Business news live from singapore. Hit or miss, we find out if china is experiencing a growth spurt when new data comes out this week. Commuters are not fond ofjanat data comes out this week. Commuters are not fond of janat words, search pricing. Find out how it works and how you can get around it. Surge pricing. Good morning, asia. Glad you canjoin pricing. Good morning, asia. Glad you can join us pricing. Good morning, asia. Glad you canjoin us for this pricing. Good morning, asia. Glad you can join us for this edition of Asia Business report. We start with the business calendar, and the report cards from corporate america. Kicking things off, quarterly numbers from alcoa and big banks including morgan stanley. On thursday or all eyes will be on chinese Growth Numbers for the december quarter, and 6. 8 is them that it number for analysts. Attention is back on the us at the end of the week. Friday is the deadline for the spending bill from congress to avert a government shut down one day after the First Anniversary of Donald Trumps official start at the white house. Asian analyst david ho from the motley fool says he expects a gradual slowdown in chinese growth rates. It doesnt mean time is slowing down, it is growing not as fast as it did previously and many think that 2017 it will grow at about 6. 7 but premier li said he thinks it will grow at 6. 9 , so i am going to say it 6. 9 in 2017. 6. 9 in 2017, so say it 6. 9 in 2017. 6. 9 in 2017, so surely it will be better than 2016, so what about 2018, what is your projection, better than 2017 . think we will see a gradual slowdown andi think we will see a gradual slowdown and i think what we will see is 6. 4 in 2018, and that is inevitable, because chinas economy has to slow because chinas economy has to slow because most of the growth so far has been fuelled by debt. China has borrowed a lot of money. That cannot continue. What will have to happen 110w continue. What will have to happen now is those companies will have to grow on their own. They wont be able to borrow as much as they did previously. I think 2018 we will see more of a slowdown to a round 6. 4 , i think. And 6. 496 is also the world banks forecast for chinese economic growth. It is also earnings season in the us. What will have a great impact on the asian markets, us earnings or chinas gdp . impact on the asian markets, us earnings or chinas gdp . I think both. I will hedge my debt and say both. I will hedge my debt and say both are very important. People are looking to america simply because what they are saying in america is that if the companies in america can continue to deliver good earnings and it will drive the stock market overin and it will drive the stock market over in america, which would drive the stock markets not only here in hong kong, but certainly where you are in singapore and the rest of asia. In other news making headlines, vw said car sales rose to a new record last year thanks to rising demand in china and the americas despite the omission cheating scandal, overtaking toyota as the best selling car maker in 2017. The german carmaker announced plans to spend 3 billion on development and production of new models in north america from 2018 to 2020. Ford says the company will increase investment in autonomous to 11 billion by 2022 and have 40 hybrid and fully electric models in its lineup. He made the announcement at the detroit auto show. Mainstream automakers are reacting to pressure from regulators in china, europe and california to slash Carbon Emissions from fossil fuels. California to slash Carbon Emissions from fossilfuels. And california to slash Carbon Emissions from fossil fuels. And they are facing competition from tesla which has inspired would be owners to line up has inspired would be owners to line up outside showrooms and flood the company with orders. The Trump Administration is rewriting regulations about autonomous vehicles. The transportation secretary said they would unveil the guidelines by summer. Would unveil the guidelines by summer. It would cover not only self driving cars but also the integration of the Technology Behind motor carriers, transit, trucks and infrastructure. The days of having teaching in to live tv to watch your favourite tv show and movies are long gone and the internet is increasingly now a very crowded space. There is fierce competition between netflix, amazon and hbo. To try to win over customers, amazon produces original, local content in three asian markets with japan, india and south korea. James farrell, who heads the regions Amazon Prime Video told the bbc how the programmes are produced. The one commonality is local content is king in all of those countries. We started with licensed content on the service and then a good example was a popular kids show on tv for 45 yea rs, a popular kids show on tv for 45 years , we a popular kids show on tv for 45 years, we went to the producers and we said, this is a great show, people love to watch it, how can we do something new, creative and different with the brand . We sat down with them and we brought up a re creation of a 70s series, except this was no holds barred on the more violence and action. That became the first amazon original series in japan. My favourite so far is documental, a comedy competition, with ten comedians in a room and they have to see who can make each other laugh the fastest. As soon as you laugh you are out of the room. There are no rules. They go crazy. What they can do on tv and other platforms, there is limitations. Wattell advertisers support . You know, tv regulations. With amazon, we connect comedians and their crazy ideas and what we want the favourite comedians to do. Matsumoto san said, what can we do, so we connect them and that is why they have been so successful and that is why people love to watch it. We came to the us and we put the service out injapan 01 and we put the service out injapan or other countries and they dont work. People say that unlike the content, better understand whats going on. Pat schiller is one where we heard all about. We said there is this giant space injapan where people are making variety shows and comedy bachelor. No one is doing large scale romantic comedy bachelor. No one is doing la rge scale romantic reality comedy