hello. you're watching "gmt" on "bbc world news." i'm lucy hockings. our top stories, a judge dismisses the case against shrien dewani, accused of hiring a hit man to kill his wife while they were on honeymoon. mr. dewani is now a free man. it's a dramatic end to a case that has made headlines for the past four years. we'll take you live to outside the court. more than 20 dead in the philippines as typhoon hagupit barrels over the country, as the storm approaches the capital, a million people are returning to their homes to see what damage

has been done. i'm live in manila, where the authorities are bracing themselves for heavy flooding and possibly landslides as hagupit sweeps in. at this warehouse, they're preparing emergency food supplies for thousands of families who may be in need. l.a. galaxy win a record fifth major league soccer title, but will the american clubs ever be able to rival the world's best in europe? also on the program, aaron joins us, and there's conflict here in europe over budgets at the moment. >> st. louis, the greek government has passed its budget even though its international lenders all say they are not happy. in fact, they say the greek numbers are too optimistic. so yes, we're going to go live to brussels to find out who's going to win this budget battle.

it's midday here in london, 7:00 a.m. in washington, and 2:00 p.m. in cape town, where a judge has dismissed charges against a british businessman, accused of paying for his wife to be murdered on their honeymoon. shrien dewani was in cape town in 2010 with his new wife annie when she was killed in an alleged botched robbery. we can see him here just a short time ago after the case against him was thrown out. this was a case which had seen details of mr. dewani's private life and sexuality exposed. but the judge agreed with the defense, saying there was not enough credible evidence against him to go to trial. this dismissal brings to an end a drawn-out process that saw the businessman fight extradition and also seek treatment for mental health issues. john kay has this report for us. >> shrien dewani and his new wife annie at their lavish wedding ceremony in india. but just two weeks after this,

he was being comforted at their honeymoon hotel in south africa. the bridegroom now a widower. ann annie's body had been found in an abandoned taxi on the outskirts of cape town. the couple had been robbed on their way home from a restaurant. shrien dewani had been released, but annie, who was 28, had been shot in the neck. this is the spot where the carjacking happened. initially, the police assumed it was just another random attack. but they soon became suspicious because they couldn't understand why a wealthy honeymooning couple would be in a township like this so late at night. this man gave them an answer. taxi driver zola tongo, who the couple had hired for the week. he told police that shrien dewani had paid him to organize the carjacking and kill annie. along with two other men.

the south africans wanted to question shrien dewani himself, but he had returned home to bristol and doctors claimed he wasn't well enough to be extradited. suicidal, they said, and suffering from post-traumatic stress. it took the south africans more than three years to get him back to cape town, but in october this year, the businessman finally went on trial. annie's family have been in court every day. desperate to hear their son-in-law's version of events. and find out why he was caught on cctv handing over a package to the taxi driver just hours after the murder. >> why did annie die? there are so many things pointing at shrien. he needs to answer these questions, and he must answer these questions.

for himself, for ourselves, tell us what really happened. >> reporter: but shrien dewani's legal team argued there was no credible evidence that he was involved in anni's death and the case should be thrown out. they said the accounts of the taxi driver and his acokoccompl had been riddled with lies. the three were given shorter sentences for testifying against dewani. the defense admitted that the couple sometimes had a stormy relationship. they accepted shrien dewani was bisexual and had used male prostitutes before the wedding. but they said none of that was a motive for murder. was it really credible, they asked, that a newly-married couple would fly into cape town, check into their honeymoon hotel here, and within minutes the groom be asking a taxi driver who he had never met before, to have his new bride murdered? four years after the honeymoon murder, the judge has agreed that there season enough evidence to convict shrien

