assets to help ukraine in its those assets to help ukraine in its defence of this appalling, illegal russian invasion. thousands of passengers are still waiting for flights at dubai airport after delays caused by the heaviest rain in more than 70 years. and australia is fighting infestation of fire ants, with a potentially devastating impact on the country's health and agriculture. let's round up the business news of the day. let's take a quick look at our top business stories. could iran face yet more economic sanctions after its unprecendent attack on israel at the weekend? that's one of the things being discussed by g7 foreign ministers gathering in italy. iran is already subject to a range of western sanctions,

including against its oil industry which has helped fund its military activities and those of its proxies across the middle east. data from energy analytics firm, vortexa, suggests that in the first three months of this year, iran exported more oil than at any time in the last six years, with most of it going to china. iran currently produces about 3% of the world's oil supplies. earlier i spoke to philip worman who is a senior managing director we have heard about new sanctions from the us and uk, targeting executives of an engine manufacturer that supplied the drones iran used in that attack on israel. companies also linked to iran's steel industry are being targeted. earlier i spoke to philip worman who is a senior managing director at risk consultanchs held.

philip advises on sanctions risk. well, it's interesting. even with the recent missile attacks on israel, the price of crude really hasn't gone up in the same way that you saw with previous geopolitical shocks. so crude is kind of pretty steady. it's as if the traders are priced in the risk. now, on your question, will sanctions hurt iran? iran has been immunising itself to us and other sanctions for the last 45 years. they're pretty good at resisting them. and i think the type of sanctions is going to change. but the impact on iran is going to be fairly limited. 0k. i mean, on wednesday, for example, crude dropped 3%, didn't it, crude futures? so like you said, it does seem as if the market has dismissed that element of risk. so what could have an impact? you said that the sanctions could change. what are we looking at? yeah, so if you look at iran,

it's the most heavily sanctioned country in the world. so even the president of iran, ebrahim raisi, is sanctioned. so where do you go from there? you could sanction more militia leaders, more politicians. that ain't going to move the needle. what i think is going to happen are two things. so the us is going to start going after these proxy traders of iranian oil that we're seeing popping up in places like hong kong, singapore, the uae, that are shadowy, you can't see who owns them and they are certainly sending oil to china. the other thing the us is going to do, we think, is going to make it harder for refineries and ports, particularly in china, to take iranian oil. and you've got two big bills, one of which has gone through the house and senate, one of which is going through senate now in the us, that are designed explicitly to make it difficult for china to take oilfrom iran. philip, very quickly, about 30 seconds, the war premium that had been added on crude prices, is that now gone? i think, as i said, traders are pricing in geopolitical risk. one thing to also note is that the production of oil from the us through shale fields is increasing.

so increasingly there is a comfortable buffer zone that the us has in terms of oil output. that means that the impact of geopolitical events on the oil price is slightly subdued. i think that's probably a positive sign for the markets, but i think the us is going to go hard after these intermediate traders. all eyes will be on subscriber growth after a meant that users couldn't pass on their membership to friends and family. our north american correspondent erin delmore is in new york. there was so much uproar and that was brought in. what are we expecting? uproar and that was brought in. what are we meeting?— are we expecting? there was, and a lot of peeple — are we expecting? there was, and a lot of peeple who — are we expecting? there was, and a lot of people who enjoy _ are we expecting? there was, and a lot of people who enjoy this - lot of people who enjoy this password sharing with their friends and family members on netflix were a

little bit skittish about having to pivot to a new membership themselves but actually, that move paid off the netflix and they ended up seeing in the last quarter of 2023, huge subscriber growth. upwards of... that was the biggest quarterly growth number that we saw from netflix ever since the beginning of the pandemic, when a lot of people are staying home and could use that on screen entertainment. so a lot of those people who picked up new netflix descriptions moved into netflix's cheaper adverts inscription. it is neither netflix and it is a bit of a crowded marketplace with other streamers who also rely on advertising dollars. but broadly this is showing netflix's pivot back to a more traditional tv strategy because they are also moving more broadly enter licensing old content. that is

