our top story: the world cup has opened in moscow with a spectacular opening ceremony. president vladimir putin welcomed millions of watching fans to what he called his open, hospitable and friendly nation. and the hosts won in style, easily beating saudi arabia 5—0 in the tournament's opening game. it was the first of 64 matches to be played across the country, with the final in a months time. america's secretary of state says north korea must completely denuclearise if it wants sanctions to be lifted. mike pompeo was speaking in beijing, where he held talks with the chinese premier. and this video is trending on bbc.com: the cat said to have psychic powers, which picked russia to beat saudi arabia in the opening match of the world cup. achilles chooses from two bowls of food marked with flags. his success rate in this world cup so far — 100%. that's all from me for now. and the top story here in the uk: labour's janet daby has won the lewisham east by—election. the election was triggered by the resignation of heidi alexander, after she resigned from parliament

to work for mayor of london sadiq khan. now on bbc news, all the latest business news live from singapore. president trump is ready to impose ta riffs president trump is ready to impose tariffs on china, so will beijing retaliate? and what will old school videogame tetris look like in the virtual future? we speak to a vetera n virtual future? we speak to a veteran games developer. good morning, welcome to asia business report, live from singapore, with me, mariko oi. and we start with that trade spat between the world's two the guest economies, as us

president donald trump appears to have followed through on his promise and imposed tariffs on about $50 billion in chinese goods. and, according to some news reports, we will find out the full list of products later this friday. this news comes as the us dollar experienced one of its strongest daysin experienced one of its strongest days in months, especially against the euro. earlier i asked a currency a nalyst the euro. earlier i asked a currency analyst if this will continue to climb. it's still a little bit of the unknown. right now the us dollar seems to be getting more favour out of this be because of the unknown factor, how this will play out negatively on the global economy. if we ta ke negatively on the global economy. if we take the potential negatives from the global economy versus the strong us economy, that we seeing, especially on economic fronts like retail sales, which came out very robust again, we are starting to see more money flowing to the us and they should play out positively for they should play out positively for the us dollar over the near term.|j guess overnight the biggest story

was the european central bank practically surprising the market with its view on interest rates and how it is affecting the currency market, as well. do you see that continuing? yes, i went in there thinking that i was very high for them to come out more hawkish but they came out very dovish, it caught they came out very dovish, it caught the markets completely offguard. we are seeing this divergence in rates going forward, the ecb looks like they will be sitting on their hands right through to the summer of 2019, whereas the us will continue to raise interest rates, it seems, every quarter unless we get a crisis. that will mean the divergence in interest rates will play favourably into the us dollar over the near term, and we would expect the euro to continue circling the drainfor expect the euro to continue circling the drain for the foreseeable future. global economic bodies are repeating their concerns about this potential trade war. ahead of the international fund says the trump administration's trade policies were

likely hurt the world's trade system. christine lagarde said a trade war would lead to lose on both sides, and while the imf expects the dispute to have relatively minor impact on global economic growth itself, christine lagarde says she is concerned about how the fight will affect citizens. did you know that the company behind milky way, m&ms, snickers and mars bars has been around for over a century? they are also behind head care brands like pedigree. my colleague caught up like pedigree. my colleague caught up with the company's chief executive. they are our best kept secret, but we have been in business for a long time, we have pet nutrition products and we are the biggest veterinary service company in the world. making a better world for pets as accommodation of the

ca re we for pets as accommodation of the care we give them, the nutrition we give them, as well as connecting the dots. so tell us how important is the chinese market for used specifically, and are you trying to scale back your plans for china because of concerns around this trade spat that they are embroiled with with the united states? not particularly. we are a family owned business, and we think in generations. we have been in business for 100 years, so administrations come and go, regulations come and go, and we work oui’ regulations come and go, and we work our way through it. we have a good business in china which is growing well. we believe in free trade and well. we believe in free trade and we like open borders for materials, but as i say, we do manufacture most of our products in china for china. as you know, china on its own is going to be 30% of the world's gdp in the next ten years, in terms of growth. it is absolutely critical for us. finding it worrying doesn't really help, so we talked to both sides can make our position clear,

that we would like open borders on the move things around, but at the end of the date you have to work on the environment that we share an order to sustain us. in terms of digitisation and data, how are you utilising these in your business? as you well know, china is going com pletely you well know, china is going completely mobile. i think in terms of cashless payment it is something like 50 times ahead of the us, so it really is the epicentre of mobile and digital. so we have a digital innovation centre in china. we are partnering with people like alibaba, using their data to tailor products, so we using their data to tailor products, so we have just launched using their data to tailor products, so we havejust launched snickers spicy based on the data they gave us, and it is doing well through alibaba. it us, and it is doing well through aliba ba. it is us, and it is doing well through alibaba. it is a combination of a big online as well as offline retail business. the combination of the two overtime is really blurring so it is an exciting market. there is a lot

