our top story: the british prime minister, theresa may, will ask the eu for a further delay to brexit. in a change of direction, mrs may said she will also try to reach agreement with the opposition labour party on how to end the crisis. the corruption trial of malaysia's former prime minister najib razak gets underway shortly. he's accused of stealing billions of dollars from the country's sovereign wealth fund 1mdb. and this story is trending at bbc.com. one of prince harry's biggests fans in australia, 99—year—old daphne dunne, has passed away. she died just days after getting a birthday card from harry and his wife meghan. she said she'd had "a very special friendship" with the prince. and the top story in the uk. a man has been stabbed in north

london near where four people were injured in apparently random knife attacks over the weekend. the victim — who's in his 30s — is critically injured in hospital. a man has been arrested. now on bbc news, live to singapore for asia business report. trade war. the us and china resume talks as the wto says a conflict will hit global economic growth. imdb will hit global economic growth. 1mdb scandal. the corruption trial of former malaysia and prime minister najib razak starts today. good morning, asia. hello, world. it's wednesday, welcome to asia business report. the start off with

the ongoing us— china trade dispute. negotiations aimed at ending the dispute are set to get under way again later this wednesday. the talks in washington between the us and china, against a backdrop of a warning from the world trade organisation of the impact of this ongoing conflict. we are not in good shape at this point in time. if trade tensions continue to increase, we could see an even more significant dampening effect on the global economy and trade expansion so global economy and trade expansion so let's all work to avoid that. earlier, i asked so let's all work to avoid that. earlier, iasked market so let's all work to avoid that. earlier, i asked market analyst margaret yang what she thought. the world bank and imf have both slashed down global economic growth with

trade conflicts between the us and china of particular concern. does it matter to the negotiators? both china and the us, that global trade growth and economic uncertainty is indeed impacting many economies in the world? it is impacting. it is pretty clear that we have entered into a global synchronised slowdown across many countries, from china to japan to the european union and it's coming to the us. if the tariffs continue, and the trade negotiations don't go into the right direction, which leads to further tariffs, that could mean further outlook. the intellectual property, structural reform, but over and over again, we can't seem to fight any resolution.

what are they talking about? i would say the trade negotiations has been fairly slow. they have put a more realistic timeline to june of this year to complete the progress. but who is delaying this? the trade war is about trade concessions on technology transfer, intellectual property and structural reforms. chinese negotiators have reasons to drag it on in order to buy time to resolve their own domestic economic slowdown problems first, in order to haveit slowdown problems first, in order to have it to bargaining power on the negotiating table. a lot of frustration there. that was margaret yang, a market strategist. the world's two biggest economies hold

another round of talks but it's unclear if us tariffs on china will be lifted. robin grant has been looking at how that uncertainty is facing companies in the mainland. a winner is emerging. a red country thatis winner is emerging. a red country that is watched its hands. welcome to vietnam. just ask this repco recruiter back in china. it has a great impact on us. it's difficult to find jobs. this company is a giant in the world of wi—fi router is, making 3 million here, and it's expanding, but not in china. it is setting up in via an arm.

translation: the us tariffs will make us move our production line for the american market to vietnam. we can make sure the quality of the product is the same and it is somewhere that has no such tariffs. the trade war is an issue for this company. it faces on the longer term challenges. there are fewer workers are now costing more and more. then there is this, investing in automation. the workers of the future that just automation. the workers of the future thatjust keep going and going. a recent survey by the bank ubs suggested significant movement. it spoke to 200 manufacturers in china. around bird said they'd moved some production abroad last year. almost half the movers said the trade war was the region.

translation: i would say via duncan save much money in transport, management and logistics costs. — vietnam. all this is china's government is trying to get business in and around shenzhen where new connections are creating an economic powerhouse. leaving here is not such a simple proposition anyway. as the numbers of boom —— boom forforeign firms, some problems persist. one chinese businessmen told me about the million dollar payment he was asked to get the government licensing these. corruption here is no different. the corruption trial of formulation prime minister najib razak begins on wednesday, accused of dealing incorruption by taking money from imdb. the prime minister

currently, my heart dear mohammed, promised swift justice. currently, my heart dear mohammed, promised swiftjustice. my colleague was there. after months of delay, malaysia's trial of the century is set to begin shortly. that's remind you of all the allegations. 42 charges in total ranging from criminal breach of trust, money laundering to abusive power. the former prime minister has pleaded not guilty to all of them but the disappearance from malaysia's state fund is one of the biggest financial scandals. malaysia is not the only country which has been investigating imdb, the fund set up by najib razak to help the people of malaysia in 2009, has been probed in at least six countries including the united states and here in singapore. you might remember all the headlines it