dewani, and the case against him should be dropped. the whole investigation will now face intense scrutiny. the time and money that's been spent, the pain felt by both families, and the many questions that still remain. john kay, bbc news, cape town. >> the sister of anni dewani has been speaking on behalf of her family, and this is what she had to say. >> today we feel as a family that the justice system has failed us. we are deeply disappointed. we came here looking for answers, and we came here looking for the truth, and all we got was more questions. we waited patiently for four years to hear what really happened to anni and to hear the full story of what happened to our dearest little sister. all we wanted was to hear all

the events and the hope of actually finding that out has kept us as a family going. unfortunately, we believe that this right has now been taken away from us. today, we feel really, really sad because we never heard the full story of shrien. we heard that shrien has led a double life, and that anni knew nothing about it. and we just wish that shrien had been honest with us, and especially with anni. the knowledge of not ever knowing what happened to my dearest little sister, on the 13th of november, 2010, that's going to haunt me, my family, my brother, my parents, for the rest of our lives. >> a difficult time for the family of anni dewani, just

reacting outside the court. we'll take you there shortly here on "gmt." for now, let's update you on some other news. a maid in uganda has pleaded guilty to torture after being filmed beating a baby in her care. she faces up to 15 years in prison. the child's father had installed a camera in his home after noticing his daughter was bruised and limping. the maid was seen kicking and trampling on the toddler before dragging her out of the room, apparently unconscious. a second night of protests against police killings of unarmed black men turned unruly in oakland, in california, as some demonstrators smashed windows and set rubbish bins on fire. the protest began peacefully on the university of california barkley complex, but grew more vie leapt as they moved into oakland from berkley. mexico's attorney general has confirmed that forensic experts have identified the remains of one of 43 missing students. tests showed that a piece of bone retrieved from a rubbish dump-in guerrero state matches the dna of missing student

alexander mora. the students disappeared in september, leading protests across mexico against corruption and violence. people in the philippines are counting the cost of tropical storm hagupit. it's been downgraded from a typhoon since it made landfall at the weekend, but at the height of it, hagupit whipped up winds of 250 kilometers an hour and heavy rain created some floods in the east. let's take you straight to the capital manila. the storm not expected there for another few hours, clive, but it could still potentially be dangerous. what are people there preparing for? >> reporter: they're preparing for a lot of problems, lucy. yes, it's been downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical storm, but it's moving very slowly indeed, and it's very wide. some 600 kilometers wide. that means it has the ka pas ca to dump a lot of rain over the

next 24 to 36 hours. we're expecting the heaviest rainfall to be in about six to nine hours time. i'm actually here at a giant warehouse not far from the airport here in manila. it's the headquarters of the national relief operation center for the department for social welfare. and hundreds of volunteers are helping to bag up supplies, food supplies for those areas that may be cut off by rising waters. a family pack consists of about six kilograms of rice, couple of tins of sardines, and corned beef. manila is a city of some 15 million people. in the best of times, in normal monsoon weather, the roads here flood. i've been coming here for the last ten, 15 years, and when the rains come, there are enormous problems. so imagine what it's going to be like over the next 24 hours when vast amounts of water are dumped on this area because of hagupit sweeping in from the east. of course, it is the east and

coastal areas where the hurricane made -- the typhoon made landfall a couple of days ago. they're still recovering from what happened. although the skies over there are now clear and blue. jonathan head is on south luzan island with the latest. >> reporter: for the past two days, this school served as an emergency shelter during the typhoon. one of 3,000 in this province for those whose homes were most at risk. it was this well organized and determined evacuation which has now been credited with the very low casualty figures during the storm. now that's passed. the army can take them home. among them is verhinay. she's heading back to find out how her flimsy house has fared. they were all given five kilo bags of rice, an incentive to

leave their homes for the shelter and help getting their lives back together again. like so many filipinos, she and her family are squatters on this roadside strip of land. look at your roof. it's gone. the house is cobbled together with whatever materials they can afford. can you repair your roof? >> no -- >> reporter: no money? >> no money. it's amazing. when you visit homes like hers, you realize just how precarious an existence is lived by millions of people here in the philippines and how vulnerable to the increasingly severe weather that this country is experiencing. jonathan head, bbc news, the philippines. >> clive, haiyan was absolutely devastating.

