Original Broadcaster Captioning (Enhanced). Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:00:01Now on BBC News. The latest
00:00:04business news from across the globe.
00:00:06globe. Business Today. Shipping breakthrough
00:00:16breakthrough Iran says it has reached reached an agreement with Oman on
00:00:19on a route through the Strait of of Hormuz. No comment yet though
00:00:22though from the United States AI.
00:00:26AI. Reshuffle shares in Google fall fall after the chief executive of
00:00:29of DeepMind steps aside. This as
00:00:32as the tech giant seeks to keep pace
00:00:35pace with its rivals. Payback time
00:00:38time the Trump administration refunds refunds $100 billion of tariffs to
00:00:42to illegally charge businesses, but
00:00:45but also 25 US states are suing the
00:00:47the White House over new levies and
00:00:50and fighting fires, with technology. technology. We speak to the company
00:00:54company that's using AI to detect
00:00:56detect and track wildfires in Greece.
00:01:00Greece. Live from London. This is is Business Today I'm Tadhg Enright.
00:01:04Enright. Thanks for joining me. Well, Well, let's start with oil and navigation
00:01:06navigation through the Strait of of Hormuz, an Iranian spokesperson
00:01:10spokesperson says that a deal has has been reached with Oman on a new
00:01:14new shipping route through the strait. strait. This follows promises from
00:01:17from President Trump and other senior
00:01:19senior US officials that a deal is is imminent to resume safe passage
00:01:22passage for ships in the vital Gulf
00:01:25Gulf waterway. Uncertainties remain, remain, though the Iranians have
00:01:29have stressed, however, that the the agreement with Oman can't mean
00:01:32mean that the strait is safe as long
00:01:35long as the US maintains a naval naval blockade on Iranian ports.
00:01:39ports. It's also unclear whether whether the US will accept any deal,
00:01:42deal, which Iran maintains some control
00:01:45control over the channel. For now, now, though, oil prices appear to
00:01:48to be unmoved by the latest developments. developments. Let's take a check
00:01:51check on the latest prices. A barrel
00:01:53barrel of Brent crude currently trading
00:01:55trading at around $79 a barrel, while
00:01:58while West Texas Intermediate is
00:02:01is around $75 a barrel. Speaking Speaking in Las Vegas, President
00:02:04President Trump reiterated that oil oil prices will come down once the
00:02:07the war in Iran ends. When gasoline
00:02:10gasoline when oil goes down and it's it's going to go down very rapidly
00:02:14rapidly and it's happening very soon, soon, already happening if you look
00:02:17look today, it's $75 down to 75.
00:02:1975. It's dropping and we may have
00:02:22have to send it up again. We may may have to you know what happens
00:02:25happens when we send it up, but we
00:02:27we hope we don't have to. But when
00:02:29when that oil and gasoline go down,
00:02:31down, everything else follows. Well,
00:02:33Well, joining me now, Cormac McGarry
00:02:36McGarry a maritime expert and director director of the firm Control Risks.
00:02:39Risks. Thanks for being with us today, today, Cormac. What do you make of
00:02:42of what we're hearing about this
00:02:44this tentative deal? Well, in the
00:02:48the past 24, 48 hours, there's clearly clearly there's, signals kind of
00:02:51of been clearly deliberately leaked leaked into the media by both the
00:02:55the US., Iran and probably Oman as
00:02:57as well. A lot of mixed mixed signals, signals, but they're all indicating
00:03:01indicating that something is about about to happen. So what I want to
00:03:04to say is kind of caution. We don't
00:03:06don't know exactly what's about to
00:03:08to happen, but the indications are are that an agreement is about to
00:03:12to be announced that might look something something like this, where if ships
00:03:16ships are going to go into the Gulf. Gulf. So westward through the Strait
00:03:19Strait of Hormuz, they would enter enter through an Iranian route and
00:03:22and then coming out, exiting eastwards, eastwards, they would go through
00:03:26through an unmanned controlled route. route. So basically one through Iran
00:03:29Iran and one out through Oman. But
00:03:32But that would involve acknowledging acknowledging that Iran has at least
00:03:35least some control over the Strait Strait of Hormuz. And that will be
00:03:37be a bitter pill for the US to swallow.
