i'm kasia madera with bbc news. our top story: president trump has said the us and the uk have the "greatest alliance the world has ever known". after talks with the outgoing british prime minister, theresa may, the president also promised what he described as a "phenomenal" trade deal after brexit. in australia, disgraced catholic cardinal george pell is in court to appeal against his convictions for sexually abusing two choir boys in the 1990s. and this vigil has caught people's attention on the bbc news website. tens of thousands of people have gathered to hold a vigil in hong kong marking the 30th anniversary of the massacre of pro—democracy protestors in beijing's tiananmen square. it's one of the few places in china commemorations can be safely held.

and the top story in the uk: just months after its creation, six mps have left the newly formed change uk party, amid a row over how closely it should cooperate with other pro—european parties. now on bbc news, live to singapore for asia business report. trump's huawei forward — trump says they can be a good trade deal with they can be a good trade deal with the uk despite disagreements over the uk despite disagreements over the chinese giant. tariffs on goods entering the us from india, and how they are impacting local businesses. good morning asia, hello world, it is wednesday. glad you could join us for this action packed addition of asia business report. i'm rico

hizon. theresa may and donald trump have said they expect the two countries to reach a post—brexit trade agreement, despite disagreeing over the use of huawei in 5g networks. i think is what is important is that we achieve brexit, and we will be able to do what we have talked about today, and achieve a broader economic partnership into the future. we don't have absolute agreement on huawei and everything else, but we have an incredible intelligence arrangement and we will be able to work out any differences. washington threatened to limit intelligence sharing with the uk if the uk allowed part of its 5g infrastructure to be built by huawei. we have been hearing a lot about 5g lately. let's have a refresher on what this means. it's

capable of whatever the current 4g network can do but up to 20 times faster. it is seen as a network of the future to transmit data at the highest speeds, for devices such as smart glasses, and it is a driving force of driverless cars. i spoke to an expert about whether mr trump was right push so hard against huawei. there are serious concerns with huawei and the drop administration and the us congress have been right to raise concerns with allies around the world about the fact that huawei poses a threat. in terms of questions of chinese espionage, rule of law, and respect for intellectual property. for many us allies here in the asia—pacific, such as singapore, thailand, malaysia and the philippines, they are already working very closely with the chinese telecommunications giant. what must they do? it is a

challenge, a number of countries have indicated that they will use huawei's equipment as part of their telecommunications infrastructure, and the pentagon has raised concerns. there was a report earlier this year from the defence immigration board noting that chinese involvement in infrastructure in next—generation internet will pose a serious threat to defence department operations and network security. apart from huawei, should we fear other big infrastructure telecommunications players, or is itjust huawei? the a nswer to players, or is itjust huawei? the answer to that question is twofold. huawei is emblematic of a number of chinese companies, it is not the only chinese company that poses a threat. earlier this year, the telecommunications company zte made a lot of news, it was temporarily

added to us department of commerce entity lists. but there is a difference between say chinese companies and other non— chinese companies, such as companies from allied countries, where the threat is not one of espionage, but they may be concerns about needing to look at specific components to ensure data integrity or security. staying with global trade tensions china is pledging to boost inspections of meat products, according to canadian government officials. meat executives say the move could have a disastrous effect on their businesses. meanwhile, she's —— she ——xijinping starts a

state visit to russia today, discussing issues such as the belt and road initiative. and troubled yearfor and road initiative. and troubled year for the and road initiative. and troubled yearfor the global and road initiative. and troubled year for the global economy next year, with the world bank saying growth will slow by as much as 6% in the face of the ongoing us china trade war. 0ne the face of the ongoing us china trade war. one of the report's authors explains how this year might unfold. six months ago already the world bank had warned of darkening skies over the global economy. then there was a forecast, now we see it asa there was a forecast, now we see it as a reality. we see growth shrinking to 2.6%, a three year low. then we see a bit of a pickup. if you are looking for the source of that slowdown and the source of the

weakness, it is really broad—based. there have been disappointments everywhere. as always with these forecasts there are risks that things might turn out worse. is trade the big one this time? trade isa trade the big one this time? trade is a big one. it is a major risk to oui’ is a big one. it is a major risk to our world forecast. we expect a bit ofa our world forecast. we expect a bit of a pickup in trade, but policy uncertainty around trade is a major risk to that. it is not even that anything has to happen, that tariffs have to go up, it isjust anything has to happen, that tariffs have to go up, it is just the uncertainty about trade rules. the uncertainty about trade rules. the uncertainty about trade rules. the uncertainty about future supply chains, whether they can stay the way they are now. that uncertainty is making investors hold back already. we see that very clearly in emerging markets and economies. and you expect the slowdown in china to continue? we have reduced our forecast because of the trade tensions, the recent increase in trade tensions, and the breakdown in

