i'm ben bland with bbc news. our top story. the florida coast is being buffetted by hurricane michael — the most powerful storm to hit the area in a century. so far one death has been reported at a home in gadsen county. the storm made landfall northwest of the town of mexico beach, packing wind speeds of up to 200km/h, ripping up trees and bringing down power lines. president trump says he has talked to saudi arabian officials at the highest levels about the disappearance of the journalist, jamal khashoggi, in istanbul. and this video is trending on bbc.com: a car racing series specifically for women is to be set up. the w series will begin in 2019, and is meant to offer a pathway for women to compete in formula one. that's all. stay with bbc world news. and the top story in the uk, the christian owners of a northern ireland bakery have won their appeal in the so—called "gay cake" discrimination case. it was a unanimous judgement.

now on bbc news, live to singapore for asia business report. asian markets have opened and they are tracking the falls on wall street. the dow jones are tracking the falls on wall street. the dowjones drops 831 points and stocks tumbled to eight month lows. we look at the factors behind the big sell—off. and singapore airlines is set to reclaim the title of running the world ‘s longest non—stop flight when it relaunches its direct service to the us east coast tonight. hello and welcome to asia business report. let's ta ke welcome to asia business report. let's take a look at those markets 110w let's take a look at those markets now because some asian markets are open. japan's market as well as the australian market. the japanese

market is down over 3%, its biggest fall since march. the australian market down around 2%. we will see other markets opening a little later and they are all taking their cues from us stocks overnight. this is how they did. tech stocks, particularly on the nasdaq, bore the brunt of the sell—off. sentiment essentially taking a big hit over worries that the ongoing trade tensions between the us and china will hurt corporate profits our correspondent in new york has more detailed. it is difficult to figure out just one factor that led detailed. it is difficult to figure outjust one factor that led to this big sell—off that we thought. outjust one factor that led to this big sell-off that we thought. as you mentioned it has to do with corporate profitability. the fourth quarter earnings season corporate profitability. the fourth quarter earnings season begins on friday here in the united states and many investors are beginning to fret that we will not see the sort of record profit that we saw over the summer, partially as a result of, like you said, the import tariffs that have been imposed. tariffs went

into effect on over $200 billion worth of imports in september. there is also domestic factors that may impact profitability as well. inflation is rising in the us and that means that the us federal reserve, the central bank, has increased interest rates which increases the cost of borrowing for many corporations and that could also hurt profitability. and why our technology stocks in particular bearing the brunt of the sell—off? this is profit—taking. the idea that investors do not think the shares will rise any further so they will ta ke will rise any further so they will take their winnings now. which stocks have risen the most over the last year? many of them are tech stocks. hammers on and net leaks we re stocks. hammers on and net leaks were some of the hardest hit today's. both saw share price declined over 6%. so some of the wind is coming out of the sails when it comes to investor enthusiasm that has been pushing these share prices higher. that there do seem to be jitters before the earnings season begins. it isjust

jitters before the earnings season begins. it is just unclear whether 01’ begins. it is just unclear whether or not we will see whether this is sustained throughout the week or it was just a sustained throughout the week or it wasjust a single sustained throughout the week or it was just a single day blip. sustained throughout the week or it wasjust a single day blip. we expect to big items today from the imf and the world bank meetings in bali. it is day three of the meetings and they will see a list the world bank's human capital index and fresh comments as well from the imf managing director. let's go now to our correspondence too has been covering these meetings this week. the human capital index will be published in the next half—hour or so. published in the next half—hour or so. what is that about with and mark the human capital index is basically the human capital index is basically the call to action from the world bank telling countries around the world that if you invest in your people, in healthcare and education, there is a direct link to economic growth and productivity. the bank will rank countries to show who has made it to the top of this index. that will be released in half an hour. more importantly, the reason

for why it is doing this now is against the backdrop of the global trading environment, and the downgrading of global economic forecasts because of the trade war, it is now import more important than ever to put these investments into place. i will have an exclusive interview with the world bank president later on that here is a sneak peek of what he said. we are worried about the drop in the growth of trade. was 5% last year, 3% this year. most of the adjustment in what we expect global growth to look like have come from the drop in the growth of trade. it is a huge concern. growth of trade. it is a huge concern. we are very hopeful that we do not get into this kind of trade war because the implications for the global economy, especially implication for the poorest, are really quite worrisome. looking forward to hearing more of that interview that you did with the president of the world bank. tell

us, whereas all of this money going to come from? that is a question i have heard asked a lot at this summit this week in bali. and the point that the world bank wants to make is that there is a lot of lazy money, if you will, lying around and there are commercially viable ways to spend money on big infrastructure projects that countries usually like to do when they are looking at investing in their long—term future. the world bank is saying that there are other ways to spend this government money. so focused on your people and on healthcare and education for that long—term perspective, that long—term future. this decision to rank countries seems somewhat controversial. it is really a way for what some people might think the world bank to name and shame countries? why are they doing this? i think the world bank would say it is not about naming and