something that was so popular on tv for so long and it is something that is inexpensive the company, especially relative that they award worthy, huge, blockbuster content they were so famous for producing. they pulled in 18 0scar nominations but they only won one award and so you can see how this could be beneficial for netflix. we are seeing the move into more live and spot programming. they picked up a exclusive deal with w w e role. by now, whether while there is a blockbuster report coming out of ga, blockbuster report coming out of 64, we are waiting to see what is coming out of q1. we are waiting to see what is coming out of 01. ., ~ we are waiting to see what is coming out of 01. . ~ ,, , we are waiting to see what is coming out of 01. . ~ , . google has confirmed to the bbc that it terminated the employment of 28 staff who took part in protests against a contract with the israeli government. the company has a joint agreement with amazon, worth $1.2bn, called project nimbus, to provide israel with cloud

computing and ai infrastructure. joining me now is our business reporter, jonathanjosephs, from our business newsroom. tell us a bit more about this deal and the lay—offs as well? tell us a bit more about this deal and the lay-offs as well?- and the lay-offs as well? that's ri . ht. and the lay-offs as well? that's right- google — and the lay-offs as well? that's right. google has— and the lay-offs as well? that's right. google has fired - and the lay-offs as well? that's right. google has fired these i and the lay-offs as well? that's right. google has fired these 28 staff, say it has investigated their behaviour and that is the conclusion it has come to you. this is all about some process that happen at google offices in new york and california on tuesday, in which this group have now former staff decided to voice their concerns about this contract with the israeli government. it is a $1.2 billion contract with amazon, something called project nimbus and it provides ai called project nimbus and it provides aland cloud computing services right across the israeli government, including in things like health care and education, trying to improve the way the bureaucracy is

run. it is difficult to get government paperwork taken care of in israel. the protesters are concerned that it has been used for military purposes, including to target palestinians in gaza. google has said that the contract is not directed at a highly sensitive classified military workloads, so it is playing down his concerns but it also says that the protest behaviour was completely unexpected that unacceptable, they were stopping their colleagues from being able to do theirjobs. so they're terminated their contracts. they have said they are going to continue their protest against the israeli government. this highlights concerns that a lot of companies have about how to tackle the consent of their own staff when it comes to highly sensitive issues, such as what is going on in the middle east at the moment. jonathan josehs, middle east at the moment. jonathan josephs. thank _ middle east at the moment. jonathan josephs. thank you — middle east at the moment. jonathan josephs, thank you very _ middle east at the moment. jonathan

josephs, thank you very much. - middle east at the moment. jonathan josephs, thank you very much. a - josephs, thank you very much. a quick look at some other news making the headlines now. the former deputy governor of china's central bank has been charged with illegally accepting more than $50m of property either directly or via his relatives. according to state media, fan yifei has appeared in court and a verdict is set to be announced at a later date. he's one of the highest ranking officials at the bank to be caught up in president xi's anti—corruption drive. the world's biggest computer chipmaker tsmc says demand for chips to power artiifcal intellgegence is "insatiable". the taiwanese company is planning to spend as much as $32bn on new factories as it tries to meet that demand. profits for the first three months of this year rose 9% to almost $7bn as customers including apple and nvidia drove demand for its chips.

around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

you are life with bbc news. you may remember this case here in the uk. just a line of news coming into us because the criminal case review commission has offered an unreserved apology to him for failing him. commission has offered an unreserved apology to him forfailing him. you may remember that case, he spoke so powerfully outside the courthouse when his conviction was quashed, scaling about the police and the national investigation in his case but also scathing about the criminal case review commission because his lawyers had gone to that commission and asked them to look again at his case with the new evidence that had emerged but that was not done and he

