an administrative error. now on bbc news, all the latest business news live from singapore. us markets deliver a cool reception to president trump's plan to slash corporate tax rates. and living a samsung life. why south korea's corporate giants are so big you'd struggle to live without them. good morning, asia. hello, world. glad you could join us for this thursday edition of asia business report, i'm rico hizon. donald trump is hours away from completing his first 100 days in office, a milestone where the chief executive is graded on his progress in office and before the clock ticks down, following through on a major campaign promise with a proposal to drastically cut the business tax from 35% to 15%. well, it is now clear how the white house plans to pay for the cuts which could add some $2 trillion to the national deficit over the next decade. but the us treasury secretary says economic growth is both the goal and the solution. we believe we can get back to 3% or higher gdp that is sustainable in this country. the overall economic plan consists of massive tax cuts and tax reform, regulatory relief and renegotiating trade deals, and with that we will unlock the economic growth that's been held back for too long in this country. earlier i spoke with samira hussain my colleague in new york and asked her if the plan will be approved by congress. the way the plan is put out as is it won't get through congress exactly the way it has been penned. but this offers a framework from which congress can start to debate and it will take a very long time to actually get tax reform through congress in a way that can actually get past. so there are some parts of it that are going to appeal to republicans. 0f are some parts of it that are going to appeal to republicans. of course first and foremost the reduction of the corporate tax rate from 35% to 15%. but on the flip side, you know, democrats are going to come after this plan, saying that it really only benefits america's corporate rich, of which donald trump belongs to that grouping and because we haven't seen a copy of his taxes, we don't know how he will actually personally benefit from these tax cuts. we could see a watered-down version of trump's tax plan when indeed it becomes law. is this why we are seeing the markets negatively reacting to this plan? 0r we are seeing the markets negatively reacting to this plan? or is it by on the rumour, sell on the news.“ you look at markets and take a step back, in general they have been very optimistic about the plans from president trump. the trump bump as we've been calling it, the more than 596 we've been calling it, the more than 5% increase we've seen on us markets since donald trump has been elected, has really been on optimism, on the optimism that he will be able to get an infrastructure spending bill passed, that he will be able to get tax reform put in. that optimism was waning a little bit when markets saw some of the details, but it's hard to differentiate that and some of the corporate earnings we are seeing as well. so it could be a little bit of jitteriness but as well. so it could be a little bit ofjitteriness but overall i would suggest markets are looking a little bit more confident. samira hussain in new york and in other business news, shares suspended in tokyo trade for honda. they are looking at filing for ba n kru ptcy they are looking at filing for bankruptcy protection with a plan to sell all its operations to an american company, that's according to the nikkei newspaper. samsung electronics posting a 48% jump in operating profits to nearly 9 billion us dollars for the three months until march, that is the best quarterly result in more than three yea rs. quarterly result in more than three years. the boost comes from the conglomerate's memory chip unit. that south korean economy expanded by 2.7% in the first quarter from january to march compared to last year, much of that growth was driven byajump in year, much of that growth was driven by a jump in capital investment. all this week we have been looking at the state of south korea's giant family run businesses also known as chebols, staggeringly the five largest account for more than half of the country's gdp. these chebols don't only dominate the economy, they are also highly visceral in the everyday life in south korea. south korea's acid conglomerates or chebols as they are known here help to build this economy —— massive. they've also been criticised for being far too powerful. samsung is the largest, making up around a fifth of gdp here. you probably already know it for its mobile phones and laptops but it also has interests in insurance, healthcare, financial services, even an amusement park. to show you how sprawling its influence is, i'm going to try to get through a typical working day here using samsung related products and services. samsung makes pretty much every appliance you might need in your home. if i wanted to i could fill my entire house full of samsung products. 0ff fill my entire house full of samsung products. off to work now. they don't really make cars any more but they do have a stake in this. you wouldn't think it but samsung is even involved in the food business. the samsung life in south korea. 0ver the samsung life in south korea. over to china now and investors have been banking on the mainland stock carriers for the last couple of yea rs carriers for the last couple of years on rising travel demand and today we will be hearing the latest financial numbers from china eastern and airchina, but financial numbers from china eastern and air china, but will it all be good news? here's a preview from industry watcher matt driscoll. it's a mixed bag. china eastern is looking to beat expectations, a nalysts a re looking to beat expectations, analysts are talking about a 31% increase in net profit, china southern above market expectations according to the analysts, although profit is likely to be down as much as 40% compared to q1 of last year. air china is likely to be in line with expectations but profits still down. so much expectation from these mainland carriers and they have really expanded on the international routes. what is giving them better yields, matt? is it the international business or the domestic business? part of the problem is last year they turned in their best year since 