so traumatic for so many millions of people. is there a sense of relief there, perhaps even pride, that the evacuation procedures worked and that things haven't been much worse this time? >> reporter: yeah, lucy, those two words sum it up. relief. the kind of devastation that we saw last year department happen again. hagupit was a lot less powerful than haiyan. haiyan was the most powerful tropical storm in history. it was that bad. and as we know, 7,000 people died and many, many others went missing. hagupit was not as strong, but it is the most powerful strorm this year to hit any land mass across the globe. getting the message out in the proceeding few days that it was going to be powerful.getting th

proceeding few days that it was going to be powerful. what you saw was the biggest mass evacuation in this country's history. but many, many more away from that. a million people in all evacuated from their homes. and frankly, most people didn't need to be told twice to leave. they understood the dangers after last year, and they left voluntarily. it has to be said, some people who did want to stay behind in their homes, who wanted to protect them from looting, there was a lot of looting that went on last year. they were threatened with the res arrest if they didn't leave their homes. so many people live a subsistence living in this country. it is very hard to make ends meet. surviving natural disasters is very difficult for a country with so limited means, but they've done incredibly well here in the philippines. at the moment, it's something like 20, 23 people may have lost their lives, but compared to

what happened last year, this is a triumph. >> thanks so much for joining us from manila. the worst of the rain expected to hit the capital not for another few hours, so we will certainly keep across events in the philippines. we've got a large team there right across the country, so do stay with us for that. still to come on "gmt," u.s. secret service operations come under scrutiny after the failed rescue attempt in yemen that left two hostages dead. ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ can i pet your cloud please? sure! [ rumbling ] woah! aah! he doesn't like to be touched there. mmm! [ male announcer ] pet the rainbow! taste the rainbow.

let's return to our top story here on "gmt." a judge in south africa has dismissed charges against a british businessman accused of paying for his wife to be murdered on their honeymoon in 2010. following the case for us is the bbc's andrew plant, who joins us now live from cape town. andrew, a sensational end to all this. what's the reaction been there? >> reporter: yeah, after four

years of a cloud of suspicion hanging over his head, all the accusations against shrien dewani have evaporated here in the course of a single sentence. the judge saying he is not guilty of playing any part in the murder of his wife and that effectively means he is immediately free to go. the proceedings started here at cape town high court, we didn't really know how things were going to pan out, despite the complexity of the evidence that we heard here over the past seven weeks. the choices were pretty simple, she could either allow the case to continue, which would raise the possibility of seeing shrien dewani take the stand and give evidence in his own words, or she could decide that actually the evidence she had heard so far from the prosecution in this case simply wasn't strong enough, and there was no realistic possibility of prosecuting him based on what she had heard. in that instance, he would be free to go and that's what she's decided here, that in fact there was no realistic prospect of her convicting shrien dewani on the evidence she's heard over the past seven weeks of prosecution

case here in cape town, and that effectively meant he was free to go immediately. he left court, went to the car park beneath the courtrooms here. that's how he's been arriving every day. he comes around this corner with a police escort in a blacked out vehicle and there's an entrance over there which takes him straight into a car park underneath the court. that's the way he will be leaving as well, so you never actually see him come and go. you do see his family, though. they've always been walking to and from court on every day of this trial. they will now be making preparations to fly him back to the uk. we've heard actually that we think tonight he will be spending the night where he's been the past seven months, a psychiatric institute on the edge of cape town, and then we understand tomorrow, finally, he will be flying back to the uk. >> andrew, thanks for the update from outside the court there in cape town. u.s. operations to free hostages held by militants have come under real scrutiny recently, this is after a failed

attempt to rescue u.s. journalist luke somers on saturday. he was being held by al qaeda in yemen and was killed during the operation when u.s. special forces were spotted by the militants. the rescue attempt also led to the death of south african teacher pierre korkie. it's understood that he was due to be released the next day. here's more for you. >> is it imperfect? yes. is there risk? yes. but we start with the fact that we have an american that's being held hostage and that american's life is in danger. that's where we start. and then we proceed from there.

