i'm ben bland with bbc world news. our top story: scientists find high levels of plastic contamination in the arctic, previously seen as one of the world's last pristine environments. a study showed a litre of melted snow could contain tens of thousands of plastic particles, carried on the wind from thousands of miles away. pakistan's prime minister has warned india that it will pay "a heavy price" for revoking the special status of indian—administered kashmir. imran khan also said global powers would be responsible if war broke out over kashmir, because they failed to implement un resolutions. and this story is trending on bbc.com. an interim air accident report has said that high levels of carbon monoxide may have caused the crash that killed argentinian footballer emiliano sala and the pilot of his plane. that's all. stay with bbc world news.

and the top story in the uk: now on bbc news live to singapore for asia business report. share prices slump on recession fears. asian markets follow wall street lower as warnings are flashed. walmart versus the trade war. how will it impact the world's biggest retailer? good morning asia, hello world. it is the first day, glad we can join hello world. it is the first day, glad we canjoin you. an hello world. it is the first day, glad we can join you. an exciting overnight action it was for us markets after they fell by 3%. the

main indexes, the dow, the s&p, and of course the nasdaq, and now asian markets are open for trading and they have opened sharply lower. the nikkei down1.8%, and they have opened sharply lower. the nikkei down 1.8%, and the all ordinaries giving back 1.8%. this is all about fears of us china trade war. . at the moment, the us financial markets have begun trading and investors have started selling. wea k and investors have started selling. weak economic data from china and the us—led to havoc the markets, sparking global recession fears. china is the second largest economy and germany is the economic backbone of europe. nowhere was it more apparent than in the bond market, where governments and companies go to borrow money by selling bonds. the yield curve between a ten year

and two year bond briefly‘ complicated jargon that essentially means investors complicated jargon that essentially mea ns i nvesto i’s a re complicated jargon that essentially means investors are willing to be paid means investors are willing to be pa id less to means investors are willing to be paid less to wait longer to get their money back. that matter? well, historically inverted yield curve is have signalled that economic recession is just around the corner. one economist doesn‘t think we should ignore the warning. one economist doesn‘t think we should ignore the warninglj one economist doesn‘t think we should ignore the warning. i am worried about a possible recession. i have been worried for a long time about a recession in 2020 because of the factors we are seeing. it is not anyone element, but a snowball effect. when you start getting the reaction and retaliation from other countries, and you start chipping away at the overall global economic pie, you want at some point what will be left for all of us to eat. donald trump wants to make the economy essential part of his case for re—election in 2020, a pitch that would be harder to make if the

goes sour. donald trump called us fed chiefjerome power goes sour. donald trump called us fed chief jerome power clueless goes sour. donald trump called us fed chiefjerome power clueless in an effort to deflect responsibility onto the fed. it is not clear if more rate cuts could blunt the damage from the ongoing trade war with china. investors dumped shares from the us, but the dollar held its own. earlier, iasked from the us, but the dollar held its own. earlier, i asked a foreign—exchange analyst why the greenback had been so resilient. looking at what we saw today of the yield curve, it does suggest that trade tensions are impacting the largest economy in the world, but we have to keep in mind that the dollar is still seen as a safe haven asset, and many investors still see that, compared to everyone else. the us is still in a better position, and that is why they remain strong. economic fundamentals still strong, but on

the other hand, how does the inverted yield curve and the strong dollar impact asian currencies ex— japan? we saw the japanese yen appreciating against other currencies. naturally this represents a strong sense of risk aversion. risk aversion will boost the japanese yen and other safe haven asset. do we see other regional currencies like the south korean one or the tide dollar, or the indonesian rupiah continuing to depreciate? we have seen the chinese economy becoming so powerful in asia that it has become a proxy for asia, asa that it has become a proxy for asia, as a leader of the fact. if there are signs of weakness in the chinese currency, it tends to drag asian currencies lower. also, slowing

growth had caused many central banks across the world to cut interest rates, and some even cut them more than once. if we do see monetary policy easing from central banks in these regions, it could lead to policy —— currency weakness. these regions, it could lead to policy -- currency weakness. that is good for exporters in asia? you could say that, a weaker currency boost export competitiveness, and that could support domestic growth in such unfavourable global conditions. now, china's tencent is a barometerfor how conditions. now, china's tencent is a barometer for how the economy is faring. tencent have done better than expected ? faring. tencent have done better than expected? yes, revenuejumping 35%, so strong numbers from tencent. but the stock fell by more than 4% on wall street because it warned of a difficult environment going forward. there was some good news.

