increasing. there are also key steps that can be taken. instead ofjust big prairies of wheat fields, you've got grass strips, flower margins, strips through the middle of fields,

just trying to increase the biodiversity in the field. pesticides that can damage wild bee populations are still being approved. so we need to put in place the right tests, that make our pesticides safer for wildlife. so, if you're talking about somebody in their garden, for example, having a patch of their garden, they let wild plants develop, those can be really important for helping maintain those pollinators. so we can do our bit in our gardens, as long as the policymakers do their bit too. claire marshall, bbc news, oxfordshire. hello. this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: age is no factor, as 36—year—old fabio quagliarella scores twice for italy in their euro qualifier. top seed novak djokovic is knocked out of the miami masters — beaten in three sets

by roberto bautista—agut. and michael matthews wins the second stage of the volta a catalunya while thomas de gendt maintains the overall lead. hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with football, and there were seven european championship qualifiers on tuesday. italy hosted liechtenstein in groupj as they continue their rebuilding process after failing to qualify for last year's world cup. but it was a seasoned veteran who scored twice in the 6—0 win with sampdoria's fabio quagliarella becoming the oldest player to score for the azurri at the age of 36 years and 5a days. it was also the first competitive start for his country since october 2009. elsewhere, conor hourihane scored the only goal of the game as the republic of ireland beat georgia to make it two wins out of two in group d.