karishma vaswani, bbc news, hong kong. further evidence now of a slow down in the global economy.th posted weak manufacturing data. let's go to our asia business hub where shara njit leyl is following the story. how other countries doing? not terribly welcome betrayed warmaking and impact. start with china is one of the players of a trade war. factory activity contracting, it stood at 49.8 in september, slightly higher than the previous month but anything under the 50 level we know marks contraction rather than expansion. it's industrial output shrank more than expected in august by1.2%, the shrank more than expected in august by 1.2%, the latest sign that economy and its manufacturers are facing intensifying pressure from us china trade war. at the same time, japanese retail sales grew faster than expected mostly because there was a lot of strength in private spending ahead of tomorrow's nationwide sales tax increase. south korea unveiled industry numbers today and even though it's industrial output rose ever so slightly in august, production in its mining, manufacturing, gas and

our asia business correspondent karishma vaswani is in singapore.re very wobbly today, because these new tariffs kicked in at the beginning of september. talk us at the beginning of september. talk us through the impact? well, sally, as you rightly point out, there is some anxiety over what these tariffs mean. but you have to remember that actually, what president trump had intended at the very beginning of all of this was to have $300 billion worth of goods effect by tariffs today. he decided to split that amount up. today we have $112 billion which went into effect on sunday, and later on, in december, the goods that are possibly more important to us consumers, the thinking is that that is when we will see tariffs go into effect at that time. that gives the two sides some time to try to work things out. i have been speaking with the head of hong kong's textile council, and companies and that umbrella group make clothes for the us market, the chairman, stanley seato, told me how badly this has affected his members. —— szeto. badly this has affected

karishma vaswani has been there and shejoins us now back in singapore.of communist rule in china — what's the feeling amongst people you've been talking to? as you say, i've come back from hong kong and trying to understand what it is like for young people there. that is not to say the reason why people are taking to the streets is because they can't get a home or a flat, nobody's chanting for better housing instead of democracy, but the people i met definitely feel that their government isn't working in their best interests. now, i met with a group of young students who told me tales of their frustration and futility. listen to what they had to say. i want to change my family's life. they have to work ha rd to family's life. they have to work hard to pay the high food price. now i cannot do that. even when the i graduate from the university i will live with my family. why7 i spend a lot of money to buy a small flat, which limited my imagination of my life. i think that gives you a sense of what young people face in hong kong and you know the city is one

our asia business correspondent karishma vaswani is in singapore. with the price of oil? has it come down since that initial spike when trading began? yes, it has. now the price of oil, light crude is trading about 9% higher, that is lower from the earlier surge that we saw in the first few minutes of asian trade, whereas brent crude is about 10% higher, but still above the key $60 level that many analysts and traders ta ke level that many analysts and traders take is an indication for oil demand. i think what we are seeing with the fact that we have seen a slight tempering in the initial surge of prices, is that people are now having a better understanding, figuring outjust now having a better understanding, figuring out just how now having a better understanding, figuring outjust how long supplies will take to get back onto the market. of course, that's the key concern. is the stopping of production, the shortage of supplies from saudi arabia, going to be a 48—hour thing or will it be something that is going to extend on for a few weeks? at this p

our asia business correspondent karishma vaswani is in singapore.the attack says about the vulnerability —— what are oil prices doing in asia right now? they have come off some of those big is that we saw in the early minutes of asian trade, when traders out here reactive, as many had expected them to, by pushing up the price of crude oil by some 19% in the onset of asian trade. they have come off those prices now. we are seeing them stabilise at about a 10% bump in the price of oil. that is pretty significant and i think underlines the fact that people here are very nervous about how saudi arabia is going to resume oil production. some 5% of the world's oil supplies had been knocked off—line because of this attack. certainly it is unclear when that'll come back into play, even though saudi arabia has said it can tap in to its stockpiles elsewhere. a thing all of thisjust to its stockpiles elsewhere. a thing all of this just underlines the vulnerability of these energy asset infrastructures. certainly many people feeling very nervous about this. abs

here's our asia business correspondent karishma vaswani.ure from the united states from donald trump, they are viewing it as a positive and i think underlines the fact that this is relatively a symbolic gesture from a president trump, not going ahead with the tariffs on october the ist ama with the tariffs on october the ist am a very important day for the chinese, he says that on the request of the chinese officials, that went you look at the fundamental differences in the issues that are at play, really nothing much is change. it has to be set. what we are seeing is a delay of the tariffs that were meant to go into effect on october the ist come at this point they are still going to go into effect on october the 15th, still two weeks. what it does suggest is that the two sides could sit down and have a nether negotiation in the first couple of weeks of october, perhaps we can see in easing of tensions at that point. —— a nether negotiation. now to the us opioid crisis. purdue pharma is the company behind the painkiller oxycontin — and it'

our asia business correspondent karishma vaswani is in singapore.u can see from the screens, the cost of crude oil is up about 10% for light crude and 11.3% for brent crude. there was a surge of oil prices at the onset of asian trade, and one viewpoint pointed out a surge at the onset of trade, but now i think that traders are ingesting the information about when we might see a resumption in that shortage of oil supplies coming in from saudi arabia. remember, asia is particularly exposed to this, given that it particularly exposed to this, given thatitis particularly exposed to this, given that it is one of the key customers of saudi arabian oil. a lot of anxiety in the markets today at a time when major economies in asia are also seeing signs of a slowdown. what does the attack tell us about the vulnerability of oil infrastructure? it is unprecedented. i was speaking with an oil trader earlier today, and she said to me that in her entire career she has never seen anything quite like this. to have a vital pillar of the world's oil infrastructure att

