this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. australia counts the cost of bushfires that leave scores dead and thousands homeless. we're live in sydney to hear how the country is coping. oil on the up: the price of the black stuff tops $70 as tensions between iran and the us show no signs of cooling. and on financial markets, there is a flight to safety with the price of gold headed higher, as well as oil as the tensions in the middle east escalate.

australia's prime minister has warned the devastating bushfires raging in the country might go on for months. at least 2a people have died, an estimated half a billion animals killed since the fires began in september, and air quality in the capital canberra was this weekend rated the worst in the world. thousands are homeless. the new south wales rural fire service says around 1,400 homes have been destroyed so far across the state with many more lost in victoria, south australia and queensland. almost 4,300 insurance claims totalling over us$200 million have been lodged since the main fires began in november and the bill is set to climb further as the full extent of damage is uncovered.

in sydney, the cost of the fire has been estimated to be us$35 million a day while its air quality is currently rated as the worst of any city in the world. let's talk this through. joining me now live from sydney is campell fuller, spokesperson from the insurance council of australia. welcome to the programme. at this point, is a very difficult to try and estimate the costs of this disaster could be? it is a near impossible task at the moment. many of the fire grounds are still inaccessible to insurers and of course the property owners themselves. 0ur estimates are that well over 1600 homes have been destroyed, thousands more have been badly damaged, plus there are extensive stock losses and agricultural losses. and so given

what you have just said, obviously right now it is all about the disaster which could go on for more weeks, several weeks if not months —— months as scott morrison has warned. those putting in insurance claims, this could take many, many months if not years to sort out. well, the industry has been dealing with the bushfires for four months 110w. with the bushfires for four months now. bushfires even actually started in late august in many parts of australia, which is uncommon of course. that is actually at the end of winter. so insurers have been on the ground for four months hitting assessors in, getting builders in and dealing with customers. the main issue at the moment is that we have bushfires still causing immense damage in victoria and in many parts of new south wales, and the recovery effort in other states is also of course having to build up following

the extensive christmas and new year break, and this is one of the major holiday periods for australia. seeing thousands of tourists having to be evacuated from big towns in rural areas of australia, we have seen tens of thousands of firefighters from all over australia converging on these areas and we are actually seeing firefighters coming in from overseas, from europe, united states, canada and new zealand. as you say, this is unprecedented what is happening, but to what extent could you compare this to black saturday of 2009, because the cost of that was around $4.4 billion, insurance claims, 1.2 billion australian dollars. is that figure very small do you think compared to what we might see for this? there are too many unknowns, sally. at this point, we don't think it is going to rival black saturday

01’ it is going to rival black saturday or the even more extreme bushfires of ash wednesday in 1983, where insurance losses were close to 2.5 billion australian dollars. but it would not be a surprise to see this figure rise quite dramatically in coming days or even weeks. we are starting to get a large influx of claims and insurers are diverting resources from all over australia to help these bushfire victims. 0k. thank you for talking to us. as i have mentioned, we have got updates all the time on a website on the ongoing crisis. now let's talk about the price of oil. oil prices have risen by more than 2% with brent hitting $70 a barrel after iran rolled back its nuclear deal commitments and president trump issued a threat to impose sanctions on iraq. on friday, the price of the black stuffjumped by more than 3% after iranian general qasem soleimani was killed in a us drone strike at baghdad airport.

he was leaving the airport. joining me now from dubai is our middle east business correspondent, sameer hashmi. good to see you. tell us a bit more about how the oil markets are reacting to all of this. sally, we saw on friday as soon as this news broke that the us had indeed killed general soleimani immediately saw the prices shot up, and that was through the day. i spoke to a few a nalysts through the day. i spoke to a few analysts over the last two days and they are worried about oil prices going ahead especially in the next few days because if remember in september when a saudi oil company facilities were attacked. a similar reaction where prices shot up, but inafew reaction where prices shot up, but in a few days it moderated. this time because the tension is much more and iran has said it will seek vengeance, more and iran has said it will seek vengeance, it will retaliate, there

is no clarity of what they will do. will they attack in the persian gulf 01’ will they attack in the persian gulf or they might adapt —— attack vessel in the strait of hormuz, an important passage from oil going to the rest of the world. we saw another important benchmark prices shooting up. it was up by 2.8% when it closed a few hours ago. clearly there is concern in the market. that is concern and action is being taken to protect vessels for example in a straight level was. —— in a straight of remorse. —— strait of hormuz. it isa of remorse. —— strait of hormuz. it is a very narrow water body that connects the persian gulf and around towards the north of iran. whenever there is tension, iran has attacked

some of the oil vessels and it has disrupted oil is applied to an extent. just to give you a sense, every day 21 billion barrels of oil passes through this passage which is one third of the total oil which travels on the ocean anywhere in the world. countries like saudi arabia, the uae, all of them uses to transport oil, especially to asian countries, which are the consumers. they have threatened that is there isa waror they have threatened that is there is a war or if tension rises, they will block that passage. realistically speaking, that might bea realistically speaking, that might be a huge ask because then everyone will have to deploy a lot of military personnel over there, but yes, military personnel over there, but yes , even military personnel over there, but yes, even disruption like targeting these vessels could create tension and lead to a certain disruption. not a huge one, but definitely at a social level. all right. thank you so social level. all right. thank you so much indeed. that is the latest with what is happening on the oil markets.

