our top story: the taliban say americans have the most to lose after trump cancelled peace talks aimed at ending 18 years of war in afghanistan. despite the cancellation, the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, said the conflict would ultimately be resolved through dialogue. the taliban, too, say they are committed to continuing negotiations. the head of a us aid agency says that hurrican dorian has left parts of the bahamas looking like they were hit by a nuclear bomb. a huge relief operation is under way to provide emergency shelter, medical care, and food and water. and this video from japan, where commercial whaling began again this year, has caught people's attention on our website. but rising numbers of tourists suggest there may be more of a future in watching whales than eating them. that's all, stay with bbc world news. and you can keep up with all

the stories on our website. just go to bbc.com/news. now on bbc news, live to singapore for asia business report. british airways grounded. the first strike by the carrier's pilots cripples of flights, causing travel disruption for tens of thousands of passengers. brazil's sweet rides, why the country is now at a crossroads after going all in on ethanol fuelled vehicles. good morning, asia. hello, world. it's a monday, the start of a brand—new trading week. glad you could join us for another exciting addition of asia business report. i'm rico hizon. lets kick off the programme

with aviation, because pilots of one of the world's largest carriers, british airways, havejust of the world's largest carriers, british airways, have just started their first ever strike. the two day walkout follows failed talks including a pay offer of 11.5%. over three years. british airways rejected the last—ditch proposal to restart negotiations aimed at averting the industrial action. unions representing cabin crew and engineers have accepted the offer, but pilots say the pay rise should be higher after years of low wage increases and ba's strong financial performance. last year, iag, the airline's parent company, reported profit of $7.6 billion. —— airline's parent company, reported profit of $7.6 billion. -- $3.6 billion. i asked our correspondent how it will impact asian travellers. it will impact asian travel, but this flows from multiple points in traveller, in most cases only once or twice a day, so we're not talking major disruptions here. it is also worth noting that british airways

has been planning for this for sometime. most passengers have already been booked another flights and they have put them in partner airlines, and so forth. so the impact will be mitigated. having said that, it is on a monday and tuesday, two of busiest travel days of the week, so it is really going to inconvenience business travellers. but what could make the situation worse for the pilots as they negotiate a higher salary? obviously of this strike were to stretch on, and they have talked about further strikes down the line, if that becomes a bit of a pattern, then that is going to ultimately wea ken then that is going to ultimately weaken their bargaining position a little bit. because at that point the airline can rightly stand up and say this is costing us millions of dollars and we are not getting anywhere, you guys need to budge. so it is going to be interesting to see how this one plays out. it is not just british airways pilots, but also ryanair pilots are planning to walk off theirjobs. what does this say about the aviation industry as a whole? the aviation industry as a

whole? the aviation industry as a whole is at an interesting point. it has been growing very strongly for a number of years and things like the us- number of years and things like the us— china trade tensions are starting to have an impact on the industry. probably within the next year or two there might be a moderation of some of that growth, and that is really going to make it ha rd and that is really going to make it hard for airlines to make profits and therefore to justify big pay increases. so it is quite an interesting time for this industrial action to be happening. what about the delay to the delivery of the boeing 737 max? will this impact travel over the next few months?m likely well. what we have heard from boeing is that they still expect they will have their fixed before they will have their fixed before the faa before october, and then they will roll from there. mostly they will roll from there. mostly they taken out of their schedules until at least december, and if it rolls on past that it will affect peak business travel period. but at this stage we don't have any further indication about when that aircraft is coming back into service. but most airlines have taken a very conservative route and are not planning for it to be there. they

will hope it is therefore christmas but there is no guarantee that. that was ellis taylor joining but there is no guarantee that. that was ellis taylorjoining us from perth. shifting to the trade war, and its impact is becoming more acute stop china just unveiled over the weekend its latest trade data, and our business reporter, mariko oi, has all the details. so tell us, why the sharp fall in august? well, as we know, august is when the trade or escalated. remember, in july there was a very short truce and then washington announced fresh 15% ta riffs then washington announced fresh 15% tariffs on a wide range of chinese goods from first september. so some economists thought businesses might try to trade for those new tariffs kicked in. but in fact, exports from china to the us fell by 16% from the previous year. that is a much sharper decline than what we saw in july, when exports fell by 6.5%. it also meant that china's overall

exports fell by 1% in august. meanwhile, chinese imports from the us fell by over a fifth, so they are no doubt concerned about a sharp economic slowdown and beijing is expected to announce more measures. country's central bank said it was cutting the amount of cash banks must hold as reserves for the third time this year. that basically releases 900 billion yuan orjust over 125 billion us dollars in liquidity to shore up the slowing economy. of course, trade talks are scheduled to start next month, hoping for some kind of a resolution. but so far, rico, no agreement in sight. all right, we will have to wait and see what happens in the month of september, with all of these tariffs being ramped upa with all of these tariffs being ramped up a couple of weeks ago. thank you so much for that update, my colleague in business reporter mariko oi. shifting now to other business news headlines, commuters in tokyo are facing major

