a second referendum. but it comes with conditions, namely that it will only be an option if they approve her updated brexit withdrawal bill, when it returns to the house of commons at the start ofjune. president trump's officials have been briefing congress on the threat posed from iran. they claim the risks to american interests in the gulf have been put on hold due to prudent steps taken to confront the problem. and this story is trending on bbc.com. a nepalese sherpha has set a new mount everest record, making it to the summit for the 24th time. remarkably, it's the second time this week that 49—year—old kami rita sherpa has successfuly broken the record for scaling the world's tallest mountain. congratulations to him. thanks for watching, goodbye. and the top story in the uk: thousands of british steel workers,

are waiting to hear if the company can secure a £30 million rescue deal from the government. the business employs more than 3,800 people and is on the brink of collapse unless it receives the emergency funding. now on bbc news, live to singapore for asia business report. tackling trade together. the us tries to convince drip pan and the eu they should pack it in its trade war against china. investing in indonesia, what will it ta ke investing in indonesia, what will it take for the newly areola did president to get the economy firing on all cylinders despite the global slowdown? hello and welcome to asia business report, i'm sharon real ale. the united states is stepping up its trade war against china by trying to

get other countries on its side —— sharonjet li. get other countries on its side —— sharon jet li. robert get other countries on its side —— sharonjet li. robert lighthizer said he will meet officials from japan and the eu on the sidelines of an 0ecd meeting in paris later today to discuss barriers to free trade. monica miller is in the studio and she's got more on that. what are we expecting to see? earlier this morning we heard from the chinese ambassador to the us and he said there willing to meet again and sit down, but he blames washington for frequently changing its mind on tentative deals to end this us—china dispute. this comes less than 2a hours after the us lifted restrictions on wireway in order not to disrupt any of their customers and services they are getting —— huawei. hopefully we're going to look ahead to robert lighthizer‘s visit in paris later today. we will

be watching closely for that. we heard he is due to meet with japan pass economic minister in the run—up to president donald trump pass visit to president donald trump pass visit to tokyo this weekend, so what does japan hope to get out of of this? they're facing restrictions when it comes to agriculture and particularly auto. toyota's executive normally stays out of politics but this week he raised concerns about president donald trump pass increase in these tariffs, and he basically feels toyota doesn't feel welcome in doing business with the us —— trump's. japan's exports fell 2.4% in april so japan's exports fell 2.4% in april so there feeling the pinch —— they are feeling the pinch of this trade war. plans to upgrade indonesia's infrastructure and breathe fresh life into the economy dominated the election and are at the top ofjoko widodo's inbox as his second term

gets under way. the indonesian economy is the biggest in southeast asia and it's the only one worth more than $1 trillion, and presidentjokowi, as he is commonly known, struggle to get the economy growing faster than 596 get the economy growing faster than 5% during his first term even though he promised 7% growth and now the broader global economic slowdown is affect exports, they fell 2% in the first three months of this year compared to a year ago. a consultant from oxford economics said it won't be easy to get the boost the economy needs. from where we are setting it seems like there's more of the same, not helping is the case that the borough party is the second—largest and the dpr, that could slow down the decision—making process even more than what we saw in president widodo's first term. we're seeing quite a lot of

politicking going on, some demonstrations in the street, for instance, but we know it is southeast asia's biggest economy, the only trillion dollar economy in the only trillion dollar economy in the region. foreign in has flagged, and of course none of this is helped by slowing global growth due in part to the us—china trade war. how big a challenge does he face in trying to reinvigorate this economy? yellow that's a good point because external developments have made it so much more difficult because the entire thrust is in infrastructure spending. we saw that and the first time he was forced to delay his priority projects because the deficit was ballooning and indonesia faces the risk of strong capital outflows, and it doesn't help their bonds are largely held by foreign investors. those kind of constraints do not help in the current trade war situation which seems to be deteriorating by the minute, as you we re deteriorating by the minute, as you were just covering. we will have to wait and watch. at best what you

will say is the 5% growth and in this kind of environment that is a good claim to make, that indonesia won't go below 5% this year but 7% seems a tall task. most countries would envy 5% growth i should add. tell us about his strategy, he mentioned the infrastructure spending and his pledge this as part of his reform agenda —— he's pledged. is this wise? it is, they need infrastructure spending. because it is an island economy, export costs are very high among emerging markets in the region. what isn't helping his cause is deficit risks and fti not coming in as much as expected. —— fdi. another accompanying thrust in the second point of his 9—point agenda is improving competitiveness in manufacturing, and if that plays

out, we could see fdi coming in, the kind of labour reforms needed. just infrastructure spending per se in terms of pushing the money but also the key supply side reforms. britain's prime minister, theresa may, has said parliament has one last chance to deliver brexit by approving eu withdrawal bill, but the uncertainty around the whole process has put many asian businesses off investing in the uk. however, that's not the case with one of malaysia's richest men. francis yo's conglomerate why d0 hotels and a water in the uk, and he tells me why he's so optimistic about his uk investments. it is one of the most investable places in the world and statistics prove that return is very investable, despite the brexit. i've invested in the uk and never regretted it because of the transparent, coherent regulatory