>> let's take you to johannesburg. i'm joined by the founder and president of the gift of givers foundation. this is the organization that was involved in trying to negotiate the release of the south african hostage pierre korkie. thank you for being with us, doctor, here on "gmt." firstly, obviously horrific that both luke and pierre lost their

lives, but can you give us your reaction to what ended up being a failed attempt to rescue them? >> well, i think the video you played earlier gives the answer. i think the americans had no option but to go in to try to save their citizen. as in any country, the citizens of a country will expect their government to do something to save them. indeed i would. i would expect my country to do something for me if i was caught up in that situation. sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. unfortunately, in a conflict zone in most cases, you lose. >> so you're not angry at washington given you were negotiating pierre's release yourself? >> no. last week, they made an attempt and saved several people. many of those were not americans. they were very ordinary people from yemen, some from saudi and some from other places. the second attempt was also saving many people. so that when it went right last week, nobody complained.

it's when it went wrong that everybody started complaining. i think given the circumstances, if it was any other government, they probably had no alternative to do what the americans did. >> but was the american government aware of your negotiations? >> no. i mean, we don't talk to each other. we don't go around talking to different governments telling them what you're doing. this had to be something very quiet. burr the yemeni government was aware, because we were reporting to the yemeni government what we were doing all the time inside yemen. >> and you were confident that pierre would have been released the very next day? >> yes. we know we had finally reached that phase after 11 months of intense negotiations. the tribal leaders were our front. they were the ones speaking to al qaeda. although initially, when the wife of pierre korkie was released, we were in direct contact face to face with al qaeda, but that relationship broke at one point when they accused him of stealing ransom money.

they say the south african government gave him ransom money and he stole it. because of that, there was no trust and the relationship broke down. our next phase was to engage the tribal leaders who have been going up and down to al qaeda right up to the 26th of november when today got the undertaking, and that release was going to be effected saturday morning at the time they were leaving. that's the time we got the news that pierre korkie had died and i asked them not to go forward. and they refused. they said, i am confused. i am mixed up. it's not possible. pierre is very much alive and they are going ahead, and we had to convince them that it cannot go ahead, that pierre is really dead. >> thank you very much for joining us from south africa. 30 years on from the original song, the latest band aid single, this time to raise money to tackle the ebola crisis, is officially on sale in the shops. band aid 30's "do they know it's christmas" features a range of the uk's current pop stars such as one direction and ed sheeran. the digital version has already

gone to number one in 69 countries. it's raised over a million dollars so far. despite this, the song has prompted a number of complaints about the lyrics and also about the effectiveness of celebrity activism. sir bob geldof has told the bbc he's pleased that the song is attracting criticism. >> part of what this does is it gets the conversation into the cafes and kitchens and barcels pubs. it becomes the common currentcy. it ceases to just be an okay christmas pop song that people can buy. if you can focus that conversation into a political intent, then you quantified the money and the thought process. so for example, in germany, germany was giving very little to this crisis. in fact, was giving less than half the cost of one of their football stadiums in the world cup. and i said this at the press conference, when the german record went to number one, merkel came and put 44 million

extra into the pot. >> sir bob geldof there speaking to the bbc. coming up in the next half-hour here on "gmt," there have been protests in india after another high profile sexual assault claim. this time a woman in delhi says she was raped by a taxi driver after booking a cab using the popular uber smart phone app. more on that coming up. protected. given new hope. during the subaru "share the love" event, subaru owners feel it, too. because when you take home a new subaru, we donate 250 dollars to helping those in need. we'll have given 50 million dollars over seven years. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru.

