hong kong riot police and protesters are braced for possible further clashes. it comes after a day of violence over an extradition bill that would allow people to be sent to mainland china for trial. on wednesday police fired rubber bullets, tear gas and pepper spray in a series of skirmishes to clear demonstrators from the city's legislature. hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated along parts of india's western coast as the region prepares for a powerful cyclone. cyclone vayu has been classified as very severe. and this story is trending on bbc.com: france's emmanuel macron says he'll send a new oak tree to president trump after the one they planted together at the white house last year died. some people have compared its death to the difficult relationship the two leaders have had since that visit. that's all. stay with bbc world news. and the top story in the uk:

one of britain's biggest retail groups, arcadia, has been handed a lifeline by landlords who've agreed to cut its rents. the business has 566 stores in the uk and ireland and employs 18 thousand workers. now on bbc news, live to singapore for asia business report. business alarm as hong kong braces for more potential protest we look at the impact on the asian financial powerhouse. our warning from japan. he cautions over potential clashes in the middle east when he meets with the president of around. good morning asia, hello world. it is thursday and thank you forjoining us thursday and thank you forjoining us for this exciting addition of asia business report did let's start the programme with hong kong where authorities have shut government

offices in the cbd for the rest of the week. on wednesday, hundreds of thousands of people swarmed the streets to oppose a planned new extradition law which includes mainland china. many stores closed and several businesses gave their employees a day off as tensions escalated. let's cross now to my colleague mariko. the first reaction that we should keep an eye on is on the stock market which will start trading in less than one hour from now. as you would expect, they fell 1.796 now. as you would expect, they fell 1.7% on wednesday, headed for the biggest monthly fall. we cannot say it is all because of the protest. there is a bigger concern here because hong kong is one of the major financial hub and it is because hong kong is one of the majorfinancial hub and it is home to many global companies which have

so to many global companies which have so far relied on it as a safe place from which to do business in china. as you can see here, the protest has been taking place right at the heart of the business district. so far no major company has spoken out publicly about this demonstration, possibly because they do not wish to upset ageing. some analysts have already floated the idea of leaving hong kong altogether and they're concerned that china is undermining the city ‘s system because they don't know if anyone including foreign executives will be exempt from extradition if the bill passes. watching these pictures over the last few days, you must wonder of the impact on tourism as well. it is not a one off because our knees over the growing influence of ageing has been growing in the last year, especially last year when the government in hong kong rejected a standard request by a to renew his work visa. business leaders said it

was a major setback for the independence of hong kong. overnight we heard from the speaker of the house of representatives in the us asking if a special law should be reconsidered, the one that treats hong kong differently from china. and we will continue to be monitoring that. the world will be watching for how hong kong stock exchange performs in less than one hours time. that is mariko. moving on now, the japanese prime minister has warned of unintended clashes in the crisis hit middle east. he made the crisis hit middle east. he made the comments after meeting with the iranians president in tehran after brewing conflict between iran and the us. translation: it is important that a run builds a constructive role in building peace and stability in the middle east so the readers

and will —— region will not destabilise any further. washingtons relationship with tyrone deteriorated after the trump administration withdrew from the 2015 deal over iran's nuclear programme. but tokyo has much to gain if sanctions are lifted. earlier i asked whether or not shinzo abe can pull off a diplomatic ra ke shinzo abe can pull off a diplomatic rake through. it depends on what he got from mr trump when he met trump recently in tokyo. they spoke for a long time and played golf together and they had enough time to talk about this issue. so if donald trump offered him enough inducements for iran to come to the negotiating table, then shinzo abe can convey that inducement to the iranians. then it might be possible forjapan

to pull it off and shinzo abe can punch against his weight. we need to see how this all plays out and if tensions will ease but oil is a big factor in this visit by the prime minister. how important is iranians oil to the japanese economy? minister. how important is iranians oil to the japanese economy7m supplies only 5% of japan's oil to the japanese economy7m supplies only 5% ofjapan‘s oil consumption but this entire area including qatar and oman, it is of concern to energy consumption so it is crucial that nothing happens in the middle east. the peace and stability in the persian gulf overrides national interests and thatis overrides national interests and that is why shinzo abe is in tehran. did the full hashim accident have any impact on the need for oil in japan? —— fukushima accident? yes.

