you are watching bbc news. our top story: the british defence secretary, gavin williamson, has been sacked over information leaked from a national security council meeting. the british prime minister, theresa may, said there was compelling evidence that he was responsible for the disclosures. mr williamson has strenuously denied any involvement. there has been a second day of protests on the streets of venezuela, after president nicholas maduro claimed to have defeated an attempted coup. and this video is trending on bbc.com. these two seagulls have become an unlikely internet sensation after photo—bombing one of the cameras used to monitor traffic in central london. nicknamed graham and steve, they have taken up residence on one of the key routes into the central financial district. that's all. stay with bbc world news.

and the top story in the uk: fiona onasanya has become the first mp to lose her seat as a result of a public petition, after voters in her peterborough constituency called for her to be removed. now on bbc news, live to singapore for asia business report. turning off the taps. us waivers for iranian oil buyers, and today, if countries do not abide they could be hit with sanctions. it looks like meat, but it is beyond meet. we take a look at the appetite for vegan food ahead of the company's stock sale in the us. good morning, asia, hello, world. it is thursday. glad you could join us for another exciting addition of asia business report. i'm rico hizon. let's start

off with the global energy market, and as the united states pales more pressure on iran over sanctions on its largest exporter, oil. back in november the trump administration granted a six—month waiver to the eight biggest buyers of persian crude. that grace period applied to eight countries, five of which are right here in asia. we have china, india,japan, right here in asia. we have china, india, japan, south korea and taiwan, and so far only three countries have halted imports of iranian oil. from today, they will have to stop imports or face consequences from washington including penalties. iasked consequences from washington including penalties. i asked our correspondent who would replace this iranian oil. the shortfall and gap created by iranian sanctions, the first country to come to the

replacement is saudi arabia, really the leading largest exporter, so saudi arabia have the spare capacity. followed by the uae and other countries. so with spare capacity from the uae and saudi arabia, are we likely to see oil prices continue to be at these levels for crude, $63 for brent crude, $72, or could we see a spike higher? first, the market is already a bit tight. the bottoms will be there to replace the iranian crude oil, however, with the rising demand gradually in the global market, there is still pressure on prices. so if there is pressure on the prices, where could we see brent crude headed over the next two to three months? well, we are entering the season of june, three months? well, we are entering the season ofjune, we are going to

see higher prices, and towards the end of the year, and when 2020 comes into play, there is even more demand. so this is basically the driving season in the united states, because it will be the onset of summer. so could this put pressure particularly on asian oil prices, and in turn hire inflation for asian economies, which will also put pressure on central bankers to raise the cost of borrowing? well, overall asian demand can be met by the volume from the current market. the overall impact will be not that huge. it is gradual. so there are multiple factors, including the driving season, not only in the us, but around the globe. and then the regulatory change, so that will push up regulatory change, so that will push up the price gradually. so asia has been dealing with this in the past. so asia can absorb these changes,

just paying a little bit higher price for each barrel to buy. yet another round of trade negotiations between america and china have wrapped up. the us treasury secretary steve mnuchin and the trade secretary robert lighthizer flew out of beijing after what were described as productive talks. earlier i spoke with a correspondent in beijing who is an economic advisor to the chinese government, andi advisor to the chinese government, and i asked him how the talks had been progressing. is very uncertain, there were only 2a hours of time actually spent in beijing, but there we re actually spent in beijing, but there were a number of sticking points. the question really is not whether there is going to be a deal at this point, but when they pull the court on this. a lot of people believe that donald trump will be looking at this as a political card, as he battles on towards his re—election

campaign. there are reports that president trump is making concessions, particularly on cyber theft, and the chinese are also making concessions in terms of opening the banking system. can you confirm this? well, these are discussions that have been held. the issue is, as always, when you make a deal, there is always somebody unhappy. there has to be some give—and—ta ke. unhappy. there has to be some give—and—take. i don't know about the concessions on cyber theft, i think the issue is that china has shown a considerable amount of movement both with the legal process and a number of laws that have made it much, much more difficult for cyber theft. remember, china it much, much more difficult for cybertheft. remember, china is it much, much more difficult for cyber theft. remember, china is now the leading ip registrant in the world, and as a result of that they have a lot more skin in the game and area have a lot more skin in the game and are a lot more interested in protecting what they believe is the key to their tertiary economy. but other chinese also willing to make concessions on opening up their

banking system ? concessions on opening up their banking system? there has been a very strong signal that they will reduce the number of the areas that they are in, for instance, a requirement that you have $20 billion in assets in order to open up billion in assets in order to open upa bank... billion in assets in order to open up a bank... i mean $10 billion, or $20 billion if you want to open up a branch. they are going to lessen those. they are also going to take away this kind of separate analysis and they will be treated the same way, domestic and foreign will be treated the same way in terms of their applications. so as a trade deal near, as the trump administration is suggesting? that isa administration is suggesting? that is a difficult thing to say, donald trump is embattled on a number of fronts, we were just talking about the fed rate, it is probable he will look at this is a very important card. 0ncea look at this is a very important card. once a trade deal is announced, he will receive a very large popular vote and could be above 50% for the first time. also,