we lovchocolaty, creamy... with a little something extra. mmm deliciousness. cookies or almonds. yumminess. hershey's is mine, yours, our chocolate. 58 seconds on the clock, what am i thinking about? foreign markets. asian debt that recognizes the shift in the global economy. you know, the kind that capitalizes on diversity across the credit spectrum and gets exposure to frontier and emerging markets. if you convert 4-quarter p/e of the s&p 500, its yield is doing a lot better... if you've had to become your own investment expert, maybe it's time for bny mellon, a different kind of wealth manager ...and black swans are unpredictable.

right now, you can get a single line with 3 gigs for $65 a month. 3 gigs ... is that a lot? that's about...100 app downloads, 45 hours of streaming music, and 6 hours of video playing. (singing) and five golden rings! ha, i see what you did... (singing) four calling birds...three french hens... (the guys starts to fizzle out) two... turtle... doves... i really went for it there ya you did... you really, really did now get 3 gigs of data on one line for $65 a month. switch to at&t, buy a new smartphone and get $150 credit per line.

hello, welcome to "gmt" on "bbc world news." i'm lucy hockings. in this half-hour, the popular taxi booking service uber is banned in india after a woman is allegedly raped by one of its drivers. there's been huge protests in india. many people there are asking why more is not being done to keep women safe. also on the program, aaron is back, and french actors as well, aaron, are feeling the

pinch. >> the french film scene has all the glitz and glamour of hollywood. it also has some of the best paid actors in the world until now. why? because in an attempt to cut film budgets, the state-owned cinema group want to cap actors' pay at just $1 million a movie. welcome back. a woman in india's capital delhi says she was raped by a taxi driver after booking the cab using the popular uber smart phone app. the global car company enables customers to book and pay for taxis online. but the rape claim has raised questions over the safety of uber. particularly the vetting system used for drivers. it's now been banned from operating in delhi. we have had reaction, though, from uber, who says it

immediately did give details to the police as well about what had happened. they said they gave a map of the route that the taxi took. and in a statement to the company, they promised to work with the community, the government, and the technology industry to find more ways to promote safety in transportation. we're going to take you to delhi in a moment. real angry there. protests as well. there's a real sense that india has not been able to get on top of sexual violence against women. but uber, recently valued at $60 billion, it's become massive, operating in 250 cities across 50 countries. they're under scrutiny as well. so let's talk about the company with our technology reporter. they're really under scrutiny here. one of the key questions many people are asking, what about background checks? all of these drifrvers, are the getting checked snout. >> go to uber's site, and

they'll say we absolutely do background checks. speak to them, they'll say they always comply with the local laws. on their site, they talk about what goes on in the u.s. they do criminal checks, whether people have been accused of sexual violence before. they have a look at the motor vehicle history of that person. the question is exactly what went on in india. they've released a statement today indicating that they want to work with india to improve the checks that they're able to do. so the question is, how much they're doing. >> they're under pressure surely because of the way they're growing. they started out just as this small company in san francisco. it's massive now. 250 cities now across 50 different countries, and the value of the company going up so much, too. >> well, it's huge. just last week, we heard it raised another $1.2 billion in funds. investors didn't seem to be too worried by what had been a previous spate of negative publicity. they want to use that money to

expand further into asia. they were moving into hanoi. at the same time, they're attracting a huge amount of lawsuits. we're seeing them sued by their own drivers over tips. seeing other taxi companies trying to stop them opening in certain cities. and possibly one of the highest profile cases, one of their drivers knocked down -- is accused of knocking down a 6-year-old and killing her in san francisco. however, with most of the lawsuits we've seen against uber, they have managed to carry on operating. >> for those people who have never even heard of uber, what is it about them that makes them so successful and so appealing if you're someone who uses the service? >> it's a combination of two things. ease of use, and they're typically cheaper. the app is very simple. you can see the car as it comes towards you. you get an idea how long it's beginning to be. if you want your loved one or your friend can track your journey so they can see the

