attorney general william barr in contempt of congress. he'd refused to hand over the full, uncensored report on russian interference in us elections. the contempt issue will now go before the full house — the democratic chairman of the judiciary committee said that would happen rapidly. six weeks after an election in thailand which was supposed to return the country from military to civilian rule official results have been announced giving no party a majority in the 500 seat parliament. and football is trending on bbc.com. it was an incredible second night of drama in the champions league semi—finals, with tottenham hotspur snatching last minute victory from ajax. lucas moura scored three goals for his team against a devastated ajax. spurs will play liverpool in the final. that's all. stay with bbc news.

and the top story in the uk: theresa may has rejected calls to set out a precise timetable for her departure — amid mounting pressure on her leadership. one conservative backbencher urged her to resign during prime minister's questions. now on bbc news live to singapore for asia business report. tradable retaliation as talks are to resume china says it will hit back if the us hikes tariffs on friday —— trawool. uber strikes. drivers take industrial action on the eve of its multi— million—dollar stock market debut. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm sharanjit leyl. let's start with the trade war and beating says it will respond in kind if president trump imposes higher ta riffs president trump imposes higher tariffs on chinese goods this friday. outcomes, of course, amid

claims that china backtracked on almost all aspects of a us trade deal, as officials prepare to meet over the next two days. karishma vaswani over the next two days. karishma vaswa ni ta kes over the next two days. karishma vaswani takes a look at their dispute. late—night tweets upping the ante, ta riffs late—night tweets upping the ante, tariffs and talking. lots of talking. it's been more than a year since president trump decided to press reset on the us china trade relationship. and they are still trying to work it out. that's because mr trump had one big goal as president of the united states —— america great again. and that included completely changing the us china trade dynamic. any way you look at it's the largest deficit of any country in the history of our world. president trump says the united states buys more from china than china buys from the united states. in fact, almost five times

more. and he says that's unfair. it's why he decided to slap tariffs on $250 billion worth of chinese goods. china's president xi mark head back with tariffs on american goods, targeting agricultural goods like soybeans, a clever move, many of those farmers a big supporters of president trump. more tweets followed. and both sides locked in for a tit for tat battle. until a truce. well, kind of. both men agreed to put the trade war on hold, while the two sides sorted out their stick issues. one, the united states wa nts their stick issues. one, the united states wants china to buy more of its staff. two, it wants american companies to have more access to the chinese market. and, three, it wants american intellectual property to be protected, which means no more tech

tra nsfers, protected, which means no more tech transfers, no more forced joint ventures. and washington wants to be the solejudge of ventures. and washington wants to be the sole judge of whether beijing is keeping the promises it makes in a trade deal. in the last few months, trade deal. in the last few months, trade officials have been trying to reach an agreement both their leaders can live with. but even if they thrash out some sort of a deal, resolving the trade deal won't be the end of the us china rivalry. the strategic battle between these two countries is here to stay. well, i am joint by a former senior official in the trump administration. he was involved in the trade talks until very recently. hejoins us from the trade talks until very recently. he joins us from washington. thank you for coming on the show. first off, you are part and parcel of these dogs at the start. did you expect them to take such a negative tone? -- talks. first of all, thank you for having me on the programme.

with respect to what is happening recently. i was is a very fluid situation. many folks are disappointed with what has happened over the last couple of days and the fa ct over the last couple of days and the fact that we are now in a situation where tariffs are likely to be increased on friday, but it is important to keep things in perspective. as these talks have gone on, the last couple of months, we have had periods of time where things have been difficult, where tensions have escalated. we have a lwa ys tensions have escalated. we have always managed to get things back on track. i am always managed to get things back on track. iam hopeful that always managed to get things back on track. i am hopeful that this is one of those situations. what the president said on sunday and his actions have demonstrated, he really wa nts to actions have demonstrated, he really wants to get a great deal, he is willing to walk away if there is not a great deal. i think that is what you see happening. many people saying that president trump's tweets this time around are notjust a negotiating ploy. he really wants this to happen. of course, you have great insight into the us

administration, you worked with the tea m administration, you worked with the team who are they negotiating right now. and you know the chinese negotiators, too, who have vowed to retaliate. so where do they go from here? well, all right, think again, asi here? well, all right, think again, as i said, it is difficult to predict what happens this week. i think you will see a tariff increase. that said, that doesn't mean they can't make progress, they can't make prog —— concrete progress on things that are subject to negotiation. we have made a lot of progress while in the administration on dealing with some of the structural problems with china's unfair trade practices, we're talking things like most technology transfer, protection of intellectual property rights, market access, massive industrial subsidies. we we re massive industrial subsidies. we were making progress on a range of issues. there is no reason we can't do that, but we do need china, think, to come back to the place where it was a couple of weeks ago and where we thought we were on a trajectory towards a deal. you were

expecting the higher tariffs to come into play on friday, there is no getting away from that was yellow i think at this point it is probably unlikely. i think the president is serious that china needs to make very specific commitments about the kinds of things it is going to do to change its behaviours and i think is willing to put those tariffs in place unless china makes those commitments. it is always possible that the chinese team comes into town and things get back on track. again, think it is probably unlikely that happens in the next day and a half, but it is not impossible. but in any event, this is not the end of the game. even if the tariffs do go in place there is a lot to gain from a deal and hopefully the sides will engage in that. if they go into place things will become a lot more expensive for people like you in the us who buy a lot of chinese products. now, look, there is no question that when a country puts ta riffs question that when a country puts tariffs in place that certain products become more expensive for

