our top story: britain's prime minister has suffered two major setbacks. first, a cross—party group of mps successfully passed a bill to prevent a no—deal brexit. borisjohnson‘s response was to call for a general election, but that failed to get sufficient support from mps. rescues are under way in the bahamas, where hurricane dorian has destroyed whole communities. survivors say nothing is left. the storm is now heading towards the us east coast. scientists say this summer's melting has been one of the most severe on record, putting millions of people living in low—lying areas around the world in peril. that's all, stay with bbc world news. for more analysis and background

on our top stories and more, head over to our website, bbc.com/news, or download the bbc news app. now on bbc news, live to singapore for asia business report. more brexit drama. we look at the impact on the uk economy and its currency. youtube find, but only a tiny amount, for violating kids‘ privacy. good morning, hello, world. yes, it‘s a thursday. glad you could join us for another exciting addition of asia business report. i‘m rico hizon. let‘s start off with brexit, because it has been another dramatic day at westminster. mps

have rejected prime minister boris johnson‘s call for an early general election, which he called after they voted to ban a no deal brexit. well, this will mean they will likely request a further delay to leave the european union beyond 31 october. the uncertainty is certainly taking its toll on the uk economy. written‘s manufacturers are in a nosedive. orders are falling, which means they are not hiring. the country‘s dominant services sector is barely growing and they are increasingly pessimistic. retail sales falling by 0.5% in the month of august, and the economy shrank by 0.2% in the three months tojune. the first contraction since 2012. so if they get another negative number for the three months to september, that would put written into a technical recession, the first since the global financial crisis. here technical recession, the first since the globalfinancial crisis. here is the globalfinancial crisis. here is the head of the bank of england, mark carney. the underlying trend or

judgement is that the economy is growing very weakly, slightly positive, but close to zero. and michael mccarthy from cmc markets joined me earlier and told me how these latest developments are impacting the uk economy. it's very ha rd impacting the uk economy. it's very hard for businesses to invest when they don‘t know what their future looks like, and in particular the ha rd looks like, and in particular the hard brexit, that is no deal brexit, is of concern to business. because while in the longer term it might be a positive for the uk economy, in the short term the disruption to the existing business relationships across europe means it is likely to continue to slow the economy. it is that uncertainty which is really worrying business leaders. and with the pound against the dollar at 1.20, now1.22, how the pound against the dollar at 1.20, now 1.22, how is this impacting exports? the impact is a bit of a boost and it is one of the reliefs being triggered by the market action in the wake of the

brexit decision. that has cushioned some of the blows, but overall it is an expression of concern. traders bought the pound in overnight trading because the deferral of no deal brexit looks like a positive for them but it is clear we still have a downward trend in the pound and it is likely to continue to come under pressure until there is some idea of what the brexit roadmap might look like. because we saw the poundin might look like. because we saw the pound in 2016 at 1.50 two the us dollar, so we have really seen the currency depreciate very much over the last few years. but how much can it get stronger? after the vote we saw it get up to about 1.22. yes, well, earlier this week it touched a ten year low, below 1.20 us. that could be what traders refer to as a dead cat bounce in the market. nonetheless, if we do start to get some certainty and there is an opportunity for business leaders to assess what the future might look

like for britain, we could see a rally back towards 1.26. however, we would need to see some positive evidence that the confidence that might come with a decision on brexit is having an impact on the economy. so we‘re talking about the medium to long—term rather than the next weeks 01’ long—term rather than the next weeks or months. apart from brexit, we saw us stocks rebound on economic news and data from china. this is helping revive risk appetites in the market. yes, that very positive read on services in china yesterday had a real impact on markets, as did the 496 real impact on markets, as did the 4% rally in hong kong box after the changes brought about by the government and the withdrawal of the extradition bill. so that is seeing markets edged back from the extremes of concern. i wouldn‘t say we have blue skies for markets at the moment, but the pullback from the edge has lifted sentiment in the last 2a now the youtube video service, owned by google, has been fined by the us trade regulatorfor allegedly capturing data from

children without parental consent. but the fine came back at $170 million. why so little? samir hussein has the details from new york. -- samira hussein. it really isa york. -- samira hussein. it really is a very small fine and according to the regulators who impose this fine here in the united states, there was actually a split decision, and it of course split on party lines. you saw republicans who approved this deal, this settlement, and democrats who thought it was far too small. at issue here was just the way youtube was collecting data on children under the age of 13. what makes google and youtube special in terms of the information that it collect is that it gets really targeted information. so it‘s not just sort of this really targeted information. so it‘s notjust sort of this general idea of the websites that you look at, but it is much more defined to you asa but it is much more defined to you as a person. and what youtube was doing was it was getting this data from videos that were being seen by

people under the age of 13. now, youtube said theyjust didn‘t know that these videos were being viewed by people under 13, that their product is not being used by children, and now youtube says they arejust going to children, and now youtube says they are just going to take away any of the advertising that it has on videos that they think children would be watching. in other business is making headlines, hong kong leader carrie lam has a formal withdrawal of the extradition bill which has plans the city into its worst crisis in decades, the hang sengindex worst crisis in decades, the hang seng index rating on that news on wednesday. amidst the protest, cathay pacific has lost another executive. his resignation comes after cathay came under pressure from beijing to stop its staff from joining the protests, though the carrier says his retirement was planned for sometime. now to the us— china war, because the us released its latest trade data for the month

