this is bbc world news. the headlines: polls have opened in kenya in a general election that's being closely watched across east africa amid fears the result could trigger communal violence. residents say there's a tense atmosphere in the capital, nairobi. north korea has said tough new international sanctions will not stop it developing its nuclear and missile programmes. a spokesman said what he called america's hostile policy would have to change before it would enter talks. venezuela's opposition—led parliament has rejected the sacking of the chief prosecutor by the new constituent assembly. luisa ortega claims president maduro wanted to stop her investigating allegations of corruption. then the american secretary of state, rex tillerson, has arrived in thailand for talks. he is the highest—ranking american politician to visit the country since a coup overthrew the government three years ago. now it's time for world business report. could a vote by secret ballot oust

south africa's president, jacob zuma? the rand is poised to surge. we talk you through what's at stake. plus formula milk is big business in hong kong. we assess the obstacles there to breast—feeding. welcome to world business report. i'm sally bundock. also in the programme: china's appetite for stout beer is soaring. rico is back with the reasons why. but first: president zuma of south africa faces another vote of no confidence in parliament. this time it will be a secret ballot. mr zuma has been under constant pressure over everything

from corruption allegations to a controversial cabinet reshuffle that saw his widely respected finance minister, pravin gordhan, fired earlier this year. that prompted two credit rating agencies, standard & poor‘s and fitch, to downgrade south africa's credit worthiness to junk, hugely increasing borrowing costs. and injune, the economy, once the continent's largest, fell into a second recession in a decade. figures out yesterday show the country's unemployment rate remained unchanged at close to 28% in the second quarter. that's about five million more than in 2009. with me is william attwell, senior analyst, sub—saharan africa at frontier strategy group. nice to see you again, william. thanks for having me on. what do you

think will be the outcome of this boat? he is known as the great survivor. will he survive again? yes, so essentially jacob zuma is fairly safe actually. he has had nine votes of no confidence before and survived all of them. this is of course different with the secret ballot, which the opposition says would protect those anc mps who might vote against him. certainly there are several mps who've come out very publicly, saying they would vote with the opposition, but ultimately, within the party, the majority of the mps, the opposition would need 50 to vote with them, but they are not going to get those numbers, simply because of those mps fearing a backlash through some sort of internal investigation later. so what will finally toppled jacob zuma then? i know he is stepping down as head of the anc in september this year, but he remains president in

theory since 2019. i suppose zexit, as you could call it, will happen. it's a matter of when rather than if. till 2019, he will hope to stay in power by having his former wife the head of the party, which he hopes will protect him, perhaps allow him to stay on npower little longer, and hopefully avoid prosecution in his eyes. in the meantime, what will happen to the south african economy? it's taken quite a heavy hit. we mentioned the event, pravid gordan being shuffled out of his position. you mentioned the rand, just after the secret ballot was announced, it increased 296 ballot was announced, it increased 2% against the dollar. essentially any meaningful reforms that can improve the economic situation, we are forecasting considerably less than 1% growth this year. basically all reforms that would help redress

the situation are off the table. internal politicking will dominate the headlines for the next five months. thank you very much. of course we will give you the outcome of that secret ballot as an when it happens in south africa. sales of stout beer surges in china. apparently it is now eclipsing the american market. rico hizon is in our asia business hub in singapore. rico, what's behind this thirst? so nice to have you back. you've been missed. great to be back! it's a lovefest here... goodness me. chinese drinkers will consume more than 216 million litres of stout beer this year, and that number will surpass the united states as the top market for this dark brew worldwide, and this is according to the latest report from euromonitor international. for our viewers who don't know what stout

beer is, it's a dark beer using roasted malts, barley, hops, water and yeast, so american drinkers had previously taken the crown from the british in 2013, but now both markets are just growing at a fraction of the pace in china, where brewers such as diageo and guinness have benefited from growth of more than tenfold over the last four yea rs, than tenfold over the last four years, so than tenfold over the last four years, so they are projecting chinese demand will more than double to around 660 million litres by 2021. i'm nota to around 660 million litres by 2021. i'm not a beer to around 660 million litres by 2021. i'm nota beer drinker, sally, so 2021. i'm nota beer drinker, sally, so for all stout beer drinkers, well, this is good news. that's a heck of a lot of beer, i have to say! it's good for the manufacturers... thank you. and now it's time for the next instalment of our business of birth series. today we focus on the great debate about breast—feeding and formula milk. in hong kong formula is proving to be a lucrative business and breast—feeding rates are among the lowest in the world.

