the park will remain closed on wednesday. managers have expressed their condolences. now on bbc news, all the latest business news live from singapore. australia logs a decade of budget deficits, putting its aaa credit rating at risk. soars to an all—time high, adding $1 million to its market value —— bitcoin soars to an all—time high. it is wednesday. glad you could join us for this midweek edition of asia business report. i am rico hizon. australia's budget is expected to be in the red until at least 2021, and markets are down. as you can take a look at the market boards, the asx 200 has fallen nearly one third of a percent in early trade. late on tuesday the government announced a huge infrastructure spending plan worth $55 million —— infrastructure spending plan worth $55 million -- $55 infrastructure spending plan worth $55 million —— $55 billion and the stimulus is expected to create thousands of jobs stimulus is expected to create thousands ofjobs across the country but will also lead to a wider than expected deficit of $22 billion for the current fiscal year. earlier i spoke to the realm —— earlier i spoke to the realm —— earlier i spoke to the realm —— earlier i spoke to cherelle murphy from anz bank. we are likely to get a few more deficits from here on in. we we re more deficits from here on in. we were heavily impacted by the global financial crisis, and we are really just still recovering from that. there has been certainly a lot of changes in taxes, particular at the household level, and new spending measures which were put in when times were good and of course now that times are a little bit tougher, and particularly with commodity prices having come off their highs from 2011, it has been harder and harderfor from 2011, it has been harder and harder for the government to get revenue back up to where it used to be ten years ago. and with more deficits to come, cherelle, is australia's aaa rating at risk? look, i think the credit rating agencies will not he urgently moving to move our credit rating. i wouldn't say that the issue has been put to bed though, either. there are certainly some things in the budget that would comfort the credit rating agencies, the fact that the government removed the so—called zombie measures, measures from previous budgets which were never realistically going to get through the parliament. the government removed all of them, it was a cost of $13 billion to do so. credit rating agencies didn't like that. also the new policy is that the government has brought in are arguably more likely to pass the parliament so the budget looks more credible. also, of course, there is a return to surplus projected by the end of the forward estimates, so by 2019/2020, sorry, i2020 end of the forward estimates, so by 2019/2020, sorry, i 2020 one. and what that means is of course that there is a recovery plant through both revenues and expenditure. now, a lot of analysts, including yourself, have criticised the government in the past for being a little bit too optimistic about that. but you would have to say that now, compared to more recent years, we do have a more likely outcome of surpluses, given the economy is starting to pick up. and miss murphy referred to comment on the australian government's new bank tax. treasurer scott morrison hopes to raise $4.6 billion from the levy from the balance sheets of the country's five largest banks. it is estimated it will add 10% to their liabilities. the australian bankers association slammed the move move, saying it is a direct attack on jobs and growth. in business news making headlines, shares in rupert murdoch's news corp rising 2% after its earnings beat forecast, much of the growth coming from the expansion of its real estate website which had a big increase in traffic. as well as profits and revenue. shares in wa lt as profits and revenue. shares in walt disney falling nearly 2% after its revenues missed market expectations, coming in slightly under forecast at $13.3 billion. disney's boss says there has been significant growth in subscribers to digital services, but not enough to make upfor digital services, but not enough to make up for losses. bitcoin surged above $1700 for the first time ever. in the last 24 hours alone its market cap has risen by more than $1 billion, according to an industry website. but in india, where there have been complaints that virtual currencies are being used for money—laundering, the government has been pressured into figuring out how to manage them. will regulation help? our correspondent spoke to michelle gupta, part of a foundation to monitor transparency in india's market. the bitcoin market has been growing at 100% per annum. it is a million—dollar company within the foundation. in india, the growth has been phenomenal. and i think there isa been phenomenal. and i think there is a lot of attention within the media in the country and it has led to the government paying attention to the government paying attention to it. but if you look at the comments from the indian government, they are really concerned about bitcoin. the finance minister has said that people should be cautious, they shouldn't deal in bitcoin. you have a member of parliament who has called it a ‘ponzi' scheme, a pyramid ‘ponzi' scheme. the central bank has warned investors, so clearly there are consequences. the volatility involved, they will make an informed choice in terms of making investment in bitcoin or other crypto currencies. and as far as people calling it a ‘ponzi' scheme, there have been some insta nces scheme, there have been some instances in india where certain pyramid scheme companies have turned up pyramid scheme companies have turned up across pyramid scheme companies have turned up across india, and that is probably creating emotion, and the popularity of bitcoin means they have nothing to do with bitcoin, and they offer unrealistic returns to investors. i think it is fair for the government to warn the general public that they need to be aware. and people need to be more aware and understanding of how bitcoin works. so what are the benefits of bitcoins? what are the advantages if they legalise? i think bitcoin has advantages in india. creating a bank account is still not easy, and we are seeing this penetration of mobile technology and systems like bitcoin make it cost—effective for people who come into the financial inclusion system, and there are real implications for that. the second pa rt implications for that. the second part of it is value transfer. there are billions of dollars which come in, and the costs are really high. if the governments and banks would hamas the power of technology and instruments like bitcoin, that could really bring down the costs —— would harness the power. the problem the us economy has with migrant workers is that it needs more of them. agriculture and tourism is feel it particularly badly. 