this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. heading for a safe haven: oil and gold spike after ballistic missiles strike two air bases housing us troops in iraq. and travelex counts the cost after confirming it's the victim of an ongoing ransomware attack. and on the markets, the price of oil spiked and there was a rush to safe havens in the initial response to the news of iran's retaliation. as you can see here, there's also been a sell—off on the share markets as investors remain on edge.

so, let's look in detail at the market reaction to the news that at least two air bases hosting us troops in iraq were attacked by iran. on the oil markets, it was swift — us crude jumping by as much as 4.5% to $65.65 per barrel in asian trade. brent was above $71 a barrel on concerns this could disrupt oil supplies from the middle east. so—called safe haven assets, like gold and the japanese yen, also rose sharply on the news. since then, we have seen all of this as it seems to have deescalated a little. let's get more on this story with our middle east business

correspondent, sameer hashmi. the oil markets are very much in focus right now. yes, they are, and i think if you look at the oil markets, they were anticipating some sort of retaliation from iran, they just didn't know what form of retaliation it would be. i have spoken to a few analysts who say they didn't expect iran to target some of those us military sites in the form of retaliation, and that is what took everyone by surprise and thatis what took everyone by surprise and that is why we saw oil prices shooting up immediately. now, investors are a bit nervous because they don't know what is going to happen what —— going ahead. will it escalate the tension? will we see more attacks coming in? also, will iran target oil facilities in countries like iraq or saudi arabia, the two largest nations? really, there is a lot of non— unknown

business in the market. investors on edge and for good reason. we have to see what the us response is going to be, although the latest tweet from president front implies all is well, as he says —— president trump. president front implies all is well, as he says —— president trumpm will be interesting how the us response. the biggest concern as far as oil markets go, is what happens on the strait of hormuz. this is the water ‘s passage that links the persian gulf to the rest of the world. it is very important for global water supply because nearly 2196 global water supply because nearly 21% of total oil is shifted through this passage, countries like saudi arabia, uae, omagh news ‘s passage to transport oil to asian countries, some of the biggest consumers, china, india, south korea. they were passing through, it has threatened in the past that it will block this passage which will create problems as far as global oil supplies go.

will this be one of the chins —— options? this time around there is a strong feeling that they could target some of those vessels that will be passing through this passage. some people have come out and said they will provide security but that doesn't really guarantee com plete but that doesn't really guarantee complete surety that nothing would happen. all right. thank you so much. let's talk you through another story, very interesting. hackers are holding foreign exchange company travelex to ransom after a cyber attack forced the firm to turn off all computer systems and resort to using pen and paper. the criminals behind the hack told the bbc they are demanding $6 million or company computer systems will be deleted and customer data sold online. sharanjit leyl is in our asia business hub with the details. tell us more about this. it is an

extraordinary story, impacting people globally. absolutely. you said it. it may be a uk based exchange country, but it operates worldwide and the cyber attack is having ramifications pretty much everywhere, in fact right here in asia, they operate i7i everywhere, in fact right here in asia, they operate 171 stores in china, hong kong, singapore, malaysia, thailand and japan. in china alone it operates more than 44 services, exchange services for travellers, exploring the world. as you say, they launched the attack and did so on new year's eve and this resulted in the firm taking down its websites across 30 countries to try and contain the virus and protect data. this ransom where gang has told the bbc it is behind the hack, and they want them to pay six billion dollars. they claim to have gained access to the computer network and they did some six months ago, they claim. they

downloaded sensitive customer data, travel access saying they are working with police, has deployed specialists and experts —— travelex. they insist no data has been broached —— breached. the website says they were down for a planned maintenance and many customers in fa ct were maintenance and many customers in fact were completely unaware that a had taken place and their personal data may be compromised. thank you for the detail on that. let's get the latest now on the carlos ghosn saga, which is becoming more like a hollywood thriller by the day. on monday, japanese authorities issued an arrest warrant for his wife, carole ghosn, claiming she made false statements to a tokyo court in april. at 13:00 gmt today, carlos ghosn will be holding a press conference in lebanon, where he's expected to name individuals that were behind his arrest. in december, mr ghosn skipped bail and fled to beirut to join his wife. he's accused by nissan of only

reported half of his $89 million overall compensation between 2011 and 2016 to the tokyo stock exchange. anna—marie baisden is the head of autos research at fitch solutions. good morning. this story is getting more extraordinary by the day, and i would imagine everybody will be watching this press conference later from beirut. absolutely. there is speculation that he will be saying to, and who we think within this and is behind the allegations made against him. if that were the case, really, today is the first time he has been able to give serious detail about his thoughts about his arrest on what was going on within nissan. yes, and it should give some idea on the idea of the inner workings of nissan as well. we could start to

