the rugby world cup isjust hours from starting, with japan the first asian country to host the competition. the world's top rugby nations are poised for the start of the cup with the outcome as uncertain as any of the previous eight tournaments. the canadian prime minister, justin trudeau, has again apologised for wearing blackface make up on several occasions decades ago. he faces renewed pressure ahead of next month's general election after pictures and footage emerged. and this story is popular on bbc.com. protesters are preparing for friday climate strikes in around 100 countries across the world. organisers say there could be up to a million people taking part. that's all. stay with bbc world news. and the top story here in the uk: the supreme court is expected

to rule early next week on whether the prime minister acted unlawfully, by seeking to suspend parliament for five weeks. it's heard three days of evidence, with the government's lawyers insisting prorogation is not a matter for the courts. now on bbc news we're crossing live to singapore for asia business report. amazon go is green. the online retailer pledges to become carbon neutral what has it gone far enough? making money out of the rugby world cup. how the event is boosting the japanese economy. good morning, asia. hello, world. it isa good morning, asia. hello, world. it is a friday. glad you could join us

for another exciting addition of asia business report. let's start off with amazon because the online retail giant has promised to make the company carbon neutral and make the company carbon neutral and make the goals of the paris climate agreement by the year 2040. chief executive geoff a source says it is triggering to make changes across the global economy. —— jeff bezos. it will drive the economy to build products and services that these large companies need to make those commitments. the bbc has more on amazon's announcement. amazon is calling this the climate pledge and it is making three really big goals. first they want to decarbonise and they will be issuing a lot of strategies in order to do that. they will be tracking their emissions and reporting them on a regular basis. they will also do things like offset. for the instances they can't fully do that, they will do other

things to combat climate change. for example, one thing the company is aiming to do by 2040, they only want to be using renewable energies. they even bought a new fleet of delivery, 100,000 in total, and they are all electric vehicles. this is a big company taking a big step forward in trying to do their part to combat climate change. samir hussein reporting. this comes as more than 15,000 of the company's workers have pledged to take protest against amazon's environmental record was not the first walkout by staff in its seattle headquarters and the people in the protest have welcomed jeff bezos‘s pledge but this it doesn't go far enough. the us federal reserve bank says it will check billions of dollars into money markets for a fourth day in a row on friday. the move comes as authorities want to preserve the us federal bank's control over federal interest rates. that is just part of a huge week for central banks. the

fed said its borrowing rate and the bank of the japan held steady. against a slowing global economy, they are finding a job increasingly tricky. we are joined they are finding a job increasingly tricky. we arejoined by they are finding a job increasingly tricky. we are joined by the governor of the philippines central bank here in singapore. thank you for joining bank here in singapore. thank you forjoining us. yesterday we heard that us president donald trump criticised jerome powell and the fed, calling them no guts, no sense, no vision. doesn't independent and autonomous group deserve to be treated this way? no, i think it would be disrespectful for the institution to be treated like that. in the first place. traditionally, central banks in many countries should be independent of the executive. earlier this year, you we re executive. earlier this year, you

were appointed the new boss of the central bank in philippines. have you felt president deterred a's pressure to cut borrowing rates more than you should ? pressure to cut borrowing rates more than you should? —— president deterred —— macro akrotiri. —— duterte. there were 6.796 in the philippines. the central bank increased the policy by 175 points. before you became governor earlier this year, you are also the budget secretary and president duterte had this big build infrastructure initiative. i am one of the authors of that. was there pressure from the executive branch, the president, to perform money into infrastructure

projects? no pressure. it was in order to me, do yourjob and do it for the people, that is it. no pressure. and of course next thursday, there is a policy board meeting and the fed has already cut, brazil has cut, hong kong has cut, will the philippines be following suit? i promise they will be another rate cut before the end of the year. so we will look at the data and make a decision. it is a board decision, not mine. will it be a quarter of a point or half a percent? most likely a quarter because i promised, we we re a quarter because i promised, we were inclined to cut it by 50 basis points last time because we want to look at the leader more closely so we decided to cut it... what is currently the biggest risk today for the philippine economy? to me, the

world economy. you mentioned donald trump in one of the conferences yesterday. the philippines is a pretty good place right now. we are not going to be affected too much by this china us trade while because we have experts that a firm. we might even benefit from it because some of the chinese will relocate. thank you for joining the chinese will relocate. thank you forjoining us in asia business report. thank you forjoining us, the philippines central bank governor. as the rugby world cup ticks off today, —— kicks off today, it is the first time tournament is being held in asia. mariko 0i is in tokyo and told us how organisers are hoping it will bring a major boost to the economy. it is notjust the excitement of hosting the rugby world cup. the economic impact is

