our top story: the election campaign in the uk is formally under way. the prime minister, borisjohnson, called on voters to get him the majority to be able to deliver brexit. he told supporters in birmingham that once brexit was done a tory government could get on with better education and infrastructure. opposition labour leaderjeremy corbyn said he would be a different kind of pm, seeking power to share power. democrats in the us have announced they will begin public hearings on impeaching mrtrump next wednesday. so far, lawmakers have heard from witnesses behind closed doors. and video doing well on our wesbite is of police in california rescuing a bear after it got trapped in a bin. it got stuck after finding some food, too large to climb out of the small openings in the lid. officers tried various ways to free it. that's all, stay with bbc world news.

more on our website, bbc.co.uk/news, and the news app. now on bbc news, live to singapore for asia business report. caught up in the hong kong protests, american gaming company activision blizzard reports its results after its controversial ban on players. the economic benefits of coffee beans. we report on a local community in sumatra. it is thursday. good morning, asia. hello, world. glad you could join us for another action packed edition of asia business report. i'm rico hizon. let's begin with us gaming company activision blizzard, which reports its latest numbers later today. you might remember the firm for suspending the accounts of four players after they openly supported

the hong kong protests. almost immediately, the hashtag # boycottblizza rd immediately, the hashtag #boycottblizza rd started trending immediately, the hashtag #boycottblizzard started trending on twitter, prompting some players to stop playing. the firm's leader says they will stick with their band, but they will stick with their band, but the company may soon face other problems beyond profits. well, actually, i think the big problem will be regulation. because interest is growing in regulating video games. imagine this. imagine if a large network or large magazine got bought in part by china. you would have a lot of oversight. tencent has bought into activision, yet that has gone unnoticed. so with that protest and that interest you will see regulators clamping down on investment in china into videogame companies. so regulatory hurdles, backlash from these protests. when will that have an impact on activision blizzard's bottom line? will it be this october to december?

well, actually no. the biggest impact right now is fatigue for the same old games. if you look at the lineup they are offering right now it is just lineup they are offering right now it isjust a lineup they are offering right now it is just a sequel, sequel, sequel. gamers are tired of this content and the earnings hit will come from a lack of sales and lack of interest in the current games rather than the protest. but when will the backlash of the protest and banning of these players have an impact on the bottom line of activision blizzard? well, i actually don't think it will that much, because despite all of this noise online, people are still engaging. you do see lots of protests on twitter, but it doesn't really tra nslate protests on twitter, but it doesn't really translate into people cancelling their accounts or stopping playing the games. it is a lot of noise but not a lot of action. sam reynolds joining us earlierfrom hong kong. moving onto facebook california officials say the social media giant failed to provide information in the probe of its privacy practices in the wake of the cambridge analytica scandal. they are now seeking a court

petition to compel the company to respond to its subpoenas. this is the latest in a string of both privacy and anti—trust investigations facebook faces in the us and the european union. airbnb says it will verify the identity of eve ryo ne says it will verify the identity of everyone on its platform, after the death of five people at a halloween party and an investigation revealing a series of scams. in october, vice news unveiled a ring of false or misleading listings. the company has promised to reimburse customers who we re promised to reimburse customers who were misled. ka kao promised to reimburse customers who were misled. kakao has ambitions beyond chat. it has morphed into an e—commerce giant and investors are waiting to hear what its plans are for these new services. the company has expanded into digital payments and right hailing, and there is talk it is developing a chat service

which uses artificial intelligence to help buyers purchase anything from food to clothes. you can hear more of their plans today when kakao announces its third—quarter earnings. earlier i asked mark einstein if it makes sense for the firm to introduce new services. einstein if it makes sense for the firm to introduce new serviceslj think firm to introduce new services.” think that their core competency is really that they have a0 million daily active users on their platform —— marc einstein. which is pretty much the entire population of south korea. they are already using their chat, they are already using their games, and this is a natural extension of making a larger digital ecosystem, especially in south korea. so they are not spreading themselves too thin by opening up new services? i think growth in the games industry and in the chat industry are fairly flat, and i think for them to grow, they need to go deeper. and i think they also have an advantage because the amazons of the world a much slower to enter markets like korea and china. soi to enter markets like korea and china. so i do think this makes a

lot of sense for them. now, what do you think is the biggest change we can make to help our planet? according to a report out today from the united nations food and agriculture organisation, it is our diet. for more on this i am joined by my colleague and business reporter monica miller. i am all in ona reporter monica miller. i am all in on a diet. what about businesses? well, everything from the impossible burger to mcdonald's and pizza express creating vegan menus. food consumption and production account for 26% of the global economic footprint —— pizza express. by 2050 there will be 9.7 billion of us on there will be 9.7 billion of us on the planet which means we need to produce 50% more food, that is the equivalent of farming land double the size of india. researchers say that a big dietary shift to a plant diet is better than driving electric ca i’s diet is better than driving electric cars or taking less flights. now, the meat industry is the fastest growing industry in this realm. they

