survivors on white island after a volcanic eruption. five people are confirmed to have died. at least eight are still missing. fears of further eruptions are complicating efforts to reach the volcano. new zealand's prime minister says aerial reconnaissance of the island suggests there are unlikely to be any survivors. myanmar‘s leader, aung san suu kyi, is being called later this week to defend her nation against charges of genocide, over its treatment of its muslim rohingya minority. and proving to be very popular on our website are two twin baby pandas, meng xiang and meng yuan, who have made their debut at berlin zoo. their names apparently mean "long—awaited dream" and "dream come true." visitors, however, won't be able to see them until early next year. more on our website,

bbc.co.uk/news, and the news app. now on bbc news, live to singapore for asia business report. nintendo flips the switch in china, and it is teaming up with tencent. the world trade organisation in crisis as the world shuts down its appeals court. good morning, asia. hello, well. thanks forjoining us for this edition of asia business report. i'm rico hizon. let's start off with the gaming sector, because japan's nintendo is officially launching its popular switch gaming console in china today. interestingly it is teaming up with tencent, perhaps the

biggest gaming company in the world. the japanese giant is best known for games and characters like mario and pokemon which are popular in the mainland, but it doesn't mean that it won't be a challenging environment for the company. to curb gaming addiction, children under 18 are banned from playing online between 10pm in the evening until 8am in the morning on weekdays, in addition to regulation, consul gaming is not as popular in china. most people play games on their smartphones. nintendo‘s rival, sony, launched its playstation 4 console in china four years ago but failed to make any headway. earlier i asked an analyst way nintendo didn't enter the smartphone market.” an analyst way nintendo didn't enter the smartphone market. i think that, you know, nintendo‘s big plus is that nintendo sits on the most valuable ip that you can have in gaming. so they have the big characters, the biggest characters in gaming. you know, they sit on mario, they sit on zelda, they partially own the pokemon brand, and

these are also called first party brands that come from nintendo themselves, that sony and microsoft don't have to that extent. and i would say that sony and microsoft's games are directly competing with the pc. and you know, in china you have a very strong pc hardcore gamer population that is not so interested in the microsoft or in the sony console because they can get these experiences also on the pc. so i think that in terms of... serkan, i would like to jump think that in terms of... serkan, i would like tojump in. what about the risk of these new regulations, curbing gaming addiction between 10pm in the evening at 8am in the morning on weekdays, plus the market that you mentioned —— grey market that you mentioned —— grey market that you mentioned —— grey market that you mentioned. could this impact sales in china? yes, it impacts every game company's sales in china, that also includes nintendo, of course. so it will be a challenge to cope with these regulations for all gaming companies, including nintendo and

tencent. now, the world trade organisation is facing a crisis in its system for settling disputes between member countries. it has an appeal court which is the final arbiter on such disputes, but after today, there will only be one judge instead of three, making it unable to function. so how did the wto get to function. so how did the wto get to this impasse? the us has blocked the appointment of replacements. here is andrew walker to explain. the wto's system for resolving disputes has been called its crown jewel and it is designed to make sure the scales ofjustice are evenly balanced no matter the size of the country. but it is facing a major crisis. when countries losing a wto dispute, they can appeal to the appellate body. it is supposed to have a pool of seven judges. three are needed to rule on an appeal. they are appointed for a fixed period, but trump administration has blocked the replacement ofjudges when their terms and, saying they are effectively creating new trade rules

by the backdoor. the numbers have dwindled to the point the court is running out ofjudges, so the appellate body won't be able to take on any more cases. this means any country that loses in the first stage of a dispute can block any ruling by appealing, which freezes the process. all this feeds into concerns over the process. all this feeds into concerns over the the process. all this feeds into concerns over the future of the rules —based global trading system, with many worried the world may see a return to the days when might is right. let's now turn our attention to the foreign exchange markets, because two currencies are in focus this week, the us dollar, head of the rates meeting of the central bank. it is the final session this year after three rate cuts so far. also the british pound is being closely watched in the run—up to the uk general election on thursday. the sterling had been climbing to seven highs against the us dollar on bets prime minister boris johnson's conservative party will clench a majority. an analyst explained why. a difficult choice this time around,

so to speak, but borisjohnson and the conservatives are perceived as perhaps more business friendly by the markets, and that is why we have seen sterling rally so strongly over the last couple of weeks. i would expect that strength to continue as long as these polls hold up over the next couple of days. the us dollar faces two major events over the next seven days. you have the us federal reserve meeting which would cut rates yet again or keep it on hold, and of course that deadline on 1a december with the ongoing us china trade war, where the us can raise ta riffs trade war, where the us can raise tariffs again on china. this is becoming brexit like in its length, this trade negotiation, and this is only an interim deal. so i think reality is going to start biting come next sunday, to be honest, and i think if we don't get anything over the line by this weekend than we are over the line by this weekend than we a re really over the line by this weekend than we are really looking at early next year just to we are really looking at early next yearjust to get an interim trade deal. i don't believe that the

federal reserve will cut rates. they have no reason to. the data was excellent from the us on friday. turning now to social media, and many of you are probably familiar with this symbol, hashtag. it has become a popular way to tag an event or start a trending topic, so much so that trends on the app twitter are so that trends on the app twitter a re often so that trends on the app twitter are often marked with this prefix. it has been helpful when trying to find out what is being said about a particular event. the us china trade war is one of them, brexit and the hong kong protests have certainly dominated the global headlines for most of the year. some other topics that folks in the asia—pacific are also interested in include the election in india and indonesia, and of course you have the k—pop stars. earlier i spoke to the managing director of twitter asia—pacific for her assessment. people come for entertainment topics like k—pop, especially the millennials and the young gen—zs. and they stay and they

