egyptian officials insist shipping traffic is flowing normally through the suez canal, after attacks in the red sea. and streaming wars — as netflix releases its viewing data, we take a look at the ever—crowded streaming space. hello, and welcome to asia business report. i'm suranjana tewari. egyptian officials insist traffic is flowing normally through the suez canal, despite recent attacks further south in the red sea. iranian—backed rebels in yemen have repeatedly targeted commercial vessels, leading some of the world's biggest shipping firms to suspend routes in the area. here's our business reporter david waddell. well this situation has come to come to a head because to big

shipping companies may ask and halfback lloyd, another big shipping container company, have both announced they would stop sending shipping through the strait. i'll show you where thatis the strait. i'll show you where that is — so it's here, at the south side of the red sea, and at the north side of the rest see, we have the suez canal. that's red sea. these are two of the world's biggest choke if anything, it halts shipping. making its way through to india or europe, or the unit states, it has to come here, they're here, through the straits of gibraltar before going further west or north from there. the alternative is to go south through the cape of good hope, adding 9—11; days potentially on the journey time. the suez canal authority has given a

statement, saying, they are quite keen that business continues to flow through their... they have said that on sunday, 77 ships made their way through the suez canal, which i think is fairly normal. they said in recent weeks, since 19 november, over2100 recent weeks, since 19 november, over 2100 ships made their way through, versus 55 who would normally make that route making their way around the cape of good hope.- route making their way around the cape of good hope. david on the cape of good hope. david on the security _ the cape of good hope. david on the security situation _ the cape of good hope. david on the security situation there. - moving to the entertainment industry — netflix recently released viewer data for 99% of its catalogue, for the first time. the firm has been criticised for not being transparent about how content performs on its streaming platform. netflix, founded more than two decades ago in california, started as a dvd rental business, before moving into streaming and racking up 250 million subscribers.

but the space has gotten crowded, with other rival providers like amazon prime and disney+. bob 0'donnell, from the technalysis research consultancy, told me there's been demand for this data from netflix for a long time. people have been really anxious to see these kinds of numbers. you know, netflix has shown top ten lists in the past, giving away a little bit of information, but nothing like this. this is a treasure trove of data for people who are in the entertainment industry, and of course competitors, as well. but everybody will be really analysing this data in detail to see what kind of shows really are popular, what kinds of things aren't. it's giving a lot of opportunities to the actors and producers involved with certain shows, and frankly many shows may realise they're not doing as well as they perhaps hoped.— not doing as well as they perhaps hoped. does the industry _ perhaps hoped. does the industry feel _ perhaps hoped. does the industry feel this - perhaps hoped. does the industry feel this is -

perhaps hoped. does the i industry feel this is accurate data? does the number of hours watched mean a show is popular? netflix set itself that success comes in different shapes and sizes, right? comes in different shapes and sizes. right?— comes in different shapes and sizes, right? absolutely, and a lot of peeple — sizes, right? absolutely, and a lot of people stream _ sizes, right? absolutely, and a lot of people stream things - sizes, right? absolutely, and a lot of people stream things in l lot of people stream things in the background, depending on how they're counting it, downloads versus the actual viewership times — there will obviously be some differences, but i think it's about as good at metric as you'll get. none of these things is perfect, none of the traditional readings have been perfect either. so you take it for what it is and you look at it, and i think you'll see, again, a lot of companies, some of their competitors will feel pressure to release this information, as well, and it gives you a sense of how impactful netflix is on a worldwide basis, because the number of viewers and the amount of time spent with netflix, when you add these numbers up, is absolutely staggering. india's prime minister, narendra modi, has officially opened a huge new diamond

exchange in the western city of surat. the bourse, in gujurat state, is housed in what's said to be the world's largest office complex a record previously held by the pentagon. it will contain a state of the art customs facility, retail space and vaults for international banking. mr modi says the bourse will create 150,000 newjobs. over the weekend, artificial rain was used for the first time in pakistan to reduce dangerous levels of smog in the city of lahore. planes spread a mixture of salts over the city to encourage condensation to form as rain. toxic smog is choking the lungs of lahore's 11 million residents. the government has been shutting factories, markets, and businesses during weekends to reduce pollution, but without much success. it's a move that's been deployed in other countries including the united states, china, and india. we're into the final two weeks of the year — and this week, we're watching policy meetings of a couple of central banks in the region.

on tuesday, the bank ofjapan will announce its direction on the cost of borrowing. a political scandal withinjapan�*s ruling party has raised hopes that the world's third largest economy could unwind its decades—long policy of ultra—low rates. on thursday, we'll get the rates update from bank indonesia. the forecast is that the central bank will hold, as inflation there is within its target range. if you recall last week investors cheered the us federal reserve's moves to keep interest rates on hold, and also signalled potential rate cuts next year. qian wang, from investment firm vanguard, told me what she's expecting when it comes to rates decisions from china. we are actually expecting them to remain on hold at this moment. but a lot will wait for what the fed is doing. the fed is expected to remain on hold until next year, and then many

of the central banks in this region will be able to follow that to cut interest rates. but for china, they will probably continue to cut interest rates down, and d0] will probably continue to increase interest rates starting from early next year. the chief executive of a nuclear waste processing centre in the uk has hit back at claims of cyber breaches and lax safety standards. it comes after a british newspaper reported sellafield, a government site in the north of england, had been hacked by groups linked to russia and china. in an exclusive interview for bbc news, sellafield's boss euan hutton denied these reports, and also dismissed concerns that ageing and decaying facilities filled with radioactive waste could cause a nuclear disaster. theo leggett reports. sellafield is europe's most hazardous nuclear site, a sprawling complex of ageing facilities. large quantities of

