and the corrupt malaysian businessman who's been extradited to the us as part of a venezuela prisoner swap. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm suranjana tewari. prepare for 90 days of red sea disruptions — that is what shipping advisors are warning clients following the recent attacks on ships by iran—backed houthi rebels. beyond supply chain and consumer good disruptions, one sector that has been feeling the heat is oil. the price of brent has climbed about 6% since they began with many energy giants like bp having to stop exporting crude through those crucial waters. overnight, oil prices have dipped — a slight reprieve

—— around 0.32%. some reprieve, but will it last? rebecca babin is a senior energy trader at cibc private wealth. she gave me her predictions. i think the concern right now is really kind of concentrated on the longer shipping time. the market is not pricing in that we actually lose barrels from the market as a result of what is happening in the suez canal. what it is concerned with right now and the reason it has risen 6% is because the shipping costs associated with travelling around the southern tip of africa to reach its destination adds around 15 days of travel time. it increases freight costs. and it has increased insurance costs. so that is what the market is pricing in and looking at at this point. the market has not entered a panic mode, as we have seen in the past with other geopolitical events, where it starts to price in

supply is lost from the market. right now it is a logistical rerouting, what we're seeing, and not kind of that panic and fear that we're going to lose barrels. that obviously can change very rapidly. that was the volatile price of oil. to sri lanka, and it says it expects the economy to rise. the most since last year's financial crisis. international groups including the imf have lent shall anchor nearly 800 merely —— have lent sri lanka only $800 million. —— nearly. the world bank just yesterday released an additional $250 million. let's get more with our business correspondent. good to see you. how have we got here with their economic crisis?—

economic crisis? this latest news so _ economic crisis? this latest news so they _ economic crisis? this latest news so they are _ economic crisis? this latest news so they are battling i economic crisis? this latest | news so they are battling the economy right now. foreign exchange reserves was one of their major concerns because at one point in time they were importing way more than they were exporting. it was running out of currency to pay for imports. to backtrack and let you know what has been happening in short anchor, and how they got there, —— sri lanka, there is economic policies, covid and tourism which is a major contributor to the economy, all of these factors paid out to go ahead and see what really happened in sri lanka. so that is the situation that sri lanka has been going through over the past few years, and we have seen the ims coming together and reviewing —— imf reviewing

its funds it was going to send to sri lanka. that is what we are seeing in one part of that nearly $800 million at they gave sri lanka. 5ri nearly $800 million at they gave sri lanka.— nearly $800 million at they gave sri lanka. sri lanka owes a lot of money _ gave sri lanka. sri lanka owes a lot of money to _ gave sri lanka. sri lanka owes a lot of money to a _ gave sri lanka. sri lanka owes a lot of money to a lot - gave sri lanka. sri lanka owes a lot of money to a lot of- a lot of money to a lot of different people. you mentioned imf, but also china and the asian development bank. what more doesn't need to do to get its economy back on track? —— what more does it need to do? 0pen $7 billion to china, $i 0pen $7 billion to china, $1 billion owed to india. that was part of the reason they had to restructure the debt which was one of the major conditions for the imf to go ahead and agree to the $2.9 billion bailout package. apart from the international help we have seen coming in for sri international help we have seen coming infor sri lanka, the new government which came in after protest rocked the country in force the previous government to resign, sri lanka has increased income tax for higher earners is one of the major owners, they have increased taxes on some

essential items to fill up their coffers and one of the other aspects the new government promised to do was to try and raise funds by restructuring its government assets. to some of the many solutions that sri lanka is trying to look at. it solutions that sri lanka is trying to look at.- trying to look at. it is sri lanka's _ trying to look at. it is sri lanka's economic- trying to look at. it is sri lanka's economic crisis. | trying to look at. it is sri - lanka's economic crisis. many thanks. now, a number of us news outlets are reporting the heads of warner brothers and paramount have met for several hours to discuss a potential buy—out. sources originally set a deal would likely involve warner brothers buying either paramount global or its parent company. neither company has commented yet. we will bring you details if we get them. to

president nicolas maduro has welcomed back alex saab, a close ally who has been held in the united states on money laundering charges. he is accused of siphoning off some $350 million from venezuela, that involved bribing government officials. but as part of the prisoner swap, venezuela also returned the fugitive malaysian businessman leonard glenn francis to the us. known as �*fat leonard', he is accused of masterminding a massive corruption scandal here in asia. tom wright made a podcast about him. he told me the remarkable story. he told me the remarkable sto . ., , ., , he told me the remarkable sto. , story. he was furious because what he thought _ story. he was furious because what he thought was - story. he was furious because what he thought was he - story. he was furious because | what he thought was he would plead guilty to all of this that i have just described and then he got cancer, he was allowed out ofjail in san diego and put into home detention. he was wearing an ankle monitoring bracelet and he watched — and i agree with him — as admiral after admiral who were involved with him were not taken to court criminally. if you look at who was taken to court in the us, it was more lower—level officers. i think 30 or so