are expecting, barclays says, to become a $150 billion industry over the next decade. big news for those diet companies. thank you so much for that update, my colleague and business reporter monica miller. now, from diets to coffee. in indonesia, which reduces more than tons of coffee beans last year, that will get you more than 60 billion servings of single espresso —— 600,000 tons. one particular variety is harvested in an isolated town in sumatra on the western edge of indonesia. coffee aficionados are starting to pay a attention to this, and it is affecting the community. indonesia's most sought after coffee beans can only be found here, deep in the remote highlands of samaj island. in the past, farmers like

this sold one kilogram of them for just $3.50. but these beans are selling for six times the price. translation: farmers can sell their products to buyers who come directly or they can sell online. this is very helpful because they can sell ata very helpful because they can sell at a higher price compared with the past, when access to more buyers was limited. sometimes the middlemen would cheat the farmers. the coffee trade from this remote area has also benefited those outside the farming community. translation: it's extraordinary. some local students here sent roasted coffee beans to jakarta, and other cities to fund their living expenses and tuition fees. coffee consumption in indonesia has nearly doubled in the past ten years. in this town, the

unique taste has won over the local population, and lead to more cafe is p°ppin9 population, and lead to more cafe is p°pping up- population, and lead to more cafe is popping up. translation: in the past, coffee like this was only for export. after our generation gained more knowledge, we found that this coffee is healthier and tastier, so that's why it's now top coffee. the arabica appears to be the new crew in town, and could pave the way for coffee tourism. global buyers are also visiting the area to secure supply deals. i need my coffee after this show. have you ever felt like you deserve a medalfor this show. have you ever felt like you deserve a medal for having children? well, the government of kaza khsta n shares children? well, the government of kazakhstan shares that view. many governments have been —— incentives for those who have multiple children but kazakhstan goes as far as to award medal to the hero mothers who keep the birth rate high. metal

holders receive an allowance from the government for their entire lives.

congratulations to the kazakhstan hero mothers. let's have a look at the asia pacific markets. not a whole lot of action forjapan and hong kong, but the all ordinaries is up hong kong, but the all ordinaries is up by hong kong, but the all ordinaries is up by 0.6%. thank you so much for investing your time with us. i'm rico hizon. goodbye for now. this is bbc news. the top stories this hour: the uk's election campaign is formally under way, with prime minister borisjohnson calling on voters to give him the majority to deliver brexit. us congressional democrats announce they will begin public hearings on impeaching president trump next wednesday.

action taken by the metropolitan police to to prevent extinction rebellion activists protesting in central london last month was illegal, according to the high court. the met now faces the prospect of hundreds of claims of compensaion after it enforced a blanket ban on protests of more than two people in an effort to curb the group's autumn uprising, as our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford explains. for seven days, extinction rebellion protestors brought parts of london to a standstill. stretching police resources to the limit. on the eighth day, organisers adopted a tactic from the hong kong pro—democracy movement, in which protestors are told to be like water — to flood a site, and then when police arrive, quickly move on to another location, causing as much disruption as possible. at that point, the superintendent in charge banned all extinction rebellion protests in london, a decision the high court today ruled unlawful.

we're delighted with today's result. it vindicates our belief that the police's blanket ban was an unprecedented, unlawful infringement on our right to protest. it also opens the way for those who were detained for breaching the ban to sue the police for unlawful arrest. we're disappointed by the ruling, but clearly we absolutely respect the court's decision. and what we need to do now, i think, is, in slow time, carefully consider what it means for us, and review our tactics in light of it. so, the police now have a challenge — how do they deal with the "be water" tactic of protestors, when lots of mini—protests keep popping up all over the place? the judges were clear that a city—wide ban won't wash. it's unlawful. so police will have to revert to dealing with each mini—protest one by one, with all the implications for resources that that involves.

police said today they spent more than £2a million policing extinction rebellion's autumn uprising, and said it had caused unacceptable and prolonged disruption. daniel sandford, bbc news, at new scotland yard. the starting gun has been fired for the general election. the bbc will be looking at the key issues, explaining the policies that have been talked about and the subjects which are not. lots more on our website. you can also check out the bbc news app. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter. now on bbc news, sport today. is all hello, i'm gavin ramjaun and this is sport today, from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: bayern munich maintain their perfect champions league record this season, with robert lewandowski scoring

again — to qualify for the knockout stages. they‘ re joined by juventus — who produce a late late show against lokomotiv, tojoin the last 16. and calling time on her career. nicola adams — a double olympic champion — retires from boxing at the age of 37. hello and welcome to the programme. european giants bayern munich and juventus have sealed their places in the knockout phase, of this season's champions league. bayern, who sacked manager niko kovac this week — continued their perfect form in europe, by beating olympiakos... butjuventus needed a stoppage winner in russia. our football reporterjohn bennett explains how bayern managed to keep their momentum, despite starting slowly. to be honest, they were a bit flat, certainly in the first half but robert lewandoski never let them down. he gave them the lead on 68