Also in the programme some Asian Airlines cut flights to hong kong as Anti Government protests rage on. Well cross live to the city. How an african designer is hoping to bag a share of the Luxury Goods Market with his home grown leather products. And well be getting the inside track on gut health. Is bacteria the clue to Better Overall Health . Well find out. Today we want to know whether christmas has become too commercialised, as harrods limits visits to santa to shoppers spending more than £2,000 thats 2,600 in store. Let us know. Just use the hashtag bbcworklife. Hello and welcome to worklife. A warm welcome to our new business show. Do get in touch and we will discuss your comment is a bit later. The future of cars may be electric but is the Technology Mainstream enough to become mass market . Are electric vehicles still too expensive and how practical are they for long journeys . Well, in the past few hours, ford has unveiled its brand new electric suv,called the mustang mach e, the first in fords stable to be built as an electric vehicle from the ground up. Electric mobility is expanding. In 2018, the Global Electric car fleet topped 5 million, up 2 million from the previous year. China remains the Worlds Largest electric car market, followed by europe and the us. But the internal Combustion Engine is still the norm. In the first half of this year more than 90 of all cars sold around the world had one. With me is natalie sauber, Market Intelligence and Mobility Solutions lead at arcadis. Like many people, i was told a few yea rs like many people, i was told a few years ago that diesel was the way forward and the best solution economically and environmentally and it turned out very much not to be the case and i am stuck with my diesel. I would love to get an electric like many people that they are proving too expensive. What is the cheapest and at what point will they enter the market where most people can afford one . Very good question. If we are just looking at price, we are looking at something as cheap as 30 k, depending on the government incentives that you could possibly get and the country where you potentially are. There are cheaper models out there, but as you mentioned, the infrastructure is a worry point for most people, and of course the range anxiety of everyone who doesnt own an electric vehicle will come at you with that one. And it depends where you are, which country, which city. Very much so. Norway is definitely the country with the highest uptake of electric vehicles. Followed by more scandinavian countries and the uk is coming in at the lower end, similar to germany and the us. Ford has gone all out with the launch of this new mustang, calling on the likes of idris elba and others to be at the big event where we saw the car launched. How big a game changer will this be for ford . Like many other legacy car makers, they are struggling. We do hope this particular model will be more than just a compliance model, something to tick the box. They have announced quite a big volume in terms of what they are looking to launch. It also puts on show what the company can do if they use a legacy model and put an electric model inside of it and build it from the ground up. They have some fans he will come through with that. There is definitely a lot to think about for ford, especially because they put 11 billion around a com pletely because they put 11 billion around a completely new electric vehicle platform. How much of a difference in range is there between how countries and governments around the world a re countries and governments around the world are committed to this in terms of infrastructure and help with buying . Again, Different Countries ta ke buying . Again, Different Countries take different approaches to that. There are some countries who have put a lot more pressure on it. Scotland, i believe, being at the forefront from 2022, but most countries have only put a ban in place but they have not put in a law prohibiting the sale of more petrol diesel cars. They are skirting around the regulations push. More needs to change. Thank you. And get in touch at bbc worklife. Have you gone electric and got stung stranded somewhere . I have heard some stories. Now lets look at the other stories. Now lets look at the other stories making the news. Saudi aramco the Saudi State Oil giant has announced its to list 1. 5 of its shares, which it hopes will raise just above 25 billion. That would make it the Worlds LargestPublic Offering ever, valuing the company in the region of 1. 7 trillion. Thats still below the 2 trillion valuation crown prince mohammmed bin salman had hoped to achieve. Softbank has confirmed that it plans to merge its internet unit yahoo japan with the messaging app operator line. The move comes as the Japanese Technology giant scoops up troubled Internet Companies as a defence against rivals like rakuten. Softbank said it expects the deal to be completed by october next year. Bangladesh has been forced to import hundreds of thousands of onions, after a shortage across the country. 