see this having some repercussions on the business. they are already starting to use the new leadership, they have put in a new head for the us business, for example, which has been a weak area for them at the moment, so this has another big impact on their day—to—day business. people are speculating that he will say that he believes he was got rid of, as it were, because he really wa nted of, as it were, because he really wanted to fully merge renault with nissan, and that is what something those within nissan injapan did not want. this ownership structure has beenin want. this ownership structure has been in point of contention for a long time, because obviously renault came in and brought nissan back from the brink of bankruptcy, and renault has voting rights and it is not reciprocal, and has been big bone of contention between the two. there is already that tension in the alliance. he is a man on the run, we ought to know how he escaped. there is so much speculation about how he

got out of japan is so much speculation about how he got out ofjapan and ended up in levin on. i wonder if he gives detail on that. -- lebanon. there are so many theories on how it happened. whether he owns up to that, we will wait and see. it is his moment of truth. but when it comes to him seeking justice, this is the issue for him right now, isn't it? of course, will he be able to see justice or follow—through on these criminal allegations against him, which he has flatly refused right from the beginning? yes, he was already on bail, so whether this is going to make that case worse... it is hard to say. all right. thank you for your time. needless to say, it isa you for your time. needless to say, it is a story we will be covering for you like here on bbc as that press co nfe re nce for you like here on bbc as that press conference gets under way later today. carlos ghosn's moment of truth as people are describing it. let's now brief you on other

stories. borisjohnson will meet the us commission president in downing street today for the first face—to—face talk since she took office last month. the uk government has reiterated that it expects to agree a new trade deal with the european union by the end of this year. let's show you the financial markets briefly so you can see how they have been navigating the news that has been navigating the news that has been coming out of iraq where two us bases were attacked by missile attacks, there was a swift reaction on markets, the price of oiljumping significantly. but as you can see there on the screen, brent crude now trading just below $70 a barrel. that's it for the business briefing this hour. i will be back in a moment.

the number of people killed in cases of murder and manslaughter have fallen in 2019 for the first time in four years. figures, compiled by the bbc, suggest some forces may be getting to grips with the rise in serious violence. tom symonds reports. relentless. that is our merseyside police described their battle against organised crime. in the last year, they have seized drugs, cash, guns, even hand grenades. they have been using these quad bikes to search for the weapons, gangs hide in the undergrowth. and they have been persuading communities to turn against the serious criminals. the result, the fourth appears to have

turned a corner, cutting murders and manslaughter. 0rganised crime and killing, it says, are inextricably linked. we know a lot of those homicides are related to serious organised crime, which is why we are relentless in targeting those who lead, who bully, who exploit young people, who will carry guns and knives in order to dominate a certain territory. merseyside emergency. another strategy is better training for handling domestic violence. we have examined 100 of last year's killings in detail. a fifth took both in the home. we have tracked every single murder or manslaughter in the uk in the last year and our figures show that for the first time in four yea rs, that for the first time in four years, the number of killings has fallen with 650 in 2019. hopeful but only a start. london's recorded its third rise in as many years. it now

has 150 outstanding homicide cases, including this one, the murder of a delivery riderjust this weekend. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: a ukraine passenger plane has crashed shortly after take—off near tehran. all 170 people on board the boeing 737 are reported to have been killed. iran has launched a ballistic missile attack on a us air base in iraq. the pentagon says the missiles were launched from iran. let's show you some of the pictures we have received now on that ukrainian passenger plane that crashed shortly after takeoff from tehran. you can see the rescue workers who have managed to get to the scene. it crashed shortly after

takeoff. it is expected that no—one will have survived this crash. it's ukraine international airlines and it isa ukraine international airlines and it is a boeing 737 800 that was bound for kyiv. uranian media reports say the aircraft came down due to technical problems, but of course it is not known yet what the problems were. 0ne official says it had been on fire. it is unclear whether the incident is linked at all to the current confrontation with the united states, but these are the pictures we have received so far where rescue efforts are under way. but it is unlikely that anyone will be found alive. now, it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. we begin with the bbc website, which has the latest on the iranian missile attack against the us and coalition forces al—asad air base in iraq. at least two air bases housing us troops in iraq were hit by more than a dozen ballistic missiles.

iranian state tv said the attack was in retaliation for last week's drone strike, which killed the country's top commander, qasem soleimani. meanwhile, the guardian says british warships, helicopters and several hundred military personnel have been put on standby of 48 hours or fewer for deployment in or near iraq as a response if there is a further military escalation of the iran crisis. the financial times reports on the recent cyber attack on travelex, the world's largest retail currency dealer. the paper says a criminal investigation has begun after hackers demanded a ransom to stop them from publishing sensitive customer data including credit card details. in the guardian business pages, kristalina georgieva, the head of the international monetary fund, has said raising