expressed their interest and passions and other topics whether it is first time voting on elections or it is climate change, or hong kong. but of course, the big news right now for twitter is hashtag banning all political ads. and it took effect on 22 november. what kind of an impact will this particularly have on your platform and of its users? i think the principles that we choose to build our policies around on this front is essentially to ensure that the public and the political campaigning have a connection to each other, but it is earned. and so that is the principal, why we built this policy around political ebden because based ads. we do think it is an important conversation to be had, but at the same time, we believe it should be earned. and of course, this is key, especially as we enter the uk elections this coming thursday, and

the us presidential elections in a few months' time. that's right, it has been a busy year of elections. with india and indonesia and the australian election is really being the most talked about here. but from the most talked about here. but from the timeframe, as we look forward, the timeframe, as we look forward, the us presidential elections and elections around the world, actually, we are seeing an increasing conversation around wanting to debate, and for users to discover every side of that story, but ina discover every side of that story, but in a way where it is responsible and earned approach. the managing director of twitter asia—pacific. let's catch up with our team in india, because two of india's largest telecommunications companies are backtracking on charging customers for free outgoing calls to other networks. let's crossover to mumbai and we arejoined by our colleague in business reporter monica miller. monica, why are they

backtracking? well, just a couple of weeks ago they slapped these fees on customers who were used to giving these calls, these outward calls to other networks for free. these customers are now faced with aao — 50% rate increase. and this is because these companies are bleeding money. collectively they and $10 billion. now, india has some of the cheapest rates in the world, in fa ct, cheapest rates in the world, in fact, you can get a prepaid plan which is worth one — two us dollars. that is great for the customer but bad for business. so now they are dealing with really narrow margins. in fact, vodafone's chief executive said they may have to leave the market if they don't come up with the funds to survive here for much longer. thank you so much for that date from mumbai on the telecommunications industry, monica miller, my colleague and business reporter. let's have a look now at the asia—pacific markets and how they are faring in mid—morning

trade. currently in negative territory for the nikkei 225, albeit just slightly, 0.2% down, the all ordinaries 0.1% in the red and hong kong's hang seng index hasjust open for trade lower, by 0.4%, after wall street stocks retreated overnight and the start of a news jam week which includes british elections and the federal reserve deciding on monetary policy. the dow, the broader s&p and the nasdaq all in the red overnight. thank you for investing your time with us. i am rico hizon. sport today is coming up next. this is bbc news. the top stories this hour: as many as 13 people are now believed to have died in new zealand after a volcanic eruption on white island.

the on white island. country's prime minister says questions the country's prime minister says questions will need to be answered about what happened. myanmar‘s aung san suu kyi prepares to defend her country against genocide charges over the treatment of its muslim rohingya minority. one of the last surviving raf pilots who fought in the battle of britain during the second world war has died at the age of 101. maurice mounsdon was one of only four remaining members of what churchill called the few, the 3,000 airmen who defended the skies above southern england from the nazi luftwaffe in 1940. our correspondent robert hall looks back at his life. their story has gripped us for over 75 years — the young men who defended their skies against waves of german bombers in 1940. archive: hurricanes and spitfires roar into action... now, one by one, those men are passing into raf history. maurice mounsdon was just 21 when hejoined up.

less than a year after completing his training, he was in combat over kent. through july and august, he flew relentless and exhausting missions, shooting down at least seven enemy aircraft. but his luck ran out, and at 111,000 feet, he was forced to bail out of his blazing hurricane. i'd had a shot at one of the bombers, and i was overtaking the squadron. so i turned to come back and have another go, when i was hit. maurice landed in these essex fields. his hands and legs were badly burned, and he endured months of treatment in hospital. the pain comes later. oh, yes. burns are rather uncomfortable. hmm. maurice mounsdon never flew again, but he did serve until the end of the war.

now, just three of his fellow pilots remain, all of them over 100. but the courage shown in that long and costly summer will outlive all of them. firefighters have been tackling a major blaze at a block of flats in glasgow. the alarm was raised at lancefield quay, on the north bank of the clyde, earlier this evening. the fire service sent 12 engines to the scene, and nearby residents have been advised to stay indoors. there have been no reports of injuries. now on bbc news, sport today. hello. i'm ben croucher and you're sport today on bbc world news. coming up: we'll have the latest on the russian doping scandal, where the country has been banned from global sporting events for the next four years.

i'm not optimistic are told that thatis i'm not optimistic are told that that is going to change. they've had three swings at the back, struck out three swings at the back, struck out three times. after nine games, arsenal have finally won again. they beat west ham in the premier league. and can the defending champions reach the last 16 of the champions league? we'll tell you what liverpool and a few others need to do on tuesday. golfing news involving rory mcilroy on the way, but first, to the scandal that has rocked global sport for years and is still rumbling on. russia have been banned from all major global sporting competition for the next four years. the world anti—doping agency handed out the punishment after an investigation found russian officials had tampered with data from an anti—doping lab. as with now, those russian sportspeople who can prove they are clean can still compete, but only as neutrals. our sports editor dan roan has more.