2012, the combined profits for the top three we re combined profits for the top three were $2.7 billion. international yields are down a little bit, that's where they are having a problem. but i looked at it, markets go up and down, stocks go up and down, you need to look at the big picture when it comes to china. according to boeing, they are going to buy $1 trillion worth of aeroplanes over the last 20 years —— next. trillion worth of aeroplanes over the last 20 years -- next. chinese carriers are overdoing it and buying so carriers are overdoing it and buying so many planes, but over, on the other hand the outlook for global aviation looks quite dim because you have the middle eastern carriers and the major legacy carriers in the region. the outlook, long-term outlook... short—term is a different story but the long—term outlook for china is very impressive, it will overta ke, china is very impressive, it will overtake, according to the international air transport association, overtake the us probably in the next two years as the top passenger market in the world. by 2035 you're looking at 1.3 billion passengers in china coming to an travelling within and leaving china. so that's a huge number. good prospects for the chinese carriers but a different picture in europe, alitalia is holding a shareholders meeting on thursday to discuss putting the italian airline into administration. this follows a union vote rejecting a cost—cutting plan. here's a look at alitalia's struggles. alitalia is the sick man of the skies. it loses hundreds of millions of dollars a year. in 2015, desperate for cash, it sold 49% of its shares to etihad airways abu dhabi. etihad offered to inject $2.2 billion to fund alitalia's recovery but a key condition was poor alitalia to cut its costs. the airline plan was lay off 1700 staff. cut wages by 8%. and cut its fleet size. but union members voted to reject these measures, so etihad has taken its money off the table. now alitalia is planning to appoint an administrator who would decide whether the airline can be saved or whether the airline can be saved or whether it should be wound up. the italian government says it will give alitalia a bridging loan to continue to operate for the next few months. problems at the italian carrier alitalia. let's have a quick look at the asian stock markets, currently mixed, the nikkei down by 66 points but the all ordinary is flat to hire at this hour. this is after donald trump's dramatic tax cut proposal failed to lift us stocks overnight. 0n failed to lift us stocks overnight. on wall street the dow fell 21, the nasdaq was unchanged. thank you so much for investing your time with us, i'm rico hizon, by bye for now. the top stories this hour. the trump administration says it aims to force north korea into dismantling its nuclear and missile programmes through diplomatic pressure and economic sanctions. and president trump's economic team have unveiled plans for what they're calling the largest tax cut in american history. surrey police have beeen strongly criticised for returning a collection of shotguns to a man who went on to kill his partner and her daughter. 82—year—old john lowe shot christine and lucy lee at his puppy farm in farnham in 2014. a report by the independent police complaints commission has found serious failings at the surrey force, as our correspondent duncan kennedy reports. this wasjohn lowe moments after he shot dead christine and lucy lee at his puppy farm in surrey. christine, who was his partner, and her daughter lucy, were killed with a shotgun. this shotgun, one of several returned to lowe by surrey police after they'd earlier seized them. lowe, seen here in custody, was jailed for life. today's official report says surrey police's gun licensing team failed. their training wasn't sufficient, how they were supervised wasn't as we would have expected, and how those crucial decisions, when it comes to returning firearms, did not have the sign off appropriately higher up the organisations. just after lowe's trial, stacy banner, christine's daughter and lucy's sister, also told me the police were wrong to return his guns. the police should have never have given an 82—year—old man seven loaded shotguns back. what was the reason? why didn't they do theirjob? john lowe's puppy farm was once investigated by the bbc. today, surrey police admitted mistakes were made when his guns were returned. do you accept that if those guns hadn't been returned, christine and lucy could still be alive? well, clearly, he used those shotguns in a double murder, a horrific case, seven months after they were returned. i don't think we can ever be asked to foresee into the future, but clearly what should have happened in this case is that better risk assessments should have been done and those guns should not have been returned. one member of surrey police was sacked over this case, another retired. but today's report about the shootings here atjohn lowe's farm doesn't just call on surrey to make changes, it says there are lessons for all of britain's police forces about the way gun licences are issued and who they're issued to. but for the family of christine and lucy lee, any tighter gun controls have come too late. duncan kennedy, bbc news, in surrey. much more on our website as always. if you want to get in touch with us here at bbc world news, you can do so on social media. i'm @bbckasiamadera on twitter. time now for all the sports news in sport today. hello, i'm marc edwards, and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: eriksen the magic man. the dane on the scoresheet as spurs cut chelsea's lead at the top of the premier league to four points with a win at crystal palace. after seven years, there's a first ever goal in a barca shirt forjavier mascherano, as the catalan giants blow 0sasuna away. and maria sharapova makes a winning return to tennis, following her 15 month doping ban. hello, and thanks forjoining us. spurs have kept their title aspirations alive with a hard fought 1—0 win against crystal palace at selhurst park. tottenham cutting chelsea's lead at the top of the english premier league to four points with five matches remaining. in a game of few clear cut chances, christian eriksen provided the moment of magic needed by spurs. a stunning dipping strike from 30 yards with just over