oj simpson — the former football star and actor — is to be freed from jail. he's been granted early release by a parole board after serving nine years behind bars. he's expected to be released in october. nine years was the minimum he could serve of his 33—year sentence for the armed robbery in las vegas. the first military talks for two years between north and south korea could begin shortly — if pyongyang agrees to attend. seoul made an offer of talks in an effort to ease tensions on the border. and this video is trending on bbc.com. the body of salvador dali is being exhumed from his crypt in northeastern spain — so that samples of his dna can be ta ken to try to settle a paternity suit. it follows a court ruling in favour of a wioman who claims to be his daughter. that's all from me now. stay with bbc news. and the top story here in the uk. new figures show a 10 percent rise in recorded crimes in england and wales in the year to march.

however, the national crime survey of victims suggests there were fewer offences overall. now on bbc news, all the latest business news live from singapore. asia stopover. the british foreign secretary visits japan to discuss trade and security ties ahead of that. and, superpowered profits. comic book companies are raking it in as franchises become more popular. welcome to the asia business report, borisjohnson is welcome to the asia business report, boris johnson is in japan welcome to the asia business report, borisjohnson is injapan today. he is therefore talks that are likely to be dominated by concerns about britain's departure from the

european union. boris johnson visited this robotics centre in tokyo. he has been talking up the strong economic ties between the two countries, noting that japanese countries, noting that japanese countries have invested more than $15 billion in britain. japan's political and business leaders are reported to be concerned about the state of the brexit negotiations, and although mrjohnson is not directly involved in the negotiations, it is important for him to reassure the japanese leaders. we discussed what japanese firms will be expecting from these talks. it is important forjapan to get some reassurance regarding their foreign investments. the uk is the second largest investment space for japan, and a lot of investment that japan, and a lot of investment that japan did was to export products to the eu. so it is important for the uk to reassure japanese companies

that they will still be able to export those products after brexit. let's ta ke export those products after brexit. let's take a look at this chart. talking about japanese investment into the uk, it has got some surprising details about how much went into the uk from japan after brexit. the largest amount of investment that we saw as their in history was in the third quarter of last year, just after the brexit referendum. it is possible some of those deals were negotiated before wexford, but we continue to see pretty large investments in the following quarters as well. so far, japanese firms still seem confident that the uk is a good place for investment. what about a post- brexit uk trade deal with japan? the eu hasjust brexit uk trade deal with japan? the eu has just signed brexit uk trade deal with japan? the eu hasjust signed one, could it collocate matters for japan

eu hasjust signed one, could it collocate matters forjapan to side with the uk? the fact that there is already a trade deal may make it easy. in principle, there is nothing stopping the uk and japan from keeping that deal, even after the uk leads the eu. that would obviously be positive for japanese manufacturers and car manufacturers, the existing tariffs would be remaining the same forjapan. the european union's chief brexit negotiator has asked britain to clarify details regarding settlement and citizen's rights. that followed discussions in brussels. while the eu is demanding compromises, the uk's top negotiator seemed encouraged by the progress made so far. there is a lot to talk about and further work before we can

resolve this. ultimately, a solution will require flexibility from both sides. negotiations have onlyjust started. of course there are compromises to be made, but it is too early to talk about it. we are not there yet. oil giant exxonmobil has been fined for violating sanctions against russia while rex tillerson was its chief executive. the company dealt with the president of the russian oil giant when he was blacklisted by the us. they have challenged the fine and called it fundamentally unfair. the largest dark web marketplaces have been shut down following a major international investigation. alphabay down following a major international investigation. alpha bay and down following a major international investigation. alphabay and hansa we re investigation. alphabay and hansa were linked to drug trade, stolen

data and weapons trade. shares in ebay have fallen about 5% in after—hours trade after they warned that profits could fall for this quarter below analyst estimates. they are spending big on marketing and revamping their platforms to attract more shoppers. it is striving to compete with rivals like amazon. microsoft has had a revenue jump amazon. microsoft has had a revenue jump in the three months tojune. it saw shares rise in after hours trade. however, they are laying off thousands of workers from the global sales tea m thousands of workers from the global sales team in a bid to boost its cloud division. the microsoft ceo has confronted one of the biggest challenges of the sector, taking a company that was dominant in one market and retooling it for new markets. its original

moneyspinner is steadily losing value. in microsoft's case, windows softwa re value. in microsoft's case, windows software was at the heart of the original computer revolution. but thatis original computer revolution. but that is not today's revolution. now, the growth is in places like social media and cloud computing. so, more of the compa ny‘s media and cloud computing. so, more of the company's efforts are going into cloud computing. thursday's earnings show that effort is paying off. the company reported a better than expected revenue of $211] billion for the quarter, and they also had an intelligent cloud segment which contributed nearly 30% of that revenue. nearly as much as its personal computing segment. still, the earnings also showed that they cost the company, and its employees. they recorded a $306 million charge for the severance