0ur correspondent reports from a farm in newjersey. farmer kurt dawson get to spend as much time in the field as he used to, or as he would like. he isa as he used to, or as he would like. he is a first—generation farmer. for him, agriculture was a calling, to do god's work. as we to his 600 acre property, he admits his business would not be thriving without outside help. agriculture as we know it would not be able to survive if the people who were working today as undocumented workers were not in the workforce. during peak season, farmer kurt has more than 200 people working for him. 50 are here on temporary visas, like ivan. he leaves his wife and two daughter ‘s arica eight months of the year and has been doing so for the last six six years. —— in costa rica. has been doing so for the last six six years. -- in costa rica. you can't find sufficient labour, and you don't know from year—to—year if you don't know from year—to—year if you are going to be able to find the workers legally. so you wonder why people turn to doing things under the table, and why they turned to an undocumented worker. because we don't even have the resources in place to allow legitimate employers the legal means to hire people properly. this farm depends on guest workers, but the application process for temporary visas is expensive and cumbersome. farmer kurt needs more workers, and needs them faster, and it would seem, so does the us economy. we have very close to full employment. that is great, and it is good for... we want wages to grow up, and we wanted to a tight labour market we want the economy to expand beyond the current labour force, so i think you do need immigrants to come in and help that to expand. i think that is a good thing. the rhetoric surrounding immigration has become harsher and focused on more and more constraint. but the fact is that a huge number of american businesses in different industries are dependent on the labour of overseas workers. and what these businesses want is for the president and for congress to focus on the reality. let's have a look at the markets, and asia is currently mixed in early morning trade, due to revive the worries about north korea and the lacklustre mood on wall street overnight. tokyo's stocks opening higher as the yen remains wea k opening higher as the yen remains weak on expectations for global recovery growing. expectations are down due to lower oil prices. thank you for investing your time with us. have a wonderful wednesday, everyone. i am have a wonderful wednesday, everyone. iam rico have a wonderful wednesday, everyone. i am rico hizon. have a wonderful wednesday, everyone. iam rico hizon. goodbye for now. you are watching bbc news, i'm greg dawson. the top stories this hour: us president donald trump has sacked his fbi director, james comey, saying fresh leadership is required to restore trust in the organisation. the top democrat on the house judiciary committee says it reeks of a cover—up. the liberal human rights lawyer moonjae—in will be the next president of south korea. he has promised to restore national pride, and favours a more conciliatory approach to north korea. in a bbc interview, jeremy corbyn says brexit is settled. but, when questioned repeatedly, he refused to confirm britain would definitely leave the eu if brussels offered a bad deal for withdrawal. aides later had to issue a clarification, saying the uk would definitely leave the eu under a labour government. mr corbyn has spoken exclusively to the bbc‘s political editor laura kuenssberg. jeremy corbyn, let's start with brexit. it is if you become prime minister it will be the biggest task in front of you. you have said today brexit is settled. does that mean, if you are prime minister, come hell or high water, whatever the deal on the table, we will be leaving the european union. no, there was a clear vote in the referendum a year ago, but there is now the negotiations which have already begun. i sent a letter to president macron last night congratulating him on his election, but also setting out in broad terms what our aims are in these negotiations. to have good relations with europe, of course, secondly to make sure there is a trade access, a tariff free trade access to the european markets. thirdly that we will, of course, protect the rights of eu nationals living in britain, which we will do straightaway, and that we will also ensure that the regulations that we have got from the european union, such as working directive and employment conditions will be defended and maintain. that has to be but very clearly. that is what you would hope to achieve. but on that specific point, if you say brexit is settled, whatever happens in the negotiations, however well or badly they go, you would be leaving if we work —— you are prime minister. we would go into the negotiations with a determination to achieve but i havejust negotiations with a determination to achieve but i have just outlined and it is not a 1—off meeting, it is not a 1—off discussion. it also involves relations with all government across europe and of the member states, as states, as well as the parliaments, and the european commission. forgive me, jeremy, that is not my question. my me, jeremy, that is not my question. my question is if you are prime minister, you will leave hell or high water, whatever is the outcome on the negotiations. we win the election, we will get a good deal with europe. scores of convictions, including rapes and murders, could be called into question after allegations that thousands of blood samples may have been manipulated. the national police chief's council says forensic experts are identifying any cases which need retesting. time now for all the sports news in sport today. hello, this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: see you in cardiff. juventus are into the champions league final after schooling monaco 4—1 in their semi final. we'll have action from the asian champions league, as adelaide united are dumped out. and maria sharapova may have been beaten in madrid, but tennis tournaments are still welcoming her with open arms. hi, wherever you are around the world, welcome to sport today. there was spectacular theatre in turin on tuesday. football magnificence. and at the end of it all, juventus secured their place in the champions league final. dani alves volleyed in one of the goals of season on juventus's way to a 4—1 aggregate win over monaco, in theirsemi final.