00:03:40swallow. Right. The harsh tactical tactical reality of the Strait of
00:03:43of Hormuz is that Iran has emerged emerged from this war with almost
00:03:47almost full tactical control of the the Strait of Hormuz. So the long-term
00:03:51long-term scenario planning that that we're trying to do at control
00:03:54control risks for our clients in
00:03:55in all the scenarios, scenarios we we look at realistically, they include
00:03:59include Iran maintaining some level
00:04:02level of control. So what we see see in the next few days, if it does
00:04:06does actually emerge into reality, reality, it's probably going to be
00:04:09be a reality in which Iran has realistic
00:04:13realistic control of the strait. strait. Yeah. I mean, in that context,
00:04:16context, how significant is it that
00:04:19that the Houthis, that significant significant force within Yemen who
00:04:22who are allied with Iran, have been
00:04:25been attacking ships elsewhere in in the region, specifically in the
00:04:29the Red Sea, another important channel.
00:04:33channel. It is all part of the picture. picture. Now, we don't want to mistake
00:04:36mistake the Houthis for being Iran. Iran. They are allied with each other. other. But the Houthis don't just
00:04:40just do what the Iranians tell them. them. The Houthis are pursuing their
00:04:43their own aims and purposes, and and that's a blockade of Saudi Arabia
00:04:47Arabia effectively, is what they're they're doing. It is part of the the picture, however, because that
00:04:51that that will be part of the pressure
00:04:53pressure on the US up to concede concede something to Iran. It's part.
00:04:56part. It's all part of that grand grand strategic picture that that
00:05:00that is basically saying the US cannot cannot control that strait. And then
00:05:03then the broader picture, it cannot cannot control the strait and the the southern Red Sea at the same
00:05:07same time. And if it wants business business to get back to some form
00:05:11form of normal, it's going to have have to concede militarily. And what
00:05:15what would you say, Cormac is different different this time as compared with
00:05:19with a few months ago when we thought thought we had the outline of a deal
00:05:23deal that would reopen that strait strait all over again. I think what's
00:05:27what's different is that so back back in maybe two months ago in early
00:05:30early June, the MOU was announced announced and we were forecasting
00:05:33forecasting that. So the system that that was announced effectively allowed
00:05:37allowed some ships to get through. through. We thought Iran would turn
00:05:40turn a blind eye. Iran was saying saying that it would administer the
00:05:44the strait. We thought they would would turn a blind eye to the fact
00:05:47fact that a lot of ships were going going to sail without asking their
00:05:50their permission, but Iran shut that that down pretty quickly and started started attacking ships again. And
00:05:54And then we entered the round of of violence that we've seen for the
00:05:57the past month or so. What's different
00:05:59different now is that we know Iran Iran has asserted itself and said
00:06:03said if ships sail without its permission, permission, it will attack them.
00:06:06them. And there's there's no doubt doubt about it that shipping, getting
00:06:10getting back to normal is going to to have some form of normal is going
00:06:13going to happen under some form of
00:06:16of Iranian regime. OK. Cormac McGarry McGarry from Control Risks. Thank
00:06:19Thank you for joining us with that that analysis. Today. We're taking
00:06:22taking you to the United States now.
00:06:24now. And Donald Trump's administration
00:06:26administration has refunded $100 $100 billion of its so-called Liberation
00:06:30Liberation Day tariffs to businesses businesses after they were ruled
00:06:33ruled to have been illegal. Now that that amounts to around 60% of all
00:06:37all tariff revenue collected by the the government under the policy,
00:06:41policy, according to a recent court court filing from the US Customs
00:06:45Customs and Border Protection. Meanwhile, Meanwhile, and separately, 25 states
00:06:48states are suing the Trump administration administration over a new wave of
00:06:52of tariffs on imports from dozens dozens of countries, including Australia
00:06:56Australia and Norway, because of of accusations they weren't doing
00:06:59doing enough to tackle forced labour. labour. The states, all of them led
00:07:03led by the Democratic Party, called
00:07:04called these new tariffs arbitrary, arbitrary, capricious and contrary
00:07:08contrary to law. Let's speak now now to Professor Barry Appleton,
00:07:12Appleton, co-director of the centre centre for International Law at New
00:07:14New York Law School. He testified
00:07:17testified to the US Trade Representative
00:07:19Representative on the use of section section 301 on the forced labour
00:07:23labour issue. Thanks for being with with us today, Professor Appleton.
00:07:26Appleton. Let's look at the list list of countries in question. It
00:07:30It includes Canada, Australia. As As we mentioned earlier. Do they
00:07:34they have questions to answer about about failing to deal with forced
00:07:38forced labour? Well, it's kind of
00:07:41of complicated. Look, nobody is in
00:07:43in favour of the use of forced labour labour in imports. Right? We're everybody.