payments made to workers who were laid off. superman, star wars, harry superman, starwars, harry potter, these are some of the franchisors loved around the world. for fans, nothing is bigger than comiccon. it earns millions of dollars each year in its host city, san diego. we spoke to the author of comiccon who is speaking at six panels today. he told me the eventjust keeps getting bigger. there are already about 150,000 people at the convention centre ,, and there will be even more people going to events outside of that. the convention itself brings in about 150 million people

to the city of san diego. san diego comiccon has spawned an industry across north america and worldwide. i calculated that as an economic impact of about 3— $4 billion. i calculated that as an economic impact of about 3- $4 billion. to the cinema, you have seen hollywood's obsession with superheroes and comic book heroes. what are some of the big brand names and corporate firms who are out there this year? warner brothers, there this year? warner brothers, the parent company of dc, they have had a big hit this summer with wonder woman. marvel studios have had a recent release with spiderman. you have got perennial television brands from netflix, stranger things

has been very successful. we have also seen huge success in game of sloanes, there are a number of television shows that are doing extremely well —— thrones. television shows that are doing extremely well -- thrones. what is the biggest event that everyone will camp out for this year? everyone has their own favourite, my pick for the biggest one this time would be the warner brothers panel on saturday morning. that will feature what is coming up next in the dc universe, which a lot of fans are looking for two, and steven spielberg will be here to give us a first look at his new film. we have also got the new laid runnerfilm new film. we have also got the new laid runner film which new film. we have also got the new laid runnerfilm which is coming out, harrison forward will be coming out, harrison forward will be coming out for that. —— blade.

out, harrison forward will be coming out forthat. —— blade. drwho will also be a big drawcard. there has been an asset to share technology in electric cars. they are furthering their global ambitions to transform into an electric only car manufacturer. vince cable has been confirmed as the new leader of the liberal democrats. he was the only candidate to put himself forward, and he will be the oldest leader in the party's history. here's our political

correspondent vicki young, and her report contains some flash photography. and our liberal democrat leader, vince cable. most would be relaxing into retirement at the age of 74, but not sir vince cable. he is still burning with ambition and fighting for britain to stay in the european union. what we now need is an exit from brexit. we must consult the british public at the end of the process to put to them the choice, do you wish to accept what is coming down the track, jumping off a cliff and hoping there was a tree to catch you? or do we want to stay within the european union? but wasn't that pro—european message rejected by voters at the election? sir vince thinks there is a mood for change. there is quite a high possibility i think that brexit will not happen. what will emerge over the next two

years i suspect is a significant deterioration in the economy and i am very clear that the public did not vote to be poor. so i think when you add all that together, you see a picture which is very different from the one which we fought in the general election. the liberal democrats are the fourth largest party at westminster, but sir vince cable says politics is so volatile that it is impossible to predict what might happen in the next few months, let alone the next few years. he says no—one should rule out a lib dem breakthrough. but is he the man to make that happen? sir vince does have a higher profile than his predecessor tim farron. his passion for dancing led to this christmas tv appearance, but he will need more than fancy footwork now. friends highlight his experience. he seemed to enjoy his brief stint as interim leader ten years ago. the house has noticed the prime minister's remarkable transformation in the last few weeks from stalin to mr bean. and he was one of the few

politicians to predict the financial crisis. although naturally closer to the labour party, sir vince accepted the role of business secretary during the conservative—lib dem coalition. vince cable says british politics is badly lacking common sense and moderation. that is what he is promising to provide. vicky young, bbc news, westminster. the government's been accused of betraying rail passengers, by scrapping plans to electrify major lines in wales, the midlands and the lake district. time now for all the sports news in sport today. hello, this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: showing their pedigree — major winners spieth and koepka among the first round leaders

at the open golf. one step closer. chris froome on the brink of a fourth tour de france title after stage 18. india beat six—time champions australia by 36 runs to reach the women's world cup final. hello and thanks for joining us on sport today. the 146th open championship at royal birkdale is underway and it's been a fantastic opening day for us golf fans. there's a three—way tie at the top of the leaderboard and america's jordan spieth is there with his compatriots matt kuchar and us open champion brooks koepka. austin halewood was watching the action. it is the one everyone wants to win. golf's oldest major macro, the open championship. what with the biggest prize comes the biggest challenge. not for america's charley hoffman, who had just about the best start.