tankers in the gulf of oman on a vitally important shipping route for oil exports. the crews of both tankers were forced to abandon ship, and one was left on fire. iran has denied any involvement, and blamed the attacks on those who want to damage its relations with the rest of the world. president trump tweeted that his press secretary sarah sanders will leave herjob at the end of the month. she has been a fierce defender of the president. and this story is trending on bbc.com. and its another tweet from the us president. this time he said he had met the "prince of whales", misspelling the country's name as the mammal. he quickly corrected the mistake but social media had a field day with the image. and the top story in the uk.

borisjohnson has overwhelmingly won the first round of votes to become the next conservative leader — and prime minister. now on bbc news, live to singapore for asia business report. war of words. oil markets rocked while washington and iran trade verbal blows over the gulf of a demand tanker explosions. deep divisions. indian company adani is given the go—ahead for a controversial coalmine in queensland, australia. it's friday. almost the weekend. good morning, asia. hello, world. glad you could join us. we kickoff the programme with oil because global crude markets have seesawed after attacks

on two tankers off the coast of iran. some of those gains have been given up. the us secretary of state mike pompeo has named tehran for the incident while iran has denied having any involvement in these explosions. it was inevitable that oil prices reacted the way they did. any disruption to the flow of oil is going to raise concerns about supply and in turn have a knock—on effect on the price of oil, pushing it higher and when you consider a quarter of the world's oil is shipped through the straight of hormuz, any disruption is going to alert traders. if you look at the spike, a look at west texas intermediate. the price is still substantially below its high from earlier this year. trading below $60 a barrel. there is a degree of

waiting to find out more definitively who may have been behind these attacks. the us secretary of state named iran for the attacks on a japanese and norwegian tanker, even as the japanese prime minister visited tehran. it's clear the stand—off 20 us and iran has been simmering for a while in this attack is the most recent in a pattern of disruption. earlier this month, there was an attack on tankers and a drone attack ona attack on tankers and a drone attack on a saudi pipeline. given how easy it is to interrupt the flow of oil, some analysts predict an increase in the price of oil for as some analysts predict an increase in the price of oilfor as much some analysts predict an increase in the price of oil for as much as $7 but motorists may not notice a difference. you may see your insurance rates go up, for example, and in turn, you may charge your customers more choose to pass that on. knock—on effect is hard to

quantify but you can see how an increase in the price of oil could trickle down. this incident comes as the japanese prime minister is visiting iran. joining us is mariko oi. remember, just a few days ago, i said that mr abe had not much to lose. 0ne said that mr abe had not much to lose. one day, he was all over the iranian newspaper front pages, lose. one day, he was all over the iranian newspaperfront pages, being treated like a superhero but then the attack took place just as mr abe was meeting with the supreme leader of iran. then—president trump tweeted, he thinks it's too soon to make a deal, even though they agree about this visit and spoke on the phone. there are a dozen tweets by the supreme leader, basically saying

he doesn't really trust mr trump. the us secretary of state said this about the attack. it is the assessment of the united states government that the islamic republic of iran is responsible for the attacks that occurred in the gulf of demand today. iran has come out and rejected that claim but the reason it pushed up oil prices is this. key middle eastern oil producers to markets in europe, asia and north america via the straits. 0n the one side, the arrow —— arab states on one side, iran. at its narrowest, the gap is 21 miles and more than 17 million barrels were passing through the straight and the first part of last year. it's almost 40% of all oil shipped in spy tanker. it's also the main export route. worth 66 billion dollars in 2017 but that is all in because of the sanctions.

investors are trying to determine if it was really behind the attack but especially given it belonged, it has made it a bit awkward. this incident complicates relations even more. as tensions also continuing hong some us politicians say the status should be reviewed if it is proposed exhibition law is passed. we asked if companies are indeed worried. all businesses are concerned because it's worrying if there is a blurring between the line of business and politics. and that's what's been happening in the broader us— china trade war is we've moved the on tariffs. this becomes intertwined. of tariffs. this becomes intertwined. of hong kong is caught in the

middle, that is worrying for businesses. why would businesses be worried when the government says they would be safeguards?m worried when the government says they would be safeguards? it is the blurring of lines. it gives you something else to be concerned about. you definitely want certainty. you are looking for those clear lines. that's what you have in hong kong today and what you have in singapore, what makes them so attractive in this extradition bill is worrying. our many american businesses based in hong kong now assessing their positions in the territory and looking potentially for other business hubs in the region? it's premature for that. this is a long way to play out. it's something you put into the mix. businesses are looking at supply chains, how do you move them out of china when you've got to be concerned with tariffs but you also

get a monkeywrench. tariffs in mexico. what is going to happen in via arm? is donald trump going to look at that differently? everything is worrying. there is so much uncertainty. there is nothing that is safe right now you can assume into the future so it's really hunkered down, try and stay out of the battle, don't get caught in the crossfire. figuring out what is going to happen next. i've never seen the business community with more anxiety. it also doesn't help for those businesses if the united states will revoke hong kong's special commercial status. you have real actions that can get taken place under that 1992 law. if that

