this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. oil pressure. the us tightens sanctions on iran — ending waivers for its biggest crude customers including china, india and turkey. plus — the fed defies trump. the us central bank says there's no case for a move on interest rates either way, ignoring the president's appeals for a cut. and on the markets: comments by the fed chief confounding market bets that the next move on rates could be down. that hits us stocks but boosts the us dollar. japan and china markets closed for a public holiday.

we start with oil, because as of today the us is tightening its sanctions on iran's oil industry, imposed last november over the country's nuclear ambitions and policies in the region. that's raised fears of a squeeze in global crude supplies, which could push up prices further. let's show you some of the details. washington had granted 180—day waivers to eight countries including china, india and turkey, allowing them to keep buying iran's oil despite the sanctions. last week it said they had to stop by may 1st or face sanctions themselves. you can see how that news pushed up the price

of benchmark brent crude, although it has fallen back a bit. it's still up by almost a third this year. last month iran's oil shipments dropped below a million barrels per day, the lowest level this year, as buyers reduced their purchases before this new clampdown by washington. meanwhile us oil production is at an all time high, of more than 12 million barrels per day. it hopes that will help keep global markets well supplied. saudi arabia and the united arab emirates have given assurances they will meet any shortfall as a result of us sanctions against iran. on tuesday iran's president hassan rouhani was defiant — vowing to find ways to keep exporting oil. the americans will see for themselves that over the next few months, we will continue to export oui’ months, we will continue to export our oil, it is possible that the

american can block one path for our oil exports but is not the case of the american pressure is closing off the american pressure is closing off the only door available. andrew critchlow is head of energy news for europe, middle east and africa at s&p global platts. he says, they can keep exporting oil, can they? there are certain avenues where a cancer pile out of the country, certainly they can turn off transponders on tankers and there has been some recording of that happening and we expect to see more of that in the future. there are certain ways that they can set oil into storage, of course, not all the customers of iranians oil are going to comply was to will be some slippage in terms of compliance to sanctions. expect the adherence to this to be pretty tight, if you look back at last. of sanctions, the actions that were taken by the us government against corporate and the batting —— banking sector are pretty

strong deterrent. the outlook if we look at the oil market avoid focus ona look at the oil market avoid focus on a run specifically? prices are going upa on a run specifically? prices are going up a lot ahead of this deadline as it were. they've come offa deadline as it were. they've come off a little bit. what is your take on that and the insurances from saudi arabia as they will fill the gap? this tightens things up considerably. it would —— you pointed out that exports are followed but they're going to for even further. by the second half we predict it will be down to 500,000 barrels a day. that is where the north sea is at the moment was not someone north sea is at the moment was not someone will make the production, that can be saudi, it can be the uae and it can be russia. they will increase print —— collective output stop that's accounting cutting another north sea global output. what that does is squares is —— squeezes free capacity. we go down for about two ms —— 2 million barrels a day to i million for about two ms —— 2 million barrels a day toi million barrels for about two ms —— 2 million barrels a day to i million barrels a day. that's very narrow considering

you have a lot of hotspots around the area. we've had outages with crude in nigeria at the moment, thus expanding whether prices are elevated. in terms of everyone itself, that's going to have an impact on the economy. 0ne itself, that's going to have an impact on the economy. one of the big elements that were discussed once actions were lifted, the potential of the oil market, the fa ct potential of the oil market, the fact that it needed investment, did you come up to speed. 0ur taps are coming. that's a big concern. it's a big pressure for the economy, 20 to inflation, is going to out of the balance of payments, it's going to create tension. there is already tension there. that feeds into some of the most radical factions of the government, and the iranians political system. whether it feeds into the political system and certain factions, is going to be critical. that's going to play out over the next six months, we are going to see more uncertainty around the oil picture. where is the oil

price going to be at the end of the year? fundamentals. watch the fundamentals. supply and demand. money is on our website. —— more news. to the us federal reserve now — and america's central bank has left its key interest rate unchanged — at a range of 2.25—2.5%. fed chairjerome powell said the bank doesn't see a strong case for moving borrowing costs in either direction. that's despite growing expectations on wall street that the next move could be down. not to mention growing demands from president trump for a rate cut. from washington, the bbc‘s north american business correspondent michelle fleury has more. the masters of monetary wallace fs a puzzling pick, the us economy accelerated in the first three months of this year. rice's actually fell. that's been feeling speculation that those inside here might considering a rate cut. those hopes were dashed but it's running

below the federal reserve ‘s 2% target. the fed chair thinks that could be temporary. suspect some transitory factors might bedbug. thus our baseline. means that with a strong job market and continued growth, inflation will return to do% over time. and it will be roughly symmetric. the decision to leave rates unchanged might have disappointed donald trump who i was before the meeting began on tuesday, tweeted that the economy would soar if the fed would lower interest rates by one point and resume quantitative easing. this comes as the white house is looking to nominate stephen moore to the board of governors. the books in doubt. if the chair was feeling the heat, he would they did show, saying he and his colleagues would continue to