ofjuly. that was when they were on a tariff war truce, yet us exports fell by 2.7% while imports fell by just under 2%. more tariffs kick in on sunday and there will be more in october and december. deborah elms gave me her reaction to the latest number —— elms. gave me her reaction to the latest number -- elms. what was happening especially was that firms were rushing to get products in ahead of the tariff deadlines. so especially any product that are consumer facing and retail. back—to—school products and retail. back—to—school products and things that potentially will be sold for christmas. firms were rushing to get that in so that they didn‘t have to pay between 10% and 1596 didn‘t have to pay between 10% and 15% and possibly 25%. didn‘t have to pay between 10% and 1596 and possibly 25%. retailers like 1596 and possibly 2596. retailers like walmart found essentially a loophole? they were rushing ahead of it on the off chance tariffs would be imposed faster than expected. it on the off chance tariffs would be imposed faster than expectedlj am be imposed faster than expected.” am sure donald trump will be disappointed with these numbers. what will be his next move? he could

move that deadline from 15 december forward. he could say instead of december 15 it is tomorrow. laurie could hit or he could raise the ta riffs could hit or he could raise the tariffs —— or he could raise the tariffs. more than 40,000 prospective homebuyers in india have w011 prospective homebuyers in india have won a case against one of the country‘s biggest real estate firms for not delivering on projects. the country has a decades long building boom but now builders are in financial trouble. the bbc correspondent went to meet some of those affected. it has been a long wait for this family. they have spent $70,000 on a flat of their own. but seven years on, construction has stopped and they are having to shell out extra money every month to rent a house nearby. translation: i wasn't every month to rent a house nearby. translation: i wasn‘t able to give my children a proper education stop you know the earnings of a

middle—class family, and it is difficult to run my home after investing all of our savings into a flat. but there is some hope for people like him. india‘s supreme court ruled in favour of 41,690 homebuyers who had purchased flats from this developer. the real estate firm which was building these flats. executives are accused of diverting more than $500 million of homebuyers‘ funds and using bank loa ns for homebuyers‘ funds and using bank loans for personal wealth. the supreme court held several banks responsible forfailing supreme court held several banks responsible for failing to monitor loa ns responsible for failing to monitor loans given out to the company, but experts say there are problems across the industry. many of the developers who were perceived to be the biggest of them are also falling apartand going the biggest of them are also falling apart and going belly up. the supreme court, which is more of a judicial process, cannot be the a nswer to judicial process, cannot be the answer to all of the mass. somewhere

in between there has got to be a regulatory framework as well.m in between there has got to be a regulatory framework as well. it is estimated that the construction of almost 500,000 flats across india is delayed, but as a result of the supreme court‘s decision, a government run construction company has been appointed to finish the projects. that is good news for rajender and his family, who have been waiting for a place of their own to call home. let‘s have a quick look at the markets. japan and australia entrenched in positive territory, mirroring the gains in the us. thank you for investing your time with us. i am rico hizon. goodbye for now. this is bbc news. the top stories this hour: the british parliament has approved legislation that could prevent the country leaving the european union at the end of next month without a deal. the prime minister, borisjohnson, responded by calling for a general election on 15 october, but his motion failed to get

the required support of two thirds of mps. on any other day, wednesday‘s spending plan would have been the big story at westminster. the chancellor, sajid javid, said he is turning the page on austerity, as he promised to raise public spending by more than £13 billion next year. extra funding has been announced for schools, defence, and preparing for britain‘s exit from the european union. our economics correspondent andy verity has been looking at the numbers. the last time spending rose this fast, by more than 4%, was back here in 2004, and the government was in a lot less d e bt in 2004, and the government was in a lot less debt back then. these red bars here show the spending review since the financial crisis, when the government‘s that shot up.

sajid javid argues the interest rates are cheap now so he can afford to borrow more for extra spending. every single government department has had its budget for day—to—day spending increased at least in line with inflation. that‘s what i mean by the end of austerity, mr speaker. britain‘s hard work paying off. a country living within its means, able to spend more on the things that matter. they are claiming to be against posterity after years of voting for it. they are claiming to be using headroom which he knows is largely disappeared. and yet they are still failing to deliver a real and to austerity. while spending on the nhs will rise by £6.2 billion next year, most of that isn‘t new money. it had already been announced by the previous chancellor, philip hammond. but there is an extra £3 billion for schools and further education, a burst of £2.2 billion for the armed forces, and £750

million for more police. that extra spending is affordable within the government‘s for school rules, but only if an ideal brexit doesn‘t happen. now, adding to that uncertainty were figures out today which suggest the services sector barely grew in august, while manufacturing and construction shrank. we don‘t have the official figures yet, but there is a real possibility we may already be in recession, and that could make these spending plans look much less affordable. now on bbc news, sport today. hello, i‘m tulsen tollett and this is sport today live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: switzerland‘s belinda bencic is through to her first ever grand slam semi—final after victory over donna vekic at the us open. as you were — steve smith returns to the australian side

for the fourth ashes test against england and hits yet another half century. and primoz roglic retains the race leader‘s red jersey after stage 11 of the vuelta a espana. hello there and welcome to the programme where we start with the tennis news that belinda bencic is through to her first ever grand slam semi—final after beating croatia‘s donna vekic at the us open in new york. the 13th seed, who knocked out defending champion naomi osaka in the previous round, won 7—6, 6—3 against her good friend and the 22—year—old swiss will face canadian 15th seed bianca andreescu or belgian 25th seed elise mertens next and the win over vekic will put her in the top 10 of the world rankings. first of all we were both after