the british prime minister, theresa may, has said she "deeply regrets" the resignation of the uk's ambassador in washington. sir kim darroch stood down after his criticism of donald trump's administration was leaked, prompting insults from the us president. sir kim said it was impossible for him to carry on. the bbc has gained rare access to myanmar‘s rakhine state, where families displaced by the violence of the rohingya crisis have been getting new houses — but none have been reserved for muslims. and this video is trending on bbc.com: the us women's football team have celebrated their world cup win with a massive victory parade in new york. thousands of people gathered to cheer the champions as they made their way through the skyscraper—lined "canyon of heroes" in lower manhattan. that's all. stay with bbc world news.

now on bbc news, live to singapore for asia business report. pals cutting comments to the fed chairman is defined in the face of trumps criticism and strongly hinted ata trumps criticism and strongly hinted at a rate cut this month. the digital divide. the us orders an investigation into france's planned new tax that will hit american technology giants hard. good morning asia, hello world. it is thursday thank you forjoining us for another exciting addition of asia business report. we start with the us federal reserve and its chairman has brushed

off heated attacks by donald trump saying he would not step down if the president asked him to. at the same time, jerome powell hinted that a potential rate reduction later this month as the world ‘s most powerful central bank warned that lawmakers office continued uncertainty. all fed shares have a difficult balancing act. they need to keep inflation low and everyone at work. they also need to keep markets calm while being able to change their mind when the economy changes course. butjerome mind when the economy changes course. but jerome powell mind when the economy changes course. butjerome powell has a more precarious position than most. in the face of constant criticism from president donald trump he must keep doing what is best for the us economy while never being seen to cave in to presidential pressure. his appearance in congress on wednesday showed what a tight rope he is on. first was the politics. he

was asked what he would do if the president tried to have him fired. if you had a call from the president today or tomorrow and he said i am firing you, pack up it is time to 90, firing you, pack up it is time to go, what would you do? i would not do that. i can't hear you. my answer would be no. and you would not pack up would be no. and you would not pack up and you would not leave? no, man. but if he was watching, president trump may have been mollified by the rest of the appearance because in his comments on the economy, mr powell seemed to suggest that the federal reserve is getting ready to cut rates, exactly what mr trump has been urging. mr powell told congress there remains little sign of inflation in the us and he also said thejob inflation in the us and he also said the job market could inflation in the us and he also said thejob market could not inflation in the us and he also said the job market could not be called hot, also a likely sign that prices will not be rising sharply soon. markets rose on the appearance and

they evidently think a rate cut is coming soon. and isjust mentioned, those comments were welcomed by wall street. earlier we had a view from an asian market perspective. there has been a lot of weakness in economic data already and we know that the minutes came out as well and they suggested injune already the committee was attempting or talking about a rate cut. it is in the data as well. it is not as simple as saying that pressure from the outside is forcing them, really if you look at inflation it is coming off and it must worry the fed. will we see one thisjuly? it looks likely the statements we had overnight. the big issue is how much will the fed cut this year. it still looks like 50 basis points, markets may be hoping for a bit more but don't get too carried away. the us is not in recession, the foetid just wa nts to is not in recession, the foetid just wants to protect the down turn.

is not in recession, the foetid just wants to protect the downturn. so these rate cuts willjust put pressure on asian central banks. -- the fed just wants to protect from the fed just wants to protect from the downturn. the fed is now signalling and easing cycle that opens the doorfor signalling and easing cycle that opens the door for more central banks to cut rates as well. it has been soggy all around. india, australia and the philippines cutting the cost of borrowing earlier this year, who else could cut interest rates? for example, a career as an economy is quite trade dependent and make a interest rates. thailand is also export dependent and they may need to cut rates and then you have indonesia which is an economy that hiked interest rates last year aggressively but could now move them lower as well. in addition to that, countries that have already will probably add a bit more. you are here forjust one day for a

presentation about the half economic outlook. second what does it look like for asia—pacific economies from june until december 2019? trade tension still way on x courts, the chinese economy looks wobbly on the domestic side as well and it will ta ke domestic side as well and it will take time before some of these stimulative measures like rate cuts and fiscal policy really kick in. so the second half is a bit weaker and only stabilising. any economies that will fall into a recession? not quite. us president donald trump has ordered an investigation into france's plan to tax digital services, a move that will impact american technology giants hard. tax avoidance by multinational corporations caused public outrage a few years ago and the french senate

