the world health organisation says the ebola outbreak in the democratic republic of congo is a public health emergency. so far, it has killed more than 1,600 people. the who says regional borders will not be closed off to avoid damaging economies in the area, and that the risk of ebola spreading outside the region was low. a man who lost his whole family in a boeing air crash in ethiopia has given evidence to the us congress. paul njoroge questioned boeing's decision not to ground the 737 max after a similar crash five months earlier. and this video is trending on bbc.com: the story of the twin girls joined at the head at birth, and the pioneering operation which saved them eight years ago.

that's all. stay with bbc world news. and the top story in the uk: hashem abedi, the brother of the manchester arena bomber, is to appear in court charged with murdering the 22 victims of the 2017 attack. he was extradited from libya and arrested on his arival in the uk. now on bbc news, live to singapore for asia business report. bbc news learns that serious questions have been raised about the company that issued the dam's safety certificate in brazil. and, we look at how the us china trade conflict is hurting economies. glad you could join us for this exciting addition of asia business report. about half a year has passed

and 248 people were killed when a dam collapsed in brazil. bbc news has now learned that serious questions have been raised about the german firm that has issued the safety certificate for the dam. a p pa re ntly safety certificate for the dam. apparently they knew about potential problems with the dam for up to a year before the catastrophe happened. no warning, no time to run. the dam collapsed in a matter of seconds. a mountain of mining waste now a torrent of toxic sludge. nearly 300 people died here. this man's sister was killed, her body still hasn't been found. translation: we are destroyed, we are trying to

understand what really happened. with every hour that passes, the traces of people disappear into the landscape. at the same time, fresh evidence continues to emerge. what happened here could and should have been prevented. for this brazilian prosecutor, questions for a german company. the company certified the dam safe, even though to other firms refused to do though, and even though, investigators believe, staff knew it was at risk of collapse. translation: what we know is that the corporation is choosing to stay silent. i have no doubt that a more collaborative attitude might bring more light to the case and also clarify what happened behind closed doors. we have seen internal e-mails and documents seized by investigators. they reveal that the company knew for about a year that

the dam was liquefying and at risk of collapse. they suggest they had accessed data from the dam right up until the disaster. we also know the company changed the way the dam was certified, enabling inspectors to sign it off despite its weakness. what we don't know is why, or whether their managers in europe knew what was happening. they refused to talk to us but say they are working on trying to establish what happened. tuv sud works internationally, carrying out inspections a over the world. this was it big chance to gain a foothold in the lucrative brazilian mining sector. it has ended in disaster. the company famous for its high standards at home faces questions now about its accountability overseas. in brazil's mining region, one fear persists — that those questions will go unanswered, and

the dead will be forgotten. fresh numbers out this morning reveal that japan's exports fell by a much worse than expected 6.7% in june, and it comes on the back of a slew of data showing that the global trade war is hurting asia's biggest economies. i am joined trade war is hurting asia's biggest economies. iamjoined by trade war is hurting asia's biggest economies. i am joined by my colleague and asia business reporter. this is having a domino effect on the rest of asia. if you needed any further evidence of how much the us china trade war is hurting asia's economies, look no further than the data points that are coming out of some of the key countries in the region. you have singapore, exports that were out yesterday, down by i7.3%. that follows on from gdp data that we saw last week, showing the decline of 3.4%. indonesia saw exports fall by 8.9%. you have india seeing a

decline of 9.7%, the first time in nine months, and then south korea also saw exports fall by 13.5% in the month ofjune. in isolation, these figures don't tell you all that much, but put them all together and you get a very dismal picture of how across the region exporters are hurting from the trade war. we know chinese exporters are hurting, but what china sells to america also includes components from neighbours like india, indonesia, japan and south korea. so, when chinese companies start slashing prices or selling less to the us, these countries get hurt too. it doesn't look like it is going to get any better anytime soon. a report from a japanese research house released this week says that exports will stay week, and no prizes for guessing why — that set of trade

talks between us and china stop by the outlook is grim, but we can learn more about this in your blog on the bbc news website. read about it on her blog. moving on to other news... and that is around up on how the trade war is impacting the region, leading to concerns how a sharp downturn could be avoided, according to one a nalyst. be avoided, according to one analyst. i don't believe so, there area analyst. i don't believe so, there are a couple of reasons. first of all we know that the supply chains are moving from china to the rest of the world. some of those supply chains can be very quickly. things like garments and stuff can move very quickly from china to vietnam, it doesn't take long to move some sewing machines across. those singapore figures are very telling, because singapore supplies a lot of components, electronic components,

