you're watching bbc news. i'm babita sharma. our top story. a warning from the united nations to the leadership of myanmar. the high commissionerfor human rights says the country's leaders could face charges of genocide over the persecution of the rohingya ethnic group. more than 650,000 rohingya muslims have fled from myanmar to neighbouring bangladesh since august. south africa's governing anc is voting to choose a new leader to succeed presidentjacob zuma. nearly 5000 delegates are choosing between the deputy president cyril ramaphosa and former foreign minister, nkosaza na dlamini—zuma. and this story is trending at bbc.com. the latest star wars film has generated more than $450 million in global ticket sales on its opening weekend. in america, the lastjedi is second on the all—time box office list, behind the 2015 star wars film, the force awakens. stay with us. and our top story here in the uk... investigators are trying to establish what caused a multiple pile up in an underpass in birmingham, in the early hours

of saturday morning, which killed six people. one other man is critically ill in hospital. lu re lure for me later, at but first convert here is asia business report. —— but first here is. china's plugging away at developing its one belt, one road initiative. will the world's second—biggest economy continue down the same path in 2018? welcome to asia business report. i'm sharanjit leyl. bitcoin has begun trading on the cme, that is the world's largest derivatives exchange operator, the move is seen as a major validation

of the online currency which has been named as a fraud and in a bubble by some of its critics. alicia centre rally is with us now, we know that this is the second move ina we know that this is the second move in a week, disease mean it is gaining some legitimacy? investment has been cautious by investors, especially given this is a brand—new investment class. it is a premium to what it is currently trading on the stock market, depending on which exchange you look at, of course. as we mentioned, this is a milestone for the currency given previously, institutional investors could not cash in on this because they are not allowed to buy from these regulated exchanges, and so now, they have this avenue in which they can actually bet on a cryptocurrency and interestingly, with the launch of

these, we are also going to see ways for investors to bet against it, so hedge funds can now try and short queen if they are sceptical about its future. always, but nonetheless, we know that it has been called all sorts of things by detractors, jp morgan has called it a fraud. will we see potentially a painful crash? that is definitely a possibility and a very valid concern, at the start of the year, bitcoin was trading at $1000, now it has risen by 200% and is trading at $20,000. we spoke to a critic who had this warning for investors. if you want to invest in bitcoin, be prepared to lose all your money. that was the case financial regulator, but for every sceptic, there is a proponent of the digital currency. we saw christine

lagarde, the head of the international monetary fund, saying it would not be wise to dismiss cryptocurrency, and that we could see a rise of them in developing countries, where they have unstable currencies, for example venezuela, where we see the central bank or government backed currency losing its value. he says he is not opposed the idea of and is still interested in it. it is based in blotch and technology, which has a lot of potential applications for the real world. all right, it is something that should not be criticised at all, as you say. we'll be watching that trade very closely. volatility of course, is a word that we have used a lot, and that is something you've had a lot about in 2017. it

has kept investors on their toes as the rules they use to guide their decisions seem to have all changed. for example, north korea's threats have put the us and its neighbours on high alert and president trump was sworn into office and promised widespread changes to financial and economic policies. president xi jinping has taken on the role of global sales statesman, calling for a cleaner environment and global trade. and finally, remember wannacry and the data breach? well, they have become an unavoidable threat that affected all of our lives. well, i asked why the markets kept reaching such unstable highs in recent times. it is a bit of mystery, actually. you would essentially think that with everything that is happening in the markets in the world, the oil—price

would be going up and down, it is just not the case. i guess there is so just not the case. i guess there is so much cheaper money in the system, interest rates remain low, and that is what is fuelling economic growth. i guess if there is one thing we could put a finger on, it is now that the us is self—sufficient. moving away from that, let's take a look at the north korean crisis because that is something that is creating a lot of headlines in this region, especially because it is a rogue nation that does not seem to wa nt to rogue nation that does not seem to want to get back into line. how do you see that resolving it at all, in 2018? it will be hard to find a resolution because it will involve both sides stepping down, not much sign of that happening as 2017 comes to an end. north korea appears to be going to stick to its strategy, which means putting nuclear capability to the point that the us and china take it seriously enough, in its view, to enter into

negotiations. there is no indication that the us is going to do that and no indication that china is going to be able to pull a rabbit out of a hat and find some solution that can accommodate both what north korea wa nts to accommodate both what north korea wants to get, what china itself wa nts wants to get, what china itself wants out of this, and indeed will satisfy the us. and very quickly, of course, the concern around the cyber hacks. what you have to say about that? they are going to be coming thick and fast, i would like to be able to say otherwise but i am afraid they are a significant feature of corporate life. and that was the global chief of control risk. as the year draws to a close, we are of course looking at some of the year's biggest business topics, and china is almost always at the top of that list. growth appears to have slowed down over the long—term as the economy much yours, expansion was slightly stronger this year than last. the most recent figure for gdp growth is about 6.8%. china also

attempting to expand their influence overseas, through massive assistance ina programme overseas, through massive assistance in a programme known as one belt, one road. the government has censored many web services, while western internet giants continue looking at ways to enter the chinese internet market. what could all this mean for next year? well, the annual central economic conference, which begins today, could be a good indication of what is to come. usually, this is the forum at which the economic elites will set the agenda for next year, including pretty detailed economic policies. we expect them to make a decision on the gdp growth target for next year, if they want to signal they are ready to reform, they are ready to tighten, they could set a lower gdp target, but i think the overall aim is still to double the 2010 gdp by

