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bbc.co.uk/news and the news app. now on bbc news live to singapore for asia business report. tradable truths in 2020 as the us and china are set to sign a phase i deal this month. what doesn't deal for markets? and new year, new thread. north korea says it will and the suspension of nuclear and long—range missile test and we look at what that means for global relations. hello and a very happy new year. welcome to asia business

report, i am a sharanjit leyl. the biggest business news story of 2019 is said to dominate at least the start of this new year stop donald trump has said he will sign a long—awaited trade agreement with beijing this month. the so—called phase i deal is expected to reduce tensions between the world's two biggest economies. the us president said the treaty will be signed in washington in the presence of high level people from china. of course, you and this programme have spent much of 2019 focus on the us — china trade well. i will be expected to be doing the same this year? yes, we will continue to spend the bulk of oui’ will continue to spend the bulk of ourtime will continue to spend the bulk of our time looking at how this relationship evolves. we have the phase i deal now but we do not what details we are expecting to see.

some kind of legal agreement but we have not seen it yet. the key issues still remain and those are likely to be pushed into face to things like intellectual property theft, enforcement and technology. as a reminder of how much economic damage the trade or has done to the global economy, we are now at a stage where we have average tariffs on both sides at something around 19% in comparison to pre— trade levels. that means, even though we have a phase i deal, even though some ta riffs have phase i deal, even though some tariffs have come down, on the whole people are paying more things than before the trade well. ip and technology transfer, the pressure on technology transfer, the pressure on technology companies is a common case in point huawei. will that be lit up at all? —— let up. i think you will see it accelerate. it is an

election year and senators on both sides have been focusing on china and chinese involvement in american enterprise, in particular we have seen the lights of bite that singled out, the very popular tick—tock is owned by this company. there are concerns it could be violating freedom of speech laws which it denies. 0r involved in censorship which again it denies. where are these tech giants refocusing their energy if they are going to be shut out of the us market? chinese take money has halved according to a nalysts money has halved according to analysts i have been speaking to and it is finding its way to another giant democracy. too far away from us, in india. since the tradable began, chinese take money in indian start—ups have doubled. alibaba, consent, all putting their big bets

on indian tech firms. ——10 %. some of the same problems were seeing in the us over issues of chinese ownership, censorship, freedom of speech, all of that is going to become a bigger theme in india as well this year. we will be watching for all of that. thank you for joining us. in other news: the plan to smuggle carlos ghosn out ofjapan was reportedly crafted over three months. the fugitive executive is also understood to have at 11 on's president afterfleeing also understood to have at 11 on's president after fleeing tokyo. it marks the latest twist in a year—long saga. ——to have met lebanon on's president. north korea says it has suspended the stoppage of nuclear tests. he has left the

door open for dialogue saying any scope of testing will depend on american's attitudes. how much of an issue does it pose? until it does something provocative, test, some military exercise, something which would cause asian markets to have problems but right now it is all just talks. we have seen a missile test and it has made it more uncertain for markets like japan. do you see that continuing? it never stopped short range missile test. if it does one, along one overjapan, it does one, along one overjapan, it would have a big impact on japanese markets. we know the economic and political steaks are high after two summits between kim jong—un and donald trump achieved relatively little. to what extent do

you see these sanctions being damaging enough to north korea to actually have exerted some kind of influence? north korea is in a conundrum of its own making. it was willing to meet with the us. but the sanctions are hurting. they are having to make sacrifices to continue to survive. they are only able to minimise the effects of sanctions as long as they keep china happy and china will not be happy if they resume testing of nuclear missiles. do you see china playing a big role? as long as north korea does not do anything, china will minimise sanctions and even push to get rid of some of the sanctions as an opening gesture in the un. if it

doesn't, it may have a dour impact. how do you see the endgame? north korean goal is to keep its missiles while getting rid of these sanctions. i do not think that will happen but the question is how long they can hang on with their missiles and with sanctions. the north korea isa and with sanctions. the north korea is a question whose answer they only know. north korea will probably try to force the us to make concessions but with this administration, i am not sure what they will get. one of the few luxury brands still family owned, 180 years old, it also makes some of the priciest watchers on the market. i spoke to its president and askedif market. i spoke to its president and asked if he had ever considered selling the family business.

