sweeps across the eastern caribbean. it's already lashed barbuda, where almost all of the buildings have been destroyed. it's now on its way to haiti and the turks and caicos islands. storm surges, flooding and high winds are expected. over 150,000 rohingya muslims have now fled violence in myanmar. the exodus was sparked by a crackdown by burmese security forces, after rohingya militants attacked police posts. and this story is trending on bbc.com. prince george has officially started school. the four year old was dropped off by his father prince william. the duchess of cambridge missed the occasion due to severe morning sickness from her third pregnancy. that's all from me for now. stay with bbc news. and the top story here in the uk: the house of commons has begun debating the bill which will reverse the european communities act of 1972 and transfer thousands of european laws and regulations into uk law once britain has left the european union.

now on bbc news all the latest business news live from singapore. irma churns through the caribbean towards florida, one week after harvey slams into texas. but who bears the cost? and earning a degree in winemaking. find out why this dude and are choosing to learn the trade in australia. —— these students. welcome to asia business report. i'm sharanjit leyl. as you've been hearing newsday, hurricane irma is barrelling through the caribbean towards the us. irma arrives a little over a week after hurricane harvey slammed into texas,

which caused severe flooding and displaced more than 1 which caused severe flooding and displaced more thani million people. the damage bill from hurricane harvey is currently estimated at about $180 billion, with much of the bill going towards the taxpayers. earlier i spoke to someone the taxpayers. earlier i spoke to someone from research house and asked who is likely to foot the bill. the range of damage can vary tremendously, however the consequences for the population is very much linked to insurance. so the ability of the countries to ensure and take private cover varies tremendously and that also in packs and long—term impact. tremendously and that also in packs and long-term impact. nonetheless, with the intensity of storms and the frequency, surely this will take a toll on the insurance industry? certainly, but they prepare for this over hundreds of years. the insurance industry has been quite resilient in its capacity to cover

events because they use actual estimates the project potential losses. how much are they prepared to deal with the intensity that we are seeing now and the frequency? they've had some good years and build up reserves. of course insurance companies also use reinsurance so they spread the risk between insurers, citing they have the capacity. of course one of the big problem is that happening right 110w big problem is that happening right now is climate change is changing the dimension of the intensity of storms and the projections by many scientists are that the damage from such weather—related events will intensify. us credit reporting agency equifax may have suffered the country's biggest cyber bridges, potentially compromising the personal details of about 143 million consumers. shares we re about 143 million consumers. shares were down as much as 13% in market

trading. 0ur reporter has more. what's happened ? trading. 0ur reporter has more. what's happened? we know that cyber attacks are becoming more commonplace. what makes this interesting is the size and scope of this attack, one of the largest to head to america behind the large one that he yahoo last year. equifax is one of three credit reporting agencies in america. they collect financial data into build a credit score. people need this in order to buy a car score. people need this in order to buya caror score. people need this in order to buy a car or house or apply for a student loan, for example, to which we imported. with143 million people potentially affected by this information breach, that's about half of the us population. the hackers targeted wings like names, addresses, birthdays, driving licence numbers, social security numbers and about 200,000 americans also saw their credit card numbers taken. so the ceo of the company has apologised for what he called a disappointing event, but it will

ta ke disappointing event, but it will take a long time to recover from this and assure customers that they can protect their information online. quite a worrying development. thank you. in other news, japan's government has revised the economy's growth rate in the second quarter. gross domestic product rose by 2.5% in the three months to june, domestic product rose by 2.5% in the three months tojune, but that's down from a more preliminary estimate of 4%. the revised figure came in below the average forecast, but still marks japan's longest period of economic expansion in more than a decade. amazon fire tv a second headquarters in north america, with a whopping $5 billion. us states like colorado are 110w billion. us states like colorado are now going to compete for the contract, which could bring in about 15,000 newjobs. separately, a former analyst for amazon fire tv guilty to insider trading will stop the former employees sold details about its results to a form of fraternity brother before the actual earnings were released.

stu d e nts earnings were released. students from china are hoping to emulate the success of companies in australia by heading there to study winemaking. in the last 20 years, the value of australian wine exports has more than doubled to over 1.8 billion dollars us. last year china became its biggest customer, with orders up 44% in the year. the stu d e nts orders up 44% in the year. the students enrolled at the university of adelaide spoke to our correspondent. learning techniques tested over decades, these students hope they are on the path to prosperity. you don't have to be a connoisseur to know turning grapes into wine can be a very profitable business. but by coming to learn in australia, home to some of the world's exist wine brands, they can clearly see opportunities ahead. hopefully i can bea opportunities ahead. hopefully i can be a winemaker in a big winery at the beginning and in the and i can

have my own winery. do you think one day you can make chinese wine that's as good as or even better than french, italian or australian wine? probably, definitely. but there are differences because we have a very short winemaking history, so there's a long way to go. the university of adelaide has seen a number of chinese didn't in rolling for winemaking degrees travel in five yea rs. winemaking degrees travel in five years. drawn not so much by the weather, but by the booming local industry. winemaking here in the ba rossa valley is industry. winemaking here in the barossa valley is known around the world. australia is the fifth biggest wine producer over the planet —— on the planet, but could soon be overtaken by china. the chinese wine makers are issue won't be the quantity and quality. and that doesn't come quickly. australia took decades to shake off the snobbery attached to wine, so can china do the same? vignettes are

