as confirmed cases of covid—19 continue to rise. six people have died and more than 600 have been infected. the president says the country faces a grave turning point. president trump is starting a two—day state visit to india. he'll attend a rally alongside prime minister narendra modi. the two leaders will consider ways of lifting trade barriers. and this video is trending on bbc.com: strong winds carrying sand from the sahara affected airports in the canary islands in spain. more than 100 flights were cancelled, suspended or diverted. winds of up to 120 kilometres per hour could hit the canaries until monday. that's all. stay with bbc world news. more on our web site

bbc.co.uk/news and the news app. now on bbc news, live to singapore for asia business report trump in india. us president arrives in ahmedabad today as he starts a two—day visit to the world's biggest democracy. and australia under pressure. how the country is facing the challenges of people and lack of water in 2020. hello and welcome to this monday's asia business report. iam sharanjit this monday's asia business report. i am sharanjit leyl. donald trump arrives in india injust a few hours for his first official trip to the country as us president. indian

prime minister narendra modi will be welcome him today in his home state of gujarat. we are joined now from a meta— bard with all the latest. tell us meta— bard with all the latest. tell us what is expected. —— ahmedabad. lot of pomp, a lot of ceremony. this is being called the biggest welcome that any visiting foreign dignitaries has received in recent times and premised at the renderer modi in his home state of gujarat where i am reporting from is leaving no stone unturned on welcoming the president. he lands here and goes on a roadshow for a few kilometres before going to the ashram, the residents of mahatma gandhi before embarking on his freedom struggle. then he goes on to the stadium behind me. if you can see, down this way is the world's largest cricket stadium which is expected to see about 100,000 people later stadium which is expected to see about 100 , 000 people later today stadium which is expected to see about 100,000 people later today as the president of the united states inaugurates it. as we walk through the entire area, there are several

posters, hoardings, prime minister, narendra modi, donald trump. we are expecting a lot of several ceremonies that are lined up, cultural programmes to welcome the trumpfamily as cultural programmes to welcome the trump family as he comes here and it is an entire event that is costing the government here about $12 million. they are not going to be talking shop today but it is all going to be about the fanfare, the ceremony and the entire welcome. as you say, the optics are going to be crucial today and it sounds like a jampacked day at what are we expecting in terms of a big announcement tomorrow? experts have essentially pointed out that while the atmospherics are very high, as far as substance is concerned, that is something both countries need to walk towards the message they are sending out, they want to put out a united picture but there are several

outstanding issues, especially in the field of trade. both countries have not had any common ground when it comes to negotiating those differences. there is a tariff wall that continues to play out. america wa nts that continues to play out. america wants india to further open up its markets for american products, wanting india to purchase goods in oui’ wanting india to purchase goods in our —— agriculture worth more than $5 billion. india has been resisting and the us withdrew the preferential treatment order. india wants the us to restore that. these are critical issues that have not been resolved. the us special trade representative robert lighthizer is not part of this trip either. donald trump has also pointed out they will be no concrete trade deal. these are concerns so on the concrete trade deal. these are concerns so on the talking table, a lot left to be desired. indeed. thank you so much for that. of course, the india team will be monitoring that live over the next few hours on bbc world news. looking

else —— what else is on the diary. the hong kong budget is expected to contain a large stimulus to boost the economy since it has been in recession for the first time in a decade. south korea central bank will decide whether to cut interest rates and will get the latest reading on india's economic slowdown. i spoke to geoff haley and askedif slowdown. i spoke to geoff haley and asked if he is expecting more stimulus as countries expect to ease the economic impact of the coronavirus. last week we saw singapore through the veritable kitchen sink at the problem as well with a very strong stimulus budget. i would expect at a minimum we are going to see south korea cut rates this week. possibly do more. hong kong has its gdp later this week as well on the same day as their budget. none of those are going to show any good news and i would expect that hong kong is going to

have to come to the party here as well and do much the same as singapore has which bring in a stimulus measures but also measures to protect jobs stimulus measures but also measures to protectjobs and employment. stimulus measures but also measures to protect jobs and employment. what about the idea though that there may be pent—up demand when things return to normal later this year, that we might see growth pick up quite quickly in the region. this is a tricky one to predict. the people's bank of china deputy came out over the weekend and said that he expected a v shaped recovery which is basically a recovery that occurs immediately the worst is over and it happens quite quickly and hits the v shape. unfortunately those can also show up as u—shaped and l—shaped recoveries. we just don't know yet. i believe if we can see the back of the coronavirus issued by the end of this quarter then i would agree we can this quarter then i would agree we ca n recover this quarter then i would agree we can recover quite quickly. if we are still seeing this viral outbreak

rolling around the world and popping up rolling around the world and popping up in different places and affecting economic activity and growth in other parts of the world, then we may be in very deep deeper slowdown. we are ready know the huge impact that the coronavirus is having on china's economy but new data is showing its effect on mergers and acquisitions. the first six weeks of the year, 84 deals were recorded in china and hong kong worth about $8.4 billion. while that may sound like a lot, it is actually less than half the number of deals doing this time last year. the overall value of these deals is down as well, some 76% in fact. the data was collated by merger market and its china editor told me earlier why she is expecting a pickup in dealmaking later this year. we have been talking to a lot of dealmakers like

