this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. hong kong's leader carrie lam has been forced to delay her annual policy speech after repeated interruptions by pro—democracy lawmakers. india's gaming boom. why many of the country's 500 million gamers are thinking about turning it into a profession. and on financial markets, the focus is still firmly on relations between china and the us, with china saying it will retaliate if congress passes a bill offering support to pro—democracy protestors in hong kong.

it's been another embarrassing and very difficult day for hong kong's leader, carrie lam. she was forced to halt her annual policy address today after some lawmakers disrupted the session, shouting and jeering as she started her speech. let show you carrie lam now, who is now delivering, you can see here, live pictures from hong kong, her annual policy address via video link because, as i've mentioned, she was forced to stop within the legislative council. she is talking about a raft of property initiatives in a bid to restore confidence in her administration after more

than four months of anti—government protests. we are keeping across what she is saying and we will let you know what her announcements are as soon as we get them. let's look at the impact on hong kong from an economic respective. many tourists are staying away. visitor numbers were down almost 40% in august compared with the same month last year. some hotels have reportedly asked staff to take annual leave and even unpaid leave. cancelled sporting events include golf‘s clearwater bay open, with the us pga tour citing "continued demonstrations, civil unrest and safety concerns". this takes you through some of the big sporting events not happening now. the total amount spent by shoppers in hong kong plunged by a record 23% in august. luxury goods retailers

have been hard—hit. jeweller tiffany, for example, saying the unrest is taking a toll on its business there. the economy is almost certain to tip into recession after shrinking in the three months tojune before the height of the protests. let's look now at the moment the speaker interrupted proceedings and cancelled the meeting. translation: the meeting cannot be carried out here. i adjourn the meeting. macro shouting that's what it was like in the legislative council earlier today. craig erlam, senior market analyst at oanda, joins me now. welcome to business briefing. it

looks like chaos today, and another embarrassment for carrie lam, who is trying to lead hong kong right now amidst huge protests and demonstrations. she can't even deliver her annual address. know, and she's very much being pulled into directions. she's obviously wanting to be very sensitive to the wishes and demands coming from the mainland but equally you have these enormous protests at home and ultimately your meant to be a representative of the people and ultimately her response is becoming increasingly heavy—handed and if anything it is infuriating people more and creating a more toxic environment in which protests are continuing on a weekly basis. clearly now we're seeing economic impact of that. i find it's always difficult to focus on the economic impact of these events because the political matters more than the reason for what's driving these protests a nd reason for what's driving these protests and the reason why there is

sympathy for the protesters in the first place. now we're seeing the economic fallout and the impact not just on businesses, because it is sometimes difficult to sympathise with large corporations like tiffany, but some small workers are going to get affected, regular people living paycheck to paycheck could get fired. we're looking at four months of protests and despite the efforts on the part of authorities in hong kong and mainland china, it looks like they're going to continue and the line coming out of china from president xijinping is line coming out of china from president xi jinping is very hard line coming out of china from president xijinping is very hard in terms of what he might do if these protests continue. yet the demonstrations don't look like they're going to end any time soon. there's a big divide between the demonstrators, mainland china and carrie lam and the authorities in hong kong. this could go on for a long time, couldn't it? we have to

look at the way the situation has evolved. this was initially about an extradition bill and you could argue they were too slow to remove the bill altogether, they initially delayed it which seemed to infuriate protesters more than alleviate the issues. it's evolved into a broader protest against china's rule in hong kong and away from the initial issues and you wonder if this was nipped in the bud earlier and dealt with better in the earlier stages, maybe this protest wouldn't have evolved in the way it has. like i say, carrie lam is in a situation whereby she is in a lose lose situation and it doesn't matter what she does and she seems either relu cta nt, she does and she seems either reluctant, unwilling or she's finding it difficult to find a situation to resign her post because how does someone like carrie lam move forward with this? and the long—term impact for hong kong in terms of the economy do you think? it's easy to focus on the near term economy, and that's why a lot of focus is on tourism and that might return but you have to remember a

lot of tourism is coming from mainland china. even if these issues are resolved, how much longer are people in china going to view hong kong differently as a tourist and shopping destination? what's the more medium—term impact going to be? as other issues with businesses looking at hong kong differently. we recently looking at hong kong differently. we rece ntly ha d looking at hong kong differently. we recently had the hong kong exchange put ina recently had the hong kong exchange put in a bid for the london stock exchange and the first thing people thought about when that offer came m, thought about when that offer came in, financially, a good offer, but how much does the london stock exchange want to be tied with hong kong and what impact will it have on the future business and the ability to do business? people will be viewing things differently because hong kong has always had its independence. craig, thanks for your analysis and carrie lam, she is still delivering her speech and we will bring you the details when we have more on what her policy address is containing. the international monetary fund's latest projection for global