only ten or 15 years old, so they are several decades behind where australia was —— vineyards. knowledge is needed to know what works best. used well, that knowledge can have international awards. this winery in the adelaide hills has won gold medals for extra rows and plenty of orders in china as well, but customers are becoming more demanding. you start to see the trend of using chinese imagery or chinese references like the number eight. i think we are seeing a consumer that's getting on the back and realising that australian wine needs to be about the australian story and our pedigree, a region a key. as china's wine market mature is, these students hope they will have a pa rt these students hope they will have a part to play and get to enjoy the fruits of their labour. well, it's not just fruits of their labour. well, it's notjust australia or china, europe, the traditional home

of wine, and in european wine consumption is slowly falling. asia, specifically china, is the new growth market for wine, expected to become the second most valuable maker by 2020. is it time for producers to pop the court and celebrate? earlier i spoke to the global chief executive of a champagne maker and asked how important markets like china were for her company. we are not so much interested in trying to become like a fashion brand, because when you ta ke a fashion brand, because when you take over a house, there's so much craftsmanship and it is limited in its volume, you take 20 years to make a champagne. you have to be very careful and try to work with market that are stable, where you can guarantee the sustainability and long—term stability. can guarantee the sustainability and long-term stability. so it's crucial

to try to meet that demand. let's ta ke to try to meet that demand. let's take a look at global champagne sales. they fell by 2% in 2016 will stop this was partially driven by lower sales in the uk due to brexit. in france as well, your home market, where there were terror attacks, fewer tourists visiting, are you worried about the future of the industry? though. i'm not worried about the industry. i think it's a normal temporary kind of thing. in the case of france, there is a big consumption and very low price for champagne, which is not very healthy. so it will change and in the case of the uk it is brexit, but also very significant is per se —— prosecco. for a long time japan has been one of your biggest markets.

prosecco. for a long time japan has been one of your biggest marketsm isa been one of your biggest marketsm is a big market. in the past, 40 yea rs is a big market. in the past, 40 years ago, it was a big spirits market. in its evolution, it is now an important market for champagne. let's ta ke an important market for champagne. let's take a look at the markets. the nikkei over injapan has opened lower. of course as stronger japanese yen isn't helping and there are continuing geopolitical worries over the korean crisis. the australian market is flat, mirroring what happened on wall street yesterday. that's it. thanks for watching asia business report. this is bbc news. the top stories this hour: hurricane irma leaves a trail of devastation in the eastern caribbean. frantic preparations are being made in haiti, cuba and florida which all lie in the path of the storm. more than 150,000 rohingya muslims have crossed into bangladesh

in the past few weeks escaping the violence in myanmar. the bbc has launched this new online tool to show you how likely you are to be a victim of crime. our home affairs correspondent dominic casciani reports. crime seems to be everywhere. we wa nt crime seems to be everywhere. we want it on tv, it's in the papers and we talk about it on social media. surveys show many of us feel crime is growing nationwide. the bbc‘s time calculator gives you a more accurate idea of your personal risk. so here in redding, where people's perceptions are on target, these friends are soon off to university and they've both been victims of crime. my friend here, victor, he got his bike stolen from this very spot. but you've never had something specific like your bike stolen or mobile stolen? i've had my mobile nick here as well. so how

does 0mar compared to the national average? a higher risk of being a victim of robbery and a higher risk of theft. i didn't expect. to be perfectly honest. —— expect that. quite surprising. victor gets a similar result. statistics show young men are more at risk of crime. but as you get older you become safer. that's quite surprising because you might expect older people to be more vulnerable to certain types of crime. the truth is that as we get older we lived gentler and safer lives. we learn how to protect ourselves from crime. june from the balls club has been a victim of online fraud. how likely is she to be a victim of face—to—face crime? —— bowls club. the calculator shows people like to have a lower risk. william. i can rest on my bed without worrying any

more. “— rest on my bed without worrying any more. —— brilliant. rest on my bed without worrying any more. -- brilliant. this is ingenious. most of us get on with our lives without being too concerned about crime in our neighbourhoods, but figures show there is a real difference between sexes. then our bigger victims but worry the least. wigan warriors more even though they are often safer than they think. —— women worry more. our perception is influenced by the media and what we see in the world around us. we can't know for sure if it will happen to us because many big is simply aren't included in the figures but most experts still say we are safer than we used to be. it is possible to have a look at that crime checker on our website and get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter. now for the sports news. hello, this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: venus williams and sloane stephens

are into a deciding set in their us open semi final. up next 20th seed coco vandewegheplays against her good friend madison keys and madison keyes complete the all american semi—final line up as they battle for the other place in saturday's decider. the premier league clubs vote to bring forward the closing date of the transfer window to before the season starts. and chris froome extends his lead in la vuelta a espana withjust three stages remaining. hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with the tennis news that the first of the women's us open finalists will be known shortly. two—time winner venus williams is playing american compatriot sloane stephens in what has been a compelling match, with the 24—year—old stephens winning the first set 6—1, before williams won the second without dropping a game.