0nion prices have risen 700 in recent months after india banned exports to its neighbours in late september, when heavy monsoon rains reduced crop levels. The price of onions is a key topic in south asia, where some Political Parties have lost elections in the past due to shortages. If you have been watching us, you will know about this. There have been months of Anti Government protest in hong kong, having an impact on many areas, including the airline industry. Several airlines are now cutting flights to the city. Major carriers including Indias Spicejet and Malaysias Airasia have all reportedly cancelled a number of flights. Robin brant is live in hong kong. He is at the campus of the university polytechnic. Tell us what is happening there now. In the last hour or so we had another fire. Is happening there now. In the last hour or so we had anotherfire. Part of the building just behind me, i think it is the rear entrance, was set on fire, and it is being tended to by the police. We have had details about the number of arrests yesterday. This remains an area where police have blockaded the whole periphery of the campus and there are 400 or 500 protest is still inside. Police arrested 154 people yesterday, when dead women and two thirds man, the youngest was 13. And two thirds man, the youngest was 13. One third women. They are talking about the tactics being employed by the protesters, and they think the hard court remain inside. Some of them are dressing up in luminous vests. If my colleague could turn slightly to the left, you can see the luminous vests which are one by members of the press and medics. They were detaining some people are leaving the campus last night wearing vests claiming to be journalists and medics, but you did not have identification to support that. The police are being far more assertive in the way they are treating people coming out of this campus and trying to come out of this campus. Thank you very much indeed. Robin brant in hong kong. Lets look at the financial markets. The hang seng was down 2. 5 but now we have the opposite reaction, perhaps because it was hit so hard last week, that it would not surprise me at all with regard to sentiment in the main markets in hong kong. Across asia we had positive sentiment as investors look for any new information with regards to us chinese trade talks and how they are going. In europe, the pound sterling is up a third of a percent versus the dollar. £1 buying 1. 29 at the moment. The ftse is up slightly. A flat picture is a new week begins in europe. Lots on the minds of investors today in london, in particular with the confederation of british industry events taking place today and all three Party Leaders there to tell them what they have promised to Business Leaders. Thank you. Now lets turn to the us, where well get an idea later of the impact of lower Interest Rates on the lethargic housing sector. Vivienne nunis in new york takes a look ahead. As a former real estate man, donald trump has long praised low Interest Rates. Lately hes criticised Americas Central Bank saying the Federal Reserve has cut rates too slowly even though rates have been lowered three times sincejuly. Today fresh figures on the us Housing Market will give a clue as to whether cheaper rates are coaxing First Time Buyers into the market. But analysts say mortgage costs are not the biggest factor when it comes to influencing new buyers. Its house prices, and thats governed by supply. Construction hasnt yet returned to pre financial crisis levels and theres a shortage of Affordable Homes across the country. There are calls across the industry for Housing Stock of homes priced under 300,000 to be increased. Vivienne nunis. Time now for our daily look at some of the newspaper and website stories which have caught our eye. Werejoined by iona bain, founder of the young money blog, a site which helps young People Better understand personal finance. Lets start with a couple of these stories that we have got one by primarks owner, which is defending it. There has been a lot of criticism of the first fashion industry and the damage it does to the environment but the owner says it is better to shop in Primark Stores tha n it is better to shop in Primark Stores than online. What are they saying . This will raise some eyebrows but George Weston, the chief executive of primark, saying that actually it is better to go to your high street and shop in store than to buy everything at home and haveit than to buy everything at home and have it delivered. The Research Behind this is not exactly conclusive. If you look at the article, it mentions a study which says it is more environmentally friendly to shop online, somewhat contradicting what George Weston says. If you are living more than nine miles from a store, because delivery vans are more efficient. But this study is from 2012, so a lot ca n but this study is from 2012, so a lot can change in six years, and fashion and in retail. It makes two big assumptions, the first is that shoppers drive to store it, and i dont think a lot of younger shoppers are doing that now in big cities, especially with the cost of parking in town centres. And it doesnt take into account refund culture. It didnt look at the number of failed deliveries and returned goods. I wasjust going to say that. This is in the times today. You have got to consider that many retail bosses that we talk to say that a big issue for them is that people buy in bulk online fully intending to return most of it. Absolutely. And now we have services called by now