it said that it won't back down over its territorial claims in the region after the us vowed to protect its own interests there. the un secretary general has expressed grave concern over the latest israeli plans to build 2,500 new homes for settlers in the occupied west bank. and this video is trending on bbc.com. a five kilometre—long ice bridge has formed over part of the hukou waterfall on the yellow river in northern china. locals have described it as a huge white dragon lying between the valleys. that's all from me now, stay with bbc world news. and the top story here in the uk: the government insists it'll press ahead with its timetable to leave the eu, despite losing its appeal in the supreme court. the court ruled that parliament must vote on triggering article 50. now on bbc news all the latest business news live from singapore. beijing must do more about

counterfeiters. a warning from lego as its boss in china can't tell the difference between the fake and the real thing. and the mainland's most famous tech giant ali barack obama reports strong revenues and looks to soar even higher with the cloud. good morning, asia and hello, world. it's a wednesday and glad you could join us for this edition of asia business report. we kick off with lego and the danish owned company has told the bbc that authorities in china need to do more to tackle fake goods after the man in charge of

lego‘s huge new factory in the mainland failed to spot a fake piece from the real thing. lego is currently involved in legal action against one chinese manufacturer it claims is ripping off its products. here's robin in shanghai. billions and billions of these little plastic bricks have been sold the world over and now lego is betting big on china. what started out with hand cut bricks in denmark in 1949 is now $100 out with hand cut bricks in denmark in 1919 is now $100 million state—of—the—art operation near shanghai. but they‘ re state—of—the—art operation near shanghai. but they're not the only ones doing it. copies like this and fakes or counterfeits are prolific in china. lego is currently suing the firm behind this copycat star wars model. so how easy is it to spot the difference? we bought a real one and a copycat and asked the experts.

if you have to ask me to guess i would say this one maybe. which one do you think is real? you think this one is real? you're right! the truth is, they look and feel almost identical. the copy‘s so good in fact that even the boss of the huge new lego factory can't tell. have a little look at that for me... what do you think of that? have a little look at that for me... what do you think of thanm have a little look at that for me... what do you think of that? it looks like a what do you think of that? it looks likea mini figure what do you think of that? it looks like a mini figure to me. what do you think of him, two men? which one's yours? just have a guess for me. i would say this is lego, this is not. ok, this is lego. this is lego? bought from toys ‘r" us

yesterday. this one isn't real, it's trying to be lego is my assessment of it. lego's not the only foreign firm investing big in china but having trouble with local copycats. land rovers are now made here. these ones sell particularly well. but the british firm has been powerless to stop this. tucked away on a shanghai sidestreet, this is a land wind, it is similaron sidestreet, this is a land wind, it is similar on the inside and very similaron is similar on the inside and very similar on the outside but a lot cheaper. this is our copycat that court people out, you can buy him and the real thing on the huge online retailer ali barack obama. they took down thousands of links to copycat lego products last year alone but that manufacturer is suing them in the courts because even the boss can't tell the difference. as robin mentioned in his report, ali barack as robin mentioned in his report, ali ba rack 0bama as robin mentioned in his report, ali barack obama has a huge problem with counterfeits being sold on his

site. it was recently reinstated to the blacklist for selling fake goods but that hasn't stopped it from reporting third—quarter revenues beating estimates, writing 54% to 58 billion us dollars —— rising. it is mainly due to cloud and digital mean media ventures and gains in its core business. we were told why ali barack obama business. we were told why ali ba rack 0bama continues business. we were told why ali barack obama continues to see these strong earnings. looking at the three third—quarter earnings, they have had good results. in november they came out with several initiatives to drive sales but of course the growth rates aren't as high as before. they have slowed a bit and that is why they are focusing on other areas of business like cloud computing and digital media, looking at international expansion from these areas. revenue from cloud business jumped expansion from these areas. revenue from cloud businessjumped by 150%. can this be sustained? about i don't

know if it can be sustained with the higher growth rates in china, it depends on how much it can expand globally. we have seen increasing demand from consumers and enterprise in cloud computing. but there are risks, you have them in the us blacklist over counterfeiting and there's a securities and exchange commission investigation in the us including accounting practices. will this create a whole going forward into the bottom line of the company, will it have a reputational damage? there is definitely some negative damage that we have seen from this news but this isn't something new for alibaba, it's news but this isn't something new for aliba ba, it's been news but this isn't something new for alibaba, it's been on the blacklist four years ago and now they have taken steps to try to counter this, for example suing sellers for the first time, it is sending a strong message to consumers and other potential players that they are doing

something about it. are these initiatives and measures by alibaba sufficient? there are still a lot of fa ke sufficient? there are still a lot of fake goods sold on their online marketplace. this isn't going to be easy but they are addressing this slowly and then they will help them improve the image to the international audience. in other business news, the road to brexit is proving to be a bumpy one for the uk prime minister theresa may. in a landmark case, the uk supreme court has delivered a ruling against the government on the way in which the uk is to leave the eu. the highest court in the land says the prime minister must get the authority of parliament before she can trigger article 50. but ministers have insisted there will be no delay. japanese exports rising for the first time in december for more than a year, data shows gaining 5.4% from the previous year, up for the first time in 15 months and this