tencent is best known for its we chat platform, but it biggest revenue is video games, and its reve nu es rose revenue is video games, and its revenues rose 8%, primarily driven by smartphone games. they surged by 26%. its latest game could help the company rake in $1 billion in annual revenue, according to analysts. the gaming unit‘s revival is good news for investors, because remember a year ago the government tightened restrictions on graphic violence in games, so approval for new games fell sharply, affecting tencent‘s bottom. the focus at the moment is alibaba. yes, investors haven't been too happy with the firm, the stock falling 16% since may because they

are worried about china‘s economic slowdown and an escalating trade war with the us. alibaba is like amazon, paypal, and twitter all rolled into one. but it also has a growing cloud computing service and wants to expand its business to business service in the us. the big risk is the trade war. the expansion plan into the us has become a lot more difficult lately. we can expect a nalysts to difficult lately. we can expect analysts to break down the numbers of alibaba when they are released later today. thank you mariko oi. the world‘s largest retailer reporting earnings on thursday as the trade war continues. investors will be continuing to see how the growing cost of chinese imports will impact walmart‘s profitability. it is also a unique focus on walmart‘s position as the leading gun retailer in the us in the wake of recent mass shootings. for a retail company like walmart,

these tariffs are not good for business. two walmart‘s credit, it has been able to protect itself from big hits to the bottom line by planning ahead and stockpiling inventory. investors will want to hear how the country will continue to deal with a trade war that won‘t end anytime soon —— company. these walmart shoppers in newjersey are concerned about another issue altogether. i heard they are taking away violent video games but they won‘t stop selling guns, which is something that doesn‘t make sense to me. it is a family shopping place. maybe if they opened a second store for the guns that's different, but not ina for the guns that's different, but not in a walmart, no stop by the re ce nt not in a walmart, no stop by the recent deadly shootings in texas and ohio have renewed calls for walmart to stop selling firearms, although guns represent less than 1% of sales, walmart will no doubt address theissue sales, walmart will no doubt address the issue with wall street. but walmart also wants to see an end with to the trade war with china, and one analyst believes it can play and one analyst believes it can play a big role in making that happen.

walmart can be the proverbial ben franklin ambassador between the prc and the us government to come up with a constructive, cooperative resolution on the tariffs, because walmart, with operations from the prc and worldwide, is even more influential than amazon or any countries serving the consumer anywhere in the world. the trump administration‘s decision to delay new duties on some chinese imports is good news for retailers like walmart. it means the all—important holiday shopping season won‘t take a hit. it also gives the company a little more incentive to play the role of mediator. in other news, argentina‘s president has announced a series of economic measures days after a defeat at the polls triggered turmoil in the country‘s financial markets. in a televised speech, he unveiled income

tax cuts, increases in welfare subsidies, and said petrol prices will be frozen for 90 days. the owner of the office space company we work, has published financial state m e nts work, has published financial statements for the first time ahead of its stock market launch. documents filed with regulators reveal that the company burned through $900 million in the first six months of this year. we end this edition of asia business report. thank you for investing your time with us. sport today is coming up time with us. sport today is coming up next. this is bbc news. the top stories this hour. a scientific study has revealed high levels of tiny particles of plastic contaminating the arctic, previously seen as one of the last pristine environments in the world. pakistan‘s prime minister imran khan

has said india will pay ‘a heavy price‘ for revoking the special status of indian—administered kashmir. 50 years ago british troops were sent to northern ireland. the deployment was called operation banner, and the conflict they became embroiled in became known as the troubles. it lasted 38 years, involving more than 300,000 members of the armed forces, and on wednesday, veterans attended a special service of remembrance, at the national arboretum in staffordshire. our defence correspondent, jonathan beale has more. they gathered to remember the longest campaign in british military history. the soldiers and airmen who arrived in northern ireland as young men, and who, decades on, have now grown old. but they have not forgotten. it was for real. people were out there

trying to kill you. and i‘ve been nearly blown up, shot at by the ira. nobody knew what they were supposed to be doing. that was the crucial thing, neither the politicians, nor the generals, nor us on the ground. 300,000 served in northern ireland over nearly four decades. these, the few who braved the elements. they were told they‘d help bring peace. but not without controversy. this has been to honour the sacrifice of all those who served in northern ireland, including more than 700 british soldiers named here who were killed. but there is still anger among veterans that some of their comrades, decades on, are still facing the threat of prosecution. the new defence secretary, who himself served in northern ireland, says he will protect veterans. we have got to treat our veterans properly. we‘ve got to make sure the courts are there to deal with new evidence when it is presented, if there is an allegation of breaking the law, but if there is not, we are not going to have this

endless fishing inquest circle that has gone round and round in circles. you are not giving a free pass to british soldiers, then? no—one‘s giving a free pass to anyone. last post the fact is, even now the wounds of northern ireland are still to heal. jonathan beale, bbc news. now on bbc news, sport today. hello, i‘m tulsen tollett and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: liverpool win the uefa super cup beating chelsea on penalties in istanbul. top seed ashleigh barty is through to the third round of the cincinnati open after beating maria sharapova

in straight sets. and a complete washout on day one of the second ashes test between england and australia as rain prevents any play at lord‘s. hello and welcome to the programme where we start with the footballing news that liverpool have won the first european trophy of the new season. in the annual meeting of champions league and europa league winners, they beat chelsea on penalties to claim the trophy for the fourth time. the match ended 2—all after extra—time, before the european champions won the shoot—out 5—4. from istanbul, jane dougall reports. after extra time and penalties, it was liverpool who were triumphant in the super cup final. the european champions lifting another european trophy. heartbreaking for chelsea who did push them all the way. after

90 minutes, it was 1—1,