Business news live from singapore. More new passenger on board. Riot hailing firm uber strikes and investment deal with japans soft bank. Aliba ba smashes investment deal with japans soft bank. Alibaba smashes its own record with another bonanza on singles day. Welcome to Asia Business report. Uber has confirmed to the bbc that it has entered an agreement with japans soft bank over potential investment. Speculation had been swirling that the Ridesharing Company would strike a deal worth billions of dollars. Our Business Report is here with the latest. What can you tell us about this . Well, we just got confirmation from uber, and i will review the last line of this. It says on closing the investment it will help fuel our investments in technology and our continued expansion at home and abroad while strengthening our corporate governance. Lets be clear. We dont know the terms of this deal, they call it potential investment, but what we understand so far, focusing on that last word, corporate governance. This is a company, uber, that has had some bumps along the way. Its ceo stepped down injune, a series of Sexual Harassment allegations within the company. They are looking to clean up their act. Corporate governance might be involved in that in terms of expanding the number of seats on the board, potentially softbank having some of their own seats to be able to control the direction of the company as it wants. That is corporate governance. And uber needs cash to fend off some of the competition it is facing from lyft, and to expand its operation and clear the path for a public listing. It wants an ipo, when it does list it will be one of the hottest in that year, 2019. You mention one of theissues that year, 2019. You mention one of the issues being competition. How will that impact competition in this industry . With the cash, it is incumbent on lyft, its main competitor, to be able to counter that both in terms of driver incentives and lower prices. That is where you and i come in. We like lower prices, so more competition, we might benefit. All right, looking forward to that, certainly. As we have been reporting, us President Donald Trump is in the philippines today for the final leg of his asian tour. He will be attending a summit held by asean, where asian leaders will discuss the future of trade liberalisation. One us business in favour of fewer barriers to trade is transportation and logistics giant fedex. Our Business Correspondent spoke to its president and ceo, david cunningham, and started by asking about growth projections for this year. We are preparing for a record peak this year, holiday season, and we expect him to move between 380 million and 400 million shipments between the thanksgiving holiday and the christmas holiday. That is up 26 over two years ago, and represents a substantial increase over the day to day. There has been a significant rise in protectionism and anti free trade rhetoric. How does that affect your business . There have been a lot of protectionist activities, but i think we have to keep in mind the main thing, which is that trade is the glue that lifts people out of poverty and offers tremendous amounts of opportunity, in the main. At fedex we think that everyone of oui at fedex we think that everyone of ourjobs that we have operating around the globe, they are all trade jobs. They are facilitating trade. And do you think that is the message that donald trump is bringing with him when he meets the heads of other asian governments, trade partners . Well, i can tell you that from our perspective trade is a net positive to the global economy, it is a net positive. And what we really ought to be trying to do is figuring out how to have more trade agreements, more access, and from the us perspective, create more exports, which is where the us can benefit the most, not putting in tariffs. David cunningham from fedex. The numbers are in from the worlds Biggest Online shopping events, singles day. Chinese internet giant alibaba has raked in a whopping 25 billion on november the 11th. Last year the sales record hit 18 billion injust 24 year the sales record hit 18 billion in just 24 hours, year the sales record hit 18 billion injust 24 hours, which year the sales record hit 18 billion in just 24 hours, which was the equivalent of the entire economic output of cambodia. But alibabas economic output of cambodia. But aliba bas fortunes are economic output of cambodia. But alibabas fortunes are not confined to china. It is looking to take on amazon globally and is a large part of that strategy it involves taking control of South East Asian retailer which launched its own shopping event at the weekend. I spoke to the companys event at the weekend. I spoke to the compa nys co founder and asked event at the weekend. I spoke to the companys co founder and asked him how it all went. Recordbreaking for us as how it all went. Recordbreaking for us as well. The whole team is very proud. We achieved over 120 million gross merchandising value and 6. 5 million items on the day. For us it is also very important to look at the engagement of our consumers and oui the engagement of our consumers and our sellers during that day, because the real essence of singles day is really to bring together the ecosystem, and to focus around the power of Online Shopping and the internet as a medium to change the way that people shop. Since being taken over way that people shop. Since being ta ken over by way that people shop. Since being taken over by alibaba, how has lazadas approach to business changed . Lazadas approach to business changed . Have you lazadas approach to business changed . Have you benefited at all from some of these strategies that alibaba is using . Absolutely, we are obviously inspired very much by alibaba when we launched our online revolution, which starts on singles day, as a means really to bring the market together, and we have been working closely with them to drive oui working closely with them to drive our Consumer Engagement through personalisation and other means. But we also have worked with alibaba on all encompassing projects which have seen how best products being listed on lazada and supported by our logistics and know how in the region. Some clothing brands have gone bankrupt since the start of this year, and that is mainly due to falling sales of their physical Retail Stores stores. The decline in for traffic is translating into Good Business for the Global Fashion group, one of the biggest e commerce companies. Founded in 2011, it rakes in more than 1 billion in annual revenue and has about 10 million active customers across five platforms, including in asia and the middle east. Our correspondent spoke to the gfg chief executive, who told her about the secret to their success. Her about the secret to their success. It appears to us that the emerging market presents an amazing opportunity. When you talk about business size we are looking at 300 billion euros of fashion market, and right now the penetration only cove rs right now the penetration only covers 4 . And in those 4 we have the largest part. One of the challenges we have at gfg when i joined two years ago was a very strong business, very high growth, but we were losing a lot of money. 