our top story: the debate begins on capitol hill over the articles of impeachment against president trump. they will most likely vote later on thursday, ahead of a vote in the full house next week. if the president is impeached, the senate would hold a trial in the new year. the international court ofjustice is set to hear from gambia's lawyers that rohingya muslims still face an ongoing risk of genocide. and this video is trending on bbc.com. greta thunberg has been named time magazine's person of the year. it comes as she accused leaders at a un climate conference of avoiding real action on climate change. that's all, stay with bbc world news. more on our website,

bbc.co.uk/news, and the news app. now on bbc news, live to singapore for asia business report. should the boeing 737 max have been grounded after the first crash? us regulators predicted further accidents. the european central bank will look at a small but growing number of women at the top of business. good morning, asia. hello, world. it's a thursday. glad you could join us it's a thursday. glad you could join us for another exciting addition of asia business report. i'm rico hizon. . we started the programme with boeing, because regulators have been giving evidence in hearing into the crash of the 737 max last year,

when a high chance was predicted of future accidents. but they failed to ground the plans until after a second fatal crash. documents showed a nalysts second fatal crash. documents showed analysts of the federal aviation administration predicted there could be as many as 50 more fatal accidents if the plane's software wasn't fixed. michelle fleury in new york has been following the hearings. this is something that came up again and again in the hearing this morning when for the first time we saw the new faa head, stephen dixon, hejoined in august so stephen dixon, hejoined in august so he wasn't there when the crashes occurred but he is now answerable for the actions of the us regulator. and we heard from the head of the committee, a democrat from oregon, basically saying the faa rolled the dice on safety. and when he was asked to address why this report, the faa's own internal report suggesting more crashes could occur over the following few decades in the weight of the first crash, why they didn't ground the plane then, peter defazio‘s response was the

result is not satisfactory. that didn't please lawmakers who to go further, and eventually, under pressure, mr dixon did admit that m ista kes pressure, mr dixon did admit that mistakes were made by the faa. now to the uk, because voters had to the polls today, so it will be a long night for traders, especially in the currency markets. with the pound and dollar now standing at 1.3 two. you can hear more on our website with oui’ can hear more on our website with our editors‘ analysis and there will be no easy business report tomorrow morning —— $1.32. please stay tuned to bbc world news. surprising absolutely nobody, the us central bank held interest rates steady overnight. the fed also gave its forecast for the us economy going forward. samira hussain is outside the fed headquarters in washington, dc. one of the reasons you saw the

fed didn‘t raise interest rates is because if you look at the labour market in the united states, it is still pretty strong. we are seeing that it continues to be adding jobs monthly to the us economy. if you look at the way that households are spending, so how much people are spending, so how much people are spending in the us economy, that is also increasing. so that is really good, though that is part of the reason why he said that we‘re not to have any rate changes. that said, there are some places in the economy where the fed chair, jerome powell, would like to see some improvement or someone would be business investment. you don‘t see businesses actually putting money into their businesses to try and grow them, and that suggests uncertainty is sort of holding them back. the other sort of area where the economy isn‘t doing as well is exports. exports are weaker, and of course, a lot of the talk was about trade and the kinds of trade agreements and what kind of an impact that is having on the us economy. and unsurprisingly it was made clear that the trade agreement

with china would certainly help to ease some of that uncertainty. samira hussain at the fed headquarters. as she mentioned, a trade war with china was at the heart of the fed‘s statement. so what will happen before the deadline ofa what will happen before the deadline of a fresh round of tariffs this coming sunday? i put that question to market strategist david kuo. coming sunday? i put that question to market strategist david kuoi have said time and time again this is not about trade, this is about how economies are run and america believes the economy should be run through capitalism, and of course china believes that communism or command economy is actually the better of the two. 50 if command economy is actually the better of the two. so if there is no trade deal, david, what will happen on the 15th? will president trump delay the tariffs, or will he impose them? well, that's the $64,000 question, and one that i have no insight into, except i think that they probably will come up with some kind of statement, but i don‘t think the statement will be that

a cce pta ble the statement will be that acceptable to the market. i don‘t think they are going to be pulling back on tariffs. all right, but if the us imposes these tariffs on $156 billion worth of chinese goods, what further impact will this have on the mainland economy? well, you know, according to the asian development bank, the adb, what they are saying is the chinese economy will slow, and it will slow from above 6% to below 6% next year, and they are also saying that other developing economies will also see some kind of slow down this year, but it is going to pick up next year. but what‘s interesting is even though china is going to continue to slow next year, developing asia could actually accelerate next year. and that was david kuo, a market strategist based here in singapore. and speaking of trade tensions, the us house of representatives just past version of the massive defence bill, and tucked right into it, with over $700

billion, are restrictions of us transit authorities buying rail cars or buses from chinese companies, though it is unclear if that will go ahead. the bill includes funds for the us space force and new fighter jets. it is expected to be passed by the republican—controlled us senate, after which it will need to be signed by president trump. and as we have been saying, the fed held rates on hold and expects no further cuts in the near future. on hold and expects no further cuts in the nearfuture. aside on hold and expects no further cuts in the near future. aside from the trade war, are there only other factors which could change the fed‘s views of no further cuts in the near future? our correspondent thinks so. there are a few downside risks, that could potentially alter the fed‘s view about cutting rates further. first of all the fiscal track. by next year the fiscal stimulus impact will fade away completely, and that will fade away completely, and that will take growth rates lower in the us. the second one is that inventories are rising faster than sales, and that may lead to a softer