spent 30 years in prison. 17 years in prison in total. now offering him an unreserved apology for failing andrew malcolm son who spent those years in prison. more on that story as we get it. more now on the aftermath of record rainfall pounding the united arab emirites and neighbouring gulf countries. flash floods have caused massive disruption at dubai airport. meanwhile, on social media, there's been speculation about what caused these floods. so, what are the facts? marco silva reports. soon after images of the floods began circulating online, rumours started spreading about the causes of the storm. some users hinted that cloud seeding might be to blame for the intense rainfall, but scientists say that's misleading. so what exactly is cloud seeding? cloud seeding means manipulating existing clouds to help make it rain. this can be done from the air

by dropping salts or small particles into clouds. water vapour can then condense more easily and turn into rain. it's a technique that has been around for decades, and the united arab emirates has been doing it for years to help deal with water shortages. yesterday, bloomberg reported that cloud seeding planes were deployed on sunday and monday, but not on tuesday when the flooding happened. while the bbc has so far been unable to independently verify that, scientists say that even if that was the case, the seeding would at best have had a minor effect on the storm that hit the gulf. we also know that ahead of the floods, computer models were already predicting well over a year's worth of rain to fall in 2a hours. so what do we actually know about the causes of these floods?

well, the main cause was a cut—off low pressure weather system. that is a weather system that drew in warm, moist air and blocked other weather systems from coming through, which, of course, led to experts describing this as a very rare rainfall event. but not just that. scientists say this record rainfall is consistent with how the climate is changing in a rapidly warming planet. the air can hold more moisture, which can then fuel storms and increase the intensity of rain. so a powerful weather system and climate change, those scientists say, are the most likely explanations for the severity of the floods we've seen in the gulf in recent days. not cloud seeding. australia is suffering an infestation of fire ants, with a potentially devastating impact on the country's health and agriculture. the insects are originally from south america but are thought

to have entered australia 20 years ago in shipping containers, and can kill people and livestock. phil mercer has the story. sniffer dogs are on the front line in australia's fight against a formidable invader. fire ants attack as a swarm. they are a danger to people, pets, livestock and wildlife. they lock their jaws onto their victims's skin and inject venom through a spike on the abdomen. the sting causes a burning sensation. the invasive pests were first found in australia in 2001, but had probably been here undetected for years. their name is solenopsis invicta, meaning invincible. so no country that has been invaded by them has ever been able to eradicate them. we can't even have back yard barbecues any more, and kids' sporting fields can be infested. i mean, we are a sporting nation and we have had football clubs

complaining about the football fields being infested because some of the mulch is coming with fire ants in it. the queensland state government says it eradication programmes are world class but the invasive ants have been detected over the border in new south wales. more fire ants there, more fire ants there. here, they can be seen forming a raft to travel across floodwaters. critics, though, insist that australia has underestimated the threat from fire ants and warn they are spreading out of control. phil mercer, bbc news, sydney. police have broken up an alleged international cyber—crime gang that had been offering a service to criminals, allowing them to steal from people using fraudulent text messages. 37 people have been arrested worldwide, including 2a in the uk, and police believe there were as many as 70—thousand british victims. our home affairs correspondent

tom symonds reports. it's 5am in south london — the end of a two—year investigation. police! this was one of a series of co—ordinated raids targeting cybercrime in 17 countries, masterminded from the uk. one man was arrested here and 23 others around the country. and this all began about two years ago when security experts for the banking industry spotted on the dark web criminals offering other criminals a service, a way to make money using phishing, with a "ph". labhost, freely available on the internet, provided technology and training to other criminals so they could carry out phishing attacks sending fraudulent text messages to trick 70,000 people into handing over personal information. technology is enabling crime to be delivered at scale in an almost industrial fashion.

and these crimes—as—a—service, or fraud—as—a—service, are allowing people into this criminal marketplace who don't have necessarily technical skills but they can get these crime—as—a—service capabilities off the shelf — they can buy it online. as the arrests were taking place, including at luton and manchester airports, police were also contacting 25,000 victims they've identified, giving details of how they had been scammed and giving them advice. the victims in this case have been aged between about 25 and 45, predominantly. pretty young, then. yeah. digital natives. well, it's people who live their lives online, that perhaps do their banking online, that shop online, they're more likely to fall victim to this. people like alex, an accountant for tech firms who works online, scammed in february by criminals who targeted her business account. they sent you a text message? yes. they then called you? yes.

they then got you to install an app? yes. and then they scammed you? correct. they made me believe i was protecting the funds in my bank from fraudsters. and how much did you lose? 53,000. £53,000? yes. they gloated. they said, how does it feel to have your money taken from you? how does it feel to have your money spent in louis vuitton dubai? welcome to your labhost wrapped — your recap of all the data we have about you... as for labhost — police seized so much data that they could send each criminal user a tailored video making clear how much they know about what's been going on, the strategy — to make the users think again about trusting these services. and yesterday, they shut the site down leaving this message for the fraudsters. tom symonds, bbc news, south london. let me show you the pictures from new york because we are keeping an eye on that court case with former

president donald trump. they are down from the seven they had picked to six after one juror feeling intimidated after details which were on thejury became intimidated after details which were on the jury became public. intimidated after details which were on thejury became public. there will also thought they could lose another jury will also thought they could lose anotherjury and be down to five. so we are keeping an eye on proceedings there in new york and we will bring you the latest here on proceedings there on bbc news. do stay with us. plenty more from new york. let's turn to events in westminster, where a conservative mp has been suspended by the parliamentary party after claims he misused campaign funds. the times newspaper alleges he used local party funds to pay off what he reportedly called "bad people" who had locked him in a flat. mark menzies "strongly" disputes the allegations. the conservative party was made aware of the allegations three months ago and says it's investigating. 0ur political correspondent damian grammaticas reports the honesty needs to start now.

the lack of clarity needs to stop. mark menzies — this was him last week, urging transparency about the impact locally of a wind farm being built offshore. the allegation about his own behaviour, first reported by the times, is that last december, at three in the morning, he called his former campaign manager and said bad people had locked him in a flat, adding he needed £5,000 as a matter of life or death. it's claimed campaign donations were later used to cover the payment and also that he has received £14,000 to cover medical bills. the bbc hasn't been able to speak to him for a comment, but in a statement to the times he said, "i strongly dispute the allegations put to me. i have fully complied with all the rules for declarations. as there is an investigation ongoing. i will not be commenting further." the conservative party was made aware of the allegations injanuary when the former campaign manager reported them. it is investigating and says the process is confidential.

but mr menzies was only suspended as a conservative mp when the times investigated the claims. my understanding is that some further information came to light yesterday. whether that was through that story or another route, i don't know, which led to the suspension of the whip, but in fact it has been being investigated. but that leaves many parts of the whole affair unclear, say labour. sir keir starmer, out today in teesside, called for answers. there are obviously a lot of unanswered questions in relation to these allegations, not least why it seems the conservative party took so long to act and whether they've reported this to the police, which seems to me should be involved in this. in addition, labour are asking when did rishi sunak become aware of the claims against mark menzies and is it common for conservative mps to use campaign funds for personal expenses? damian grammaticas,

bbc news, westminster. more on that story soon. news today that the fa is going to scrap replays from the first round onwards for next season's competition. what does it mean the minnows of the game? does it make sense with around fixture list? pat nevin gave me his reaction. iii fixture list? pat nevin gave me his reaction. , ., ., ., ., reaction. if you are one of the smaller clubs, _ reaction. if you are one of the smaller clubs, it _ reaction. if you are one of the smaller clubs, it is _ reaction. if you are one of the smaller clubs, it is kind - reaction. if you are one of the smaller clubs, it is kind of- smaller clubs, it is kind of disastrous because if you get a good draw and you manage to get a replay, then you can make enough money to keep yourself going for another few years. it is incredible what difference it can make these clubs and this is the biggest day of their calendar year every single year. for them, even though there is a sop,