people were charged. a bunch did jail time. the recent court cases of a number of other officers have collapsed. so leonard then escaped. he tried to board — he went into mexican and then venezuela and he almost got to russia. he was trying to board a plane to russia when he was arrested by the venezuelan authorities and now he has been brought back to the us for sentencing. he has already pleaded guilty. so now he just had to be sentenced in san diego. what is ex - ected sentenced in san diego. what is exnected to _ sentenced in san diego. what is expected to happen? _ how long is expected to be sentenced for? he could get decades injail. i mean, the fact that he broke out of home detention and escaped is terrible for him. he was a cooperating witness for many, many years, as i said. and the reason he did the fat leonard podcast with us is he wanted to get his story out, "it was notjust me, i am corrupt, fine, "but there were other people involved." this was happening post 9/11 when there

was gushes of military spending available and still is even today. that is the money leonard creamed off. the guy who replaced leonard also got arrested. this is a big problem in the us military complex. to some other news. an electric scooter rental company has filed for bankruptcy three months after shares were suspended on the stock exchange. it became the fastest cycle "unicorn" to hit a company valuation of more than $1 billion. it enjoyed a meteoric rise before coming crashing back to earth. in 2017, bird launched in multiple city with a fair amount of hype. the promise — electric scooters, they were good for the planet because they

reduced car emissions. that narrative helped fuel its popularity, including with investors. bird was a fasters company to reach a $1 billion valuation. that means unicorn status. now, though, it has filed for bankruptcy. the company has been kept afloat thanks to a loan while it carries out a turnaround plan where it could sell off some assets. consumers may not notice the difference. bird says it will operate as usual. its operations in canada and europe are not part of the bankruptcy proceedings, so they will not be affected. where did everything go wrong? well, for the e—scooter company, when cities shut down during the pandemic, bird's fortunes suffered. as it began to reopen in 2021, business started to pick up, although it never fully recovered. it caps a remarkable fall from grace for the miami—based company two years after going public. one year after wanting bankruptcy proceedings could be on the horizon and three months after being delisted from the new york

stock exchange. and with other electric scooter firms also struggling, it is a sign the buzz around this type of transportation has evaporated. thousands of people have taken to the streets of wallace errors in the first big protest against the new argentine government's economic shock policies. it comes as the country's new president announced a host of new economic measures. in the last couple of hours he eliminated or changed more than 300 rules including on rent and labour practices. it comes a week after he announced drastic vending cuts and a currency devaluation. it is all the time we have on this edition of asia business report. thanks for watching. voiceover: bringing you different storiesl from across the uk. for 70% of the world's population, this is what doing the laundry looks like — women and children

spending hours each week scrubbing by hand. and this is the solution — a flatpack manual washing machine being built in corby. british engineer nav was inspired by a visit to southern india. and they wash with cold water in buckets on the floor, causing back pain, joint pain and skin irritation. with our machine, it saves 75% of time and 50% of water compared to hand—washing clothes. and here it is, from flatpack to fully assembled. so you open the lid, put your clothes inside, you put your water and your laundry detergent in here, close the lid — and of course, the most important bit is how you operate it, using a handle. and once your clothes are clean, the dirty water comes out here. over 100 staff from this component supplier have volunteered their time to build the machines. so far, 180 machines

have been sent to 15 countries, giving thousands of women and girls their time back. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. hi, i'm levy with the catch up. first, two teenagers, a boy and a girl, have been found guilty of murdering 16—year—old brianna ghey, in a park near warrington, in february. breanna was stabbed 28 times after being lured to the park by someone she believed to be herfriend. the trial heard that the guilty teens, named only as x and y for legal reasons, had a fascination for murder, violence and torture, and wrote a handwritten list of people they wanted to kill. if you have been affected by any of this, you can get help and support on bbc actionline. some other stories now:

a rimmel london advert has been banned for playing on young girls' insecurities. it features an ex love islander putting on make—up and said, "get ready to slay the back—to—school season." the advertisers standards authority said the ad implied that girls were more likely to succeed at school if they wore make—up. and a new covid variant is on the rise — thejm.1 variant has been found in the uk, the us and china, but the risk to the public is currently low. some good news now — an eight—year—old girl has been crowned best female player at the european blitz chess championships. bodhana, from harrow in northwest london, scored 8.5 out of 13 and even defeated an international master. she has been playing since she was five and said she felt proud of her new title. and time now to leave you with ten seconds of christmas. look at this festive tractor parade making its way down a country road in east suffolk. it raised thousands for charity, as well as bringing some

festive cheer to the community. you're all caught up now. have a good night. hello, i'm 0lly foster. here's what's coming up for you on sportsday. klopp hails the kop as liverpool score five

in the league cup against west ham. nuno espirito santo is back in the premier league, can he stop forest's slide down the table? and we meet the brothers hoping to face each other at the olympics — competing for different countries. the liverpool manager jurgen klopp hailed a top performance from start to finish after reaching the league cup semi—finals. they only led 1—0 at halftime but thrashed west ham 5—1 at anfield. curtis jones scored twice after the break, there were also goals from szoboszlai, gakpo and salah. the draw for the semi—finals was made after the game and liverpool will face fulham and championship side

middlesbrough will play chelsea.