the markets will soar. so this might be something that he will save for a while until it can do him the most good with his political re—election campaign. he is an economic adviser to the chinese government. a unicorn is about to hit the us stock market, and that is the term given to companies valued at more than $1 billion, and it could very well be the case for beyond meat, which makes vegan burgers and sausages. its shares will start trading on the nasdaq later this thursday. here is more on this alternative meat reducer. —— producer.

and that is beyond meat, listing later today on the us nasdaq

exchange. staying with the us, and the federal reserve has decided to keep interest rates unchanged at 2.25 to 2.5% despite pressure from president trump who had called for a 196 president trump who had called for a 1% cut to boost the country's economy. jerome powell responded by saying that the fed was a nonpolitical institution that didn't think about short—term political considerations. uk defence secretary gavin williamson has been sacked following an enquiry into a leak from a top level national security council meeting. the enquiry followed reports over a plan to allow huawei limited access to help build the uk's new 5g network. mr williamson, who has been defence secretary since 2017, denies leaking information. and a big pay—out after a chip manufacturer announced it would receive at least 11.5 billion us dollars from apple, as the two

companies settled their long running dispute. the duo had been arguing for yea rs over dispute. the duo had been arguing for years over qualcomm's patent licensing fee. they thrashed out an agreement which included a new six—year licensing agreement for qualcomm to supply apple with modern ships. let's have a quick look at the asian pacific market stop of course, due to the golden week holiday, japan remains closed and they will rio 0pen next monday. the all 0rdinaries is down 46 points, at 6420. all 0rdinaries is down 46 points, at 61120. thank you for investing your time with us. i am rico hizon. sport todayis time with us. i am rico hizon. sport today is coming up next, with the champions league results. this is bbc news. the top stories this hour: the british prime minister has sacked her defence secretary after he was accused of leaking security concerns about huawei to the press. there have been more anti—government protests in venezuela. 0pposition leaderjuan guiado has

again called on the military to support him. a group of teenagers who all had haemophilia in the 1980s, the rare condition that affects your blood's ability to clot, formed a pact when some of them started dying while they were at school in hampshire. stephen nicholls, who is now 52, told the current inquiry into the contaminated blood scandal that they vowed to find out what was killing them. most of the boys did not survive. 0ur ealth editor hugh pym reports. 89 boys with haemophilia were educated at a special school in the 1970s and ‘80s. just 16 have survived. some were at the inquiry today — representing, they said, friends who had died as a result of being given infected blood. they were at treloar‘s college, in hampshire, where there was an nhs treatment facility which gave them blood clotting products. they didn't know at the time these were infected with hiv and hepatitis c, some from foreign donors who had

been paid for their blood. everybody was worried, ‘cause the link, it was — the press story was just breaking. stephen, who developed hepatitis c, said in the early ‘80s he and his friends began to realise they were at risk. we've stuck together right through our childhood, and said, if it happens and it kicks off, we're going to rely on the person still alive to pursue it and find out why and what went wrong. and i'm the only one left. i'm sorry. that's tough, i think about that every day, and... it's tough. the inquiry heard from other patients who had contracted hepatitis c. it is a virus which can cause potentially life—threatening damage to the liver if left untreated. officially, blood used in transfusions has been screened for hepatitis c since 1991. but carolyn had transfusions in 1992

and 1993, when she was being treated for blood cancer, and then developed hepatitis c. it had a debilitating effect. just really frustrated that i got through two life—threatening rounds of cancer, only to be given another life—threatening illness. what victims and campaigners want is the truth over why so many were infected, when they had put their trust in the nhs for safe treatment. hugh pym, bbc news. much more on the enquiry on our website. now it is time for sport. hello, i'm gavin ramjaun and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: lionel messi and barcelona take a huge step towards making the champions league final, after a convincing win over liverpool at the nou camp. what now for caster semenya following a landmark ruling?

and the semi final line up at the world snooker championship is complete. welcome to the programme. liverpool's quest to reach a second successive champions league final took a massive blow on wednesday night as barcelona won 3—0 at the nou camp. the result means liverpool have huge task in the return leg at anfield on tuesday. andy swiss was watching the action for us. liverpool find had come here with such high hopes but they came to meet a lionel messi masterclass. luis suarez gave them the lead. liverpool had plenty of chances and they feel on another day, had they taken them, they could have been in front but they did not take them in barcelona really blew them away in

the last half