is mainly due to a pickup in global demand and the effects of a weaker yen the dollar. us president trump e is pressing home his policies by meeting with the heads of the big three us carmakers. he's urging them to build more vehicles in america and during a white house meeting with the chief executives of general motors, ford and fiat chrysler he promised to make investments more attractive through cuts in regulations and taxes. he has criticised some carmakers, warning them about expanding facilities in mexico and elsewhere and expecting to import vehicles tariff free. mr trump has invited the indian prime minister narendra modi to visit the white house later this year. they had a phone call on tuesday but what else did they discussed? let's find out from our colleague in delhi on how indians are reacting to the new us president. schleper, thank you so

much forjoining us. so what do they talk about? -- shilpa. it was a highly anticipated call, at least in the indian media here, because eve ryo ne the indian media here, because everyone wondered what mr trump was going to talk about and apparently he called mr modi a true friend and india a true friend and a partner in facing challenges around the world and he personally praised mr modi for championing the fight against bureaucracy in india and promoting the economy but they also resolved to look at challenges in various parts, like the fence and trade and they discussed security in the region, both south and central asia. so it was a highly anticipated call here so the media here is covering it non—stop. here so the media here is covering it non-stop. what are the concerns of indians regarding the new us president? this is the thing. during his campaign he has been largely positive about india but there are

two big concern areas, one is the whole make in america rather than make in india policy, india has been promoting manufacturers coming here and making things cheaper and more efficiently, whereas trump's whole policy has been make in america so there's a foreign investors will close up their units and go back home to america. the second big concern is of course about the visas, the skilled visas, h one b, as they call them, is crucial for the it industry in india to do business with the us and the us accou nts business with the us and the us accounts for 60% of all it exports from india. and mrtrump has accounts for 60% of all it exports from india. and mr trump has been largely critical about these visas and the way they are used to promote more migrant workers and taking, as he says, taking jobs away from americans. that is a big concern for the it industry here, which is already discussing how they can campaign in the us and how they can

really push their cause. all right, he's one of the first leaders to be invited to the white house this year. thank you so much, shilpa from delhi. let's have a quick look now at the markets and as you can see, most of them are in positive territory, the nikkei 225 gaining 1.4%, the hang seng opening up by nope .5% and the all ordinary is in positive territory by 0.3% because of the positive mood on wall street and the broader s&p closing at record highs. -- -- 0.596. i'm babita sharma. the top stories this hour: the chinese government has rejected criticism from president trump's administration over the south china sea, saying it will be firm in safeguarding its rights and interests. the un secretary general has expressed concern over israel's decision to build 2,500 new homes

in the occupied west bank. a barrister defending the entertainer rolf harris over sex offence charges has told a court the jury in his first trial in 2014 got it wrong when they found him guilty of indecent assault. the 86—year—old now faces seven charges of indecent assault and one of sexual assault against seven victims between 1971 and 200a. he denies the charges. dan johnson reports from southwark crown court. this was the first day of rolf harris boss boss defends team putting the case on his behalf but the first thing the court heard was mr harris himself will not be giving evidence. he's appearing at this trial from video evidence. he's appearing at this trialfrom video link evidence. he's appearing at this trial from video link in prison where he is being held because of his pre—existing convictions and he's been forced to attend this trial because of his age and frailty and that's why he told the jury he

couldn't remember clearly events that were 30 or a0 years ago. the qc told the jury if the defendant can say no more to you than i can't remember being there the evidential importance is actually quite weak. instead his defence barrister has been questioning the convictions mr harris already has, one of those relates to a community centre in portsmouth where he was found guilty of assaulting an eight—year—old girl in 1969. today witnesses were called by the defence people who had involvement with that community centre—back in the late 90s 60 is, people who knew it well and they all told the court they could never remember rolf harris actually appearing there. indeed someone from his management company who was involved in booking his appearances at that time also came to court today to say she would have never booked rolf harris to appear at that kind of event at that time because of his level of fame. that was part

of his level of fame. that was part of the defence strategy, to question the pre—existing conditions. part of the pre—existing conditions. part of the prosecution case is that shows the prosecution case is that shows the propensity he has for that kind of offending but the defence barrister said insured the jury got it wrong in the first trial and we don't say that lightly. we have enormous faith in the jury system but no system is infallible. rolf harris than i is the seven accounts of sexual assault he faces, the evidence here expected to go on for another couple of weeks. welcome to sport today. here is what is coming up. there is an intriguing contest in the first quarter—final at melbourne. we have no latest from australian open. au revoir, les elephants — the defending champions are out

of the africa cup of nations. and why bernie eccelstone wasn't all too happy about his departure from the top of formula one. the first match of wednesday‘ quarter finals is under way at the australian open where karolina pliskova of the czech republic is taking on mirjana lucic baroni of croatia. pliskova, a former us open finalist made a good start moving two games ahead at the start of teh first set, but lucic baroni who at 3a is into herfirst quarterfinal at a slam in 17 years came back to take it 6—a. the czech number fifth seed took the second to force a third set. something of an ethic in the first of the quarter—finals on wednesday. and there's more action still to come on the rod laver arena. serena williams takes on britain's johanna konta. and then later belgiums's david goffin faces grigor dimitrov before