i'm babita sharma with bbc news. our top story: loud explosions have been heard in the zimbabwean capital, harare, where soldiers are reported to have taken over the headquarters of the national broadcaster. armoured vehicles have been seen near the city centre. earlier, zimbabwe's ambassador to south africa dismissed suggestions of a coup. australians have voted in favour of legalising same—sex marriage in an historic postal survey. more than 61% of voters support the move. and this video is trending on bbc.com. a stranded killer whale was rescued by military personnel in new zealand who happened to be in the area on an exercise. they dug a trench and managed to float the whale into deep water enabling it to swim back out to sea. that's all from me for now. stay with bbc news. and the top story here in the uk: a firearms dealer has been found guilty of supplying guns and bullets which were linked to more than 100 crimes, including three murders. paul edmunds told police he didn't care about the consequences of his actions.

now on bbc news, all the latest business news live from singapore. it's a "yes" vote for legalising same—sex marriage in australia. we look at how the pink dollar could boost the economy. hack or fact? a bbc team investigates claims apple's face identification system on its iphone x is not secure. hello and welcome to asia business report, i'm sharanjit leyl. australians have voted in favour of same—sex marriage, the results were announced this morning. it paves the way for legislation that will make australia the 26th nation to legalise same—sex unions, and there

could be economic benefits. by some estimates same—sex weddings could give a $1 billion boost to the economy assuming every same—sex couple rushes out to tie the knot in the first year but that could be a tad optimistic. but research suggests same—sex couples in australia earn more than their opposite sex counterparts. earlier i spoke to her leigh fisherfrom opposite sex counterparts. earlier i spoke to her leigh fisher from the economics and asked what the pink dollar could mean for australia. we would expect about half of the same—sex couples in australia to wa nt to same—sex couples in australia to want to get married and do so in the next two to three years based on survey evidence and what's happened in other countries, of the 47,000. we expect 25,000 weddings in the short—term, that's about another 10% of weddings based on the current level of weddings happening from year to year. in terms of costs, the average couple spends somewhere from $36,000 to as much as $90,000 on a

wedding, depending on what measures you use so we can expect to see an increase or an impact on the economy of up to anything from $900 million upwards over the next two to three yea rs. upwards over the next two to three years. doctor fisher, your research suggests same—sex couples generally earn more, why is that? does that necessarily translate to them spending more? well, the same-sex couples tend to be more likely to be jewel income no kids households, so that tends to put them into the part of society that has higher incomes. same—sex male couples aren't suffering from the gender pay cap, so they tend to have higher incomes, so they tend to have higher incomes, so we might think that would translate to being on the higher spending on weddings. same—sex couples sometimes face lower levels of support from their family, they might have lower transfers from theirfamilies to might have lower transfers from their families to pay for their

wedding. it could be more but there could be some moderation on that spending. hey leigh fisher speaking to me earlier. a hanoi based firm that says they have proved the iphone x face ide system isn't as secure as apple suggests has shown off its hack to the bbc -- id suggests has shown off its hack to the bbc —— id system. they have shown the handset can be unlocked by a specially crafted mask. apple hasn't commented beyond directing the public to details published online about the system but other experts have cast doubt about whether the demonstration truly undermines the alternative to fingerprint checks. translation: we are talking about prc, or proof of concept. during the process of creating this mask, we went through several steps. first the phone has to recognise a real human face, the phone has to recognise a real humanface, and the phone has to recognise a real human face, and then we test each pa rt human face, and then we test each part of the mask to see whether the phone camera kit nice it is a real face. when i do each experiment, i

have to unlock the phone with my face, so the phone isn't trying to recognise the mask but the real human face. —— can recognise it as a real these are actual masks used by the engineering team to train the neural networks to protect against them, face ide. it's incredible. —— face ide. -- face ide. it's incredible. —— face ide. —— face ide. —— face ide. translation: i don't deny that what

we did would strengthen our company's we did would strengthen our compa ny‘s reputation, we did would strengthen our company's reputation, but we should see that as ourjob. this is something we've done for nearly 20 yea rs. we were something we've done for nearly 20 years. we were the first to point out facial recognition technology was not entirely secure and it's understandable we're still keeping an eye on it and proving whether the techis an eye on it and proving whether the tech is mature. a bbc investigation there. uber has had another high—level departure. it's true for policy for india and south asia has quit but it's not all bad news for users in the rapidly growing market, news japan's softbank has rest, registered interest in investing in uber could change the course of a fierce war over taxi apps in india. yogita limaye explains. many of these cars are taxis that can be hailed using uber or its indian equivalent. the two companies are fighting a stiff battle against

each other in a fast—growing indian market. uber is a global giant and the indian one is a homegrown brand, but now their fight could get complicated in the months to come. 0ne complicated in the months to come. one of their biggest investors is softbank, which has put in millions of dollars into the company in the past two years. but now japan's softbank has said it is also considering an investment in uber. no deal has yet been reached but uber has said that progress has been made. they have declined to comment on the development but what did it all mean for these two firms in india? ultimately there is speculation that if softbank became an investor in both companies it would try to merge them. we've already seen something similar this year. softbank is an investor in two of india's biggest e—commerce companies, and it tried very hard for flipkart to buy out the other

