welcome to bbc news. our top story: at least seven people have been killed after a cruise boat capsized on the river danube in hungary. emergencey services in the capital, budapest, are still searching for survivors. the police say 33 south koreans were on board the boat, which collided with a larger vessel. us special counsel robert mueller has spoken publically for the first time about his investigation into russian election interference. mr mueller said if he thought donald trump was innocent of obstruction ofjustice, he would have said so. the president tweeted that the case against him was closed. and this video is trending on bbc.com. chelsea have won football's europa league. they beat arsenal 4—1 in baku, in azerbaijan. all the goals were scored in the second half, with eden hazard scoring twice for chelsea.

a government review has recommended that university tuition fees in england should be reduced from just over 9,000 pounds a year tojust over 7,000. now on bbc news live to singapore for asia business report. boeing's boss issues another apology as the aircraft could be grounded until august. where could somewhere in asia grabbed the top global city ranking? good morning asia, hello world, it is the first day, glad you could join us. we start off with boeing 737 max—8 aircraft. it is unlikely to re—enter service before august,

and that is the view of the airline industry's trade body. at the same time, the playmaker‘s chief executive has reiterated that the company is sorry for the lives lost on itsjets in the company is sorry for the lives lost on its jets in the wake of two deadly crashes. the entire 737 max fleet has been grounded since march, when a plane crash in ethiopia killed everyone on board. it was the second such crash in five months. the 737 max is boeing's most lucrative plane. it was meant to be the latest answer to the competition from europe's airbus. but two deadly crashes in just five months forced global aviation regulators to ground the 737 max. it's anti— stall system was identified as a common factor in both accidents. boeing says it is

close to fixing the software, and there have been reports that boeing rushed the plane to market to fast and that it knew of problems with the mcas system before the first plane crash. in an interview with cbs, boeing's ceo said the company remains committed to safety. we can't change what happened in these accidents but we can be absolutely resolute in what we are going to do in safety doing —— going forward. we apologise to the families affected, and more broadly to the travelling public. confidence has been affected. for people who are scared. we have impacted our customers, we regret that as well. so we are stepping up, we are taking responsibility, we know we have improvements we can make and we will make those improvements. we are committed to safety for the long run. the primary focus for boeing is getting the 737 max fleet approved

for takeoff. the real test will be if the flying public ever feels safe on those planes again. let's have a look at the markets, and asian stocks are headed lower in mid—morning trade as investors continue to worry about the impact ofa continue to worry about the impact of a prolonged us— china trade war. and the effect this would have on global economic growth. the nikkei and all 0rdinaries starting in the red. this is after a slide in us shares. earlier, we spoke to an expert about why washington's ban on chinese tech giant huawei has added a layer of investor uncertainty. chinese tech giant huawei has added a layer of investor uncertaintylj think a layer of investor uncertainty.” think before we were saying that there was a clear debate about ta riffs there was a clear debate about tariffs and the extent to which they

would be broadened or hiked further. it is also clear that a specific pa rt it is also clear that a specific part of export products coming out of china into the us. it was already troubling, and sentiment turned after a deal was reached in april. now we have another component that was linked to the technology sector. this big and important sector that was doing well, but now the future of the sector is much more uncertain. are you worried about the technology sector across the board? european, asian and us companies?” think a big european, asian and us companies?” thinka big part european, asian and us companies?” think a big part of all these companies are still making healthy profits in these countries, but to what extent can they keep that growth up and to what extent is the globally interconnected value chain going to reduce profit in the future. investors a re going to reduce profit in the future. investors are starting to move away from the sector. and, you

also have to add to the equation rare earth, which is being used in devices like iphones. yes, this is another dynamic from this trade war. china can play this card, they are really monopolist in this type of input into phones or whatever type of technology components, and we see this right now. it is a clear factor that this lever will be used to put more pressure on the us. as chief investment officer, what is your advice to your clients regarding technology stocks? cash out? hold on to what they have? 0r buy in at low levels ? to what they have? 0r buy in at low levels? i think it is too early to starting to re—enter the market and by, overall we are cautious at the moment, we are underwriting equities and technology. i think at the moment be cautious in the sector,

and there will be nice entry point in the future but it is just not feasible right now. in other business news, making headlines the new zealand government is due to release its much anticipated budget later today. this comes anticipated budget later today. this co m es after anticipated budget later today. this comes after the treasury said its website was attacked 2000 times in two days by hackers. the opposition national party published some details of their economic plan but police have said they believe that the early accessing of information was not illegal. canada's prime minister says that the idea to ratify the north american trade agreement has been formally presented to parliament. this comes following a visit from mike pence. canada, the us and mexico signed it in november of 2018, but the deal, which would replace the existing north american free trade agreement,