00:07:47everybody. All the countries have have laws that deal with it. The
00:07:50The difference is their laws are are different from the
00:07:56Are different from the way the US does it. The US has put in a reverse
00:08:00reverse onus. They've said everything everything is deemed to be use of
00:08:02of forced labour unless you can prove prove it to the alternative. And
00:08:05And so many countries like the UK, UK, Australia, Canada have forced
00:08:09forced labour laws. But they say
00:08:12say you have to only prosecute those those who have an allegation of use
00:08:15use of force. Labour and the Americans
00:08:18Americans have imposed a tax on that. that. So it's not that there's a
00:08:21a proof of any link to forced labour, labour, it's simply that there's
00:08:24there's a difference in the way that that everybody's enforcing it. And
00:08:27And that seems pretty unfair. So So looking at the specifics of the
00:08:31the case that these 25 individual
00:08:33individual US states have taken,
00:08:35taken, how strong would you say it
00:08:38it is? Well, you know, what's interesting interesting about this is that this
00:08:42this is the third time now that something something is going to the US courts.
00:08:46courts. If you remember, on the trade trade liberation tariffs, the US US Supreme Court struck that down.
00:08:50down. That was the first time anyone
00:08:51anyone had ever used the Iipa tariff.
00:08:54tariff. And they said that that was was improper. It wasn't properly
00:08:57properly connected. And there was
00:08:59was another power owned by the Congress.
00:09:02Congress. This area, section 301, 301, is very established. It's been
00:09:06been used for over 60 years. The
00:09:10The difficulty here is, is that there there was a very shortened period.
00:09:13period. There's no link whatsoever whatsoever to the proof of forced
00:09:16forced labour that's here. And so so the fairness, the discrimination
00:09:20discrimination you'd want to show
00:09:21show the rationality is absent. So So normally a 301 doesn't have a
00:09:26a good shot. But this particular
00:09:28particular tariff looks and doesn't doesn't smell right. It just doesn't
00:09:32doesn't seem to have the right fit. fit. So I would say that this has
00:09:35has a better chance than most to
00:09:37to be able to succeed. But it's going
00:09:39going to take time. Would you welcome
00:09:42welcome big trading nations such such as the United States? More of
00:09:45of them doing more to prevent forced
00:09:48forced labour, even if it involves
00:09:50involves the use of tariffs. Well,
00:09:54Well, tariffs are not a very effective effective tool with respect to forced
00:09:57forced labour. But it's not that
00:10:01that we're it's not that anyone would would be opposed to the use of tariffs
00:10:03tariffs per se if there was actually actually a link. But remember in
00:10:07in this case the 59 countries in
00:10:09in the EU. The 60 affected participants,
00:10:12participants, there's no proof whatsoever whatsoever that they're using forced forced labour. It's simply they're
00:10:16they're enforcing it in a different different way. And somehow that doesn't
00:10:19doesn't seem to be right. OK. Professor
00:10:23Professor Barry Appleton, co-director co-director of the centre for International International Law at New York Law
00:10:27Law School, thank you very much for for joining us here on Business Today.
00:10:30Today. Thank you for having me. Shares
00:10:32Shares in Google have been falling falling after a shake-up at the top
00:10:36top of the company's AI business. business. Demis Hassabis, who's chief
00:10:40chief executive of Google's DeepMind, DeepMind, is set to become chief
00:10:44chief scientist at Google's parent parent company Alphabet. This comes
00:10:48comes as four of Google's AI researchers researchers announced they were leaving
00:10:51leaving to start their own company. company. Here's our North America
00:10:55America business correspondent Samira
00:10:57Samira Hussain. Google is under immense immense pressure as it competes with
00:11:01with the likes of Anthropic and OpenAI.
