up to change president trump's mind about the iran nuclear deal. sir kim darroch says work is underway on proposals to reassure mr trump about the deal. the us president has been scathingly critical of the agreement, and he may announce that he is scrapping it later this week. pakistan's interior minister, ahsan iqbal, has been shot and wounded in a suspected assassination attempt. he was hit by a bullet in his arm, but officials say he is out of danger. and this story is trending on bbc.com: egyptian archaeologists say they have found no evidence of a secret chamber in the walls of the tomb of the boy king tutankhamen. a study three years ago suggested there could be such a cavity, triggering rumours that a majorfind was imminent. that's all from me for now. and the top story here in the uk: the former manchester united manager sir alex ferguson remains in intensive care in hospital after undergoing emergency surgery for a bleed on the brain. now on bbc news, all the latest

business news live from singapore. malaysia heads to the polls this week, after a fierce contest pitting the prime minister against his former mentors. and more expensive than silver. the rising price of vanilla is leaving a bitter taste in many people's mouth is. it is a monday, everyone. good morning, asia, hello, world. glad you could join us for this edition of asia business report. i hope you had a great weekend. i'm rico hizon. we start off with a very important business calendar this week and kick

things off on tuesday. walt disney reporting second—quarter earnings. the media and entertainment giant is expected to announce big profits thanks to the success of superhero movies like the black panther. on wednesday, toyota will be announcing its full numbers, they expect to see record annual profits thanks to robust global sales and a weaker yen against the dollar. midweek all eyes will be on malaysia's general election. it is an interesting one this year, with mahathir mohamad campaigning against the incumbent prime minister najib razak. earlier i spoke to our correspondent in kuala lumpur, the chief correspondent at research company ihs. i asked correspondent at research company ihs. iasked how correspondent at research company ihs. i asked how important the health of the malaysian economy will be for this political contest. malaysia's entering the poll if the economy in very good shape. back in

2014, when oil prices had fallen, the malaysian economy had had some shocks. but last year it grew at 5.9%, helped by a booming electronics globally, as well as improving oil prices. and that momentum has continued. but whoever becomes prime minister, whether najib razak remains as the leader of the country or mahathir mohamad ta kes the country or mahathir mohamad takes over, can the growth be sustained with their economic reform policies? i think this year we are expecting growth to be around 5.5%, so are never very expecting growth to be around 5.5%, so are never very robust year of economic growth. —— another very robust year. i think the oil prices area big robust year. i think the oil prices are a big plus for the oil and gas sector in malaysia, and i think another important positive is that

there is a lot of investment in major infrastructure projects happening. sol major infrastructure projects happening. so i think all of those things are likely to sustain economic growth momentum. the co nflu e nce economic growth momentum. the confluence of factors, as you mentioned, rising oil prices, better than expected economic growth last year and this year, push the central bank to raise the cost of borrowing earlier this yearfor the bank to raise the cost of borrowing earlier this year for the first time since 2014. could there be another rate hike? we did see inflation picking up momentum earlier this year, and that is i think what triggered the rate hike. but we have seen inflation pressures easing in recent months, so i think at the moment there is no additional pressure for the central bank to do anything more in the nearfuture. inflation has moderated significantly since the beginning of the year. so i think at the moment the year. so i think at the moment the outlook is that rates can stay

on hold for at least the near future. the united states has rebuked china for trying to impose territorial demands on private companies. the chinese government recently told several airlines, including us airlines, to change the way they refer to taiwan, hong kong and macau in promotional materials. china's aviation authority sent a letter objecting to any indication the three entities are independent 01’ the three entities are independent or separate from the mainland. the white house press secretary called the move orwellian nonsense. and pa rt the move orwellian nonsense. and part of a growing trend by the chinese communist party to impose its political views on american citizens and private firms. a long—running series of strikes is putting the survival of air france in jeopardy, putting the survival of air france injeopardy, according to putting the survival of air france in jeopardy, according to the putting the survival of air france injeopardy, according to the french economics minister, who warns the loss—making national carrier could disappear. the french state owns 14.3% of the air france klm group

but said the airline would not be bailed out. on friday, air france klm's chief executive quit over the crisis. nestle is close to buying the parts of starbucks which sells coffee and drinks in supermarkets. an agreement could be announced as $0011 an agreement could be announced as 50011 as an agreement could be announced as soon as monday. nestle, which makes nespresso and nescafe, is ranked fifth in the market. it is hoped they can capture more upscale coffee drinkers. alibaba is still king of thejungle when drinkers. alibaba is still king of the jungle when it comes to e—commerce in asia. their revenue surged by 61% in the quarter ending in march. the chinese tech giant may have its work cut out for it as it branches out into new areas of growth. joining me for more on alibaba's recent growth. joining me for more on aliba ba's recent moves growth. joining me for more on alibaba's recent moves as my colleague and business reporter monica miller. brick and mortar is the new strategy. how are they

faring? the offline ventures are not proving so prosperous. alibaba is looking at this because when you think about this for a second, 800 million people in china are online at 100 million of them don't have access to it. so 85% of purchases made in china are in stores, and alibaba is recognising this. they opened their supermarket chain, and they have a dozen of them across china. they have a huge ball in their home town. the thing is that their home town. the thing is that the company on friday had announced its earnings, and just shy of $10 billion between january and its earnings, and just shy of $10 billion betweenjanuary and march. however, these ventures are dragging it down by 30%, which has investors skittish at this point. so it looks like they are doing whatever they can to make more money. they are even getting into artificial intelligence and cloud computing. they are really spreading their

