he doesn't consider the investigation into russian interference in the 2016 american election to be a witch hunt. president trump has insisted that his son, who has admitted meeting a russian lawyer during the election campaign, had been open and transparent. the former brazilian president, lula da silva, has been sentenced to nine and a half years injailfor corruption. but he's said he'll still run for president again next year. and this video is trending on bbc.com. a man in australia has been caught on cctv trying to transport a huge fridge by train. he managed to get the item all the way into the carriage before being ordered off by the staff and fined. that's all from me for now. stay with bbc news. and the top story here in the uk: the head of the national audit office has said he's worried about failures in government leadership over brexit. sir amyas morse said ministers weren't presenting a united front in dealing with the challenges.

now on bbc news, all the latest business news live from singapore. china orjapan takes the lead in reviving the ambitious trans—pacific partnership trade deal after the us pulls out. and we look at why start—ups in india are hitting major roadblocks and struggling to raise money. they are hoping to reach a new trade arrangement. japan is hosting them

until friday, but, without the us at the negotiating table, is there still a point? economist martin schultz says yes. tpp was thought to be dead after the us was leaving, but with the eu, japan fta, which has been signed and brought on track to be going, there is some life still in free trade and getting things going in terms of having trading platforms, and that is the most important thing for asia. asia isa most important thing for asia. asia is a very attractive market. so creating a platform, even without the us, makes the entire area more attractive. trade talks are keeping going. this is very helpful. but the linchpin of this trans—pacific partnership is the united states, and it represents more than 60% of the initial members' gdp. without the initial members' gdp. without the us, the ii the initial members' gdp. without the us, the 11 remaining countries will not represent a whole lot.

absolutely. it would bejust15% will not represent a whole lot. absolutely. it would be just 15% of world trade, and a lot of that is already covered by existing ftas. within asia most countries already have that relationship, so that the question is, where is the value? it's easy to see from the american side, canada, mexico down to per room, they don't have these trade agreements and they are very interested. the drivers are australia and new zealand who needs of platform access to the asian markets. now japan is of platform access to the asian markets. nowjapan is getting interested because china is so active in building trade ties, so a platform without chiding that provides the potential for the platform without chiding that provides the potentialfor the us platform without chiding that provides the potential for the us to come back is really a political incentive —— a platform without china. do you think the trans—pacific china. do you think the tra ns—pacific partnership will really survive? the big question is, if they get the framework going so it can exist for a while without the us, that is possible, and it will probably be possible until november, and then it's reallyjust something

that provides some good arguments for liberal us interests, or us in —— industry, to say, guys, we need to get back into trade talks. that would be really a big political positive point. the united states has officially notified south korea that it wants to start talks next month on revising their free trade agreement. the two countries have a significant trade deficit and us president donald trump has called the trade deal horrible. earlier i asked an employee of mcquarrie securities for his reaction. yes, it is about 1596 of our exports, so the actual impact on negotiations would not be huge. it depends — even though it depends on the actual negotiation between korea and the us. but obviously trump and our government is trying

to lower the trade deficit against korea, so it could have an impact for a long time, but the actual impact on the economy would not be huge. it may not be huge, but what particular industries and areas do you think will be renegotiated by the united states with south korea? we have many exporting products to the us, but the main product for us to sell to the us is cars, and steel products, so these two could be affected in the future. in around 30 minutes' time, south korea's central bank is set to unveil their interest rate decision. the bank of korea is expected to keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 1.25%. us stock and bond markets rallying overnight after the fed chairjanet yellen indicated the us central bank

won't rush to raise interest rates further this year. in testimony to congress, janet yellen said inflation levels would be a key factor in their decision. because the neutral rate is currently quite low by historical standards, the federal funds rate would low by historical standards, the federalfunds rate would not low by historical standards, the federal funds rate would not have the rise all that much further to get to a neutral policy stance. speaking of central banks, canada's currency is trading at its highest level in a year after policymakers raised borrowing costs for the first time since 2010. its central bank raised the benchmark rate to 0.75% from 0.5% following strong economic growth. the former head of my box says he denies embezzling and wrongdoing at his trial this week. the company went bust after losing nearly $500 million worth of bit coins. he allegedly spent $3 billion of customers' money for his personal

use and altered the company's books. he was arrested in 2015 after the company collapsed. in hong kong, many of the world's biggest companies in start—ups have gathered for rise. it's a turbulent time for many of them after trump administration moved to disassemble the start—up programme. administration moved to disassemble the start-up programme. it's certainly not a concern for the united states, i don't think. in technology for a number of years now i don't think the us is any longer seen as the capital or central technology, certainly not silicon valley. thomas friedman wrote a book quite some time ago saying the world is flat but the world is very much tilted, and it has tilted in the direction of china and asia, and i think that's reflected in the fact that the number of american start—ups here this week has more than doubled year over year. so asia will now be the linchpin for

