this is bbc world news. our top story. prince harry says his decision to step back from royal duties and move his family to canada wasn't taken lightly — and brings him great sadness. harry says the uk is his home and he wants to make it clear the couple is not walking away from the british public. lebanon's capital is hit by some of the worst violence since demonstrations against the ruling elite began in october. hundreds of people have reportedly been injured. and this story is trending on bbc.com. snow storms have overwhelmed parts of canada and the us. authorities have advised many residents to stay home and stay safe. canadian troops have been sent to the atlantic province of newfoundland and labrador to help it dig out from a massive blizzard. that's all. stay with bbc world news. more on our web site bbc.co.uk/news and the news app. now on bbc news live to singapore

for asia business report. plenty more about prince harry and his decision to step away from royal duties. the extradition hearing from huawei's chief financial officer mum onejoe begins huawei's chief financial officer mum one joe begins in huawei's chief financial officer mum onejoe begins in canada. the apple gathering of business and politicians opens in davos. good morning asia, hello, world. it is a monday. —— meng wanzhou was up let's

begin with us china relations and the case at the heart of it, the extradition airing from huawei's chief officer, meng wanzhou, start ata canadian chief officer, meng wanzhou, start at a canadian court in vancouver later today. remember, she was arrested in december of 2018 and the request —— at the request of the us and she has been accused of misleading banks about why we's dealing with iran. we have all the details. potential villain or political pawn. that is when meng wanzhou arrives political pawn. that is when meng wa nzhou arrives her extradition trial on monday. authorities allege the 47—year—old lied to us banks to help assess —— subsidiary of huawei to sell to around, violating us sanctions. the us has since labelled huawei security risk and banned the sale of its products. huawei has used —— called that politically motivated and vowed to fight back but the hearing comes as relations

between the us and china are showing signs of improving. last week, the countryside phase one of a trade deal but the dispute over meng wanzhou has the potential to derail progress. while we's founder and meng wanzhou's father told the bbc the arrest of his daughter had been painful. translation: when she was detained, as her father, my translation: when she was detained, as herfather, my heart broke. are i watch my child suffer like this? but what happened has happened. what can one do? we can only depend on the law to solve this problem. to mark the one—year anniversary of his arrest, she released a letter, praising the kindness of the people here in canada. the case has put canada in the middle of the dispute between the world's two biggest economies. prime ministerjustin trudeau said canadian politicians would not overrule the courts. but whatever the decision, the trial will have an international impact.

now to the world economic forum which gets under way later today in davos and it is the annual gathering of global business leaders and politicians and this year, president trump will be speaking on the same day his impeachment trial starts in the us senate. there is our economic editor on what we can expect. this will be the 50th annual meeting of the world economic forum. those orders will —— there is a champagne fuelled shindig in the snow. there really isn't anything like it. and so really isn't anything like it. and so having both the political leaders, president trump is coming this year, again, for example. and the world's business leaders in the same place.

on this occasion, although they will be take —— talking a lot about the future about drones delivery, artificial intelligence and the like, they will want to stop the rot in the way the world cooperates. i think you will see business leaders try to pressurise world leaders such as president trump and they will row back a little bit on it economic nationalism, trade wars. issues such as climate change talking about in the short—term, at least, being honest about sharing upfront sacrifices to save the planet. that will prove very difficult. the top five risks in the long tap —— long—term, from the environmental sphere, climate, biodiversity laws and so forth. pressure from stakeholders, customers, employees, regulators, that will i think force the hand of some companies. the challenge is, can they come up with agreement amongst themselves between

the business leaders and the political leaders and things that they can sell well beyond. we are halfway through into the us earnings season and this week we will be hearing from many of the big technology companies. on tuesday, ibm and netflix post there quarterly earnings and earlier i asked margaret young if we will continue seeing it from china's growth numbers. last year, -- last week, there have been trade patients between us and iran. it is shifting to the us earnings season. so far in early seasons, we saw that more than 70% of the s&p 500 companies, they have beaten expectation. it could be a turning point that the fourth—quarter earnings in the us marks a turnaround of dismal 2019.