the rest of southeast asia to manufacturing. and singapore is not a manufacturing hub? it's not, but it does manufacture components. what you have to remember is when you are manufacturing components and your major buyer is moving from china to say the philippines, thailand or malaysia, it takes time for that to move. therefore, the singapore exports of these companies will be held back for a little while until supply chains are connected again, then everything will be ok. even japan has said that they are benefiting from this ongoing us china trade war? you have a look at some of those export figures from japan. japanese cars, japanese electronics, they will benefit, because if you are not buying from china you will probably buy from japan. the other reason they will not fall into recession is because of the amount of liquidity in the global economy. after 2008/9, when quantitative easing started,

trillions of dollars of cash was produced magically from the central banks, that is still moving around. there we go, we won't fall into recession. google executive has said the compa ny‘s plan recession. google executive has said the company's plan to launch a censored search engine in china has been scrapped. the so—called dragonfly project has ended. and, impossible foods, a new business, succeeds in getting its burgers into the fast food chain. it serves impossible sliders along with conventional meat burgers.

the mission of the company and the better the technology is to appeal to meat eaters. not asjuicy as not as juicy as i would expect. bit salty for my taste, but maybe thatis bit salty for my taste, but maybe that is part and parcel with fast food. so far, meat eaters have not really resisted the idea of having innovation food. it is really startling! we genetically modify yeast so it generates a tremendous amount of this protein that we have all been eating for millennia. a impossible

burger has all the protein, less cholesterol, less fat, and 20% less calories than a beef patty. i would probably go for the meat one again, so, sorry planet! please, share those burgers with me! thank you for investing your time with us, i'm rico. this is bbc news the top stories this hour: the world health organisation has declared the ebola crisis in eastern congo a public health emergency of international concern. a man who lost his entire family in a boeing plane crash

in ethiopia has given evidence to the us congress. house prices in london have fallen at their fastest pace since the financial crash a decade ago. new figures from the office for national statistics show that while average prices across the uk are still rising, prices in the capital were 4.4% lower in may than a year earlier. economics correspondent andy verity reports. over the whole of the uk, on average, house prices are still rising. even at a slower rate than before of 1.2% to begin the year to may, the average price rose to £229,000. house prices have been doing that for a decade, becoming less and less affordable and forcing young families to live in rented accommodation. but in the british housing market, london usually leads the way in booms as well as busts. prices rise first in the capital

and in a downturn they fall before the rest of the country. london's price fall of 4.4% on average is the biggest fall since 2009, when the gfc was in full swing. what these figures show is that the average london home fell in price by £21,000 in the year to may. the average terrace house, that fell by £14,000, the average semi detached by £23,000 and the average detached house by £55,000. what is striking about the price fall is that they take place at a time when mortgages are much cheaper than they used to be. the house price falls acceleration within london comes down to two factors. one set of factors are short—term, it is uncertainty around future household finances and what brexit may mean. as that uncertainty dragging on and becoming a factor. the second is long—term. about the house price growth that we saw in 2016 meaning that in an age when mortgages are regulated, we have hit the limit of how much people are able

to borrow in the amount of debt they are able to get from their lender. that is set to act as a longer term drag on london house prices. the big freebie that many homeowners thought they were enjoying between 1996 and 2008 when prices trebled was often at the expense of their children and grandchildren. borrowing very large sums to pay barely reachable prices. those who enjoyed the decade—long rise in house prices may fear a house price crash, but many younger people who cannot afford to own their own home would welcome it. andy verity, 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: royal portrush gears up for the open championship as the oldest golf major returns to northern ireland for the first

time in 68 years. nigeria take third place in the africa cup of nations, after a 1—0 win over tunisia. and australia's caleb ewan celebrates a first stage win on the tour de france — as the race moves into the pyrenees. welcome to the programme. the fourth and final golf major of the year gets underway later. it's the 148th open championship — with the italian francesco molinari defending the title he won at carnoustie last year. this year's championship take place at royal portrush in county antrim as the open returns to northern ireland for the first time since 1951. from portrush, adam wild reports. after 68 years, the open championship is finally back here in portrush on the northern coast of northern ireland. it is a spectacular setting and the