one but things didn't work out because other investors blocked the deal. india is a tricky market for investors and operators, but for uber it is also the most important market after the us, especially as it exited china. nevertheless, it's also had its share of challenges here. just yesterday the head of policy for uber in india and south asia announced she was leaving after only a year and earlier this year a top global executive had to quit after revelations he obtained medical records of a woman raped by an uber driver medical records of a woman raped by an uberdriver in medical records of a woman raped by an uber driver in 2014. in the span of less tha n an uber driver in 2014. in the span of less than three years, uber and 0la have changed the way people in indian cities travel and so these co nsta bles indian cities travel and so these constables will be watching closely to see how these changes affect them in the future —— customers. japan's economy continues its slow march to stability, if not outright strength. data in the last few hours

shows the well‘s third—largest economy showing another quarter of games. here's business reporter matt morrison. what has led to the change? -- games. the name of the game is exports and that's what is driving this. the economy minister came out and said to reporters after this announcement that there is no change to our view that the economy is recovering moderately as a trend. what he is talking about is the economy grew 1.4% in the past quarter compared to last year. that is mostly among expectations, better than some thought it, it's the second quarter of growth, the longest run since the beginning of the century. you have to go back to 1999 to 2001 for the last time that happened and it's all about exports. 0ne economist i spoke to say they are the gorilla in the room and they are the gorilla in the room and they are offsetting what has been weak demand at home, especially when it comes to consumption. the japanese

consumer isjust comes to consumption. the japanese consumer is just not along the ride for this recovery. while that remains flat, that's going to be a problem moving forward because basically everyone has a job in japan and if they're not spending now, when are they going to spend? matt, thanks very much, ending this edition of asia business report. thanks very much for that watching. —— thanks very much for that watching. the top stories this hour: loud explosions have been heard in the zimbabwean capital, where soldiers are reported to have ta ken over the headquarters of the state broadcaster. australians have voted in favour of legalising same—sex marriage. more than 61% of voters support the move. in northern ireland, the trial of a man accused of the murder of two catholic workmen during the height of the troubles is to go ahead using evidence provided by a so—called loyalist supergrass. the two men were shot dead in may 1994. former ulster volunteer force commander gary haggarty, who has admitted 200 offences

including five murders, will be the star witness in the case against james smyth. 0ur ireland correspondent chris buckler reports. gary haggarty was a leader within the ulster volunteer force and a notorious paramilitary group responsible for hundreds of murders during years when conflict and killings were all too common in northern ireland. haggerty was responsible for some of them. earlier this year he pleaded guilty to more than 200 crimes. among them shootings and kidnappings, conspiracy to murder and directing terrorism. was given five life sentences for the five murders he had committed. but those jail terms will be significantly reduced because haggarty has agreed to give evidence against a former friend, james smyth, from belfast. the

reported suspect will be prosecuted for the following offences, the murder of gary connolly, the murder of eamon fox. they were shot dead simply because of their religion. they were catholic work men murdered in 1994 by the uvf as they ate their lunch in their car. but more than a dozen other people that haggerty said were involved in murders are not to be tried because the prosecution service said his evidence is not sufficient to secure a conviction. that includes both paramilitaries and a conviction. that includes both pa ramilitaries and police a conviction. that includes both paramilitaries and police officers who they said protected him when he was a police informer. we need the police officers in the dock, they are as guilty as the gunman and gary haggarty in this case. but they are exempt from prosecution, which is bad. the case which is going to be what's known as a supergrass trial, a case where the word of another

offender is key to the prosecution. there were a series of them in belfast in the 1980s, however, the system collapsed because of concerns over the credibility of the evidence given by the so—called supergrasses. the law was changed a decade ago to put in place new safeguards for these kinds of prosecutions, cases where people know more than they've ever told. and in northern ireland, there's still much to learn about that long history of violence. chris buckler, news, belfast. time now for all the sports news in sport today. hi, i'm sarah mulkerrins, and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: christian eriksen is the hat—trick hero, as denmark steamroll past ireland and into the world cup in russia. romelu lukaku has become belgium's all—time record goal—scorer, and he is just 24 years old. and six—time champion roger federer is through to the last four at the atp finals, with victory

against alexander zverev. welcome along to the programme. let's start with denmark securing their spot at next year's world cup with a thumping 5—1 win against ireland in dublin. the tie was goalless after the first leg, and a headerfrom shane duffy put the hosts ahead just six minutes in. but the bubble was soon to burst. cyrus christie scored an own—goal, before denmark's star midfielder christian eriksen ran riot, racking up a hat—trick. nicklas bendtner made it 5—1 from the spot in added time.