highly radioactive waste is stored here, as well as plutonium, a toxic material that could be used to make weapons for stops security is intense, so allegations its it systems are hacked are extremely serious. the chief executive insists they are entirely unfounded. we've got a - sle entirely unfounded. we've got apsley no _ entirely unfounded. we've got apsley no evidence _ entirely unfounded. we've got apsley no evidence to - entirely unfounded. we've got apsley no evidence to suggest that our systems have been hacked in the fashion that you've mentioned and was mentioned in the paper. you say there's been _ mentioned in the paper. you say there's been no evidence - mentioned in the paper. you say there's been no evidence of - mentioned in the paper. you say there's been no evidence of a i there's been no evidence of a hackin there's been no evidence of a hack in the way mentioned by the newspaper — is there any evidence of a hack, full stop? know, we've got a very robust multilayer protection systems that would indicate if anything like that had happened. that's not the only — like that had happened. that's not the only accusation - like that had happened. that's not the only accusation being l not the only accusation being fired at sellafield. it is also alleged that crumbling and decaying old facilities like this are simply unsafe and could present a risk to the public, or even trigger a nuclear disaster. this vast open air pond contains hundreds

of tonnes of used nuclear fuel, and radioactive sludge that's accumulated over decades. the challenge now is to keep it safe because it's an old facility, while at the same time carrying out the long process of decommissioning yet. the question is, is that process being done fast enough? sellafield insists it is, work to clean the pond is well under way, using a variety of robot submarines. this building meanwhile is a rubbish dump decades... but a leak is letting you active fluid seep into the ground. this mechanical grab is being used to retrieve the waste for storage elsewhere, but it's a process that will take years. sellafield denies it's a problem that's been swept under the carpet. irate problem that's been swept under the caret. ~ ., problem that's been swept under the carpet-— the carpet. we are straining every sinew _ the carpet. we are straining every sinew to _ the carpet. we are straining every sinew to accelerate i every sinew to accelerate safely what we have to do to stop the leak, and the best we can do is to remove the waste safely so we can get there as

soon as we can. iii} safely so we can get there as soon as we can.— safely so we can get there as soon as we can. 70 years of the nuclear industry _ soon as we can. 70 years of the nuclear industry have _ soon as we can. 70 years of the nuclear industry have left - nuclear industry have left sellafield with a difficult and dangerous legacy. buses here suggest they have nothing to hide — buy the latest controversy illustrates one of its biggest problems, a sore lack of public trust. the old agate, bbc news. the new head of turkey's central bank has claimed she has to live with her parents because property in istanbul is so expensive. 44—year—old hafize erkan took up her post injune in the ankara—based bank, having spent two decades in the united states, where she worked at goldman sachs, among otherfirms. with inflation in turkey now running at 61%, she suggested that istanbul might have become more costly than manhattan. and that's it for this edition of asia business report. thanks for watching.

bringing you different stories from across the uk. for 70% of the world's population, this is what doing the laundry looks like. women and children spending hours each week scrubbing by hand. and this is the solution — a flatpack manual washing machine being built in corby. british engineer nav was inspired by a visit to southern india. and they wash with cold water in buckets on the floor, causing back pain, joint pain, and skin irritation. with our machine, it saves 75% of time and 50% of water, compared to hand—washing clothes. and here it is, from flatpack to fully—assembled. so you open the lid, put your clothes inside, you put your water and your laundry detergent in here, close the lid — and of course, the most important bit is how you operate it, using a handle. and once your clothes are clean, the dirty

water comes out here. over 100 staff from this component supplier have volunteered their time to build the machines. so far, 180 machines have been sent to 15 countries, giving thousands of women and girls their time back. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website.

bbc news — bringing you different stories from across the uk. an emotional day for homeowners who found themselves living on the edge far earlier than they expected to. i'm still in shock, i have been for the last week. i'm not in tears or anything, and i'm not that sort of person — but you know, i guess if i was that sort of person, i would bejust sitting down with my head in my hands, and not knowing what to do. land under houses on the

marrams, in hemsby has been badly affected over the past decade. storms last month saw a 100—metre section of the road fall onto the beach. well, four days is what's been given to try and remove the most dangerous houses from the side of the cliffs. of course, they're trying to work around the tides, the weather, and restricted lighting. all this destruction you can see around us right now is caused by one box on one spreadsheet, which is their cost—based ratio. and that's what we're working with, with the local government and the environment agency to change. that's what we're fighting for, is one box on one spreadsheet. the environment agency has spent almost £500 million on coastal defence in norfolk, suffolk, and essex since 2013. but for those here, it's too little too late. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website.

hello, and welcome to sportsday — i'mjane dougall. arsenal march to the top of the premier league, with arteta leading them to victory over brighton. a point for both managers at anfield, after a goaless draw between rivals liverpool and manchester united. and harry kane scores a brace for bayern, taking his tally to 20. hello, and welcome to the programme. we start with an entertaining day in the english premier league — where arsenal have returned to the top of the table after a convincing 2—0 win over brighton. they opened the scoring in the second half with

a gabrieljesus header, and then, kai havertz got