car's progress, and then you automatically get buiilled. >> is there any competition? have they got a monopoly on this market? >> no, you're seeing competition in the united states. the car service that competes against them is lift. you're having a lot of established car companies competing against them in london. we recently saw the traditional black cabs cutting their fares. >> thanks for being with us. we were hoping to go to delhi. we'll take you there as soon as we establish that line. exciting news if you're a social work fan, or football fan in the u.s. we consider here that the powerhouse of football is undoubtedly in europe, perhaps in south america, if you're in south america, too. but as we know, the sport is really growing in other parts of the world. on sunday, the spotlight was shown on the u.s. domestic league. l.a. galaxy, what a record they have got. they beat new england revolution

2-1. the people who run major league soccer say they want the league to rival the world's best. alex has been finding out more about what people think. >> reporter: the climax of the mls season came at the end of a year in which the game has seen unprecedented levels of interest in the u.s. henri's departure from the red bulls, but believes they cemented the game's popularity. >> people do recognize quality here. >> david beckham, after finishing his playing career in l.a., he brought the rights to would have been the five new franchises the mls is looking to introduce by 2020. nowhere is the growth of the game in this country better illustrated than this stadium. one of the most famous in world

sport. baseball's new york yankees have joined forces with the owners of manchester city to form new york city. and next season they'll play their games here. but soccer has a long way to go to catch up with the more established american sports. american football's nfl is the biggest of all. it dominates in terms of money and fans. for many of its players, soccer isn't even in the same mark. >> football is america's game and the nfl is on top of that. i don't see that happening any time in the future. >> i don't know. in america, we're all about big, powerful things. nothing quite symbolizes that quite like football. >> reporter: in the shadow of the empire state building, proof that soccer is no longer a niche sport. the owner believes one day the mls will be a top league. >> there will come a day in a generation where, as unthinkable as it sounds, mls will be able

to challenge the nfl, and i think we'll see it in our lifetime. >> reporter: these customers aren't so sure. >> i'm not a fan of the mls. don't like it. i think it's an inferior product. >> but they're bringing some high-from file names in. it will definitely pick up. but it will never be on par with the bundes league and the premier league. >> reporter: it appears to be a success nonetheless. alex capstick, bbc news, new york. >> another great night for l.a. galaxy fans there. aaron is with us now with the business. european budgets everyone is looking at again. fells like we haven't seen greece in the headlines for a bit. >> groes is the word, back in the headlines. a bit of a budget battle. thanks very much. here's the problem. the greek parliament has passed, approved, agreed its 2015 budget. the prime minister has ignored

the calls from greece's international leaders. he has ignored their calls for an extra 1.7 billion euros of spending cuts. that's what they're telling him he needs to do. that's just over $2 billion. the greek budget forecast growth at 2.9% in 2015, as one of the fastest growth rates in europe as greece emerges from its longest and steppest recession in some 50 years. while general government debt is projected to fall at 171.4% of gdp, a 4% declan on this year, it will still remain the highest, certainly one of the highest in the european union. but greece's trio of creditors have not approved this budget. they say the forecasts are just too optimistic and they're meeting today in brussels to decide the outcome of that review. so let's go straight over. no, let me get this in before we go to brussels.

overnight, we saw scenes like this. protesters again hitting the streets of athens, calling for an exit. they want out of this international aid program. the bailout has forced strict austerity measures on the greek people, lowered living standards across the country. now we can do it. let's go over to chris morris, who's in brussels. great to have you on the program. can you explain this to us? a lot of people watching around the world who may not follow this kind of thing. you go hang on, if these three have been basically propping up greece, the greek government can't just go on and approve this without their permission, can they? >> well, they can and they can't. they're supposed to get the approval of these troika, but the greek government believes that it's produced what is essentially the first balanced budget in greece for decades really. and isn't it good to be talking once again about economic growth

