a pedestrian bridge collapses in the american city of miami killing four people. officials say a rescue operation is under way. a number of people are thought to be trapped in eight vehicles beneath the bridge. president trump hasjoined france, germany, and the united kingdom in issuing a joint statement laying the blame for the nerve agent attack in the english city of salisbury firmly on russia. and trending on bbc.com is a story about the happiest place on earth. this year, finland has taken the title, toppling norway from the top spot. the annual world happiness report measures how happy people feel they are and why. it looks at factors like economic strength, life expectancy, and perceived corruption. that's all from me for now. stay with bbc news. and the top story here in the uk. tests on a fire door from grenfell tower have shown that it was far less flame—resistant than it was claimed to be. survivors have described the finding as "shocking."

now on bbc news, all the latest business news live from singapore. the us slaps sanctions on some russian individuals and companies for cyber—attacks and meddling in the 2016 presidential election. would you want to ride a jet pack to work? how some businesses are reinventing the daily commute. good morning, and welcome to asia business report, live from singapore, with me, marika oi. news from the us. the treasury has imposed sanctions on five russian organisations and 19 individuals. it

is basically in response to their involvement in cyber—attacks on american businesses and institutions as well as alleged meddling in the 2016 presidential election. we explain what is new. the us already has sanctions against many russian oligarchs. today, 19 individuals have been picked by the treasury. robert mueller, investigating russia's actions in the election, has helped this. one of these is someone has helped this. one of these is someone known has helped this. one of these is someone known as has helped this. one of these is someone known as putin's chef, owning a restaurant business up at close to the kremlin. what is interesting is that steve mnuchin says these sanctions are for meddling in the election, but also for the recent use of a military

grade nerve agent to murder to uk citizens. ——2. he has gone further than donald trump has in pointing to this alleged attack by russians on a uk citizen as a reason for these further sanctions. in other business news, broadcom in singapore has reported better than expected earnings only a day after they were expecting to take over a us company, but were blocked by president trump. they upgraded to $5.2 billion in the first quarter, but no mention of the deal. wesfarmers is spinning off its coles operation, planning to list on the australian stock exchange. the

demerger comes 11 years after the biggest takeover deal in australia at the time. they are searching in trade on the news. —— surging. india has said its trade deficit has narrowed to its lowest in five months since february. just this week, a challenge was launched to indian subsidies worth $7 billion each year at the wto. let's go to the india business report in mumbai. what has been the reaction in india for this us to be gho challenge? -- wto. india spoke about the challenge on thursday. the secretary said she will engage with washington over the challenge and talk about concerns and respond within 60 days. this comes and respond within 60 days. this co m es after and respond within 60 days. this comes after the us took the challenge to the world trade organisation on wednesday. it is over the indian government's exemptions for duties, taxes, and

some fees for indian exporters who are sending products to the us. they include companies that produce steel products, pharmaceuticals, textiles, and it products. the us says those subsidies make the goods very cheap in the us and it is unfair to us companies and workers there, creating an uneven playing field. the us pegs the benefit to indian exporters at around $7 billion a year. thank you for that update from mumbai. bitcoin prices have fallen sharply to below $8,000 after google announced it was removing all advertisements related to crypto currencies. facebook made a similar move earlier this year over concerns about scams in the market. one of the biggest industry players still believes that tighter regulation is needed. xrp is a digital asset

related to ripples tech, last year up related to ripples tech, last year up almost 20,000%, the best performing of all digital assets. the reason is because ripple solves real problems for customers, working with regulators. people are recognising bitcoin may be the napster of digital assets. what i mean is that napster showed what digital music could do. but napster tried to circumvent laws and trademarks and royalties, and what have you. in a way, bitcoin tried to avoid regulation, to have anonymous transactions. that is not what ripple is doing. in the same way napster graduated to spotify and itunes, the third generation may be

the one that lasts. to crypto currencies lose appeal when governments regulate them? —— do. the idea of the crypto world can live in the shadows and avoid regulation, i think, live in the shadows and avoid regulation, ithink, it live in the shadows and avoid regulation, i think, it isjust not reality. some in the community, the crypto community, were borne of an anti—government and anti—bank point of view. ripple says you need to work with the system and regulations. there are degrees of regulation. china, a massive market, took a massive stance against the currencies. this hurts development of the market. i agree with you. what has happened in the ico market is bad for the whole market. it really is fraud. there are many scams going on, and it is bad for the entire blockchaing and crypto market. but countries by china have

taken a strong stance against crypto. they say if they are safe z—zé—sf *7;.f:. 22:1.15 5:5, . 77" 7 — — 7—— they £71.27? *7;.ff7. 22:77775 777.7 7 777 7 7 7 7—7 they say digital and efficient, they say digital assets are