ignore political pressure. we don't feel like the data is pushing us in either direction. we will not hesitate if we do feel that is justified. that's a process, that's how we think about things, we don't bigger but otherfactors how we think about things, we don't bigger but other factors was not widowed that them mental decision—making, we don't discuss them. those inside hereunder about maintaining their independence, they have to walk a difficult tightrope between managing low inflation and the risk of stroking an asset bubble. let's go to asia now — and us officials have wrapped up the latest round of talks with china aimed at ending their $400 billion trade war. rico hizon is following the story. rico — some cause for optimism after these latest talks? the us treasury secretary and the trade representative to out of beijing last night, after what was described as very productive meetings. and according to media

sources, us, china trade deal as possible by next friday. there are reports, the americans are willing to make concessions particularly on cyber theft and the chinese on liberalising the banking system among others. —— i spoke earlier to the inner economic advisor to the chinese government and i asked him, isa chinese government and i asked him, is a trade deal now is the trump administration suggests? donald trump is embattled in a number of fronts, he has politicised things we we re fronts, he has politicised things we were just talking about, the fed rate, it's probable that he will look at this as an important card. once a trade deal is announced, he is going to receive a very large amount of popularity vote, he could be above 50% for the first time. also the markets was sore so this might be something that he will save for a while until it can do in the most good. with this political election campaign. then i scheduled

to travel to washington next week to continue talks where analysts say it could be the endgame of the negotiations. now let's brief you on some other business stories. the bank of england is expected to leave interest rates unchanged at 0.75%, as brexit uncertainty continues. that's despite the lowest unemployment in 44 years and wages growing at the fastest pace in a decade. most economists don't believe the bank will raise rates until britain's departure from the eu is settled. ba rclays faces a showdown with an activist investor at its annual shareholder meeting later. new york—based edward bramson is trying to get elected to the bank's board — to force it to scale back its risky investment banking business. investors have been gobbling up shares in beyond meat — the maker of vegan burgers — ahead of its listing on the nasdaq exchange today. beyond makes its burgers out of beans and uses beetrootjuice to make them bleed when cooked. the initial public offering

will value the loss making company — whose early investors include leonardo dicaprio and bill gates — at almost $1.5 billion. a report commissioned by the government says the uk should lead the global fight against climate change, by cutting greenhouse gases to almost zero by 2050. the committee on climate change says it would mean people eating less meat, taking fewer flights and giving up their cars. roger harrabin reports. when britain sparked the industrial

revolution, we didn't know that burning coal, oil and gas would reduce emissions that would overheat the climate. now i cleaned industrial revolution is under way and advisers said that by 2050, the uk should at no more heating gases. this target, the loss of renewable energy is called net to zero. in setting a target here in the uk, we are sending a strong signal to other countries around the world, especially developed countries that they need to do the same thing. especially developed countries that they need to do the same thingm meant industry will have to curb emissions much more quickly, power pla nts emissions much more quickly, power plants like this one will lead the way. farming, cars heating the climate, we need to eat less red meat and turn some farmland to forest. housing must meet emissions targets two. this innovative

solution might offer some help to stop it is quick and cheap to a wrecked and look at this. the insulation on eight is absolutely massive. existing homes will also need to be made much warmer. for the first time, flying and shipping should be included in the targets, the committee says. protesters will say the report doesn't go far enough. others will think it goes too far. the committee insists that targets a re too far. the committee insists that targets are realistic and essential to protect the climate. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: a woman has been killed and dozens of people injured during another round of opposition protests across venezuela. president maduro says the attempt to topple him has failed. the us attorney general, william barr, has decided not

to testify before the judiciary committee of the house of representatives on thursday. now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. as far as the uk is concerned there is one story in town on the front pages. we have select the daily mail. like most, it is looking at the prime minister's decision to suck defence minister gavin williamson over the huawei leak. —— sack. another look at this story which is all over the media as well in the mirror, a british climate committee outlining what the country needs to do before 2050 to tackle global warming effectively. wired, the tech website, is picking apart that speech on the part of mark zuckerberg at the developers conference with facebook, looking at the launch of new features. the tagline "the future is private".

that is what mark zuckerberg said, but wired said the reality is anything but. another tax story in the i, profiling a youtube part of the i, profiling a youtube part of the growing number who are giving study advice online. —— youtuber. finally, the sun covers some of the new words which will score your points and scrabble. we have mentioned some of them. she—bagging is one of them, we will have to figure out what that is. with me is priya lakhani, founder and ceo of century tech, a uk—based education technology platform. let's look at the daily mail, they had is very strong. "you're fired", says theresa may. he claimed he didn't do it. we spoke about huawei earlier, but if we talk about what happened, the league, which came from a very private meeting, of all the meetings this should be the one where you don't get any leaks whatsoever, talking about security et cetera. the prime minister is

very