has yet to be ratified by all three countries. a new report which ranks the world's most competitive cities puts new york in the top spot, followed by london and paris. asia is on the rise, and according to consulting firm, singapore could be in the top three of the next five yea rs. in the top three of the next five years. earlier, iasked in the top three of the next five years. earlier, i asked a representative how it ranks the cities. from the global cities we look at a range of holistic factors. 0bviously business activity, the number of fortune 1000 companies that have a presence in a city is an example of business activity. you look at human talent, so the proportion of tertiary education among the population, the number of foreign students, et cetera. also, the number of international sporting concerts, arts events that are held

in the city, for example. these are holistic factors. so this basically includes governance and political engagement, key factors in attracting these rankings. why are we not seeing asian cities in the top three? why are tokyo, hong kong and singapore 45 and six?” top three? why are tokyo, hong kong and singapore 45 and six? i think the top five has been quite stable for decades. it takes for many of these institutional factors to play out all the time. so, take london for example, you would think with all the noise about brexit, london would be less attractive to a lot of people. so, we are seeing four, five, six, hong kong, singapore and beijing, taking over in the first three? possibly. beijing is ranked

number nine, and it could potentially move up in future years. it is number nine at the moment, what will it take to move up to the top five? if you look at the factors we measure, it would be continuing to stay attractive to international presence, whether it is investors or companies, the number of foreign stu d e nts companies, the number of foreign students that are studying there, the number of international events being held. so, a more connected china would certainly propel cities further up the ranks. in other news, making headlines in germany, prosecutors have raided the offices of porsche as it investigates suspected misuse of corporate funds by executives. searches have been carried out at the volkswagen offices in stuttgart and a nearby germantown. it is part

ofa and a nearby germantown. it is part of a probe involving 176 police officers and tax inspectors. shares in canada goose have taken a nosedive after posting its lowest growth in years. shares in the high—end winter clothing brand went down 26%. earlier this year it faced protests diplomatic spat between china canada and calls for a boycott of the brand. with that, we end this edition of asia business report. this is bbc news — our main headline: at least seven people have been killed, after a cruise boat capsized on the river danube in hungary. borisjohnson, the bookies' favourite to become britain's next prime minister, is to face trial over allegations he lied to the british public

during the brexit referendum campaign in twenty sixteen.john pienaar has the latest. he has always loved attention — just not this kind. borisjohnson, the official leave campaign's far—from—secret weapon, is being hauled into court to face accusations that he lied to the public, inflated the cost of britain's eu membership. no—one campaigns like him, but it is the claim he distorted how much the uk pays in, taking no account of britain's rebate, which he echoed as an mp. that triggered a rare private prosecution and the rarer outcome of a top politician being summoned to a criminal court. his accusers, in court papers, say he repeatedly lied and misled the british public as to the cost of eu membership, expressly stating, endorsing or inferring that the cost of eu membership was £350 million a week.

businessman marcus ball, on the right, crowd—funded the prosecution, arguing it's about standards in public office. mr ball, who's stood with me today, considers that politicians have made, orsaid, things that are untrue, and he wants to ensure that there is a better standard in politics than currently is the case. but boris johnson, flag—carrier for brexit, is now favourite in the race to be the next prime minister. he may even be pm when and if his case is finally tried. a source close to borisjohnson said: "this prosecution is nothing less than a politically motivated attempt to reverse brexit and crush the will of the people. if the case is allowed to proceed, the state rather than the public will be put in charge of determining the strength of arguments at elections." but some say it is a matter of principle.

generally speaking, i prefer it that the courts keep out of political affairs. i find that the general public are incredibly discerning. tough day at the office? tonight, boris johnson was keeping his counsel. do you accept that you deliberately misled the public? he denies wrongdoing and today's ruling was no finding of guilt, but the case will be a spectacle and the outcome could have an impact on politics and campaigning in britain. john pienaar, bbc news. now on bbc news, sport today. hello, i'm gavin ramjaun, and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: chelsea are the europa league champions, slamming four past arsenal in baku. rafa nadal eases into the third round of the french open in his quest for title number 12 at roland—garros.

the cricket world cup gets underway in just a few hours' time, featuring some of the biggest names in the sport. welcome to the programme. chelsea are the europa league champions. they beat arsenal, their london rivals 4—1. it was manager maurizio sarri's first major trophy in football, but a nightmare for arsenal in azerbaijan. sloppy defending and missed chances allowed chelsea to win in convincing fashion, and that means unai emery‘s side will have to settle for europa league football next season, and miss out on the champions league. 0ur correspondent 0lly foster is in baku for us. first impressions of this baku final words particularly good, hundreds upon hundreds of empty seats and a terrible atmosphere inside the 0lympic terrible atmosphere inside the olympic stadium. it was a really flat first half, as well, arsenal's cech made a couple of decent saves, it was goalless at