japan? —— fukushima accident? yes. japan has been trying to avoid reliance on the middle east for oil but the events at fukushima have setback those objectives for a while. donald trump has said he is considering sanctions over russia's nord stream to natural gas pipeline. washington also told european companies to avoid the project and warned germany about being dependent on russia for fuel. donald trump has upped his criticism of germany over a gas pipeline which would double the amount of gas that can be transported directly from russia to germany. the american president said on wednesday that he is still considering using sanctions to block the nordstream2 pipeline. he said that germany is captive to russian

exports and he is not the first to criticise this pipeline. he draws on support from congress where some members have also proposed sanctions to try and block project. the nordstream2 pipeline is over 1000 kilometres long and would run beneath the baltic sea linking northern germany with eastern russia. i should northern germany with eastern russia. ishould point northern germany with eastern russia. i should point out that the americans are not the only ones who haveissue americans are not the only ones who have issue with there. for years, other member states have been concerned about their reliance on russian gas. disagreement among eu nations were so strong earlier this year that they threatened to derail the project entirely. so why is germany in favour of the pipeline? germany in favour of the pipeline? german businesses who have invested heavily and they argue that it is an economic project. angela merkel has

tried to reassure people that the pipeline would not make germany reliant on russia for energy. around 4 million people a year take to the skies and according to industry estimates that figure will double in 20 years. half the growth will come from the asia—pacific region. those of the protections that make projections. the report is also one of the best ways to prefer —— prepare for the surge in travellers is the use of new technology. some of the technology they can talk about is collaboration with airline airport and covenant using biometrics so yourface airport and covenant using biometrics so your face can be your passport and id. when you get to the airport and check—in, that is it, every step of your journey you can look at the camera and walk through. but facial technology is an issue for some places, in example in the united states. privacy is a main

concern. absolutely. and i think every government has their own regulation in dealing with data and as long as we can design a solution, it is something that can help passengers. but with these new technologies doesn't it also cost an arm and a leg for developing countries here in the asia—pacific? if you compare to the cost of building a new terminal versus optimising the resources you have, it is better. when passengers use technology, research says they are much happier. are airlines, regulators and airports all on the same page in new technology for airports? they are active from stages of development. we are currently owned by the air transport industry and we have to look at all of this industry and the entire space better. and that was some ash

patel talking about new technology for airports to let look at early morning trade on the market. japan is down by 251%, 93.25 and the all ordinaries index down marginally. this is after wall street stocks sagged overnight for a second straight session with the ongoing trade tensions between the us and china continuing to weigh on investor sentiment. thank you for investing your time with us. spot todayis investing your time with us. spot today is coming up next. —— sport today. this is bbc news. the top stories this hour. hong kong braces itself for possible further clashes after a day of violence over a controversial extradition bill. hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated along parts of india's western coast as the region prepares

for a powerful cyclone. a senior m15 officer has told the london bridge inquest why an investigation into one of the attackers was suspended for three months just before the attack. the witness — identified as l — says m15 was dealing with an "alarming" threat level at the time, putting pressure on resources. he defended the m15 investigation as "well run and effective". daniel sandford reports. all of us, we are just praying... khuram butt, the leader of the london bridge attack which killed eight people. he first came to the attention of m15 in 2014, three years before the attack, as an unnamed associate of the extremist preacher anjem choudary. but in the middle of the next year, 2015, m15 started a full investigation into him. witness l, a senior m15 officer, told the coroner:

but, as they started to watch butt, m15 saw no evidence of him attack planning. what they observed were signs of continuing extremism. here he was praying in regent's park in front of a flag linked to the islamic state group. by the end of 2015, there were concerns he might travel to syria tojoin is. witness l said: so that he couldn't be seen by anyone in court, the senior m15 officer gave evidence from behind a thick green curtain. time and again he was asked whether there should be deep public concern about the way m15 conducted their enquiry into khuram butt, but he said the investigation had been well and effectively run. three months before the attack, m15 had these pictures of butt meeting one of the other attackers, rachid redouane, but soon afterwards the investigation was suspended because of a flood of more urgent investigations.

witness l said: once the investigation resumed, m15 missed this meeting between the three attackers, having failed to get good intelligence from the gym where it took place. and witness l said that even if they had been following the men as they hired a van, they may not have realised it was the final preparations before an attack. daniel sandford, bbc news. now on bbc news, sport today. hello, i'm tulsen tollett and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre.

as they beat norway 2—1 in nice. at the cricket world cup a david warner century guides australia to a win over pakistan. and a—time tour de france winner chris froome is in intensive care after he crashed in a training ride ahead of the fourth stage of the criterium du dauphine hello and welcome to the programme where we start with footballing news from wednesday at the women's world cup in france. the hosts cemented their place at the top of group a with a second consecutive win beating norway 2—1 in nice. in the same group nigeria were 2—0 winners over south korea — while in group b germany are on maximum points after they beat spain. colm harrison rounds up all the action. france against norway was talk up as being one of the heavyweight clashes of the group phrase yet it took a while to get going. a goalless and largely forgettable first half