and pay later. Even Marks Spencer is starting that. Exactly. Refund culture has really boomed in recent years. You have got to wonder whether or not George Weston has got a point. And in terms of the league table of more environmentally friendly mainstream retailers, according to the Environmental Audit committee in the houses of parliament, they reckon that primark is among the best in terms of engaging in Ethical Practices and near the bottom of the pile where fast fashion retailers like misguided and boohoo and he rejects the idea that by markets as pa rt rejects the idea that by markets as part of this railway culture because most customers dontjust buy things once. Even if they cost £5, they had a keener sense of Holding Onto Things and notjust throwing it away after one where. Interesting. This article in the financial times, a Chinese Company behind a massive video app, ticktock, and they are launching another service to go head to head with spotify and apple in the music streaming market. Ticktocks Parent Company is looking to monetise this app which is huge among young people today. I dont have ticktock. Are your kids on it . They are not. For those who have no idea, you basically record yourself doing music videos and stuff. Idea, you basically record yourself doing music videos and stufflj quite like the way the ft describes it. The content often veers toward silly comedy sketches and dance challenges to various trending songs. I think the ft is not on it either or is it like a teenagers karaoke . They are creating their own music videos. And they want to monetise this, which is understandable, but they have several challenges. Firstly, paying for Music Subscription Services is commonplace in the us and some parts of europe but less so in asia where they are looking to initially launch this subscription service. That is going to be a challenge. And also it is about coverage, getting as many back catalogues on the service as possible. They are talking to some major record companies. Universal music, sony music and warner music, but it is also that getting the cooperation of and often they dont play ball. The most notable example was taylor swift who boycotted spotify for three years because the royalties were not big enough for her and other artists have made that sound. And if you look at what they are proposing, they are looking to undercut the likes of apple and spotify by offering a service for less tha n spotify by offering a service for less than tonne dollars a month. You have got to wonder if the artists will be happy about that. 10. And there have been concerned about economic espionage in the us, with companies harvesting western data. We have got to wind up that this is really interesting. The us and china in an absolute trade work right now. Huawei is in the cross hairs of this and this is another tech giant in china looking to infiltrate the us and elsewhere. Very interesting. Thank you. That has been great to have you on the programme. Still to come friendly bacteria fad orfact . Well talk to a proponent of probiotic supplements. Youre with worklife from bbc news. What are these three up to today . Borisjohnson, Jeremy Corbyn and jo swinson will all attempt to woo the uks Business Leaders with speeches to the cbis annual conference later. Lets hear more from our Political Correspondent chris mason. This is a big opportunity for them to pitch to Business Leaders. What are we expecting from the three Party Leaders . They are regular attendees at this conference but this is not regular, for this to happen right in the middle of a general election campaign. It is fairto general election campaign. It is fair to say from what we have heard from the cbi over the weekend that there is more than a splash of scepticism from them about all of them. Borisjohnson will say, look, them. Borisjohnson will say, look, the conservatives get that plenty of people in this room are sceptics of brexit, but believe us because we can deliver the certainty of delivering what people wanted, even if you were sceptical about it. I think there will be a return of scepticism from the Business Leaders about the timetable that Boris Johnson has set for sorting out the long term arrangement with the european union, trying to sort that out but within a year. Jeremy corbyn will then turn up and talk about apprenticeships, which the cbi are broadly in favour of. But there has been some scepticism about the nationalisation plans, least bt, the plans we heard from labour a couple of days ago. The liberal democrat pitch, they are very sceptical about brexit, saying they would cancel brexit, saying they would cancel brexit if they were to win an overall majority, that there is a fairamount of overall majority, that there is a fair amount of scepticism about the likelihood ofjo fair amount of scepticism about the likelihood of jo swinson fair amount of scepticism about the likelihood ofjo swinson sweeping into number 10 as Prime Minister in three and a half weeks. The liberal democrats are not keen on Heathrow Airport being expanded, which the cbi are very keen on. When you look across the piece, i am sure they will all be heard with respect but a dose of scepticism about whether or not their plans for the future can be offered an unreserved thumbs up from Business Leaders. It