40 but we were losing a lot of money. 40 on our profitability, and a big focus of the team and myself in the last two years has been to make sure that we were structuring the group so that not only we can retain leadership but we can do it in a profitable manner. Is ecommerce having a big say in how it fashion is done, or vice versa . Having a big say in how it fashion is done, or viceversa . It is both, fashion brands are sensitive to how they are presented to the customer. They invest a lot in their marketing and product design. One of the great exa m ples of and product design. One of the great examples of what a brand can do with gfg and the power gfg can bring to the brand is arcadia. We will bring them to 24 markets in one go, and we re them to 24 markets in one go, and were able to roll out all the rant ina were able to roll out all the rant in a record six months time, so from one season to another, in most of our markets, some of them did not have an online presence, some did not have an offline presence. It is a very good example of how a brand can grab the e commerce opportunity and invest in territories where the brand is not yet present. What does this mean for rick and mortar shops . You mentioned top man top shop. You mentioned top man and top shop. In australia we have seen those brands go into administration. In australia we have seen those brands go into administrationlj think brands go into administration. think there is a shift from offline to online, and i think brands need to online, and i think brands need to address that new normal, i would say. And i can totally envisioned that for some brands which are integrated, like top man, top shop, it isa integrated, like top man, top shop, it is a mix of Flagship Stores to at the brand and attract customers in main cities and e commerce to make sure that you have people able to shop around the entire city. I think it isa shop around the entire city. I think it is a question of finding the right mix for those brands. In this market, it is a very different play, because most of the time the Offline Retailing is still in its infancy. That was the chief executive of the gfg group. There is a lot going on this week. Looking at our calendar, on wednesday chinese internet gaming giant tencent releases its latest results. Its 4 wood guidance will be closely watched following a 2 billion investment in snapchat and the following day we have australias latest jobs the following day we have australias latestjobs data and how younger generations are really struggling to find employment despite a Strong Economy there forward guidance. And on friday, a big focus on chinas push into the electric car market at the guangzhou motor show. We are seeing asian markets trading lower, including the nikkei, there are a lot of worries about the tax plan in the us and how quickly tax reform can be hammered out. That is it for this edition of Asia Business report. Thank you for watching. The top stories this hour the asean summit gets under way in manila. Us President Trump is set to meet the controversial philippine leader, rodrigo duterte. Earlier, leaders signed a number of trade agreements with hong kong. A strong earthquake measuring 7. 3 has hit the border area in Northern Iraq and iran, killing dozens of people. The epicentre was close to the Iraqi Kurdish city of halabja. Theresa mays closest cabinet ally, damian green, has insisted that police did not inform him about claims that pornography had been found on a computer in his Parliamentary Office nearly ten years ago. A former head of the metropolitan police, sir paul stephenson, says his force was aware that material had been found in a search. Our Home Affairs Correspondent dominic cascianis report contains flash photography. At the heart of the government, the Prime Ministers right hand man. But now damian green, the first secretary of state and de facto deputy pm, is under increasing pressure over allegations that he says are untrue and a smear. It all goes back to this 2008 raid on mr greens office, filmed by a conservative party worker. Scotland yard detectives were investigating government lea ks to the then shadow frontbencher. They never got to the bottom of it, but nine years on, claims of what they did find have surfaced. Last weekend, the sunday times reported that officers had found pornographic material on one of damian greens parliamentary computers. No action was taken at the time. In a statement, mr green said this. Now, the former metropolitan Police Commissioner sir paul stephenson, seen here in 2010 with theresa may, says officers also briefed him that pornography had been found. But he also told the bbc that what they saw involved no criminality, no victims, and in his view, no extraordinary public interest. He added that it wasnt scotland ya rds role to police the workplace. Today, damian green maintained his innocence. Todays public words dont repeat last weeks assertion the allegation was completely untrue. Mr green gave evidence last week to the whitehall inquiry into the claim. It could report back next week. Scotland yard wont say if it has handed over documents to back up what two former Senior Officers have now said. But, with two cabinet resignations in a fortnight, the Prime Minister can ill afford to lose one of her most trusted confidants. Hello. Im tulsen tollett. This is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. Coming up on this programme. Ferraris Sebastian Vettel wins the brazilian grand prix for his fifth victory of the season. Switzerland celebrate as they move through to the world cup finals in russia next year at northern irelands expense. And the usa win the fed cup for the first time in 17 years with a 3 2 victory over belarus. Hello, and welcome to the programme. There is plenty to talk about. We start with the formula one news that Sebastian Vettel won the brazilian grand prix, while newly crowned world champion, lewis hamilton, managed to finish fourth despite starting from the pit, lane as nick parrott reports. For the first time this season, new world champion, lewis hamilton, found himself starting last after crashing in qualifying. A mercedes win was still on the cards vow to. Lewis hamiltons fortunes improved as others faltered during a first lap. A diversion through the pit lanes saw him