let's go to our asia business hub where karishma vaswani is following the story.s, indeed. forjack ma, this was signalled, as you said, the decision came last year. it certainly took the business community by surprise and the reason for that of course is that jack ma is one of the most fla m boya nt that jack ma is one of the most flamboyant director, unafraid to speak his mind business people in china and he is known for that colourful china and he is known for that colou rful style china and he is known for that colourful style all over the world. he's regular fixture at events like the world economic forum, but it's also his creativity many say that has led to the spectacular success that alibaba has become today, one of the worlds biggest internet firms with revenues were something like half $1 trillion. having said that, though, these are difficult times for the company. it's having to navigate the us china trade war as well as a slowing chinese economy. it makes more than two thirds of its revenue in china and expanding overseas at a time when it is not doin

our asia business correspondent karishma vaswani is in singapore with the details. watching the trade war between the world's two superpowers escalate. markets in asia were wobbly today as the us‘s tariffs on some $100 billion or so worth of chinese goods went into effect on sunday. this covers things like clothes, nappies and food. in response, beijing slapped tariffs on what amounts to about $75 billion worth of american goods, between a range of 5% to 10% worth of tariffs. but frankly, most of these items have been on china's previous lists. have been on china's previous lists. the newest addition is us crude oil. analysts have been telling me that this shows china doesn't have as much firepower to target products from the us with tariffs, simply because it doesn't buy as much from the united states as it sells to it. and that goes to the very heart of the trade war. but beijing does have other options. it can make business licenses harder for american firms to get, or hold goods at ports, for instance, all of which would make it much harderfor us firms to do bus

karishma vaswani looks back at the career of the richest businessman in china.or building an internet company that the world now knows. he founded alibaba two the world now knows. he founded aliba ba two decades the world now knows. he founded alibaba two decades ago. the group of friends in a shared apartment — thatis of friends in a shared apartment — that is still the company's had cords to today. the company took advantage of china's growing consumer markets and offered a platform for firms and consumers to buy and sell to each other, ushering ina new buy and sell to each other, ushering in a new phase of the e—commerce industry in china. today is it does everything from financial services to mobile payments to cloud computing, and artificial intelligence. still, there are lots of challenges ahead. growth is slowing in alibaba's main market, china, and the us — china trade war is dampening expansion plans in the united states. then there is a delay of the multi—billion dollar ipo in hong kong reportedly because of pro—democracy protests there. all of these t

here's karishma vaswani in singapore.n asia were wobbly as the us‘s tariffs on $100 billion or so of chinese goods went into effect on sunday. it covers clothes, nappies and food, in response beijing slapped tariffs on what amounts to about $75 billion worth of american goods, between a range of 5—10% worth. most of these items have been on china's previous lest. the newest addition is us crude oil. analysts told me this shows china doesn't have as much firepower to target products from the us with tariffs, simply because it doesn't buy as much there the united states as it sells to it. that goes to the very heart of the trade war. but beijing does have other options for it can make business licenses harderfor american firms to get or hold up goods at ports for instance, all of which would make it much harderfor us firms to do business in china. argentina has imposed currency controls as the government battles to contain a deepening financial crisis. it's restricting foreign currency purchases, after the peso lost more th

the news of the passing of mr robert mugabe, former president of zimbabwe." 0ur correspondent karishma vaswanitold us the latest from there. iam standing i am standing in front of the prestigious and exclusive gleneagles hospital here in singapore, which is where it is thought that robert mugabe spent a fair amount of time. in fact, the last few months of his life. he was frequently spotted here receiving medical treatment for a condition that we don't know at this point. but he also had links to singapore. 0ne point. but he also had links to singapore. one of his children, his daughter, graduated from a private university here and he was spotted at graduation photograph there. his wife grace mugabe often accompanied him on these trips and she was also seenin him on these trips and she was also seen in some of singapore's most expensive shopping districts carrying lots of shopping bags. now, it is not clear what condition he died of, but the singapore health science authority has told the bbc there was no coroner 01’ science authority has told the bbc there was no coroner or police at his deat

mr mugabe died in singapore, where he'd been receiving medical treatment. 0ur correspondent karishma vaswaniupdate. i'm standing in front of the funeral parlour in singapore where the body of the former leader of zimbabwe robert mugabe is. the bbc can confirm that his body is being placed on the second floor in one of the more premium suites in the building. i've been out to the back of the building, where i've seen some vehicles. it's thought that those vehicles will be how his body gets transported to the airport, and if indeed it does leave the country, it would be from this funeral parlour. it's been pretty quiet here. earlier on at the hospital, where it's thought mr mugabe had received treatment for several months in singapore, it was also very quiet. a reflection ofjust how low—key perhaps the singapore government wants to keep this death at this point in time. mr mugabe had been visiting singapore, and was frequently spotted here for several years now. and he had other links here, too. his daughter, one of his four children, had graduated from a university here, and he was seen photo