egyptian officials insist shipping traffic is flowing normally through the suez canal after attacks in the red sea. streaming wars: as netflix releases its viewing data, we look at the ever—crowded streaming space. hello and welcome to asia business report. 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.

there have been concerned that the israel—hamas would spread the region. here's our business reporter david waddell. the southern end of the red sea, the northern end of the suez canal. you can't get through the suez canal unless you make your way through this chokepoint. two companies have announced they will make that acid. one is the shipping container company maersk and the other is hapag lloyd. you need to make this much longer passage around the cape of good hope in south africa. that might add nine days, possibly more to thejourney might add nine days, possibly more to the journey if you go to europe, possibly six days to the united states. four ships traversing from the atlantic to the pacific ocean through the panama canal, there are additional issues. it's here from the independent economist.

when you look at trade from shanghai to new york and asia to the east coast of the us, if we can't go through the panama canal, because it is very constrained because of the low water levels, and we have to ship it through the suez canal, that adds five days, when we have to go around the cape of good hope, that adds another six days. so, potentially, if things cannot get sorted, we will have to live with 11 days extra for cargo to go from asia to the east coast of the us and that will be very expensive. the suez canal authority is very keen for shipping to continue making that passage through the red sea, they released a statement — they say the navigation flows normally as usual... as opposed to the route around the cape of good hope. they said on sunday,

77 ships made the passage through the canal. in recent weeks, that was 2,500 since november 19, but in the same period, 55 ships passed around the cape of good hope. we just have to see in the coming days and weeks whether that balance changes. to india, and prime minister narendra modi has officially opened a new diamond exchange in the western city of surat. the bourse is housed in what is said to be the world's largest office complex, a record previously held by the pentagon. let's get the details with our india business correspondent. good to see you. what does this new diamond bourse hope to achieve? the prime minister has said in a tweet that this is going to be a game

changerfor the economy. india heads into elections next year. there is that element. we are talking about the diamond bourse. it is the home city of the prime minister, the home city cuts and polishes 90% of the world's diamonds, the creation of the centre adding to the ambition of trying to become a big trading centre when it comes to diamonds. it is likely to have 16,000 working professionals under one roof. it has brought everyone from diamond cutting to polishing and trading under one roof essentially. it also boasts of having vaults, sousia custom clearance, all of that is there as well. having said that, one important aspect that needs to be pointed out is that as the inauguration happens and we talk about how big building is, it is to note the diamond

trading industry has seen a slump in terms of global demand for polished diamonds declining. from april to october this year the export of polished diamonds fell by 29%, so that is significant. the prime minister himself has said india needs a larger share in the global market when it comes to the overall gem export business, so that is why becomes more important in furthering those ambitions. moving to the entertainment industry, netflix recently released viewer data for 99% of its catalogue for the first time. the firm has been criticised in the past for not being transparent about how content performs on its streaming platform. while netflix may have been one of the most original streaming platforms when it was founded two weeks ago, the space

is now quite crowded. there has been demand for this kind of data from netflix for a long time. people have been really anxious to see these kind of numbers. netflix has shown the top ten list in the past you've a bit some information but nothing like this. this is a treasure trove of data for people who are in the entertainment industry and competitors as well. everybody will really analyses data in detail. we see what shows really are popular and what types of things are not. it is giving a lot of opportunities with the actors and producers involved with certain shows, and some shows that are not doing as well as they hope. i5 that are not doing as well as they horse-— they hope. is this accurate data? does _ they hope. is this accurate data? does a _ they hope. is this accurate data? does a number- they hope. is this accurate data? does a number of. they hope. is this accurate - data? does a number of hours watched mean a is popular? netflix said itself that success comes in different shapes and sizes, right? absolutely.

a lot of people stream things in the background, depends how they count downloads versus the viewership times, there will be some differences. it is about as good a metric as you will get. none of these things are perfect, none of the traditional tv ratings have ever been perfect either. you take it for what it is and you look at it, i think that you will see a lot of companies, some of the competitors will feel pressure to release some of this information as well. it also gives you a sense of how impactful netflix actually 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. 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 had been hacked by groups

linked to russia and china. in an exclusive interview for bbc news, the boss denied these reports and also dismissed concerns that ageing and decaying facilities filled with radioactive waste could cause a nuclear disaster. sellafield is europe's most hazardous nuclear site, a sprawling complex of ageing facilities. large quantities of highly radioactive waste are stored here, as well as plutonium, a toxic material that could be used to make weapons. security is intense so allegations that its it systems have been hacked are extremely serious. the chief executive insists they're entirely unfounded. we've got absolutely no evidence to suggest that our systems have been hacked in the fashion you've mentioned and indeed was mentioned in the paper by a state actor at all.

you say there's been no evidence of a hack in the way mentioned by the newspaper, is there been any evidence of a hack? no, we have got very robust multiware protection systems that would indicate if anything like that had happened. that isn't the only accusation being fired at sellafield. it's 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 tons 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 it. the question is — is that process being done fast enough? sellafield insists it is. work to clean and empty the pond is well under way using a variety of robot submarines. this building, meanwhile, is a rubbish dump for decades worth

of nuclear scrap. but a leak — unseen and inaccessible — is letting radioactive fluid seep into the ground. this mechanical grabber is being used to retrieve the waste for storage elsewhere, but it is a process that will take years. sellafield denies it is a problem that has been swept under the carpet. we are straining every sinew to accelerate safely what we have to do to stop the leak, and the best way to do that is to remove the waste safely so we can get there as soon as we can. 70 years of the nuclear industry have left sellafield with a difficult and dangerous legacy. bosses here insist they have nothing to hide. but the latest controversy illustrates one of its biggest problems — a sore lack of public trust. theo leggott, bbc news. you can find all of our stories on the bbc news website. that is it for this edition of asia business report. thank you for watching.

voiceover: bringing you different storiesl 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.

vmcsovsk: 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, i'm not that sort of person but, you know, i guess, if i was that sort of person, i would be just sitting down with my head in my hands, and not knowing what to do.

land under houses on the marrams at hemsby has been badly affected over the past decade. storms last month saw a 100—metre section of the road fall onto the beach. four full 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 see around us right now is caused by one box on one spreadsheet, which is their cost base ratio, and that is what we're working with with local government and the environment agency to change — that is what we just are fighting for — is one box, 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'm jane 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 goalless 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.