in greece after years of massive decline. but as you suggest, the creditors, the troika think these forecast just aren't right. they believe there could well be a 3% deficit and that more needs to be done. more spending cuts or tax rises or a combination of the two. we're at a difficult stage where we're close to the end of greece's bailout program and it's that program which is very unpopular in greece, but which gives these creditors leverage over greek government policy. i think the creditors, the troika want to extend the program. so politically, this is a very difficult stage. >> yeah, it puts the greek government between a rock and a hard place really. if they don't agree with this,

couldn't they hold back on this next chunk of money, the bailout money that's due to athens? >> they could. there's another 1.8 billion euros pending, which greece needs. but we've been here before. they could hold back, and then they don't at the end because a deal of some sort emerges. that's the pattern we've seen over the last couple of years. and i suspect some kind of murky compromise will emerge again. i think the other thing which is causing a problem at the moment, even though we're back in a period of economic growth, unemployment finally is beginning to fall. it's not so much the economics, it's the politics which is worrying people and spooking the markets at the moment. as well as this argument between greece and it external creditors, there is the specter looming of a possible early election next year. the greek parliament has to elect a new national president. it's not clear at all if the government is going to have a majority to do that. if it can't do that, there would

be an early election possibly as soon as next march. and opinion polls suggest the radical left coalition is in a position to win that election. if it does, then all economic bets are off. >> we'll keep our eyes on that one. great to talk to you. thank you for the update. chris morris joining us live from brussels. there is more bad news for the world's third big pest economy. we are talking about japan and the recession that it is in is certainly worse than previously feared. new revised numbers, everything that churns out an economy, shrank at an annual rate at 1.9%. that's in that three-month period ending in september. this bloke right hire, prime minister shinzo abe, he's already shelved plans for a second rise in sales tax. we'll keep across that one. now, here's something interesting. the french film body, the cnc, has called cut on actors' pay. now, let me explain. at the moment, 90% of french

films make a loss. as a result, most are subsidized by the state-run organization of cnc. but despite that, french stars like marion cotillard can earn up to ten times more in france than they would in hollywood. their huge salaries are funded by a tax on cinema receipts and dvd sales. but now the cnc wants to cap pay and the big budget french movies at 990,000 euros. that's about a million bucks. hugh schofield told us more from paris. >> the most highly paid movie actors in the world are from france, even though they're not necessarily known very well outside of france. danny boon, who is famous from a film a few years ago. marion cotillard, of course, who

was famous abroad for the piaf film a couple of years ago. these are people who have a lot of money and the irony is they earn that in france. when they shoot abroad, and many of them do end up in hollywood shooting films there, they're paid a lot less. why does all this happen? well, it's because of the protective nature of the french film industry. the fact that the film industry big basically largely exists on revenue from aid, from the government, from grants from a body called the cnc, which takes compulsory proportion of ticket sales at cinemas and the compulsory contribution from television companies. these are very keen on media stars. they like people like danny boon. they find that they have the whip hand and they demand these very high salaries. there's been a big campaign in parts of the media, the movie

industry here. people saying that the part of the share of budgets for films is too much eaten up by salaries of big stars, and now the cnc, the body that distributes the aid, is saying there's beginning to be a cap. >> we'll keep across that one. hong kong is one of the world's most expensive property markets. but behind its glittering skyline there is a grim reality. prices are continuing to climb, and many are basically unable to afford to buy their own home. so all this week, we're going to be looking at the problems of providing affordable housing in a world of soaring prices and what some countries are doing about it. so first, lisa chi reports from hong kong on the city's penthouses with a difference. >> reporter: this penthouse view is only affordable if you're poor. to get it you'd have to live in one of these illegal shacks, built on top of old apartment

blocks using cheap sheeting medal and wood. the structures barely withstand the elements but it's where many people call home. tens. thousands of people are believed to live in rooftop slums such as this one where you've got seven families sharing a kitchen, a toilet, as well as a very small living space, which gets incredibly hot in the summer and cold in the winter. it feels incredibly claustrophobic here, and yet people like mr. chen have to stay in these tiny spaces where he doesn't even have enough space for a bed. instead, he sleeps on newspapers on the floor. but most of his days are spent outside. looking for a job to make his rent. >> translator: i've been waiting two years to get public housing, but the government has done nothing. they just talk and say there's not enough land. >> reporter: 27-year-old natalie yao works for a non-profit organization that helps people. she says hong kong's housing follow si has failed them.

