houthi fighters attack another vessel in the red sea. we take look at the impact the conflict is having on the cost—of—living. the value of foxcon is $50 billion, apple's value is 3 trillion, 60 times, why? because manufacturing is not that profitable any more. plus, the former governor of india central bank on why the country's plan to cut foreign investors may not be the best one. hello and welcome to asia business report, i'm suranjana tewari.

we are learning at this hour that houthi fighters say they will continue attacking vessels in the region of the red sea. this announcement comes after they launched a drone attack in yemen on a us commercial vessel off aden. the escalating tensions in the red sea have many analysts concerned that the impact of these attacks will drive up the cost—of—living. some companies had to take a detour around southern africa, driving up costs or have decided to suspend shipment indefinitely. mukesh sandav, head of oil trading, rystad energy, describes what is at stake in the markets. what is at stake is that a lot of crude oil, up to four million barrels a day, moving from east to west,

and that is bought by russia, by india, by china, that's at stake and that also stake is a lot of vessels which move towards europe. i would say all this, as we're talking about a sizeable number of barrels of crude and products and the question comes, will all of this get impacted or only a part of this will be impacted because what we have learnt is that the system finds alternate ways of re—routing and mechanisms and there are some alternate routs which has reflected in increasing freight rates. i believe that at this point of time, our view is that it's probably finding alternate ways of navigation and that simply means extra cost of doing business and as you are putting in your opening remarks about the inflation, this is certainly not helping that.

singapore and an alleged case of corruption its transport minister has been charged in court, he has pleaded not guilty butjust handed in his resignation as a minister and a lawmaker. for more mariko oi is in the newsroom. tell us more about the allegations against the minister? he about the allegations against the minister?— about the allegations against the minister? . ., , , the minister? he and a property coon the minister? he and a property tycoon were _ the minister? he and a property tycoon were arrested _ the minister? he and a property tycoon were arrested in - the minister? he and a property tycoon were arrested in july - tycoon were arrested injuly last year, the two men worked closely to bring the grand prix to singapore in 2008 and there arrest truly shocked singapore, it has a reputation for clean governance is the biggest political scandal to hit singapore for four decades, as you said he hasjust singapore for four decades, as you said he has just been given 27 charges, two for corruption, all of which he pleaded not guilty to but he has resigned as a minister as well as a lawmaker. as a minister as well as a lawmaker-—

as a minister as well as a lawmaker. , , ., ., , lawmaker. this is not the only scandal to _ lawmaker. this is not the only scandal to hit _ lawmaker. this is not the only scandal to hit the _ lawmaker. this is not the only scandal to hit the ruling - scandal to hit the ruling party? scandalto hit the ruling -a ? party? indeed there were extramarital _ party? indeed there were extramarital affairs, - party? indeed there were extramarital affairs, also | extramarital affairs, also ministers being accused of renting bungalows at much lower rates than the market value last year and all of the scandals have shaken singaporeans trust in the ruling party, which has ruled singapore since its independence in 1965. had brought up questions of any quality because as some viewers may be aware the singaporean lawmakers and ministers are some best paid in the world. lawmakers get 12,000 us dollars a month while ministers get 35,000 us dollars a month. the minister was getting a reduced salary of 6000 us a month but he has announced he will be returning all the money he has earned since the investigation started. . ., started. that way on those alle . ed started. that way on those alleged corruption - started. that way on those alleged corruption chargesj started. that way on those i alleged corruption charges in singapore.

to india now and recent years, the south asian country has been trying to lure big manufacturers like foxcon from china, by giving them billions of dollars in subsidies. but speaking to the bbc�*s correspondent, the former governor of the country central bank says this is no longer a winning strategy for a low income country like india. please these countries got richer and left the manufacturing to others. china still needs to employ people from manufacturing, the second problem is the rent from doing this kind of activity have been completely competed away. fox, which does all the apple manufacturing, apple has not manufactured a thing since 2004

stop apples value 3 trillion, 60 times, i because manufacturing is not that profitable any more. what india is trying to do is climb up the ladder that way we think it's a task which have better done 20 years ago, it's a little late to do this, yes, if they come, if manufacturers won't side in india because it's a china plus strategy, great, but to subsidise them heavily to do that with the hope that they will stay in india, trying to create profits for manufacturers. the modhi government has been spending billions of dollars in subsidising companies micron, where do you think that money can be more optimally used for better economic outcomes? the deal is signed with micron, at least that india is going to

subsidise the micron factory, 2.7 billion in investment, to billion of which come from government, no equity, nothing, we willjust give the money. $2 billion seems, for an industrial country, it's pocket change. for india, $2 billion is over one third the entire higher education budget of the central government. so, we are spending $2 billion for what? 5000 jobs. one of yourformer colleagues at the rbi has raised serious concerns about industrial concentration of india, the rise of chronic capitalism, or the fact that players like the adanis are growing at the cost of others businesses, do you agree? what is clear in india is a few large groups have gained heft relative to others.