will definitely be an interesting day. Thank you, chris mason, in westminster for us. If you thank you, chris mason, in westminsterfor us. If you look thank you, chris mason, in westminster for us. If you look at the bbc business pages online, you can see that caroline fairburn, the director general of the cbi, was talking to bbc breakfast about her expectations. She said one of the key thing is that businesses need to hear from Party Leaders key thing is that businesses need to hearfrom Party Leaders is how the uncertainty over brexit is going to end. Youre watching worklife. A reminder of our top story ford unveils its electric dreams which it hopes will revolutionise and ignite the industry. We shall watch this space. Now lets move on. What does your gut tell you . Trust your gut. Well, Scientists Say theres more to such sayings than it may initially appear. Research shows our guts have trillions of tiny bacteria known as microbiome which actually dictate our overall health. Thats why many of us are now turning to products with ingredients such as probiotics, a live bateria thats touted to promote healthy gut. Butjust how effective are they . Raja dhir is the co founder of us based seed health. Hejoins us now. Welcome to he joins us now. Welcome to you and thank you for coming in. Tell us what it is you do. We are a microbiome company. Many people have heard of probiotics building your health, but it is built on the back of research that there are trillions of research that there are trillions of organisms in and on the human body and it was only in 2006 at the science caught up with the hype for this, starting to show that these organisms determine things like your weight and your mood, cognitive function, sleep, skin. We are starting to find all these areas where there is bacteria can be impacted with targeted solutions. You are a biologist and you have come up with this, you and your team, with a supplement that you argue has got the science right, and it would help those with digestive issues. 0r it would help those with digestive issues. Or is it for everyone . think what we have built which is a bit different is we worked with a lot of the scientists already in top academic institutions which had never really commercialised their work before. They have published hundreds of papers on the subject. Intervention trials. Looked at how organisms work in humans. Then built this company around the Community Collective of scientists and physician scientists. I am hesitant to say that this works and else does that in an industry where there is a lot of enthusiasm and hype, oftentimes you find there is an opportunity for people with less science to infiltrate. But who is it for . The person without any Health Issues that wants to prevent . 0r someone issues that wants to prevent . 0r someone with digestive problems . Initially it is for people with issues with digestion. Statistics show that over 70 of people in the us have some complication. It can be bloating after a meal, slow intestinal transit time, constipation, gas. It can be hard stools. Any of these digestive functions can impact your quality of life in a pretty significant way. After that, i think there are other applications that could be very useful. For instance we have explored bacteria that promote other nutrients like vitamin b12, bacteria on the surface of the skin, bacteria that lower your cholesterol. We are just starting to see how bacteria can be used across a number of different organs in the body and all those areas of research are focused for our very first product. There is a lot of scepticism in the Scientific Community that probiotics do anything. What can you do to convince as they can make a difference . There are lots of different words bandied around. Probiotics, microbiome, probiotics, so how do we know the difference between them . I think scepticism is very well founded. In a category with lots of competing claims, you often with lots of competing claims, you ofte n get with lots of competing claims, you often get a race to the bottom. What i would encourage customers and consumers to look for, ask what is the evidence and the science . Has this been published and have other scientists reviewed it . Have the claims been put into scientific journals . I think the claims of the manufacturer will separate the fat from the fad and the fiction. The fa ct. From the fad and the fiction. The fact. Probiotics have been around for some time but our relationship with bacteria Going Forward is going to change. Therefore our response to this and this kind of food supplement could be quite big business. To date people have focused on probiotics and prebiotics for gut health that anywhere where there is bacteria on the body will fundamentally be changed by these technologies in the future. How we ta ke technologies in the future. How we take care of infants and children. Bacteria in your mouth and your skin. Vaginal bacteria for womens Health Issues. All of these areas have unmet medical needs, where the primary standard of care will come from bacteria and microbial based intervention. I think this is a hot space to watch. The science is changing every month. We will keep a close eye. A lot of homework to do thank you for telling us about this. What is bugging you . You always tell us what