negotiations as well, but we expect that some of that impact will actually be offset with policy stimulus. the trump administration will today and india's access to a preferential trading system that gra nts preferential trading system that grants thousands of companies concessionary tariffs on products sold in the us. the gsp has helped some competitors get an advantage over other countries. but the us says that this is not being reciprocated by india and it wants to force narendra modi's new government to allow greater access to indian consumers. crafted on the outskirts of delhi, these handbags will soon be displayed in the windows of luxury fashion stores in milan and manhattan. by the company that makes it is about to see that its sales in

the us, its biggest foreign market, all the m2 president trump's trade policies. the impact of the duties will be about 10% on a handbags, and i think we're going to pushed into absorbing a certain percentage of that, which in turn could lead to loss of jobs that, which in turn could lead to loss ofjobs and loss of livelihood for many of our workers. since 1975, indian exporters of items including leather, building materials, and jewellery, have benefited from lower import tariffs in the us, thanks to a programme known as the generalised system of preferences, or gsp. but as of today that has been removed. the white house says it is retaliating as us firms were not granted equitable and reasonable access to indian markets. the trump administration has been angered by india's reluctance to reduce price

controls, and allow dairy products from animals raised on bovine feed, which it says would offend a religious sensibilities of many of its residents. the us is hoping that indian firms hurt by this will apply pressure on narendra modi. but the newly installed indian government has reacted in a muted way. they say that this will not be felt by a number of companies in the country. 0na number of companies in the country. on a macro level, the impact will be limited. we are talking about a tariff concession of 260 million, so not even 0.01% of the trade relationship. it is not so significant. from bear hugs and the rose garden to warm words on twitter, mr modi's india has largely been spared the worst of mr trump's

roth. but, competing interests back home may force the two leaders to choose different parts on trade. lets have a look at the market. they are opening in positive territory after tuesday's down day. stock markets rallied more than 2% overnight on china's request for dialogue to solve the trade dispute, and the allusion to the possibility ofan and the allusion to the possibility of an interest rate cut. those other markets, and before we go i would like to greet all of our brothers and sisters in the muslim world, happy and sisters in the muslim world, ha p py eve and sisters in the muslim world, happy eve —— eid mubarak. this is bbc news the top stories this hour. us president donald trump has said the us and uk have the "greatest alliance the world has ever known". he also promised a "phenomenal" trade deal after brexit. in australia, the disgraced catholic

cardinal, george pell, is in court to appeal against his convictions for child sexual abuse. the inquest into those who died in the london bridge attacks has heard that investigators were not told one of the killers, khuram butt, had been reported to the anti—terror hotline. on their way to murder eight people in the london bridge attack, the three killers refuelling the hired van that became one of their weapons. khuram butt, their leader, was under investigation by mi5 and counterterrorism police at the time. he had been for more than two years, after intelligence that he was planning an attack.

during that time, his brother—in—law called the antiterrorism hotline. more than a year before the attack, butt featured in a video called the jihadis next door. the officer was aware that later that year, he started working for london underground.

the witness told the coroner that while it was a concern that khuram butt had started working at westminster underground station, he and his team didn't tell his employers, transport for london, because there was no intelligence to suggest that he planned to use the job to carry out an attack. in the days before the london bridge attack next year, neither mi5 nor the police spotted his meetings with the other two killers. nor do they notice him hiring a van, which was used to run down and kill the first of their victims. now on bbc news, sport today. hello, this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: rafael nadal moves a step closer to a record—extending 12th french open title, setting up

a semi—final against roger federer. sri lanka win a rain—affected world cup match, beating afghanistan in a low—scoring affair in cardiff. and, with the women's football world cup starting on friday, we look at how a national tragedy helped japan's women to win the 2011 tournament. hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with the tennis news that defending men's champion rafael nadal will meet roger federer in the french open semi—finals, after they both won their respective matches on tuesday. wrapping up that and news from the women's draw is adam wild. rafael nadal went into his quarterfinal match with japan's kei nishikori having lostjust twice since his debut at roland—garros in 2005. he never looked likely to make ita 2005. he never looked likely to make it a third loss, at this years second grand slam, losing just five games en route to victory. the

spanish second seed remains on course for