shaming but it is about reflecting who has done well and who needs more work and how much more work there is left to be done. honestly, the main point in all of this is that there isa point in all of this is that there is a long way for countries to go and if they do not see all of this printed out in black and white, if you will, on the human capital index, they will have no way of gauging how far they still need to go and we will find out who makes it to the top of that list in the next 25 minutes also so i will be back with you for the next edition of asia business report. we shall be waiting anxiously to that. now, 19 hours on a plane. starting tonight that will be the longest flying time ona that will be the longest flying time on a commercial flight when passengers will be able to fly direct from singapore to newjersey. singapore airlines is relaunching that flight. it is not an average tribal. plane will only have premium economy and business class seats. reclaiming the world ‘s longest

route is a bittersweet victory for singapore ‘s international carrier. it offered the same service years ago but high oil prices made it to laloo expensive to run. aviation expert geoffrey thomas weighs in on the timing of this non—stop long will relaunch. why now? because technology has moved on so far. the aeroplane that will do it is probably two generations beyond the aircraft are used to use. it is a twin—engine instead of four engines. it is lighter and carries more passengers and burned 30% less fuel. this is a great aeroplane to the bottom line and a great aeroplane for passengers. and grateful plain geeks as well. you can see how far the technology has come. was just fuel prices that went wrong last time? your prices are a big factor that at the outset it was at the edge of the

envelope of aeroplane as far as performance is concerned. singapore singapore airline has always pushed aircraft manufacturers to do more and more. they are one of the leaders for pushing technology to the advantage of the passenger. this one was probably a little bit fine as far as performance is concerned so it was a marginal set —— route from the outset. and were dumber high oil prices killed it off. in terms of demand, it is only premium economy and business class that will cost a lot more. is there a demand? there is a very big demand for premium economy and this is the way of the future, particularly for older long—range flights because passengers demand more comfort. and as fuel prices drop, has become cheaper and it is more affordable to say i want a few more inches of legroom, look more comfort. premium economy is a growing market and they are in the right space for this. perfectly positioned. there has been a lot of talk

recently thanks to a slew of leaks, that google is developing a modified search engine for china that would bend to the rules of censorship within the country. mike pence said that google should immediately and development on the project, codenamed dragonfly. the tech expert i spoke to earlier said it is no surprise that google wants a piece of the mainland market. the largest internet market in the world, almost 800 million internet users. this is definitely aid big market that google cannot ignore. is there still room for google in that market? there are many other competitors there as well, particularly chinese competitors did it in a domestic market we have a search engine like baidu who has 70 2% of market share. companies in china have two follow regulations that involve sensor ring the information of users. i think what a chinese user wants to see is

the company at the level of google, protecting their privacy and if google is able to deliver a better search result and build trust with chinese consumers i believe there is still room for them to grow when china. do you think, however, that chinese consumers will make the switch if they feel they are getting a censored version of google, a watered down version? how will google distinguish itself or the other chinese firms? they provide a better user experience. that is one of the key things that will differentiate themselves from other search engines. i also believe that if you look at the market outside of china, the power of the google product is they build a seamless ecosystem including search, advertising and, google cloud and e—mailand advertising and, google cloud and e—mail and entertainment services. i think this search engine will serve. gay rights campaigners have expressed disappointment

after the supreme court ruled that a bakery in belfast did not break anti—discrimination laws when it refused to ice a cake with a message supporting same—sex marriage. the five justices said the christian owner of asher‘s bakery objected to the message on the cake, and not to any personal characteristics of the customer. emma vardy reports. it is four years since gay rights activist gareth lee walked into this belfast bakery to place an order. his purchase of a cake became a bitter legal row over the extent to which businesses can refuse to promote certain views. the cake was to be iced with the message "support gay marriage". today, the supreme court ruled that the bakery‘s refusal to take that order did not amount to discrimination. this court has held that nobody should be forced or have or express a political opinion in which he does not believe. the bakery‘s owners had previously been sued for discrimination.

today's decision by the uk's highest court to overturn previous rulings marks a hard —fought vindication of their views. we did not turn down this order because of the person who made it, but because of the message itself. thejudges have given a clear signal today. in fact, it couldn't be clearer. family businesses like ours are free to focus on giving all their customers the best service they can, without being forced to promote other people's campaigns. gareth lee spoke of his disappointment at the turnaround. i paid my money. my money was taken, and then a few days later it was refused, based upon the beliefs of the business owners. that made me feel like a second—class citizen, and the judgement today tells me that that's ok. northern ireland is the only part of the uk which has not introduced same—sex marriage. the so—called gay cake case has been

watched closely in belfast, where there have been protests from those on both sides of this debate. i'm so glad today that ashers has won the case, and that takes a lot — i'm sure it was a lot of pressure on them. i feel personally offended, and i feel that the lgbt community would be offended also. the supreme courtjudges said that the conclusions reached today were not intended to diminish the need to protect people who are gay from discrimination, saying it would be an affront to human dignity to refuse someone a service based on their sexual orientation, but that that was not what had happened in this case. instead, said the court, it was the bakery‘s right not to print a message with which they disagreed. and this could be a taste of things to come if other businesses wish to refuse to promote political views in future. emma vardy, bbc news, at the supreme court.

now on bbc news, sport today. hello, this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: olympic gold medallist simone biles speaks out about being the victim of sexual abuse. world number two roger federer survives a scare as he gets his shanghai masters title defence underway. and shane warne tells us that test cricket will be around as long as its star attractions are playing. hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with the news that four—time olympic gold medallist simone biles has told the bbc she feels empowered after speaking out about the team doctor who abused her and other young gymnasts.