framework. how concerned are you about the possibility of a labour government in the uk at a time when labour is saying they're looking to nationalise water and energy assets. of course, you have a big water company in the uk, are you concerned? were previous governments that used to talk like that and when they became government they put on continuing that process and they realise they couldn't pursue this study. there is still rule of law and compensation and all this stuff. for it to be a political football is sad. you said it comes down to rule of law and you're still optimistic about the uk, do you think brexit will ever happen? it has to to a certain extent been quite sad for the british parliamentarians to have

really made these protracted arguments live on tv. it is the worst decision i think in the world, indecision. make up your mind and be decisive the british have always had this bulldog spirit when they have decided something and they have a lwa ys decided something and they have always done well. indecision is a lwa ys always done well. indecision is always the worst decision so i hope they will end this argument and decide once and for all. and other business news making headlines, japanese exports have fallen for the fifth month in a row amid the ongoing global economic slowdown stop the amount of goods sold to other companies fell 42% in april compared to the same month a year ago, but japan benefit from, april compared to the same month a year ago, butjapan benefit from, so close for the first —— 4.2%. in other business headlines this hour, boeing is facing more claims for

compensation over the troubled 737 max jet. china eastern compensation over the troubled 737 maxjet. china eastern airlines is formally requesting compensation for the losses it's suffering because the losses it's suffering because the plane has had to be grounded for a safety upgrade, and that follows the ethiopian airlines crash in march and meanwhile, a french woman whose husband died in the flight is suing boeing for more than $200 million. the un says ai powered voice assistants with the male voices are perpetuating harmful gender biases. that's according to a new report. these female helpers are portrayed as obliging and eager to please, and they reinforce the idea that women are subservient. the report calls on developers to create a neutral machine gender for voice assista nts a neutral machine gender for voice assistants and to programme them to discourage gender—based insights. premier league winners and manchester city and the other clubs

will get a 13% increase in the money they get from overseas tv rights. the lead's interim boss told a financial times summit that from next season the 20 teams would get a whopping $5.3 billion over the course of three years from broadcasters from all around the world at a time when some football rights deals are falling in value. let's look at the markets before we go because we can see there getting a boost from wall street pass gains stopping the neck a is up ever so slightly —— wall street pass gains. —— wall street's gains. —— the nikkei. that is it for the programme. this is bbc news. the top stories this hour: theresa may offers british mps a vote on whether to hold a second referendum, but only if they approve her brexit withdrawal bill. president trump's officials brief congress on the threat from iran.

they claim that iranian risks to american interests in the gulf have been put on hold. the restaurant group set up by the celebrity chef jamie oliver has gone into administration, with the loss of around 1,000 jobs. just three of his 25 restaurants is still operating, after failure to find a buyer. jamie oliver says he exhausted every option to try to save the business, and is deeply saddened. here's our business correspondent, emma simpson. so, what you get... from the cheeky new chef on the block... look at that! ..to campaigner, tv star, and books, jamie oliver has built an empire as britain's most successful chef. and he opened dozens of restaurants, too. come in and see us at jamie's italian. nothing was being served up today, though.

his restaurant business collapsed, 22 outlets closed with immediate effect. around 1,000 jobs lost. in a statement, jamie oliver said: so, what went wrong? itjust got a bit too chain... chainy. yeah. whereas just around here, there are so many quirky little restaurants, and just one—offs that you can go to. today's news isn't a total surprise. this chain almost went bust a couple of years ago. jamie oliver put in £13 million of his own money to save it. 12 outlets already closed last year in a restructuring plan. but it's clear that turnaround hasn't worked. it's been tough for lots of other casual dining chains too. prezzo, byron, carluccio's, just some of the brands that have had to close outlets,

counting the cost of overexpansion. mid—market restaurants are being squeezed at both ends. they are finding it quite hard to make money at this time. if they're not offering exactly what consumers want, then they find they can't make money because the cost of wages, the cost of business rates and the cost of running promotions to get people through the door are simply too much. we are going to fry that off... his other businesses may be thriving, but it seems jamie 0liver‘s restaurants weren't able to keep up with changing tastes in what's become an increasingly crowded market. emma simpson, bbc news. that's it from me. i am on social media. now on bbc news, sport today. hello, i'm tulsen tollett and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: arsenal's henrikh mkhitaryan is set to miss the europa league final overfears for his

safety in azerbaijan. 2017 winners urawa red diamonds qualify for the last 16 of the asian champions league. and valerio conti still leads the giro d'italia, but stage 10 saw germany's pascal ackermann take a tumble that meant he missed out on a third stage win. hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with the footballing news that arsenal midfielder henrikh mkhitaryan will not play in the europa league final against chelsea next week. it's understood the 30—year—old armenian feared for his safety on the pitch in the azerbaijan capital of baku. as a result of political tensions between azerbaijan and armenia, mkhitaryan has missed club matches played in azerbaijan in the past.

it is bad