advisers in the last two weeks and the information we are getting, they are still negotiating the terms of these deals and we are seeing deals in the education sector, we have more than1 in the education sector, we have more than 1 billion in the education sector, we have more than1 billion us dollar deals entering the final stage and we are also seeing chinese private equity firms bidding for property assets in australia and also a chinese estate on companies bidding for renewable energy sectors in south america so we believe these deals are still happening. people and water are among the challenges facing australia this year. about 400,000 migrants settled there each year but there are concerns rapid ablation growth is stretching resources there, especially water in a time of drought, putting increasingly clogged cities under strain. the bbc‘s phil nurser reports from

sydney. —— phil nurser. these are crunch times for the world's driest inhabited continent. water in australia is increasingly scarce. along drought continues and the dams that supply sydney are less than half full. residents are under the toughest water restrictions are seen the toughest water restrictions are seenin the toughest water restrictions are seen ina the toughest water restrictions are seen in a decade. this is one of the fundamental challenges for humanity, how does it deal with its water resources . how does it deal with its water resources. we hear a lot and rightly about the impacts of climate change, the grip of water scarcity is just as big an issue for humanity and places like australia and sydney need to really get to grips with that. sydney's population is growing rapidly that its reservoir levels are falling. securing water supplies for more and more people is a big challenge. the next 12 months will be critical. will the drought of the big dry finally come to an end? i

will australia's biggest city to —— face will australia's biggest city to —— fa ce eve n will australia's biggest city to —— face even tougher water restrictions. a new light rail network is helping sydney to absorb a growing population. every week about 1800 people, mostly from overseas, move here. gary is a softwa re overseas, move here. gary is a software consultant from tamil now do. six months ago she chose australia over california. skilled immigrants are welcome here. i'm very excited —— excited because i seek opportunities because i have to decide which way to go and i don't like the late back, that is a balance of your work and personal life. immigration is good for the australian economy but it is making the city is more congested than ever. governments are benefiting significantly from increased migration through increased tax revenue but they haven't been very good at actually reinvesting that revenue into roads and into local

services, into trains. to accommodate their population growth so accommodate their population growth so that has been a challenge. in 2020, australia's economy is forecast to slow even further. migrates! migrants will a debt —— again be asked to do their bit to boost growth but places like sydney are struggling to cope with the weight of immigration while water supplies are under immense strain. phil nurser, bbc news, sydney. looking at the markets, we know those in asia are down significantly. australia is down 2% and hong kong is also lower. that is it for the show, thanks for watching. this is bbc news, our top stories this hour: south korea has raised its coronavirus alert to the highest level as the number of confirmed cases continues to rise. india prepares

for donald trump's visit — as narendra modi and the us president consider plans to break down trade barriers. welsh politicians have written to the uk government asking for money to help people and businesses affected by the recent floods. rhiannon wilkins reports. pontypridd high street this time last week. businesses and homes, flooded with water. in nantgarw, the flooding just as devastating. and a landslide in tylorstown. people living in rhondda cynon taff for the brunt of storm dennis. now, eight leading mps, ams and councillors representing the people who live here want the uk treasury to provide more money to help. a quarter of all the properties across the whole of the united kingdom that have been hit by the flooding are in rhondda cynon taff. we've got bridges that have got to be mended. we've got culverts that have got to be made good and tips that have to be made safe. the letter asks for a one—off

infrastructure grant of £30 million to recover necessary repair, restore and resilience work across rhondda cynon taff. it goes on to say: some of the things you're asking for in this letter are devolved. shouldn't the welsh government be filling that gap, not the not the uk government? the welsh government is filling the gap, it's putting £10 million forward and it will put forward undoubtedly further money when there's been further assessment of the damage. but of course there are areas of the uk responsibility where funding would normally kick in. for example, there used to be emergency funding available for these situations from the european union. we've left the european union. the uk government has picked up that responsibility, but also the uk government is making special money available to parts of england, it should be doing the same with wales. the letter also asks for a direct fund to the welsh government to cover the cost of one year of council tax and business rate

exemption for all affected properties, which has been offered in england. and concludes by saying... the uk treasury has been asked to comment. that is just about it from me. remember, there is plenty more on the website and the bbc news app. my colleague james reynolds the website and the bbc news app. my colleaguejames reynolds will be here at the top of the hour. don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter — i'm @ lvaughanjones now on bbc news, sport today. hello, i'm gavin ramjaun and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: coronavirus hits the football schedule as four of sunday's serie a matches are called off in italy.

and mignon du preez is the star of the show for south africa as they beat england by six wickets in the women's t20 world cup in perth. the day after is just as sweet for the new wbc heavyweight champion tyson fury. what next for him, after his destruction of deontay wilder? welcome to the programme, thanks forjoining us. we start in italy where four serie a games were postponed on sunday over fears of the spread of coronavirus. the suspension was announced by italian prime minister giuseppe conte. inter milan's home game against sampdoria was one of the games to be called off. inter are due to host bulgarian side ludogorets in the return leg of their europa league last—32 tie on thursday. in a statement, european football's governing body uefa says it's: "in touch with inter and with local

authorities on the matter —