asked if he had ever considered selling the family businesslj asked if he had ever considered selling the family business. i am not willing to sell. the fifth generation is soon ready to take over so to be frank, those groups, i think they know i am not for sale and of course you can always try. we are only two families left palek philippe and one other. is it good? iam not philippe and one other. is it good? i am not that sure. at a time when you are seeing a global slowdown, trade wars, economy is slowing, how is it that impacting your sales? we make such a small amount of watchers, the world is so big, if you compare ourselves to another company, some people produce a million watchers but we produce 60,000 so there will be people a lwa ys 60,000 so there will be people always willing to collect them. 60,000 so there will be people always willing to collect themm that a trajectory that might impact

that a trajectory that might impact that my stop people from buying your watchers? ——is there. it depends. a huge trend towards small watchers now and people say in the future people will not be paying for these complex mechanical watchers and that smart watchers are the future. what do you say to that? i am not afraid, to be frank. what is nice, a lot of people started to put a watch back on their wrist. now, those new watchers, they are fun but it is not something that will last in terms of product. you will have it for six months or a year and then it will change. it is not the same product and in terms of art, it means also that painting would be gone and i do not believe that. we have more than

just to give a piece of time, giving also a piece of art and this is what you believe it will always remain. palek philippe's president. looking at the markets, among those open, they are flat at the moment. i should mention the negate continues to be ona should mention the negate continues to be on a holiday. —— nikkei. extraordinary numbers, trillions of dollars filed into global markets into 2019. while regaining as much as 30% on the year and oil prices as well rising some 25%. that's it for the show. thank you for watching. this is bbc news. the top stories this hour: australia's new south wales fire service warns people to leave areas on the coast, with more dangerous bushfires forecast this weekend.

police in hong kong arrest around 400 people at a new year's demonstration as the territory starts 2020 with more protest and unrest. for the first time, more than a 100 billion music tracks have been streamed online in the uk in a single year. it comes at the end of a decade that saw many more of us abandoning the cd and embracing the digital streaming and downloads. colin paterson reports. # these are the moments that i'm going to remember most, yeah. # these are the moments that i'm going to remember most,yeah.# oh, how a decade has changed how we consume music. 2010 started withjoe mcelderry‘s the climb at number one. at that stage, cd singles were being phased out, as paid—for downloads dominated. # there's always going to be another mountain # i'm always gonna wanna make it move...# fast forward to the end of the decade. 2019, the first year in uk history when more than 100 billion tracks were streamed. # i was getting kinda used

to being someone you loved...# the most listened—to song, lewis capaldi's someone you loved, which was streamed more than 228 million times. that's the equivalent of every person in the uk playing it three and a half times. there's been a huge shift from analogue and physical product through to streaming and digital, although we've reached a point now where we're enjoying the best of all worlds, where we tend to go online and we stream and 75% of us now stream for our day—to—day needs and access to music and discovery. sales of vinyl lps increased for a 12th consecutive year, with liam gallagher's why me? why not, topping the year—end charts, but to put that in context, it only shifted 29,000 copies on vinyl. # christmas time, christmas time, merry christmas. # and a happy new year...# and then there's

the cassette revival. sales have increased by 600% in the last three years, with acts such as robbie williams choosing to release on their favourite ‘80s format. # so here it is, merry christmas...# the rather large caveat — cassette sales account for 0.1% of overall recorded music. colin paterson, bbc news. more on the streaming story on the website. now on bbc news: sport today. they are going to be taking a look at the premier league and arsenal beating manchester united. stay with us.

hello! i'm tulsen tollett. this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: mikel arteta picks up his first win since taking over at arsenal as the gunners beat manchester united 2—0. former nba commissioner david stern, who led the sport into a new age, has died at the age of 77. and more than 85,000 watch the nhl winter classic at the cotton bowl in texas. hello there and welcome to the programme, where we start with the footballing mikel arteta, beating manchester united 2—0 in north london. both goals came in the first half through nicolas pepe and sokratis as the gunners move into the top half of the table. it was arteta's third game

since taking over at the start