labour market. and then the third is trade uncertainties that are still very much in place. what about president trump? could he also be a major risk, apart from these three factors that you mentioned? because in the passed he would criticise the federal reserve for not cutting the cost of borrowing. it is an election year. what he wants is more liquidity in the markets, he wants to boost the economy and boost his re—election campaign. to boost the economy and boost his re-election campaign. policy uncertainties, whether they relate to trade or trump‘s domestic odysseys, are a key driver of the outlook, and definitely that will have an impact on how the economy performs. tuuli mccully from scotiabank. the us central bank is set to announce its monetary policy —— the european central bank is set to announce its monetary policy decision today. christine lagarde is one of a small but growing number of women at the top of business, and this year, the number of female chief executives at fortune 500 companies jumped to its chief executives at fortune 500

companiesjumped to its highest level ever. that is 33. but still just represents a paltry 6%. when it comes to boards, women make up roughly 20% globally, about double the level a decade ago, with high representation in countries which have quotas and targets. well, there is, of course, growing evidence that greater diversity in the boardroom can boost profitability and share prices, with research by credit suisse saying a strong correlation does exist. speaking of powerful women, credit —— greta thunberg became the youngest woman ever to become time magazine‘s person of the year. she says global warming seems to have turned into some kind of opportunity for countries to negotiate loopholes and avoid raising their ambition. the meeting of all the world‘s nations ends on

friday, with europe proposing a green deal to/ fossil fuel dependence. but there were concerns from poorer countries about how to pay for such an ambitious transition. now let‘s talk about saudi aramco. shares open 10% higher than its initial public offering price on wednesday. aramco made its stock market debut in riyadh. our correspondence sameer hashmi has the details. clearly this demand for the stock has been driven by local investors, both affluent and retail investors, both affluent and retail investors, and then you have friendly allies in the gulf, countries like the united arab emirates and kuwait. the sovereign funds have pumped in money, which has given a cushion to this ipo. it isa has given a cushion to this ipo. it is a crucial ipo for saudi arabia, not just is a crucial ipo for saudi arabia, notjust saudi aramco, because the country plans to use this money to fund their ambitious project of

diversifying their economy by investing in new projects, and this will help create jobs but also take away the saudi economy from oil, on which it relies very, very heavily. and the whole project is being driven by the crown prince, mbs. it will be interesting to see if they can hold up that the stock price. looking at asia—pacific markets and how they are faring in mid—morning trade, japan is how they are faring in mid—morning trade,japan is up how they are faring in mid—morning trade, japan is up by 0.1%, the all ordinaries up by 0.6%, and hong kong has just opened, ordinaries up by 0.6%, and hong kong hasjust opened, gaining 0.7%. thank you so much for investing your time with us. i am rico hizon. goodbye for now. this is bbc news. the top stories this hour: the debate begins on capitol hill over the articles of impeachment against president trump. the international court ofjustice is set to hear from gambia‘s lawyers that rohingya muslims still face an ongoing risk of genocide.

in other news, a teeenage drug dealer has been found guilty of the murder of 14—year—old jaden moodie, knocked off his moped and stabbed repeatedly in east london injanuary. the old bailey heard thatjaden died in the middle of a turf war between rival drugs gangs. adina campbell reports. another young life cut short, caused by knife crime in london. jaden moodie was just 14 years old when he was murdered. the final moments of his life captured on this shocking cctv footage. while on a moped, he is rammed into by a stolen black mercedes. a hooded gang armed with large knives jump out and repeatedly stab him, in an attack lasting just 14 seconds. the teenager had only moved to london from nottingham six months before he was killed. jaden was ambitious, loved life. he loved his family,

he loved his grandma. and he was just fun to be around, because he would always playjokes and pranks on us and things. during the two—week trial, thejury heard jaden had links to a gang, and sold drugs for them. on the night of his death, he was targeted by a rival gang, also in the east london area. on the evening jaden was killed, some of the residents living on this road here in leighton reported seeing the gang members stomping and stamping on the teenager before the car wheel spun away. the 14—year—old was left quivering, with trails of blood coming away from his body. today, 19—year—old ayoub majdouline has been found guilty of murdering the teenager and possessing a knife. he is expected to be sentenced next week. adina campbell, bbc news. the post office is to pay out almost £58 million to settle a long—running case brought by more than 500 postmasters and mistresses. it follows faults in the company‘s

it system that led to people being wrongly accused of fraud and false accounting. some even went to jail. the post office says it accepts it got things wrong. now on bbc news, sport today. hello, this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: atalanta qualify for the last 16 of the champions league despite losing their first three games al—sadd win their opening game at the club world cup in qatar but they needed extra time to do it. and pakistan take to the field in a home test match

for the first time since the terror attacks of 2009 hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with the footballing news that atletico madrid and atalanta have claimed the last two places in the knock—out stage of the european champions league. atletico beat lokomotiv moscow 2—0 to qualify from group d, while atalanta won a three—way fight to finish second in group c. they were bottom of the table at the start of the night, but won 3—0 at shakhtar donetsk. dinamo zagreb‘s hopes of going through looked good when daniel olmo scored after only 10 minutes at home to manchester city. but city, who‘d already qualified, turned it round, with gabrieljesus scoring a hat—trick as the english champions won 4—1. we make 75 or 70 good minutes, especially the second half, and the

players regularly play