bachelor. No one is doing large scale romantic reality series, so large scale romantic reality series, so lets do the biggest and best, which is the bachelor and everyone said it was a horrible idea but it is the top five show for us. We are happy to take the risk and customers are super happy with it. James farrell from Amazon Prime Video. Everyone knows the law of supply and demand but no one likes it when it means you and me, the customers, fork out more from our wallets and we are talking about surge pricing. To find out how it works and if there is a way to work around it for your next taxi ride. Surge pricing is a dirty word in the digital age, like spam or pop ups. Whether in rush hour or after a big event you will have to pay more. That is because quite simply the demand for the right out numbers the number of cars on the road so to avoid paying the surge prices you have to understand how the companies do it in the first place. Heat maps based on real time information, that data is collected by a geo tag in the cars and alerts are sent to the drivers to try to move them to the areas where the demand is greatest. Some situations where it is unfair to do that, lets say if there is a flood in the city, it is unfair to charge 44 that, so the platform allows the ability to ingest news into the decision making, the Weather Information into the decision making, and that is how in this case you will not have surge prices in that area. So that is the company. What about ask . What can we do to avoid the surge prices . Moved to another area, across the street 01 to another area, across the street or down the road. Then again, you can wait it out, so if demand goes down, surge prices might go away. And finally, number three, down, surge prices might go away. And finally, numberthree, book down, surge prices might go away. And finally, number three, book a car beforehand. If you know you need a ride it is a good way to take the guesswork out of getting home. From surge prices to japans latest girl band, let me show you, they are called the Virtual Currency girls, yes, you heard me right, they each play a character like the Bitcoin Etherium bought the ripple and they warn against fraudulent operators and they urged people to make sure of online security. Lets listen in. And, if you want to take a picture with them, fans had to pay 0. 001 bitcoin, about 15 us dollars, and japan recognises bitcoin as legal tender and one third of Global Bitcoin transactions are denominated in the japanese yen. Thank you so much for investing your time with us. Im rico hizon. Sport today coming up next. The top stories this hour hawaii is told to fix its missile alert system after saturdays false alarm. Us Authorities Say the error was absolutely unacceptable. Two leading fashion photographers are suspended from vogue and other magazines, over allegations they sexually exploited young male models. The new conservative Party ChairmanBrandon Lewis has told the bbc that the government is doing everything it can to ensure the serial sex offenderjohn worboys stays in prison. The former black cab driver was jailed in 2009 for drugging and sexually assaulting 12 women, but Police Believe he may have committed more than 100 attacks. Ministers are considering seeking judicial review into the parole boards decision to release him. Heres our Home Affairs Correspondent danny shaw. Hes known as the black cab rapist. John worboys is believed to have drugged and sexually assaulted more than 100 women, yet the parole board has decided that after that after ten years in custoday, its safe for him to be released, and hes due out by the end of the month. The government wants to stop that happening and is looking at the possibility of legal action. Anybody out there will appreciate just how awful this must be for the victims to see what has happened, to think about somebody like that being out on the streets. Its absolutely right. The secretary of state forjustice will be doing everything he can to make sure this man stays behind bars. The justice secretary is david gauke. Appointed only last week, he moved quickly to seek legal advice about the worboys case. He wants to know if its plausible to contest the release decision in the courts and if theres a good chance of success. Lawyers for some of worboys victims are also considering legal action. Weve already, ourselves, been looking into a judicial review challenge of the parole board. We can also look at the parole board rules which prohibit any publication of the reasons for the decision, something that the secretary of state cant do, because they are his rules. It would be highly unusual for the government to launch a legal challenge against the parole board, an organisation its responsible for, and if the case does end up here at the high court, theres no guarantee of success. Would it be difficult . It all depends on the quality of the decision making. If this was a bad decision, if it was a decision which no reasonable Decision Maker couldve reached, orfor some reason its failed to follow the procedures. For example, its been said that the victims or some of the victims werent consulted. Then its quite possible the decision was unlawful. Whats so unusual is that its not usually the secretary of state forjustice thats making those arguments. In the meantime, preparations are continuing forjohn worboys release. His victims are being consulted on what conditions he should comply with, if and when he is let out. Some are concerned that the serial sex offender will try to track them down. Hello. This is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. Coming up on this programme. Theres a new fab four in liverpool as the reds end citys unbeaten run in the English Premier League. The Australian Open is underway and former winner and beaten finalist last year, rafael nadal, tells us how hes preparing. And another dramatic day for stepehane peterha nsel during the dakar rally in bolivia. Welcome to the programme. Lots to get our teeth into but lets start with the news that manchester citys unbeaten run in the English Premier League this season has come to an end after they were beaten 4 3 at liverpool. City still lead by 15 points, they show there is life after philip coutinhos record move to barcelona