going on. now, remember this? tetris, the classic bjoergen, has been a hit for more than three decades. but guess what. it is now headed in a new direction. a veteran games developer has reimagined the games developer has reimagined the game in virtual reality, and he spoke to our north america technology reporter dave lee. the music is kind of like a pole setting soundtrack that is getting gradually louder, i think. setting soundtrack that is getting gradually louder, ithink. it setting soundtrack that is getting gradually louder, i think. it is quite hard to hear with the

convention but i imagine if you are sat at home in a nice quiet room this would be very relaxing. you would be taken to a different place altogether. it is very unique. it is very unique game design. it is very simple but very strong. and anybody can play. translation: it's a known fact that, as far as computer technology is concerned, not everything is so good here. but as far as programming and computer thinkers go, i think we occu py computer thinkers go, i think we occupy an honourable place.

iam making i am making the new experience, with music and audio and visual, and you can see the music in 3—d. a totally new experience. at a show like e3 there are so many enormous gains getting lots of attention. how do you get a game like tetris, which feels like an old game, to get any attention at all? we need that kind of game, like tetris effect. everybody can play and relax, and, you know, it is like back in the couch, and we need that kind of game, i suppose. it is still tetris, it is still essentially the same mechanics you have always known, but ido mechanics you have always known, but i do think the added effect, the sound design, the psychedelic

graphics, it really does add something to the experience. dave really seems to be having a lot of fun making that report, doesn't he? let us tell you some other business news making headlines this morning, because at&t has completed its acquisition of time warner, ringing together global media and entertainment leaders warner brothers, hbo and turner with at&t‘s leadership in technology, video, mobile and broadband customer relationships. the deal first announced in october 2016 was opposed by president donald trump. at&t was sued by the justice department but won approval from a judge to move forward with the deal on tuesday following a six—week trial. the justice department still has 60 days to appeal the decision. and a quick look at markets before we go. japan's nikkei has opened

higher, mainly because of the strong dollar that i was talking to stephen about, because it means a week yen, which makes japanese exporters more competitive —— weak yen. some markets including singapore will be closed for a public holiday and shares on wall street rose after the central bank in europe announced that they will not raise interest rates in the near future. that they will not raise interest rates in the nearfuture. 0ne that they will not raise interest rates in the near future. one stock to mention, netflix hitting a new record high, which means it has doubled its value this year, coming the second—best performer after twitter. that's it for this edition of asia business report. thank you for watching. the top stories this hour: russia wins the first game of the world cup, as the tournament opens in moscow. the us department ofjustice says the former fbi boss james comey made mistakes in his investigation of hillary clinton before the 2016 election. the government's compromise to avoid

a commons defeat on brexit has been rejected as unacceptable by leading remainer dominic grieve. theresa may had convinced most rebels, who want mps to have the final say on the final brexit deal, to back her in a key vote on tuesday night by giving them assurances. 0ur political editor laura kuennsberg has more details. theresa may, you might remember, avoided a big defeat in the house of commons over the idea of giving parliament more power if the brexit deal goes sour. but she only got through that and avoided a defeat by promising a compromise. that compromise was published at 5:00pm, and some conservatives are furious, saying it was not acceptable and they were not consulted

on the final version. brexiteers say they don't like it, but the govermnent‘s got to get on with it. theresa may has been accused of trying to get both sides on board. perhaps by disappointing remainers tonight she has finally picked one side. but now, the lines are drawn for another big showdown. it is the european union and the uk that are meant to have a political divorce through brexit, but in these last few days, and during the time to come, it feels sometimes like it's the two sides of the tory party that are in these bitter negotiations. theresa may was asked about the government's proposal as she arrived at an event in whitehall. reporter: have you gone back on your word, prime minister? are rebels right to feel let down? the government is to ease the restrictions on allowing skilled workers into the uk from outside the european union. foreign doctors and nurses will be excluded from the government's visa cap after concerns it was contributing to staff shortages in the health service.

in february, nhs england had thousands of vacancies for both doctors and nurses. the newest member of the royal family has accompanied the most experienced on an official visit to cheshire. the duchess of sussex was with the queen on their first royal engagement together without prince harry. the queen and duchess were greeted by hundreds of cheering schoolchildren as they attended a series of events, including the opening of the mersey gateway bridge and the storyhouse theatre in chester. time now for all the sports news in sport today. welcome to sport today, live from

the bbc sports centre. coming up, there is a russian delight as the hosts open the world cup in emphatic fashion. as spain prepare for their opener against european champions portugal, yesterday's man is left in tea rs. portugal, yesterday's man is left in tears. and find out who is leading a the us open after the opening round. shots like that, must be dustin johnson. we've waited weeks, months and four years, but the world cup returned on thursday. hosts russia opened the tournament by outplaying saudia arabia, and it was not the kind of result many people saw — as our correspondent in russia, 0lly foster, can tell us. it was an incredible result, you can see the magnificent luzhniki stadium lit up in the