its consumers and businesses. you're looking at short—term pain in order to get long—term gain. the reality is that for years china has not allowed access into its markets to the extent that it should. china has been engaging in massive subsidies, subsidies that ultimately have heard the american worker and american business. and if we can fix those problems economic benefits for americans be significant. i would also say that they would be significant for china as well. that ultimately if it adopts more market oriented policies it helps its people. that is what we're trying to achieve. but the short term the tariffs, they do have an impact on the economy. 0k, thank you so much for joining the economy. 0k, thank you so much forjoining us, clete willems in washington, dc. you are looking at pictures of uber drivers staging protests outside the ride hailing headquarters in san francisco. they are demanding higher wages on the eve of the stock market debut of the company. uber is not

only facing issues at home, it operates in the us, europe, africa, parts of the asia—pacific as well. but because it is a —— seen as a taxi industry disruptor the company has been hit with bands or the threat of being banned in places like oregon, hong kong, london, and the northern territory in australia. last year uber pulled out of china, russia, southeast asia, due to stiff competition. the bbc‘s dave lee has the latest from outside its headquarters. there were around 100 oi’ headquarters. there were around 100 or so protesters here earlier in very good spirits, demanding, quite simply, that uber pays what they deem to see as a living wage. they say this of the company is expected to be worth around $90 billion when it begins trading later this week. they say it is crazy that that money has been made of the bachar people like them, the protest of the saying, the people who do the hours and e—mails and yet they feel that they are being unfairly treated ——

back of people. as well as the protests happening in san francisco just behind me how, there have been protests across the country, san diego, los angeles, philadelphia, new york, and in some cities around the world. i think that speaks to the world. i think that speaks to the level of concern among the people who do the driving for the ratio companies that they are not getting a fair crack an industry that has generated an enormous amount of money —— ride sharing companies. the company did not come out and address the drivers, they released a statement saying they value their drivers very much and are always looking for better ways to improve their conditions. but, of course, the reality is this is a company that makes huge losses and very soon it will have shareholders that demand it begins to make a profit. so that'll be the problem dave lee in san francisco. in other news making business headlines, the us secretary of state mike pompeo has urged the uk to prioritise its security interests and those of its allies when dealing with chinese firm huawei. meanwhile, the defence

tea m firm huawei. meanwhile, the defence team for the former finance chief seeks to argue that she would not be extradited to the united states because she has not actually committed fraud under canadian laws and her arrest at vancouver's airport was unlawful. let us look at those markets now and how they are reacting to all of that rhetoric we have been hearing about the us china trade war. as you can see, they are lower to flat. the nikkei down about half a percent. all ordinaries currently flat at the moment. there are worries amongst investors about exactly where the trade tariffs are going to go. that is it for the programme. thank you for watching. this is bbc news. the top stories this hour: the us housejudiciary committee votes to hold attorney general william barr in contempt after he refuses to turn over the full mueller report. no outright winner in thailand's election, so negotiations begin over who will form the new government.

the green party has launched its campaign for the european parliamentary elections, which take place later this month, urging people to say ‘yes to europe, and no to climate change'. after gaining 185 council seats in last week's english local elections, the party is hopeful of improving on the three meps it secured in 2014. our political correspondent chris mason has more details. terrible, terrible blu tacking skills. low—key and do—it—yourself. there's none of the glitz or choreography the big parties love here. five years ago, the green party won three of the uk's 73 seats in the european parliament. but now believe they can grow taller. we're standing on a commitment to stop brexit through a people's vote. with so much focus on brexit, what about the environment? climate is clearly bigger than brexit, and remaining in the eu is a means to an end. climate change doesn't

stop at the border. what do you say to critics who point to your campaigning to stay in the eu and simply say it's anti—democratic? the referendum was held and you guys lost. politics in westminster is completely paralysed. the way to sort this out, the way to remain in the eu and do that democratically is to go back to the people. green party activists are upbeat after a strong performance in last week's local elections and growing concerns from many about the environment, but the challenge for a small party in a contest like this is translating that into votes with a crowded field of rivals. and remember, these are elections that weren't even meant to happen. they're only going ahead because brexit has been delayed. the major parties are really making such a mess of the country. the country voted to come out. regardless of what anybody voted, myself included, we have to do what the majority said. are you frustrated that brexit hasn't been delivered ? of course. everybody is. they're annoyed.

the greens and others have a fortnight left to make their case. what do you make of the green party? they'll probably get my vote. i must go. dog! thanks very much! chris mason, bbc news. the food standards agency has recommended changes to the way pre—packaged food is labelled. it's proposed that food packaged in—store should list all ingredients, with the allergens, such as eggs, shellfish, and nuts all in bold. hello, i'm tulsen tollett and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: tottenham will play liverpool in the champions league final after lucas moura stuns ajax with a hat—trick in amsterdam. while in the asian champions league marouane fellaini

sends shandong luneng through to the knockout stages. and world number one naomi osaka is through to the madrid open quarter—finals as she builds towards the french open later this month. hello and welcome to the programme where we start with news of another exhilirating uefa champions league semi—final. 2a hours after liverpool's stunning comeback against barcelona, tottenham overturned a i—nil first leg deficit against ajax to set up an all—english final in madrid on the 1st ofjune. lucas moura scored a hat—trick, as spurs came from 3—nil down on aggregate to go through on away goals. here's the story of the night from our football correspondent john murray, watching on in amsterdam. you may have thought the champions league drama of an feel couldn't be matched to be in the second time in 24 matched to be in the second time in 2a hours, an english club came from 3-0 2a hours, an english club came from 3—0 down to win through. for spurs, it was just over half—an—hour to