>> hong kong is really an affluent city, but the hong kong do not have a very good housing policy. it's estimated each family have to wait more than four years just to allocate. by some estimates, hong kong has the world's most expensive property. home prices here have more than doubled since 2009. >>ic if we look at the fundamentals of the marketplace, there's been a notable lack of new supply of residential units over recent years. the previous administration here failed to supply land into the market, something that the current administration is trying to address, but it's not a tap that you can turn on instantly. >> reporter: monetary policy is not something he easily understands. right now, he's just living

day-to-day. hoping his application for public housing will come through. but that's unlikely any time soon. and if he he's unable to find work, he may have to move to an even smaller space. lisa chi, bbc news, hong kochblg. >> tomorr-- hong kong. >> follow me on twitter. tweet me, i'll tweet you back. that's it with the business. back to you. do stay with us here on "bbc world news." still to come. 20 years after it was marked for demolition, we'll be asking what life was like for the last few people that live in belgium's ghost town. stay watching to find out more. for over a decade,

doctors have been prescribing

i'm lucy hockings.

thanks for being with us. our top stories this hour, a judge in south africa has thrown out the prosecution case against shrien dewani, the british businessman accused of hiring hitmen to kill his wife on their honeymoon in cape town. 21 people have been confirmed dead in the philippines as typhoon hagupit makes its way across the country. it has now been downgraded to a tropical storm. 20 years ago, the belgian town of doel was home to more than a thousand residents. it was targeted for demolition to allow for antwerp's docks. locals actively encourage graffiti artists in an attempt to create an open air museum. but these days, vandals are more common than street artists.

>> some people think it's now a ghost town. they call it a ghost town because if you walk here in the week, you don't see anyone on the streets. ghost town, ooh. >> people just smashing windows in. just to have fun. just no respect for the old buildings. >> so here you see a part of doel. there are a lot of empty places. what's left are still about 200 houses. they want to demolish completely for the extension of the port.

at the other side of the river, you have the port of antwerp and they want to extend now further on this side of the left bank, and therefore they want to let doel disappear. >> there was an art movement here that tried to save the village. it was a legal action. the graffiti, it's graffiti artists. some people, they say it's like

the same sort of guy. this is also a real masterpiece with some scribble on it. too bad. disrespect. the future, yeah. good luck. >> to a small scandal here in the uk. a british mp is in hot water after he was filmed in a parliamentary meeting playing a game on his tablet. a conservative politician made the front page of the newspaper. you can see him here seemingly engrossed in a game of candy crush saga. if you play this game, you'll know how addictive it absolutely is. he did say he was sorry, though,

and said he's going to try not to do it again in the future. a quick reminder of our top story here on "gmt." a south african judge has dismissed charges against a british businessman accused of paying for his wife to be murdered on their hon eymoon in 2010. shrien dewani was in cape town with his wife anni when she was killed in an alleged botched robbery. thanks for being with us. ♪ ♪ ♪

a mint flavor that hointensifies as you chew.. 5 ascent gum. stimulate your senses. and you want to get an mba. but going back to school is hard. because you work. now capella university offers a revolutionary new way to get your degree. it's called flexpath, and it's the most direct path, leveraging what you've learned on the job and focusing on what you need to know. so you can get a degree at your pace and graduate at the speed of you. flexpath from capella university. learn about all of our programs at capella.edu.

man: lights. [ electricity buzzing ] [ buzz ] [ code beeps, buzz, door unlocks ]