quite significant. let me crunch some numbers. the organisers think that the event will bring in some 400 alien yarn. that is a whopping 4 billion us dollars. they think nearly half a million foreign visitors will come to japan for the six week tournament and they think fa ns six week tournament and they think fans are expected to spend an average of 20,000 yen orjust under 200 us dollars per day, being there time injapan a sizeable economic impact. it is notjust these cities like 0saka impact. it is notjust these cities like 0sa ka and impact. it is notjust these cities like osaka and tokyo because the matches are spread out over 12 venues matches are spread out over 12 venues in 12 different cities. the key is whether they can offer convenient services for foreign travellers, especially with a language barrier. i guess it is a good test ahead of tokyo 0lympics next summer. but guess what? 0ne thing the sponsor of the tournament, heineken, is worried about is the capacity of stadiums like this to sell beer. they used to host

football these ballgames and did you know that rugby fans drink a lot more beer than them? during the last by more beer than them? during the last rug by world more beer than them? during the last rugby world cup in england in 2015, they consumed 1.9 million litres of beer which is six times more air than football fans. let's hope they will not run out of beer like russia did before because i have a feeling thatis did before because i have a feeling that is one of the most important things for rugby fans. this is one for all cat lovers. what could be more perfect than sipping your capital mate surrounded by feline friends. cat cafe is started in taiwan and a coffee shop in taipei known as cat flower garden.

my my husband is very allergic and for the past few years i felt sad that we didn't have any pet.

i love cats, they are purrrrrfect pets. the new k is a by one third. the all odds. the positive day for asian markets. thank you for investing your time with us. goodbye for now. —— jeff investing your time with us. goodbye for now. ——jeff —— lacko investing your time with us. goodbye for now. —— jeff —— lacko two. investing your time with us. goodbye for now. ——jeff —— lacko two. —— nikkei. this is bbc news the top stories this hour: japan prepares to make history

as the first asian nation to host the rugby world cup. canada's prime minister, justin trudeau, says he deeply regrets that he wore blackface make up on several occasions decades ago. he's facing renewed pressure ahead of next month's general election. two sisters from southampton have scored a victory in the war on plastic after the fast food giant burger king announced its stopping giving away plastic toys with its children's meals. it was partly in response to a petition started by 10—year—old ella mcewan and her 8—year—old sister caitlin. they received more than half a million signatures when they called on companies to stop giving away plastic items — because of the impact it was having on the environment. bbc south today's lewis coombes reports. announcer: your kids will love mcdonald's happy meal! giving away plastic toys with their happy meals was at —— introduced by mcdonald's in the late 70s. burger king followed suit but the issue of

plastic pollution has made an attractive marketing tool much less attractive marketing tool much less attractive in many people ‘s minds. including ten—year—old ella mcewan and eight—year—old ella mcewan. the southhampton sisters started a petition calling on the two companies to stop the giveaways and wrote to them as part of the bbc‘s waron wrote to them as part of the bbc‘s war on plastic programme. they say they are a cycle but they aren't because there are so many different types of plastic in them so they are ha rd to recycle types of plastic in them so they are hard to recycle so they get put in landfill or even end up in the ocean. when you get them, you only really, like, you play with them for five minutes and then you just throw them in the bin. after delivering a trail your trailer loaded with plastic toys to the headquarters of mcdonald's, their campaign gathered pace and now burger king have taken note. i think what they have done and we spoke to them last night, they hurried us up but we had been working on a sustainable strategy and moving ——on removing toys for

about 18 months but it is fair to say they hurried us up along that process. mcdonald's is saying they are starting a trial enabling pa rents to are starting a trial enabling parents to choose between a book and a toy so it appears to international food giants have ordered their sta nce food giants have ordered their stance with a little gentle persuasion from two little girls. an 81—year—old woman has been speaking about how she fought off a mugger. doreen jones had gone to the cashpoint on her local high street to collect her pension. after the incident, mrsjones, from blackheath in the west midlands, said of her attacker: "she was expecting somebody more vulnerable and they picked the wrong one when they picked doreen." now on bbc news, it's sport today.

hello, i'm marc edwards and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: tick tock, it's almost tokyo time! the rugby world cup injapan kicks off later on friday. a youthful arsenal get off to a winning start in the europa league at frankfurt. on a day of upsets in osaka, giorgi stuns stephens reach the quarter—finals of the pan pacific 0pen. it's finally here! we're just a few hours away from the start of the 2019 rugby world cup as the host nation japan prepare to take on russia in the opening match. new zealand, meanwhile begin the defence of their title — and their bid for a 4th word cup — when they face south africa on saturday, in the tastiest of titanic clashes. the world cup is breaking new ground this year — with it being held in asia for the first time.