juliana liu has been finding out why. sometimes, professional assistance is needed to help a new man achieve that perfect latch. yes. lactation co nsulta nt that perfect latch. yes. lactation consultant christine lam has been teaching breast—feeding for 20 yea rs. teaching breast—feeding for 20 years. it's still an uphill battle. quite a lot of mothers in hospital. the breast—feeding rate on discharge is very high that when they go home it will drop. nearly all mothers are breast—feeding on discharge from hospital in hong kong but that rate falls to a third when their babies are four months old, one of the lowest rates in the world. locally, this is the average for babies under six months old. 0ne this is the average for babies under six months old. one of the reasons for the low rates in hong kong is the ubiquitous advertising artificial baby milk. two years ago,

formula makers spent $370 million on advertising, nearly as much as the health department spent on disease prevention for all ages, according toa group prevention for all ages, according to a group funded by unicef. that amount is set to fall after the official launch this summer on a volu nta ry official launch this summer on a voluntary code that restrict the marketing of infant formula. the city's top health official says the goal is to protect breast—feeding. and, if there are problems in running this code, using this volu nta ry running this code, using this voluntary nature, then obviously we would consider whether or not that legislation should be in place. new man sheena shen uses the guidelines. she is breast—feeding her one—month—old baby but admits continuing will be a challenge. it's difficult to breastfeed as a mother because of short maternity leave. it's just ten weeks and i had to work six weeks after birth. at a pro

breast—feeding event, mothers here agree that short maternity leave a long working hours and a lack of sleep are all obstacles. they say the government guidelines will help but, on their own, they are far from enough. and join the conversation online. do you think it is fair that formula milk brands have their advertising restricted? let us know your thoughts. in other news: the google employee who wrote a memo critical of the firm's diversity initiatives has been fired from the company. a male software engineer argued the lack of women in top tech jobs was due to biological differences between men and women. google's chief executive responded by saying the contents of the memo are fair to debate. however, portions of the memo crossed the line. the world's biggest hotel chain will partner with alibaba to tap into the growing number of chinese tourists.

marriott international says the joint venture will allow chinese travellers to book rooms using alibaba's travel website. they'll also be able to pay for their hotel bookings using alipay on their smartphones. chinese travellers are expected to take roughly 700 million trips over the next five years. tesla plans to raise $1.5 billion to pay for production by by the sounds of it, many will be drinking stout beer on their holidays as well! let's look at the markets: basically, these markets have been going up, up and up, so no surprises, a slight fall in asia today, but look at the dow, going higher and higher again. i'll see you again very soon. the welsh government is expected

to unveil today plans to invest over a million pounds in dental health. 10,000 new nhs dental places will be created in some of the most deprived parts of wales. however, critics, including the british dental association, say the new cash doesn't replace money taken out of the welsh dental budget last year because of missed targets. tomos morgan has more. for the last few years, finding an nhs dentist has been a struggle in wales. patients have found it tough to enlist while children have been waiting for long periods of time for orthodontic treatment in certain areas. in an effort to improve the situation, the welsh government has today announced an initial investment of £1.3 million worth, to create extra capacity for 10,000 new places. there will never be a time when resources are perfect. there are challenges across the country.

i'm announcing specific funding today where we recognise there is an issue about more money going into parts of the country. further funding has been allocated the specialist children's services as well. however the british dental association insisted this investment simply isn't enough. they say it's just a quarter of the amount that's already been taken out of the dental budget in 2016 for not meeting targets. the welsh government argued this is new funding, and they are disappointed the british dental association don't see it as such. recent reports show oral health amongst children was improving amongst children was improving amongst the welsh, but even the secretary of the health admits the overall situation here is farfrom perfect. coming up at 6am on breakfast: louise minchin and dan walker will have the day's news, business and sport, including the outbreak of gastroenteritis that's affected german, botswanan and irish athletes staying at a london hotel during the world championships. it's an embarrassing incident for the hosts and devastating for some with hopes of medals.

this is bbc news. the latest headlines: voters in ten year are casting their ballots for a new president amid fears the result could trigger a communal violence. eight candidates are running for president, including the incumbent, uhuru kenyatta, and his long—standing rival. he has expressed doubts about the integrity of the electronic voting system. north korea has said tough new un sanctions will not stop it developing its nuclear missile programmes. a spokesman said what he called america's hostile policy would have to change before it entered talks. the sanctions aimed to reduce export revenues by a third. venezuela's opposition led parliament has rejected the sacking of the chief prosecutor. luisa 0rtega claims she lost herjob

because president maduro wanted her to stop investigating allegations of corruption. the us secretary of state has visited thailand, the most senior us politician since a coup three years ago. the us has downgraded relations with its oldest ally in asia while china has become more active in politics and business. will have a review of the newspapers now. the guardian says staff at at the us department of agriculture have been told to avoid using the term "climate change" and use the term "weather extremes" instead. critics point to the incoming trump administration as having a stark impact on the language used around climate change. in the guardian financial pages, the booming economy in the city of london and rising house prices has pushed the uk's

wealth past the £10 trillion mark. the lloyds bank research says this could help fuel the current debate around inequality in britain. le figaro reports on french president emanuel macron who is facing a backlash over plans to create an office of "first lady" for his wife brigitte. critics feel such a move, at a time of public spending cuts would need to be sanctioned by a referendum. more than 220,000 people have signed an online petition against the plan. the telegraph leads with comments made by a former head of a uk government electronic spy agency who said british children should be encouraged to spend more time online to improve their digital skills.