wings. they are moving into southeast asia, and here in indonesia, on a conference call to board urbas, they were asked how they were doing and they said, to use a baseball analogy, it is like the first pitch of the first innings. anyone unfamiliar with it should know that there are nine innings in baseball, so they have a long way to go. even though they acquired a company which does business in this region for $2 billion in march. that is a lot of money. thank you so much. let me ask you, do you like vanilla?” money. thank you so much. let me ask you, do you like vanilla? i do. you do? are you sure? it is used in many of our favourite cakes and sweets but it is now the second most expensive spice in the world, behind saffron. i can't believe it. bad weather in madagascar has hit the vanilla harvest, pushing the price of over $600 a kilo, more than the price of silver. our correspondent reports from london. cookie dough,

chocolate brownie, tremblay. whatever your favourite flavour, vanilla, the key ingredient for sweet treats, is now, after saffron, the second most expensive spice in the second most expensive spice in the world —— creme brulee.|j the second most expensive spice in the world -- creme brulee. i have some flavours for us to try. i've got honeycomb and original vanilla and roman raisin. this ice cream company is run by three sisters in cheshire. really creamy. let mac very good texture —— rhyme and reason. family has been churning ice cream for 30 years but the cost of this key ingredient has been starting to bite. we had to make a decision as to whether we were going to absorb the cost, which we did in the end. the future, i think it will have typically sit down and crunch the figures and see how it will work out for us with the years to come. the sisters insist they will stick

with the real thing. but other ice cream businesses are taking vanilla off the menu. so why has vanilla becomes such a valuable commodity? here at rhs risley gardens, vanilla is grown inside a special glasshouse, but 75% of the world's vanilla grows in madagascar. vanilla is currently around $600 a kilogram. the main reason for this is that there is a cyclone in madagascar last march which damaged a lot of the plantations, and despite hopes that the price would have eased by now, it is still on the high side, around those levels. and in fact, this means it is higher than the price of silver. are highly prized and highly priced ingredient. as a result, only 1% of the flavouring in food comes from actual vanilla pla nts food comes from actual vanilla plants like these ones. and even though you may find it in

sweetsce nted though you may find it in sweetscented perfumes or candles, ca kes sweetscented perfumes or candles, cakes or even cocktails, do beware, because cheaper alternatives can be extracted from wood and even petrol. it will take untiljune to find out how this year's vanilla harvest fa res. how this year's vanilla harvest fares. the team here say they are not passing on the cast to customers yet. they say the taste is worth it —— cost to customers. i love vanilla. thank you so much for investing your time with us. i am rico hizon. the viper now. —— goodbye for now. the top stories this hour: britain's ambassador to the us says diplomatic work is underway to ease president trump's concerns about the nuclear deal with iran. pakistan's interior minister has survived an assassination attempt. ahsan iqbal was shot in the arm

at a political rally. a gunman has been arrested. the mother of 17—year—old rhyhiem ainsworth barton, shot dead in south london, has being paying tribute to him, and called for an end to the recent violence in the city. charlotte gallagher reports. 17—year—old rhyhiem ainsworth barton, performing in a rap video, another young victim of violent crime in london. his family say he was with his friends, playing football in the sun, when he was shot dead just minutes from his home. people living here say there was a chase involving a car and moped around the residentials streets before the murder. one woman narrowly avoided being shot. the bullet went through her window, instead. aramide lives next door. we just came out of our house, and our house was a crime scene, and it was like, "what the hell?"

and where that window is boarded up, there, that's where a gunshot went in, you think? yeah. yeah, you could see the hole. they said that the bullet‘s embedded in the wall. the police officer leading the investigation says this type of violent crime will not be tolerated. it's a fast—paced, early investigation, and we're addressing those issues as quickly as possible. the homicide team are the best in the uk, if not the world, and they're doing all they can to make sure that we arrest the suspects as quickly as possible. rhyhiem's death is the latest in a spate of violent crime in the capital. with police investigating more than 60 murders so far this year, many are believed to be gang—related. and, less than 24 hours after rhyhiem's murder, another shooting. this time, two boys, aged 12 and 15, were shot in harrow in north—west london. they're both being treated in hospital. back in southwark, tributes are being paid.

rhyhiem's family say he was a good boy, who aspired to work with children. even though she is grieving, his mother wanted to make a plea for the violence to stop. make my son be the last, and be a example to everyone. just let it stop! a family grief—stricken, a community in shock, as violent crime in london shows no sign of slowing down. charlotte gallagher, bbc news. don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter. i'm @bbckasiamadera 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:

pep's premier league party. champions, manchester city, have their hands on the trophy. and farewell to a favourite. arsene wenger waves goodbye to the emirates after arsenal hammer burnley in theirfinal home game of the season. and jason day wins the wells fargo championship in style with the australian claiming the victory is one of the best of his career. hello, and welcome to the programme. we start in england, where manchester city have been enjoying a premier league title party. the champions lifted the trophy in front of their home fans at the etihad stadium. captain vincent kompany doing the honours after his side drew 0—0 with huddersfield. city are still on course to make 100 points in the season. it's their third premier league title in seven years, a first under manager pep guardiola. but be warned, he said he accepts the challenge of trying to win back—to—back titles!