as economic becomes. you also have to throw into the us earnings season a couple of major events that are taking place today. one is the hearing of meng wanzhou and donald trump speaking in davos where you can throw in some controversial statements. yes, trumpet's speech in davos might be like satellite events. —— trump's. i think even though that the us and china have chained —— signed a phase i trade deal, this us china confrontation in technology, currency and an —— economic phases are far from ending. we won't be surprised to see more of these more complex happening this year. so technology will be big in terms of earnings. in asia, what particular markets do you see

improving theirfirst particular markets do you see improving their first quarter. particular markets do you see improving their first quarterlj will see it is semiconductors. companies spent a lot. 2020 is the year that we will see improvement in their bottom—line earnings. year that we will see improvement in their bottom-line earnings. china has announced it is planning to cut the production and use of plastic over the next five years. by the end of next year, nonbiodegradable plastic bags will be banned in food delivery services, shopping malls. china is one of the world's biggest sources of plastic pollution. the global economy is failing to act quickly. those that carry out co—op —— care work and that is according to oxfam. assess half of the world's population candy —— continue to live on less than $5.50 a day and women and girls are putting in 12.5 billion hours of unpaid care work globally every day such as looking

after children and the elderly. this amounts to a contribution of the global economy to at least 12.8 trillion us dollars a year, more than three times the size of the global technology industry. the pressure on carers is set to grow in the coming decade. an estimated 2.3 billion people will be in need of ca re by billion people will be in need of care by 2030, an increase of 200 million cents —— 200 million since 2015. our businesses here making the most the money they invest to grow their operations? according to a status report by the consulting from mckenzie, asia has contributed more than half of foreign investments over the past decade. while many companies in this region have increased the size of their businesses, that hasn't translated into substantially higher profits. compared to companies in europe and the us, those in asia are

underperforming in these areas. as one of —— we say which sectors are underperforming. element i say domestic services. we also need to look at the brighter side and to do this, we need to look at the level of sector in the country. when we do that, we see some bright spots. pockets that are creating a significant amounts of value across asia. examples includejapan‘s capital goods which is quite strong. the financial sectors in countries like australia and china are quite profitable. sectors including it and countries like korea and india are doing quite well and interestingly, the energy and materials sector in southeast asia is creating lots of value despite underperformance at the global level. if european financial institutions are underperforming in asia, what must

they do to maximise their investments in the region? the headline message i want to give is that the sector is quite bright in asia. companies need to be able to do in asia. companies need to be able todoa in asia. companies need to be able to do a couple of things simultaneously. they need to be able to maintain strength in their operational backbone while dynamically innovate to create large and small. let us have a look at asia pacific markets. all in positive territory. the nikkei all had gains on friday. sport today is coming up next. this is bbc news. the top stories this hour: prince harry says his decision to step back

from royal duties and move his family to canada hasn't been ta ken lightly. hundreds of lebanese protesters have clashed with security forces in the centre of beirut, after three months of anti—establishment demonstrations. people accused of stalking are to be prevented from contacting or approaching, their alleged victims, while they're being investigated. from tomorrow, police will be able to apply to magistrates for a ‘stalking protection order‘ — before someone is charged —— and if they break it, they could be jailed for 5 years. charlotte gallagher reports. the global superstar rhianna and the hollywood actorsjohn cusack and sandra bullock. just some of the high profile victims of stalking. this kind of harassment usually only makes the headlines when celebrities are involved, but it's frighteningly common. in england and wales, one in five women and one in ten men will experience stalking at some point in their lives.

campaigners say victims are usually targeted by an ex—partner or someone they've had contact with. zoe dronfield was subjected to an eight—hour ordeal by a former boyfriend and nearly died. in 2014, i was almost murdered by an ex—partner. i'd ended the relationship and he was starting to stalk me — so i was being harassed, stalked, he was contact me on all sorts of platforms, and this was hundreds of times a day. today, police gain new powers to tackle stalking. they'll be able to apply for court orders which will ban suspects from contacting or approaching their alleged victims while officers are investigating. if suspects breach the order, they could be jailed for up to five years. the organisation which represents senior police officers, the national police chiefs council, is welcoming these new measures, calling them another tool to help improve the safety of stalking victims. it's also encouraging anyone who is a victim of stalking to come forward as soon as possible and get help. the minister for women visiting

a helpline for stalking victims. staff here are on the frontline of the problem. these are really groundbreaking orders that the police will be able to apply for to protect victims of stalking but also to make sure that the perpetrators are getting the treatment programmes and so on they need to break their cycle of abuse. it is hoped these new powers will prevent cases like alice ruggles. she was murdered by an ex—boyfriend who'd been stalking her. alice's family say these court orders could have made a critical difference. charlotte gallagher, bbc news. now on bbc news, sport today.

hello, this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: we are live on day one of the australian open where the defending champion in the women's singles, naomi osaka, has begun with a victory. kansas city chiefs are through to the superbowl for the first time in 50 years — but who will they play? and who else but cristiano ronaldo, as he scores twice forjuventus, taking them four points clear at the top of serie a. hello, and welcome to the programme, where we start with the news that the first tennis grand slam of the year, the australian open, is underway. the big names are immediately onto the court as well on day one and john watson is there for us.