video games are already popular in india, but the market is growing rapidly, with more than 500 million players in the country. that's still less than china, but the potential is huge and now many casual gamers are considering full—time careers in the sport. the bbc‘s jagdip cheema has more from lucknow. ankip has devoted the past 15 years of his life to online games, spending hour after hour in front of the screen. now he's one of india's most popular professional gamers. he has secured sponsorship from a number of high—profile brands, such as red bull and dell. even his pa rents a re as red bull and dell. even his parents are impressed. in any event, i would say i charge for thousand dollars or $5,000 for my presence, that's my presence fee. seeing that money go into my account and my pa rents a re money go into my account and my parents are really happy and they feel proud. for india's aspiring gamers, overcoming parental conservatism is still a huge challenge. however, at this gaming event in lucknow, some

pa rents a re this gaming event in lucknow, some parents are actively encouraging their children to chase a career in their children to chase a career in the industry. translation: we travel quite farand we the industry. translation: we travel quite far and we came from a place three hours from here. my son has played a lot of ornaments and he has won a lot of prizes. this was an opportunity for him and that's why we came and i don't mind him choosing this career because it pays well. india's expected to have just over 600 million gamers by the end of next year, with the industry projected to be worth just over $1 billion. yet if you compare that to other markets such as china, which is 38 times the size of india's, you can see how much potential the industry still has grow further. but, to catch up with the likes of china, there are still a lot of challenges to overcome. first you have to get your bearings and get yourself a gaming computer, that's expensive and then you need a good internet connection and then yourgaming

good internet connection and then your gaming credentials. for a parent, if they don't know the future, this is a big investment. they want you to invest in your studies so you can get a good degree and after that get a job. most youngsters game in local cafe is because of high costs and poor internet services at home. the size of india's gaming industry may be growing fast, but there's a long way to go before gamers like these get their shot at stardom. jagdip cheema, bbc news, lucknow. that is the business briefing. the judge at the infected blood inquiry has praised a witness for showing no trace of bitterness as she set out her remarkable

account of how she lost two husbands who died after being treated with contaminated blood. they were two among three thousand people who lost their lives after being given infected blood in the 1970s and 1980s. hugh pym heard liz hooper‘s evidence. heroes, they are, both. never got the chance to tell their stories under oath. to good men in every sense of the word, taken away so cruelly before they could be heard. today, liz was heard as she read out a poem at the enquiry about her late husband ‘s. one of them the father of her son, lewis. jeremy was liz's first love. they were married for two decades but his treatment for haemophilia had left him with hepatitis c and he died a catastrophic death in intensive care. paul got me out of an extremely dark place. we saved one

another. by chance, she met paul, her soulmate, she said stop he'd contracted hiv after his treatment stop he lost his sight and then didn't recover after a stroke. stop he lost his sight and then didn't recover after a strokelj don't didn't recover after a stroke.” don't regret one minute of meeting and marrying jeremy or paul. i don't regret being their wife. i don't regret being their wife. i don't regret that i've had to go through this in order to be there wife. no regrets, but she does want the enquiry to get to the truth. it's murder. it's tantamount to murder as far as i'm concerned. why we re murder as far as i'm concerned. why were my husbands both taken away from me? it's as simple as that. i just want to know why. i would like to thank you for your love and for making me your wife, and to tell you both, my beautiful men, you really were my life.

this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: negotiations between the eu and the uk aimed at reaching a brexit deal are extended into today as downing street says they've so far been constructive. hong kong leader carrie lam's forced to abandon her big annual policy speech at the legislative council after lawmakers turn on her. she's now delivering it via video link. it's time to look a little more deeply at a few stories making headlines this morning. what the global media is discussing. we begin with the situation in the middle east. gulf news, which is published in the united arab emirates, leads, unsurprisingly, with the visit there of president putin. it's a sign of how the geopolitics of the region is rapidly changing shape, with russia taking an increasingly prominent role in syria. back in europe, and talks continued through the night to try to get brexit deal.

all the papers in the uk are guessing what the outcome might be. the guardian, published here in london, focuses on the problems that borisjohnson is likely to have getting his potential deal through parliament. turning to hong kong now, and bloomberg has a story connecting moves by american politicians to support the democracy movement there to the wider us—china trade dispute. the chinese foreign ministry has threatened retaliation if the us congress passes the new hong kong human rights act. a tech story next, and the bbc website looks at the ‘delete facebook‘ protest spreading in social media after it emerged that company boss mark zuckerberg held informal dinners with conservative politicians and right—wing commentators in the us. and finally, the times has an alarming story about the impact of air pollution. it says new research suggests that living in an area with high air pollution worsens your memory to the same extent as ageing 10 years.

many of you have been in touch about that from all over the world. with me still is rebecca harding, ceo and founder of coriolis tech and author of the book the weaponization of trade. let's start with golf news and it is focusing on president putin's visit to the region and says it reflects the strength of russia uae relations —— gulf. the strength of russia uae relations -- gulf. this isn't about trade at all, but trade is proxy in a bigger battle going on between china and russia and the united states or control of effectively financial networks at the moment. this is in an environment where russia and the united states are less likely to put boots on the ground and have military conflict and we have seen that. this is actually banks on the ground. it is effectively how trade is being used as a proxy for this

bigger battle. we are