made when the stolen money went to buy a private jet, made when the stolen money went to buy a privatejet, luxury made when the stolen money went to buy a private jet, luxury real estate, a rt buy a private jet, luxury real estate, art works by picasso and monet. as part of the investigation, goldman sacks, the us investment bank, has also come under scrutiny and has been charged by malaysia and authorities. the trials will take months if not years but this is the first time for anyone to face trial over this scandal and if convicted, najib razak faces both fines and up to 20 years in prison but as i said, he denies all the charges. thank you very much, my colleague and business reporter mariko oi. theresa may has said she will ask the european union foran said she will ask the european union for an extension to the brexit deadline to break this logjam in

parliament. agreeing on a plan for a future relationship with the eu but she insisted her withdrawal agreement which was voted down for a third time last week would remain pa rt third time last week would remain part of the deal in its annual budget, australia's conservative government as promised tax cuts below and middle income earners and increased education spending. the treasurer also promised the first surplus in more than a decade, shaping the administration's pitch for votes in an imminent general election. around 1000 uber drivers protested in taipei over a government plan to restrict how to com plete government plan to restrict how to complete with taxis. the proposed regulations would require cuba to charge customers for at least an hour even if they didn't need a car for that long. the company and its drivers say this would put them out of business in taiwan. donald trump

effort to close the us border has seen avocado prices surgeon effort to close the us border has seen avocado prices surgeon more than a decade as buyers weigh in on the latest direct trick from the us president. that is prices from avocado production jumped by president. that is prices from avocado productionjumped by 34% on tuesday. let's have a quick look at the markets now. us stocks retreated overnight after fresh data showed wea ker overnight after fresh data showed weaker than expected us capital slipping in february and shipments we re slipping in february and shipments were flat. thank you for investing your time with us. sport today is coming up next. this is bbc news — the top stories this hour: after seven hours of talks with a divided cabinet, theresa may has said she will ask for another brexit delay and offered to consult the

opposition. the corruption trial of the former malaysia and prime minister najib razak gets under way shortly, accused of stealing billions of dollars from the country's sovereign wealth fund 1mdb. health experts believe that long—term exposure to man—made air pollution — especially from vehicles — accounts for around 30,000 deaths a year in the uk. from next week — london will be tackling the problem by introducing a new charge for vehicles entering the central zone. our science editor david shukman has been looking at the latest research on vehicle pollution and what it does to our health. air pollution can dominate our cities. in this image, scientists have used orange and red to represent where the air is dirtiest. in this case, the busy streets and junctions of central london. outside a school, we use a heat camera to reveal pollution you can't see with the naked eye. the exhaust fumes stand out because they're hotter than the surroundings.

they flow right past the children, who are more exposed than adults because they are closer to the ground. scientists say the effects could be worse than previously thought. and down inside the lungs, the smallest particles can actually cross into the bloodstream and cause more harm, blocking arteries, increasing the danger of heart disease and of stroke. they may also reach the brain. links to dementia are now being researched. but the big concern is children, whether pollution can affect their growth — even before birth. the researchers have so far investigated 15 placentas, looking for anything unusual. earlier studies have found that in polluted areas, babies can be born underweight. no—one knows why. so the discovery in some placenta cells of tiny black dots, which look very like pollution particles, is a big worry. the well—being of the placenta equals the well—being of the baby, essentially, so if there is anything affecting the way the placenta works or affecting its function, theoretically it can affect the growth and development of the baby as well. as the research continues, a hot exhaust pipe spews out more gases and particles. next week, london will try to reduce

pollution by half by imposing a charge on the dirtiest vehicles. the aim is to keep tens of thousands of trucks and cars out of the city and scientists say this cannot come soon enough. a nuclear processing plant in cumbria has been forced to pay compensation after a worker was exposed to eight times the healthy limit of plutonium. the employee had to have a section of skin removed from his hand and spent six months off work. that's it from me. hello, this is sport today,

live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: amid alleged racist chants from cagliari fans, moise kean scores forjuventus to take his side 18 points clear at the top. a chris smalling own—goal gives the game away for manchester united. and shades of his father, as mick schumacher makes his formula 1 debut testing for ferrari. hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with the news in italy, where 19 year old moise kean appeared to be racially abused by fans of cagliari as he scored his fifth goal of the season and helped move juventus 18 points clear at the top of serie a. the victory was overshadowed by the scenes after the goal, as richard mcelvanney reports. he is the teenage star that all of italy is looking at, but kean's late

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