technology innovation going forward? i think it's certainly more diversifies in the world. chen zen, a long time ago, arguably became the hardware centre of the world, and the number of start—ups coming out of beijing every month is greater than anywhere else in the world, and the amount of venture capital being deployed in china alone is unprecedented. so all the indicators are that the activity is switching. paddy cosgrave in hong kong. india has become known as a good place but competition is tough and many ventures have failed. some companies are failing to raise money and are laying off employees. what are the ramifications for industry? when this woman set up her business, she fulfilled a lifelong dream. she a lwa ys she fulfilled a lifelong dream. she always wanted to work in education, and so, in 2013, she started purple

squirrel, a company that organise work experience trips for college students. but despite a promising start, she was forced to shut shop within three years. we were not generating enough profits to sustain operations, and given that we did require funds, we didn't have as many options as investors who truly understood the fabric of an education industry. in 2015, indian start—ups received more than $8 billion worth of investments. but last year that was down by more than 50%, and that's forced many ventures to shut down. in 2015, the figure was 250, and it was more than 300 last year. the warning signs had been around for a while with some of india's most well—known companies taking drastic steps to cut costs. that has lead to uncertainty for those working in the industry.

people like this man. after five yea rs of people like this man. after five years of working with start—ups, he chose to move back to the corporate world. there's a lot of fear, there's a lot of insecurity in the minds for people, because, when they join an organisation, they obviously wa nt to join an organisation, they obviously want to make a career out of it, but eventually when you see that the organisation does not really treat them as a valuable resource, and they basically leave them in a hire and fire kind of strategy, it really puts them down. that hasn't put off these entrepreneurs. they've come to this workshop to hear from fellow business founders about their journey to success. but success in the start—up space will rely on funding and, untilthe the start—up space will rely on funding and, until the investment climate improves, it will be difficult for the industry, which india is so well—known for, to fully bounce back. let's have a look now at the markets. a positive start so far for

the regional forces: this is after the rallies are being led by the us gains overnight, and, as janet yellen said, she foresees graduate rate hikes even as the us economy grows stronger. 0n graduate rate hikes even as the us economy grows stronger. on wall street, another record breaking day for the dowjones street, another record breaking day for the dow jones industrial average, up for the dow jones industrial average, up by 123 points: thank you for investing your time with us. sport today is coming up next. you are watching bbc news. the top stories this hour: the nominated head of the fbi has told senators he doesn't regard the investigation into russian intervention in last year's american elections as a witch hunt, as president trump has claimed. and brazil's former president, lula

da silva, has been sentenced to nine and a half years injailfor corruption, but he has said he will run for president again next year. a gay man has won a landmark ruling at the supreme court which will give his husband the same pension rights as a wife would receive. the ruling could have a dramatic effect on the entitlement of thousands of people in same sex marriages or civil partnerships. clive coleman reports. victory after an 11—year legal battle. john walker worked for the company innospec the 23 years, paying into the firm's pension scheme. victory for basic fairness and decency... civil partnerships became legal in december 2005. shortly after, mr walker and his long—term partner entered into one. they are now married, but innospec, relying on an exemption in the equality act, refused to take account of his pension contributions before that date, dramatically reducing the pension mr walker's husband would receive. the highest court in the land found that an anomaly.

if mr walker married a woman, even after his retirement, indeed even now, she would be entitled to a pension. the court ruled that eu equality law, any british exemption. mr walker's husband will be entitled to a spouse's pension on mr walker's death, provided of course that they remained married. it would be the same with anybody, whether it is a heterosexual couple or a same—sex couple — someone you love, that person, you want to make sure is looked after as long as they are alive. i'm older than him, therefore statistically, the chances are that i will die before him. i wanted to ensure he was looked after. the effect of today's ruling is massive. it doesn'tjust affectjohn walker — it affects everyone who is in a civil partnership or same—sex marriage and that is whether they are paying into an occupational pension scheme with a private employer

or within the public sector. supporters were thrilled, but the human rights group liberty, which supported john walker, sees a possible storm cloud on the horizon. it is only eu law that allowed him to win today. so obviously what mr walker wants to know and what liberty wants to know is what is going to happen to these rights when we leave the european union. the government says it's reviewing the ruling. john walker is happy that equality at the heart of civil partnerships and same—sex marriage has finally caught up with pensions, and there is a pot at the end of the rainbow. clive coleman, bbc news. hello. this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: the defending champion is out of wimbledon. andy murray loses in five sets to sam querrey. novak djokovic is also out, forced

to retire during his quarter—final against tomas berdych. and kittel wins again. that's now five stage wins for the german at this year's tour de france. hello. thank you forjoining us. we're going to kick things off at wimbledon where it was a big day for big—name shocks. the world number one, andy murray, who is also the defending champion, has been knocked out at the quarter—final stage as has three—time wimbledon winner, novak djokovic. if you chuck in stan wawrinka and rafa nadal falling by the wayside as well, it means the purveyor of indian summers, roger federer, at 35—years—old, is the highest ranked player left in the draw.. austin halewood rounds up the men's quarter—finals for us.