2020, and that would require the growth averaged over the next two yea rs growth averaged over the next two years to be leased 6%. are we expecting any shocks when it comes to the world's ‘s second—largest economy and its growth target? 0r will it be, as you say, slow and steady? no, we don't expect any dramatic shocks or changes at all, china, the leadership's preference is always sort of stability above anything else. i think any changes to the policies or reforms will be happening in a moderate fashion. something we have heard a lot about in 2017, it is really china's attempt to gain influence in the region with soft power, are we going to see that continue in 2018? yes, absolutely, this is one of xi jinping's signature policies. he will come out of the party congress and definitely want to push ahead

with that, but this is definitely not something that he alone can push. there are more than 160 countries participating, and there area number of countries participating, and there are a number of financial issues to consider. i think next year, it will be basically saying we will see progress but also setbacks in some areas. all right, very briefly, the internet. we know you have huge chinese firms like ellie butler, for instance, what do you see happening? —— alibaba. instance, what do you see happening? -- alibaba. china will try to continue to support large online companies like alibaba, and try to restrict access to foreigners. we at only a few days away from the end of the year, in case you have not noticed, here is what is due out

this week. delivery giant fedex will be reporting quarterly results. yes, they do still make products under licensing with the chinese government. and nike is due to give us government. and nike is due to give usa government. and nike is due to give us a financial update. 0n the agent financial side, japan is going to be holding a monetary meeting as well. we'll be looking out for all about, thatisit we'll be looking out for all about, that is it for this week's asia business report. hanky for watching. —— asian business side. —— thank you. you're watching bbc at news, our main headline for you this morning. the un warns leaders in myanmar they could face charges of genocide over the persecution of rohingya muslims. the government is considering extending automatic enrolment into a workplace pension to 18 year olds from 2020. currently, the starting age is 22.

joe lynam reports. these men are both 21, 0llie has not yet started saving for his retirement. it has not yet crossed my mind, i tend not to stay in one place too long, so pensions have been low down the list of things that i have been conscious of. however, he has been saving for his retirement since he was 16.|j however, he has been saving for his retirement since he was 16. i grew up retirement since he was 16. i grew up with a family on welfare, so i was quite aware of the fact that the effect money can have and how insecure it can be sometimes. is the work and pensions secretary has his way, young people could soon be automatically enrolled for a pension at their employer's. that, i think will get more people into the habit of saving, it will mean that younger people will be saving for those extra yea rs, people will be saving for those extra years, so that will see a

significant —— is significant when it comes to their retirement. the government says that since it introduced auto enrolment, 9 million additional people have started saving for their retirement, but is wise to force even younger people into pension schemes? well, young people leaving school today are facing a perfect storm of high housing costs, a squeeze on their living costs, and also having to contend with quite a limited wage, and it makes it much more likely that they will want to opt out in the future if they do not know what they pension is and what it is doing for them. at the moment, only those aged over 22 automatically included ina aged over 22 automatically included in a pension scheme by their employers, but the government wants that age lowered to 18. singh, 8% of our salaries will be going into a pension pot, something employers are worried about. i think what the government needs to bear in mind, however, is how much of the cost of thatis however, is how much of the cost of that is going to be falling on employers in the future, because already the cost for employers is on

course to treble by 2019. today's announcement means that the cost for employers is going to be even higher than that. to 18 or even 21 —year—olds, retirement must seem a long way off, especially if they don't earn much. but this could help people, particularly those dependent on the state, in years to come. and before i leave you, shoppers in italy had been treated to what is claimed to be the world's biggest panettone. panettone is a christmas sta ple panettone. panettone is a christmas staple in italy. time now for all the sports news in sport today. hello, i'm marc edwards and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: 15 minutes away from the start of

the final day of the ashes test, but are we? could rain be about to deny australia. manchester united close the gap to leaders city in the premier league with a 2—1win over west brom. redemption for raneem el welily, the egyptian wins her first world squash championship after two previous final defeats. hello and thanks for joining us on sport today. we start our show down under, where england are on the brink of surrendering the ashes urn. day five of the third ashes test gets under way shortly in perth. at 2—0 down in the series, the tourists will resume on 132—11, still 127 runs short of making australia bat again. it's a question of survivalfor england, but it seems as though lady luck could be on their side. we were going to be crossing to our reporter andy swiss at the waca, but due to adverse weather conditions, that's not happening. so rather than speaking to andy, let's hear from the players ahead of a potentially decisive fifth day.