is about to legislate for companies to have their headquarters in france and not a low taxing country. the us and not a low taxing country. the us and france are at loggerheads over tax. will this lead to a dispute? that is a real possibility now because president trump does not seem to be happy about france's new tax plan and this could become yet another trade friction. basically after the protests mentioned, france and germany were pushing for the european union as a whole to a dressy issue of tax avoidance when that faced opposition, france decided to do it on its own by introducing a new tax on big tech companies, companies like google, amazon and facebook. this new tax was masterminded by this man, the french finance minister and it is known as the 3% digital services tax. it will apply to technology companies with global revenue of

more than $843 million but they also need french revenue of more than $28 million. they wrote the rules this way so that french companies are not affected and multinationals are specifically targeted. it will affect about 30 companies, mostly american and that is why president trump is unhappy. the french finance ministry says the tax will raise just over $550 million and as i said, europe wired —— it faced opposition from low tax company so france is now pushing for an international deal with countries from the 0ecd. that the us says additional tax will lead to high cost for consumers and with president trump ordering this investigation, this international plan will likely face more opposition. thank you so much for that update. right sharing applications have been hailed as a

revolution for the transport market and have become a major employer in the so—called gig economy. in some countries the job has the so—called gig economy. in some countries thejob has proven dangerous ford drivers while nations with low literacy rates have seen many potential customers struggling to use well—known services to here is what one company in brazil is doing to tackle those issues.

the gig economy in brazil. that have a quick look now at asia—pacific markets and how they fare in mid—morning trade. currently in positive territory is the japanese market and the australian is up by 13 and on the whole, potentially for a loosening of monetary policy after the fed chairman said we may see a cut in us interest rates before the end of the month. spot today is coming up next. —— sport today. this is bbc news. the top stories this hour. many british politicians have expressed concern at the resignation of britain's ambassador to washington, after his confidential criticism of president trump's administration was leaked. a bbc investigation has found that none of the hundreds

of new houses handed over to families displaced in myanmar‘s rakhine state have been given to muslims. the government has been accused of having a "ramshackle, dad's army" approach to making sure we can cope with the impacts of rising temperatures. that's according to the committee on climate change, an independent publicly funded body. ministers insist britain is setting a strong example for other countries to follow. 0ur correspondentjon kay reports. the hottest, the driest, the wettest, the coldest — if the uk's weather is going to get more extreme, how should we deal with it? take theresa, who lives in a council block near bristol. the government's climate change advisor say we need to make properties like hers much warmer in winter and cooler in summer heat waves. it's unbearable sometimes in here.

i normally sit by the fan, and even that, it's a struggle. and you're using more electricity by doing that. i'm using more electricity, yeah, i just got that one yesterday. the doors aren't allowed to be opened, and it's sweltering on this ward. last summer, we reported how some parts of the nhs were struggling with extreme temperatures. today the committee on climate change called on the government to make sure hospitals, care homes and schools are all much better prepared for the future. they said the power industry was one of the only sectors on track to meet its targets, and the committee said the government needs to have a morejoined up, less ramshackle approach to climate change. for example, the report says we need to think much more about our green spaces. parks like this in our towns and cities soak up heat and could also soak up floodwater. but over the last couple of decades, because of all the building that's been going on, the amount of green space in our urban areas has

dropped from 63% to 55%. but the government insists it's leading the world on climate change. so ministers say there will be many more projects to protect the uk, like here in somerset, where this coastal defence system hasjust been installed — designed in the netherlands to deal with rising sea levels. but if time is tight, so is money — resilience costs. jon kay, bbc news. hello, i'm tulsen tollett and this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: new zealand shock india at the cricket world cup to reach a second successive final. roger federer and rafael nadal will meet at wimbledon for the first time since 2008 after both

advanced to the semifinals. and the future of the british grand prix has been secured for the next five years with a new agreement between formula one and silverstone. hello there and welcome to the programme, where we start with the news that india have been knocked out of the cricket world cup while new zealand move through to sunday's final at lords. the black caps pulled off an unlikely 18 run win at old trafford and our sports correspondentjoe wilson was there. there is a sense of surprise, certainly shocked still around this pa rt certainly shocked still around this part of manchester. notjust that india, the well cricket superpower, are out, but the fact that they could not chase down 242 with this much. remember, these are the top order batsmen are rohit sharma, with 500 and the world cup so far, this isa 500 and the world cup so far, this is a top order of virat kohli, while's best batsmen. russell