the un climate conference begins in earnest today, but a host of questions remains about what the talks can achieve. plus — four years since australia's black summer of bushfires that scorched the country. now, some towns are bracing for more in the years ahead. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm arunoday mukharji. asia business report. we begin in the middle east this hour because cop28 kicks off today in the united arab emirates. the latest round of the un climate talks aims to strike a deal on the next steps to tackle rising global temperatures. two years ago, countries agreed to cut the amount of coal they burn, but a commitment on oil and gas use remains elusive. at the same time, a meeting

is due to take place between the world's biggest oil producers and their allies — collectively known as 0pec+, of which the host uae is a member. against that backdrop, i spoke earlier to david schlosberg, the director of the sydney environment institute, who remains sceptical about the outcome of this year's climate. i think there are two key problems politically, the first is the process by the fossil fuel industry, and the second is the process of all countries on any agreement. so, it means that petro states or those in the fossil fuel industry can object to the language and undermine and wield strong changes. forthis undermine and wield strong changes. for this first or the obvious point for a hosier of the head of a state oil company setting the agenda for a price or which for me is weird. he

said it is good to have fossil fuel industry editable but they have always been there. some in the community want to be cautiously optimistic, i think i'm just cautious, i would be thrilled to be wrong with a good agreement for renewable energy. i am doubtful. good agreement for renewable energy. iam doubtful. i good agreement for renewable energy. i am doubtful. i don't think they will adjust the power of the fossil fuel industry or i guess the injustice and impacts of those industries. that is the key other political background, the ongoing human and collected the ecological damage, the vast iniquity of the impact of climate change on the most vulnerable and ijust don't think we are going to see much in the way of discussion there. and the other political issue the political theatre we would see here and i think we'll see again is the contradiction or

hypocrisy of nations like the us or australia, who would do everything they can do to highlight their renewable work, at the same time they're hiding or not talking about all the fuss if you are the projects they are developing. the us is pumping more oil than ever, i share that is exported more core than ever and those need to be addressed as well. one of the most visible impacts of climate change is more frequent and severe natural disasters. and one of the worst ones to hit australia happened four years ago, in what was called the black summer bushfires. in one fire—hit region, the community is recovering from the blazes of 2019 to 2020 but is preparing for dangerous conditions in the years to come. from bilpin, new south wales, phil mercer reports. the black summer fires destroyed an area of land the size of the united kingdom in bilpin, north west of sydney. much of simon tadros orchard was ruined. they were horrific. never seen nothing like that.

very scary. he's rebuilt and replanted but believes the fires will return. we've been here a0 years and we've had four or five different major fire events and it will all happen again. regardless of what people say or what happens, we will get major fires again. an inquiry found that climate change had made the blazes of 2019/20 more extreme. modern australia had never seen such ferocity. this scared me. this really scared me. i think it's given australia a whole wake up, a huge wake up call on just how susceptible we are and how dangerous things can be. the memories of the fires are still fresh in this part of the blue mountains. people remember the fear and the panic they felt during that terrible time. but here in bilpin, there is an unmistakable sense of renewal and a determination to rebuild.

the flames that tore through bilpin came from a strategic backburn that went badly wrong. it was lit deliberately by emergency crews to try to stop the advance of another major outbreak. this is the enchanted cove. lionel buckets holiday cabins and his fireproof home were engulfed but survived. we've put in new water systems, too, now, so we've got a massive water storage with big heavy mains lines that can turn sprinklers on, on everything. and sprinklers work. if you've got the water, you can save yourself from a fire. climate change means it happens more often, so it used to happen every ten to 20 years. now, maybe it's more likely to be every six or seven years. for years, conservationists have said that warming temperatures were making australia more vulnerable to natural disasters. black summer was a landmark in australians understanding

that climate change is notjust a future problem, it's here and now and it's harming our communities. australia plans to reach net zero emissions by 2050. in fire prone communities, there's a determination to be better prepared for the next onslaught whenever it might come. phil mercer, bbc news in bilpin, new south wales. footballer cristiano ronaldo is facing a class action lawsuit in the us over his promotion of binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. the plaintiffs claim his endorsement led them to make loss—making investments, and are seeking damages of "a sum exceeding" $1 billion. 0ur north america business correspondent michelle fleury has more on the story. the crypto industry's appetite for celebrity partnerships is well documented. now, many of the a—listers who got in on the action are caught up in the sector's troubles. the latest is the world renowned footballer cristiano ronaldo.