disruptions this morning after a powerful hit the region, with winds and rain. typhoon faxai, packing winds of 145 mph, made landfall east of the capital before dawn, and that triggered evacuation warnings, widespread blackouts and transport disruption. this morning, nissan's chief executive has signalled he is ready to pass on his role to the next generation. his comments came in response to reports he may resign imminently. the troubled japanese carmaker‘s board is due to meet later today. he has come under increasing pressure after it was revealed that he has been overpaid and as the company's profits have plunged. staying with cars, and consumers around the world are trading in their old petrol vehicles for new ones that run on batteries. but not everyone is convinced that electric is indeed the future. in brazil, almost 90% of new cars are

flexible, meaning they run on either petrol or sugar —based ethanol. our correspondent has more from sao paulo. brazil produces almost half of the world's sugar, but much of the vast sugar cane crop isn't even turned into sugar. it is made into biofuel. brazil has the world's largest fleet of flex fuel cars, meaning they can run on both petrol and ethanol. for years, the industry here thought biofuels were the best way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but now the world seems to be going electric, leaving brazil ata to be going electric, leaving brazil at a crossroads. biofuel producers and carmakers have enjoyed huge benefits in the past two ethanol the preferred choice. also, with the help of subsidies, over 90% of the fleet here is flex fuel. if consumers were to suddenly change all of that in favour of electric cars, then this entire industry would be at risk. toyota hasjust

launched what it says is the world's clea nest launched what it says is the world's cleanest hybrid car. it can run on electricity, ethanol and gasoline. we need to look at the opportunities that the world gives us, and match our best technology with the best of the local resources. and in brazil, brazil has a very developed ethanol production base, which is self sustainable and renewable. so we can use a nonfossil fuel, sustainable and renewable. so we can use a nonfossilfuel, electrify sustainable and renewable. so we can use a nonfossil fuel, electrify its usage to improve the performance and the efficiency of the system. the biofuel industry is keen to avoid being sidelined in the rush to electric vehicles. it insists they are not necessarily the future of transport. when i see an electrical vehicle with a battery, i have to ask from where comes the electricity? if the electricity

comes from coal, for example, you have a worse problem than vehicles with fossil fuels. drivers want their cars to be environmentally friendly, but here in brazil, there is plenty of debate about the best road to take. and before we go, here area road to take. and before we go, here are a few data points that we are watching for this week. tomorrow, jack ma officially steps down as chairman of china's alibaba as it marks its 55th birthday. mid week, south korea will be announcing its latest unemployment figures. the jobless rate hit a 20 year high in the month ofjune. and we end the week with data on china's foreign direct investments, that will give

us fresh clues on whether companies are staying out of the world's second—largest economy due to the ongoing trade war between the mainland and the us. let's have a look now at the markets, and as you can see on our screens, basically lacklustre, but in positive territory, particularly for the nikkei 225, up by 0.4. the all ordinaries index is virtually unchanged from friday's close, after the release of disappointing jobs data, posting back—to—back weekly gains and optimism around us china trade negotiations. negotiations will restart in the month of october. thank you so much 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: the taliban says the us has the most to lose after president trump pulled out of peace talks aimed at ending the afghan war. the head of a us aid agency says hurricane dorian has left parts

of the bahamas looking like they were hit by a nuclear bomb. around a million people have attended an open—air mass in madagascar, celebrated by pope francis on the final day of his visit there. he called for for the protection of the environment and against privilege and elitism in society. our religion editor martin bashir sent this report from madagascar. braving blustery conditions on the outskirts of the capital, crowds were overflowing for an open air mass. quoting from the gospel of luke, pope francis said christ demands respect for both people and the planet — an urgent message for this part of the world.

translation: this demand encourages us not to delude the gospel message, but instead to build history and solidarity and complete respect for the earth and its gift. as opposed to any form of exportation. across the landscape of this country, the world's fourth—largest island, 40% of its forest has disappeared in the last 60 years. the environmental danger is aggravated because 80% of madagascar‘s plant and animal species are not found anywhere else on the planet. and it isn'tjust foreign companies who see money in hacking down madagascar‘s trees. conservationists say local businesses are also to blame. and welcome the pope's intervention. it was a very good and strong message. the civil society was there. felt very encouraged and invigorated in listening to the pope.

this visit has come at a moment of rapid growth for the catholic church in africa. the pope's trip to africa was intended as a pastoral visit to encourage the growing churches here. but it quickly became political, with his condemnation of the plundering of natural resources. and for the thousands who came out to greet him, then counted a pope who is as much a conservationist as he is a christian. hello. i'm tulsen tollett. this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: daniil medvedev battles back from two sets down as he looks to win the us open against rafael nadal australia retain the ashes with victory late on the final day of the fourth test against

england at old trafford. and charles leclerc steers ferrari to a classy win — at the team's home grand prix in italy. hello and welcome to the programme where we start with tennis and the news that rafael nadal is on course for a 19th grand slam title as he leads russian daniil medvedev in the us open final in new york. he is looking for a fourth title and a 19th grand slam title. the 20 three rd russian is in his first majorfinals of three rd russian is in his first major finals of the spaniard claimed the opening two sets before medvedev fought his way back into it with the match having been on call for about 4.5 hours. 4—2, nadal in the fifth said but he isjust one 4.5 hours. 4—2, nadal in the fifth said but he is just one the seven games are his 5—2 up in the deciding set. canadian teenager bianca andreescu posed with her us open trophy atop