goes away, you could now have what is permitted to be transferred to hong kong. that will have a real impact on businesses. both us businesses which exported hong kong businesses which exported hong kong businesses which exported hong kong businesses which receive the technology. easier us expert stephen 0akland joining us. the government of the australian state of queensland has given the green light for the indian company adani to start construction of a coal mine. there are years that one of the last desert oasis could be damaged. it's taken some ideas for adani to have this green light for construction to begin. they say it will be about two yea rs before we begin. they say it will be about two years before we see cold coming out of the ground being exported. since the project was first announced, these projects have been scaled back initially. it was going to be one of the biggest minds on the planet,

excavating 60 million tons of coal in the first year but now they think only 10 million tons. the number of jobs has been scaled back. there was talks of 10,000 jobs and now we are told the direct number of people involved in construction and opening up involved in construction and opening up the mine would be 1500 however adani's business model has remained the same, using australian coal to sell it back to the indian market where it has power stations. the ceo in australia says it's been a long time. there please the people of queensland are with them and it does meana queensland are with them and it does mean a large number ofjobs there but this has been a very divisive issue here in australia, particularly during the recent elections with many concerned just about the local environmental impact on the wildlife and waterways but the global impact that many feel would increase the amount of carbon being burned and impact places like

queensland's great barrier reef so expect plenty more protest as construction begins. let's take a look at our asia—pacific markets are daring, despite us stock market gains overnight, japan and australia are down marginally. us shares rose as energy stocks rebounded on concerns of an oil supply disruption following attacks on two tankers in the gulf of oman. the dow, smp and nasdaq all the positive territory. this is bbc news the top stories this hour. iran denies it but the united states blames tehran for the attacks on two oil tankers. one of donald trump's closest allies

is leaving the white house, and another is staying put despite advice that she should be fired. the public spending watchdog says that nearly two thirds of the people in england who have bought their homes through the government's help to buy scheme could have purchased a property anyway without help. the scheme, which was introduced in 2013 under david cameron, offers loans of up to 40% of the house price. here's our business correspondent coletta smith. help to buy loans are popular — very popular. more than 200,000 people have got a top—up for their mortgage for a new—build home. hayley is one of them. for us to be able to buy this, yeah, it was huge. we've no reason to move. this could be our forever home. the government's spending watchdog has now reviewed the whole scheme, and there's a lot to say about the three different groups who've been impacted. the national audit office say nearly two thirds of those who got a loan would have been able to buy a house anyway. that's true for hayley, but she wouldn't have been able to get this house. the houses we were looking at were sort of like terraces,

doer—uppers, mid—terrace, maybe, probably only two bedrooms. it never entered my head that we could get something of this size or this nice. what percentage does the government own and what do you have to pay back? yeah, so it is a little bit daunting when you look at the figures. we've got a huge loan that's like separate to our mortgage, and it is quite easy to look at that and get worried. the report also points out that some of those the government's lent to have incomes of more than 100 grand a year. two thirds of the take—up is from households on incomes of less than £50,000, so it's a very small fraction. it's1 in 25 have household incomes in excess of 100,000, and that's the reality of household incomes in parts of the country, particularly in london and the south—east. the report says house—builders have been boosted by the extra government money sloshing round the system. with the big players like persimmon making a record £1 billion profit last year, with half of their sales coming from help to buy homes. it's easy to be cynical and suggest perhaps they were trying to help house—builders and their shareholders. they've certainly benefited

since it was introduced in 2013. there's undoubtedly been additional profit in the market, but that's not directly linked to help to buy. it's a function of the fact we've built as many homes as we have over the last five years. the government's spent £11 billion on this scheme so far. it's all in loans, of course, so they are hoping to get that money back, but it's a lot of public money to have tied up in a scheme that's effectively underwriting the housing market at the moment. if the value of properties goes up, government makes more money, but if it falls then the value of those loans falls, too, leaving the government exposed. and that's the biggest concern for the spending watchdog. if things go wrong, we may all shoulder the cost of those 200,000 dream homes. 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: australia beat brazil 3—2 thanks to a controversial own goal decided by var at the women's world cup.

eden hazard is officially introduced as a real madrid player at the bernabeu after his club record move from chelsea. and at the cricket world cup, rain strikes again as india and new zealand's match at trent bridge is abandoned without a ball being bowled. hello there and welcome to the programme — all that and more to come plus the latest on who's leading the us open, the third men's golf major of the year. but we start with the footballing news that australia came from two goals down to controversially beat brazil 3—2 in group c at the women's world cup in france to keep their hopes of progressing alive. the match winner came courtesy of a var decision — and it meant a first group—stage defeat for the south americans in 2a years, while in the late game china beat south africa 1—0 in group b. colm harrsion rounds up all the action

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