let's brief you now on other business stories. bosses have been paid more in three days and average employers are earning an year according to research. the figures suggest the average was paid the equivalent of $4.53 million in 2018 while the country was an average full—time annual salary is around 38.5 thousand dollars. the us federation administration has confirmed they are reviewing a issue that could potentially cause a short circuit on the ground —— a short circuit on the grounded boeing 737 max. the faa flagged the closeness of two wiring bundles as potentially catastrophic and said the issue could further delay the jets return to service. now, every year, after the excesses of the festive period, people across the world give up alcohol en masse for dry january.

in the states, though, something unusual is happening — the booze companies are getting in on the act. michelle fleury has more from new york. some of the largest beer companies in america are promoting dry january, the annual challenge of giving up alcohol for an entire month to detox after overindulging during those holiday months. my neck and rolled out what it calls january dry packs featuring a booze free beer. the packs are handed out for free in cities like new york, philadelphia and boston while supplies last. it is not the only bma maker jumping on supplies last. it is not the only bma makerjumping on the wagon. brooklyn brewery rolled out its first non—alcoholic beer in october. motivated by drinkers who are cutting back on alcohol to lead healthier lifestyles. that has led toa drop healthier lifestyles. that has led to a drop in beer sales and we should learn more about that softness in the market when constellation brands which make some bs reports its quarterly

results on wednesday. it is going to bea results on wednesday. it is going to be a busy week. that is your business briefing. lawrence gosling is back with me in a moment for the news briefing. first, this story. the mother of a british teenager found guilty of lying about being gang—raped in cyprus has backed calls for a tourism boycott of the country. lucy williamson reports. why a british teenager came to cyprus for a holiday last summer is not hard to see. why she has been kept here since then is a question that has divided the island. last week she was convicted of lying to police after she withdrew a rape

accusation against 12 israeli men. she is due to be sentenced on wednesday. 0ne former justice minister believes it was too harsh to prosecute and convict her or attracting a rape allegation. he has called for the attorney general to show leniency. we believe that she has been punished enough. she suffered enough. therefore, it is time that her case is closed and young lady returns to her home in england. but others believe this isn't about a single case, but a deeper problem in cyprus. that policy are routinely encourage women to drop allegations of sexual or domestic violence. i feel ashamed. to drop allegations of sexual or domestic violence. ifeel ashamed. i feel embarrassed. i feel angry. i feel embarrassed. i feel angry. i feel that the withdrawal of her testimony, what is called retraction was obtained and under immense force

and all of us in the network, women, victims of rape, have seen is happening again and again and again. 0n happening again and again and again. on tuesday we will hear whether the legal process which has gripped this island is over. will it end with the judgement of one british woman or thejudgement of cyprus judgement of one british woman or the judgement of cyprus itself? lucy williamson, bbc news, cyprus. you are with the briefing here on bbc news. the latest headlines: president trump has stressed that he is willing to target iranian cultural sites, in retaliation for any future killing of americans by tehran. the iranian government has vowed retaliation following the us assassination of general qasem soleimani. australia's prime minister has warned that the bushfires in the south—east of the country could continue for months. the overall death toll has climbed to 24, and over the past two days, hundreds more properties

have been destroyed. the world war i film 1917, directed by sam mendes, has been the surprise winner at the golden globe awards. taron egerton won best actor for rocketman and renee zellweger best actress forjudy. now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. we start with gulf news — which leads with the ongoing tensions between iran and the united states. tehran has announced it will roll back its commitments under the nuclear deal it struck in 2015. it follows the death of the country's top military commander, who was killed in an american drone strike. next we turn to the australian. it's reporting on the bushfire crisis that's struck much of the south—east of the country. it says the federal

government is going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on the reconstruction of roads, bridges, critical infrastructure and public housing. the financial times focuses on tra ns—atla ntic trade tensions. france's finance minister has written to the us trade representative, warning the eu will hit back if america imposes new sanctions in response to the french digital services tax. the new york times reports on troubles facing boeing as it tries to get its 737 max back in the air. the paper says there are new problems with the plane that go beyond the software issues that played a role in two deadly crashes. and finally — it's been a good night for the brits at the golden globe awards in los angeles. phoebe waller—bridge, sam mendes and olivia colman were among the winners flying the flag for the uk. so let's begin with the ongoing iran crisis. with me is lawrence gosling, editor—in—chief of what investment.