00:11:04OpenAI. It is why this big shake
00:11:06shake up of their AI leadership has has investors just so nervous. There
00:11:10There are worries that alphabet has
00:11:12has actually fallen behind in the
00:11:14the AI race, even though it created
00:11:17created some of the key technologies
00:11:19technologies that are underpinning underpinning current AI models. Now
00:11:22Now also remember like other tech tech firms, Google continues to spend
00:11:25spend big on AI data centres and
00:11:28and such to the tune of somewhere
00:11:32somewhere between 195 to $205 billion. billion. That's an awful lot of money
00:11:35money to spend on a division of a a company that is going through such
00:11:39such a massive shake up. Samira Hussain Hussain there. Let's discuss this
00:11:43this in more detail now with Justin Justin Urquhart Stewart, founder
00:11:46founder of Regionally Ventures. Justin
00:11:49Justin shares down. Does that suggest suggest investors certainly do not
00:11:52not see this as a positive for Google's
00:11:55Google's place in the AI race? Well, Well, they're concerned as to watch
00:11:58watch what happens next. Because Because what you're seeing is an an awful lot of just moving around
00:12:02around of some of the deck chairs, chairs, but no one actually quite quite really giving us an idea of
00:12:05of what we're going to achieve. So
00:12:08So what they want is some much clearer clearer business direction. What
00:12:11What happens next, who's going to to be running it and when do we start start getting some return? What you've
00:12:15you've got is an awful lot of money money being thrown at this moment moment with very little understanding
00:12:19understanding as to actually when when we're actually going to see
00:12:21see a positive return in terms of, of, well, actually sort of proper
00:12:24proper money coming through, which which can be given out to shareholders. shareholders. So this is the big
00:12:28big bet at the moment and everything everything is being very positive. positive. Everyone's very keen and
00:12:31and enthusiastic to see it moving. moving. The trouble is there comes comes a stage when people turn around
00:12:35around and say yes, OK, that's fine, fine, but now can actually we see
00:12:37see some positive business returns.
00:12:41returns. Times of technological disruption disruption can be seismic, particularly
00:12:44particularly for big old names. Once
00:12:45Once upon a time it was Google shaking
00:12:48shaking up the scene. Now there's there's all sorts of new names out out there the likes of Anthropic,
00:12:52Anthropic, the likes of OpenAI. A
00:12:55A timely warning for companies like like Google who think might have
00:12:58have once upon a time thought they they were invincible to competitive
00:13:01competitive forces. It is astonishing, astonishing, isn't it, when you actually actually go back and look actually
00:13:05actually how businesses just a few few years ago were seen to be so so dynamic and strong, what could
00:13:09could touch them? Remember the days days when he used to talk about IBM? IBM? Talk to generation now? They've
00:13:12They've never heard of it. And even
00:13:15even things like old businesses like
00:13:17like Yahoo and things. So no things
00:13:19things change very, very, very quickly quickly indeed. The problem is of
00:13:22of course the fastest goes like this. this. Actually what you're getting
00:13:25getting is much less understanding understanding of actually where these these businesses are actually going
00:13:29going to be making money. The past past year, what we've seen is some some really good business concepts
00:13:33concepts and ideas. AI coming through through and actually seeing some
00:13:36some progress, but can you convert convert that actually into real profitable
00:13:39profitable returns? Otherwise investors investors will turn around and say,
00:13:42say, nice idea, but I can't take take this any further. What's the
00:13:45the issues for that? Well, just look look back at the old internet boom
00:13:48boom and bust when people turn around around and say, I'm sorry, but the
00:13:51the Emperor appears to be somewhat somewhat sartorially challenged.
00:13:54challenged. OK, Justin Urquhart Stewart Stewart never sartorially challenged.
00:13:57challenged. Thank you very much for
00:13:59for that. Still to come here on Business
00:14:03Business Today Beyond the clouds clouds could data centres in space
00:14:05space be a solution to meeting the
00:14:07the huge computing demands of AI
00:14:11AI around the world and across the
00:14:13the UK? This is BBC News.
00:15:16MUSIC
00:15:24This is BBC News. And you're watching Business Today. The summer's
00:15:27summer's high temperatures have seen seen record breaking wildfires in
00:15:30in France and Spain in recent weeks. weeks. And in Greece, authorities
00:15:34authorities there are still battling battling fires with risks of further
00:15:37further outbreaks. Rising temperatures, temperatures, of course, are making
00:15:41making wildfires more frequent, more more intense and harder to predict.
00:15:44predict. But now satellite imagery
00:15:46imagery and AI are increasingly helping helping emergency services detect
00:15:50detect fires earlier and forecast
00:15:53forecast how they will spread. Joining Joining me now. Doctor Axel Reinecke,
00:15:56Reinecke, who's chief commercial commercial officer at OroraTech,
00:15:59OroraTech, which helps to develop
00:16:01develop Greece's first dedicated dedicated national wildfire satellite
00:16:04satellite system. Thank you very very much for joining us today. Can
00:16:08Can you explain to us how it works?
00:16:11works? Good morning to you. