madera with bbc world news. al top story: china says it is seriously concerned about north korea's nuclear plans after pyongyang told the bbc it would continue its missile test programme. china, which is one of north korea's few allies, has called for the nicula rise as an entire korean peninsula. it asked both pyongyang and washington to exercise restraint. the us has sought to clear up confusion over claims an aircraft carrier group was en route to north korea. lastly, donald trump said he was sending an armada to the region. since then, the ship set sail further away. and this video is trending on bbc.com. it is about serena williams, who is expecting her first baby. it is about serena williams, who is expecting herfirst baby. the news has been confirmed by her agent. —— ships have sailed. our top ourtop uk our top uk stories: george osborne has announced that he is standing

down as an mp to concentrate on his newjob as editor of the london evening standard. now on bbc news, let's get the latest business news live with rico hizon in singapore. the us vice president arrives in indonesia. there might be tough conversations on trade. but what will be indonesians want to hear from donald trump's deputy will stop —— deputy? and we find out how indian businesses are handling a new roadside ban on our goal. —— on alcohol. it is a thursday. good morning asia. hello world. but you could join us for asia business report. i'm rico hizon. the us vice—president mike pence is in indonesia as part of his first visit

to the region. security issues dominated his talks in south korea andjapan. he dominated his talks in south korea and japan. he will be meeting joko widodo and we will hear from indonesian and asian business leaders. what will likely be on the agenda? there are plenty of issues that washington gripes to indonesia about, in terms of regular tree issues. and now the opposite is happening and jakarta is hitting back the other way, griping about some of the rhetoric coming out of the trump administration. —— regulatory. —— trump. these disputes over particular companies, certainly thatis over particular companies, certainly that is one of the reasons why mike pence decided to swing by jakarta on

the way to australia. but there are other issues on the ticket, as well. i think normalisation is one of the things that from my opinion is one of the main issues that mike pence is here to talk about. and that is a normalisation of relations after some eyebrows were raised here in indonesia about the travel ban on muslim majority countries, from washington. as well as announcements about trade investigations, in terms of 16 countries that have a trade imbalance with the united states. indonesia was not pleased about that announcement. i think mike pence is here to do a good bit of normalising after that. rio tinto says iron ore production in australia fell 3% in the first three months of the year, compared to the same period a year ago. the company said that is due to logistical conditions due to wet weather and its mines. but it is saysis

weather and its mines. but it is says is on track to reach full—year targets. a peak in mid— february came after demand in china shrinks. oil prices have rebounded slightly after slipping $2 a barrel on a rise in us gasoline stockpiles. this is where they are right now. light crude is at $51.06 a barrel. brent crude is at $51.06 a barrel. brent crude is at $53. it is the first rise in us gas stockpiles since january. it comes since their production hits the highest level since mid—2000 15. and the latest financial results have helped ease worries over a dispute with apple for qualcomm. qualcomm's chief executive says the company expects to continue being an important supplier to the iphone maker. ——

radu. in january, supplier to the iphone maker. —— radu. injanuary, apple sued qualcomm, accusing them of overcharging for its chips. and malaysia airlines has become the first carrier to sign up to a new satellite flight tracking system. it will allow the monitoring of planes in areas where there is currently no surveillance. the development, three yea rs surveillance. the development, three years after malaysia airlines flight mh-370 years after malaysia airlines flight mh—370 disappeared with 239 people on board. tens of thousands of shops, restaurant, and bars in india are suffering, because they have been forced to stop selling our goal. the supreme court banned sales within 500 metres of national and state highways, in an effort to reduce drink—driving death. —— alcohol. but some said the law is a blunt tool and not tackling the problem. we got this report. in april of last year, 32—year—old man was on his way

from home —— home from work, whether seven. the mercedes hit him, throwing and 15 feet into the air and telling. city deep two cctv footage sparked a debate on rosetti. -- cctv footage sparked a debate on rosetti. —— cctv footage. his sister thinks the man might have been drunk. she believes that the ban of our coal sales and eyre might help. believes that the ban of our coal sales and eyre might helpm believes that the ban of our coal sales and eyre might help. it might bea sales and eyre might help. it might be a solution. —— alcohol. it doesn't matter. if you kill somebody, it is not my problem. india's rows are considered to be among the deadliest in the world. there have been nearly half a million accidents in 2015 a lone. one life was lost every four minutes. most of these road traffic deaths happen on state and national

highways. —— alone. the supreme court ruling is mainly aimed at alcohol shops like this that are on the highway and cater to truckers. but as you can see, many are still working. when we spoke to them, they said they would not shut down unless forced to. but over the thousands of cord ozo forced to. but over the thousands of cordozo highways, owners are prepared to do anything to protect their business. in india, our goal isa virgin their business. in india, our goal is a virgin a billion—dollar market. and the band has hit other big businesses too. —— radu. this is just outside of delhi. it is just metres away from a major highway. before the ban, they sold to 400 or 500 customers per night. 85% of its business came from alcohol sales. we spent a lot of money to create a concept and to do the interiors, all about. that is useless business for us. about. that is useless business for us. as usual loss of employment.

state goverment ‘s are unhappy too. they are set to lose tens of billions of dollars two. and with more than1 billions of dollars two. and with more than 1 million jobs at risk of business owners and state officials are asking if this ban is the only solution. —— too. froese goes to the polls as we can for the first round of eight closely contested presidential election. it is a key vote. marine le pen has suggested that france should leave the european union. much of the support for her and melenchon appears to come from rural areas. we got this report from the south of france. glittering under the sun of provence, rice has been grown in the region for centuries. but now, the industry faces a difficult future. competition from overboard and a big

reduction in subsidies have taken a heavy toll on production. translation: g rowers growers say this needs to change. translation: politician should be focusing on rural issues in france. there are 15 million people living in rural areas. about one quarter of the population. politics must become rural again. the rice business has its own particular concerns, of course. but you will be much the of thing if you talk to farmers up and down this country. they are worried that their problems simply not not being taken seriously enough by politicians in towns and cities. in this small village, farmers have gathered for the weekly market. they have little time for mainstream politics. translation: rural issues are taboo. it is only large towns and their inhabitants that politicians care about. country people are being forgotten. translation: i think it is a

candidates on the far right and left the people here vote for. the extremes. translation: i will vote marine le pen, because she is a woman, and we have never had a female president in france. she could bring something new that male leaders have not in the past. opinion polls suggest that dissolution in country areas has provided support for fringe candidates. they have a strong sense of abandonment from the mainstream political parties. you know, there used to be a large portion of the population, but now they are a small portion. —— dei. —— menadue. they more and more turning to the front national, which looks like the only alternative for them. the countryside is home to millions of

voters. in such a close fought race, at their voices might become important indeed. let's have a look at the markets. as you can see, the nikkei is a third a percent, due to the weakness of the japanese yen against the us dollar. the dollar is strong in new york and asian trade. in the all ordinaries, they got .3 of a percent, that is 16 .5 points. thank you for investing your time with us. sport today is coming up next. you are watching bbc news. let's get more on george osborne's announcement that he is standing down as an mp. from political big beast to big city editor, and the greenest hack in the newsroom.

the new boss in fleet street chooses to see his future as moving on, not coming down. george osborne told me today he will use his new role to fight for his liberal conservative views against any harsher vision of brexit. myjob as editor of the evening standard is to speak for london, speak for my readers, speak for this country and its future. our country's got some big decisions to make now about the kind of britain we want to be. and those values of openness, tolerance, diversity and enterprise, they are the values that i hold dear. they are the ones i fought for in government as chancellor, fought for in parliament as the mp for tatton and now i'm going to fight for them in that editor's chair at the evening standard. strategist in a hard hat, visionary in hi—vis, out to build tory support in areas off—limits since margaret thatcher. close to david cameron, they rose and fell together over brexit. theresa may, not he, moved from the wings to centre stage. can being an editor ever compensate for never being prime minister? the exciting thing is not how

you engage in the public debate but whether you engage in the public debate. i have found... no, come on, let's be realistic, you wished to be prime minister and you won't now be prime minister. do you know, i count myself as nothing other than incredibly fortunate, first of all, to be an mp, represent the great cheshire seat i did and also to be chancellor of the exchequer for six years, and i'm very proud to have been part of the team that turned around the fortunes, first of all of my party and then of the country. perspective or a brave front on a broken dream? the coalition government hung together as george osborne planned, and in the end, just as he planned, the lib dems were hung out by the voters. i don't think he himself would ever claim that he had great sort of popular public appeal in the country at large, but he loved the kind of game of politics in westminster and whitehall. he relished that kind of thing. now looking back, he insists he is proud. bad days, his so—called omnishambles budget, with its tax on hot food, glossed over. brexit, he is philosophical.

what else could he be? what do you regret most? would it be losing brexit or taxing pasties? laughter. you know, when you do budgets, and i did eight budgets, you know, you don't get all of them right. in the end, you have to do, i think, be judged on whether you are true to your own values. how do you want history to remember you, george osborne? someone who left britain in a better shape than i found it. john pienaar, bbc news, westminster. thousands of commuters to and from london have been facing major disruption after a fire forced the evacuation of euston station. the power was temporarily cut. engineers have said before timetables are unlikely to resume until the morning. now, let's get all the sports news in sports today. hello, i'm marc edwards,

and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: no second camp nou miracle. juventus knock barcelona out of the champions league. monaco are into their fourth ever champions league semi final as they see off borussia dortmund over two legs. serena williams will not play again in 2017 after her spokeswoman confirms that the tennis superstar is pregnant. hello and thanks forjoining us. the line up for the champions league semi finals is now complete. there will be no barcelona, who were unable to overturn a 3—0 first leg deficit, while monaco have knocked out borussia dortmund 6—3 on aggregate. i spoke earlier with our football reporterjohn bennett to find out