being big is not bad, being big and political influential, that becomes problematic. what is worrisome is that if you build national champions on the basis of tariff protections, as well as privileged access to licenses, permissions, etc, it is dangerous if outside investors think the only way they can make their way is if they have an alliance with one of the big players. do you believe indian�*s data as a whole even on things such as gdp is is credible? i would not doubt the intentions of the organisations collecting the data. are the data timely? are they sufficiently accurate to make decisions? there, i think there are more questions, for example, our data on employment, the best data from private providers, you are flying blind if you don't know what the true employment level is and you cannot

actually have a proper political debate so, i think we need better data to inform us but we also need to allow the data to be used by researchers, we cannot suppress it and hold it if the early signs will send a bad message. in other news, making headlines, a ban on the sale of apple's latest watch is back. the us federal court has ordered the tech giant to stop selling the series 9 and ultra2 true to by the end of thursday. the iphone maker is fighting a legal battle over patents covering a blood oxygen measurement feature. the us state of iowa has sued tiktok accusing the video—based social media platform of misleading parents about their children's access to inappropriate content on the app. it accused tiktok and chinese parent company of lying about the prevalence of content about drugs, nudity, alcohol and profanity on its platform. toll collections on the panama

canal are drying up due to drought conditions by about $100 million per month since last october. canal managers have been forced to impose a shipping restrictions on one of the world's most vital trade routes linking the pacific and atlantic oceans. officials say if the trend continues, income could fall by some $700 million by april. us officials say they have completed inspections of a first batch of boeing planes which were grounded for safety review after a cabin panel broke off one of the jets midflight. the federal aviation administration ordered 171 boeing planes out of service after the fifth jan incident. it said it had finished the inspections but offered no further update on when thejets might be cleared to fly. that's all the time we have for you on on this edition of asia business

report, do stay with bbc news. voice-over: bbc news, - bringing you different stories from across the uk. reunited once again. theodore and his dad meeting in lviv. schoolfriends did a camping out paying for his troop back to ukraine. actually, it means all the world to us. it's so amazing when children of that age are thinking of the future, thinking of what is happening in the world. what was the best bit about it? seeing a lot of my family. i slept with my dad all the time. it was a boy's room at that time. during our stay because... they both snore.

no, i don't. yes, they do. theodore and his friends started a new fundraiser, cycling the distance between manchester and the middle east to raise funds for children affected by the situation in gaza. ijust felt as if it's unfair so we need to do another thing for all the people as well. they have travelled more than 500 miles. we started there and we have to get all the way over to palestine. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. i'm stephen with the catch up. our top story has details you might find upsetting, it's about the lies of eleanor williams, the 23—year—old injured herself and made up claims that she was beaten and raped bya group of asian men.

the prosecution service says false allegations of rape are extremely rare. back in 2020, she was jailed for 8.5 years for perverting the course ofjustice, now, more than 50 hours of police videos have been shared with the bbc. they show how her lies became more elaborate over a number of years and you can watch a full documentary on the bbc iplayer. some other stories now, a two—year—old boy and his dad have been found dead at a house in skegness. 60—year—old had a heart attack and his son starved to death. their bodies were found on the ninth ofjanuary, the family was known to children services, lincolnshire county council is investigating. if you a gamer, you could be a risk of damaging your hearing, researchers have found a lot of gamers do long stints with the volume turned up and that some noises go beyond safe levels. now, irish language rap might not be something you've heard

a whole lot about but it will be featured in a new movie about the band. it stars michael fassbender and will be the first irish language film at the sundance film festival in the us. the boys from belfast say politics, identity and going up in northern ireland are all part of it. and we will leave you with ten seconds of pet prayers. hundreds of dogs and cats have been blessed in madrid two the mark the festival of saint anthony who is the turned saint of animals in spain. how cute is that? you are all caught up, have a good night.

hello, i'm marc edwards. welcome to sportsday. here's what we've got coming up on the show. wood rescues forest as nottinham avoid upset against third tier blackpool but they are third place in the fa cup first round. now you saudi, now you don't. jordan henderson short stint in the kingdom looks to be over. jamie george chosen to lead his country for the six nations in a new—look england side.