last november, ronaldo and binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, announced a multi—year partnership to introduce his fans to the world of ths, starting with the launch of the cr7 collection. now ths are non-fungible tokens. they're virtual assets that can be bought and sold. they don't exist in a physical sense, only digitally. while cr7 while that refers to ronaldo's initials and his shirt number. now, in the class action lawsuit, the plaintiffs claim his endorsement led them to make loss making investments. they want at least $1 billion in damages. the action comes a week after binance agreed to pay $4.3 billion to settle a us criminal case that it failed to prevent money laundering and sanctions violations. and together we can exchange the world. ronaldo isn't the first celebrity to be sued for promoting cryptocurrency related products. nfl quarterback tom brady and comedian larry david are facing lawsuits for touting

failed crypto exchange ftx. it's a safe and easy way to get into crypto. i don't think so. major league baseball, formula one and mercedes—benz are also being sued over ftc�*s despite this dismal are also being sued over ftx. despite this dismal track record. it won't stop celebrity endorsements. just this week, cristiano ronaldo teased on social media cooking something up with binance�*s. another well—known figure making headlines this morning is elon musk, took aim at advertisers threatening to leave his social media platform x, formerly known as twitter. musk, known for his bluster and frequent irreverant comments, said advertisers were trying to "blackmail" him.

to china now, where we'll get the latest health check on china's economy when factory data is released later today. the world's second largest economy will also anounce numbers on how the services sector is performing. china's manufacturing activity unexpectedly shrank in october, while services saw a slowdown in growth. i spoke to tim moe from investment bank goldman sachs earlier, and he gave me a sense of how the chinese economy is doing. the year started off well when the theme in the market was reopening trade and there was anindex reopening trade and there was an index rally over 50% from its low last november to the hyatt which turned out to be the end of january. hyatt which turned out to be the end ofjanuary. since hyatt which turned out to be the end of january. since then the end of january. since then the market has given back a good deal of the gains and is down about 10% or 12%, year—to—date, so china has been on the disappointing side with

people concerned of the pace of economic growth and... $5 people concerned of the pace of economic growth and. . .- economic growth and... as we are winding — economic growth and... as we are winding on _ economic growth and... as we are winding on 2023 _ economic growth and... as we are winding on 2023 what - economic growth and... as we are winding on 2023 what to l are winding on 2023 what to look out for next year? it's for china — look out for next year? it's for china stocks _ look out for next year? it's for china stocks are - look out for next year? it�*s for china stocks are rally, and the case for that would be further policies, coming in, if we seek continuing evidence in the higherfrequency of the higher frequency of economic the higherfrequency of economic data, and he mentioned the pmi moments ago, and if we could see some strength in the economy, going through corporate earnings reported in january and february, that might turn investor sentiment somewhat. we could see a decent rally early in the year. said we're looking _ rally early in the year. said we're looking ahead - rally early in the year. said we're looking ahead the i rally early in the year. said we're looking ahead the pmi numbers exited out of china in two hours from now, and right after that we would have expert analysis on what those numbers mean and what the larger picture is as far as the chinese economy is concerned the stop that's all for asia business report, you can find

more in website, stay with us. bbc news bringing you different stories from across the uk. locals say they live here for the countryside, the wildlife and the peace. but that could change as a new prison is set to be built here. kevin bowden has lived in gayatri for over 20 years. my concern is when i get up in the mornings and open my curtains, i'm not going to see the fields behind me with the sheep and the wildlife. i'm just going to see a wall of prison. plans were first submitted by the ministry ofjustice for a new prison adjacent to the current prison over two years ago. it was refused permission by harborough district council. however, that refusal has now been overturned on appeal by communities secretary michael gove. i'm astounded at this decision. i think it's completely the wrong decision and it's one the wrong decision and as one member of the public described

it to me this morning. they see it as a slap in the face for democracy. it's always been the wrong place. these are country lanes, a country area where they're trying to facilitate this. a spokesman for the moj said that the decision at gayatri is critical to delivering the 20,000 extra places we need to keep dangerous offenders off the streets, and it'll boost the local economy by creating hundreds of new jobs. protesters here say they'll fight on. they're calling for a judicial review. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. hi there. i'm ellis with the catchup. but first, gymnastics coaches were no longer be able to sign were no longer be able to weigh

gymnasts under the age of ten because of new rules designed to stop harmful practices, which british gymnastics says are on the fringes of abuse. those aged between ten and 18 can only be weighed with consent. also, there are new rules about kids missing school for gymnastics training, something which a gymnast to win a civil case against british gymnastics has been highlighting on radio five life. those years are crucial. there are a lot of gymnasts training between the, you know, being taken out of school from the ages of 12 to 16 that are not going to make it to european championship, world championship and olympic level. some other stories. now, beyonce's mum has called out fans who suggested the singer writing the skin for the premiere of her renaissance film. tina knowles defended her daughter and said the comments were racist in a long instagram post. the world's best selling compilation album, that's a bit like a mix tape of popular songs to me.

and, you know, now that's what i call music. music is celebrating its 40th birthday. in the days before music, streaming services and playlists. it gave fans instant access to their biggest hits in one place. ask your mum and dad. time now to leave you with 10 seconds of an explosive eruption, because this volcano injapan has spewed loads of ash and sent rocks into the sea and up to a height of 200 metres. you're all caught up. bye for now.

hello and welcome to sportsday. iam 0lly i am 0lly foster, here's what's coming up. manchester united throw it away in istanbul, reaching the last 16 in the champions league is out of their hands. taking a breakfrom england, 0wen farrell says he has to prioritise his and his family's mental wellbeing. and british gymnastics introduces new safeguarding rules to protect young athletes.