some might call it, because the fa are going to give the odd million to grassroots football, that is just to keep them quiet. in reality, the bigger clubs, from another point of view, they know that their players are being asked to pay far too many games. uefa, fifa, they are all pushing it farfurther games. uefa, fifa, they are all pushing it far further than they use do so from the clubs point of view, you need to get their players some rest so it depends where you look at it from. ,, ., rest so it depends where you look at it from. ., ., , it from. some of the greatest moments. — it from. some of the greatest moments, the _ it from. some of the greatest moments, the greatest - it from. some of the greatest i moments, the greatest stories, it from. some of the greatest - moments, the greatest stories, the history of the fa cup, come from replays, don't they? is there is a decision made by the head rather than heart?— decision made by the head rather than heart? ~ , , ., _ than heart? absolutely made by the head. you than heart? absolutely made by the head- you can _ than heart? absolutely made by the head. you can make _ than heart? absolutely made by the head. you can make the _ than heart? absolutely made by the head. you can make the good - than heart? absolutely made by the - head. you can make the good argument that a lot of the top players, they are the ones that are trying to make sure they don't get injured, don't get too tired etc, they are playing... if you think about it, the uefa conference league, the

champions league, the world cup has been extended hugely and will be extended again. when i played in the euros, there were eight teams in the finals, there are 2a now. a lot of the players are coming over from other countries and other continents. there will be playing in south america and africa. there are a huge amount of games and huge amount of travelling for the very top players. they must think to themselves, what is the most important. fa cup is not the most important. fa cup is not the most important for them so from their point of view, they will be relieved by it. it is a way the case that uefa and fifa particularly make sure that they increase their income from playing more games and bigger tournaments and you can blame the clubs if you like but in actual fact, the reason it has been done is because the fa cannot stand up. fiat because the fa cannot stand up. pat nevin talking to me a short while ago. let's catch up with the weather

details now. a north—south divide with a weather story today. this was londonjust this was london just a few hours ago. a different story further north. it was cloudy and wet at times. a rather drizzly over picture as you can see. that is because there is weather front that is toppling around the high pressure thatis toppling around the high pressure that is putting in for the weekend. that is bringing some rain. the progress of the rain has been quite slow, it has been moving its way out of scotland, pushing into northern england and north wales. the rest of the day, it will gradually seek its way steadily south so we will see some outbreaks of rain through the night night across central and southern england. clearer skies further north, a brisk wind and a few scattered showers and with temperatures to the tops of the mountain is perhaps into low single figures, may be a bit of a wintry

flavour as well. mild to start the morning for england and wales. a dreary, drab morning here, slowly writing up in the afternoon. a few scattered showers but again, the wind is picking up. that willjust take the edge of the feel of things, particularly in eastern scotland we can see gusts of it up to a0 miles an hour. with a little more child to further west, we could see 1a or 15 degrees. here is the high over the weekend, a lot of dry weather around this weekend. there's weather front will introduce a bit of patchy drizzle and as we go into sunday in particular, more than north—easterly flow making it feel on exposed east coasts and certainly producing a lot more in the way of cloud. we will be chasing clouds amounts around this weekend but saturday starts of sunny. there will be this north—east wind coming through, making it feel cool here. further west, a bit more

sunshine and we could see highs of 1a this west east divide continues, particularly through the second half of the weekend. in the east, the temperatures will be struggling with a little more shelter and more sunshine in the west, it is not out of the question and we may see 17 degrees in parts of northern ireland.

will live from london. this is bbc news. ukraine's prime minister — warns the west — of the threat of a third world war — if they don't help, to arm his country. if ukraine will fall, so the global, so the global system of secuirty will be destroyed and all the world will need to find system of security will be destroyed and all the world will need to find and will need to look for a new system of secuity. i'm gordon corera. i'll have the latest,

as two men are arrested in bavaria, accused of spying and planning attacks on us military facilities in germany to undermine aid to ukraine. our other main stories... conservative mp mark menzies is suspended after claims he missused campaign funds — which he disputes. the government says an investigation is underway. china hopes to make and sell more electric cars, solar panels and wind turbines to europe as it faces its biggest economic challenge in two decades. an and to fa cups replays, part of the romance of the oldest cup competition, we are the reaction.

hello, i'm matthew amroliwala, welcome to verified live three hours