is bugging you . You always tell us and we will look at the responses ina us and we will look at the responses in a moment. And now the rising cost of visiting santa. It is getting pretty pricey. But first, a look at luxury brands. Gucci, prada sometimes it seems as if europe has cornered the market. Its a lucrative sector but notoriously hard to break into. However, one african designer is hoping to change that with his home grown Luxury Leather Goods. Take a look at this. Weve got a very nice, good, emerging middle class in south africa that is into Luxury Leather Goods. So thats when i saw the gap in the market. I asked myself why is it in south africa we dont have our own Luxury Leather Goods made locally . Yet the people keep on buying louis vuitton, keep on buying chanel, keep on buying all these Luxury Leather Goods. Surely there must be a gap there. The reason why i opened a store is because people are still very sceptical with online, you know . I mean, if youre going to sell a product for 200, someone would want to touch and feel the product, you know. Or at least, even if they wont touch and feel, they want to know this is where i find you. This is where i can view the product. Theres that balance. What we discovered with us, we were at an online store, we were not making much sales, you know, but when we opened a physical store, it activated the online store even further because now theres the trust that at least there is some kind of a physical store that i can find these bags at should i want to touch and feel. So it instils the trust. That is another one to watch. At the top of the show, we asked you about the rising cost of christmas and visiting santa. This is a uk average cost, Garden Centre or whatever, it is £12 or more for a visit. And if you have several children are your kids too old for santa . Several children are your kids too old for santa . Depending on who is watching at this time of day around the uk, we just watching at this time of day around the uk, wejust dont know my watching at this time of day around the uk, we just dont know my boys are not in the queue to see santa any more. It is the key ring that does me, rather than the cost. Lots of you have been getting in about this. It costs £20 at harrods, but you have to spend £2000 to see santa. And this one says for that price i expect the real santa who knows if it is or isnt . Thank you for joining us. See you soon. Good morning. It has been a rather cold start to the day. Many of you will have had to scrape ice off the car windscreen this morning. Temperatures well above freezing across the northern half of the uk in particular. This area of making things unsettled and quitea this area of making things unsettled and quite a lot of showers are linking to disappearing. Bargain Central Scotland will continue into the afternoon with some showers in the afternoon with some showers in the far north leading into icy stretches. For most it is dry and sunny. Look at the temperatures. Around five to nine celsius. Whether fog lingers in the west of the central belt, temperatures here may not get much above freezing. Through tonight, some fog develops in north west england, the midlands, to the south east of england. But for most of us with clear skies, a widespread frost tonight. Look at the blues developing. Temperatures could be as low as minus ten in rural areas of scotla nd low as minus ten in rural areas of scotland into tomorrow morning. But quite widely temperatures below freezing. Many more of us tomorrow morning having to scrape ice off the car windscreen. It will be a lovely start to the david lots of sunshine in most areas. Bargain central areas will tend to lift up. Mcleod moving into western areas. With that there will be patchy rain in Northern Ireland and temperatures not quite as low. Ten to 12 that further east, four 28 celsius. The cloud in the west coming in from this weather front, or linked to the area of low pressure which will stick around for the rest of the week always bringing more cloud and a bit of rain across the west especially. This is now wednesday and you can see more cloud around. Patchy rain across Northern Ireland, west wales, south west of england. Further east it will be largely dry with sunshine and varying amounts of and maximum temperatures still about ten in the west and six to 8 degrees further east. Until the end of the week there is uncertainty about how far north and east any rain will go. Quite changeable with sunny spells and maximum temperatures for many of us and maximum temperatures for many of us getting to nine or 12 celsius. Goodbye. Youre watching bbc news at 9 00 with me, annita mcveigh. The headlines stand off in Hong Kong Riot Police surround a University Campus with hundreds of pro democracy protesters inside. Prince andrew faces calls to apologise to the victims of sex offenderjeffrey epstein. I think that if a member of the royal family, who clearly was friendly with a convicted sex offender, is going to go on television than first the words out of his mouth should be, im sorry, and if theres anything i can do to assist these victims in any way, shape and form, i would want to do that. The main Party Leaders will set out their election pitches to business at the cbi conference. Battle for a tiny piece of literary history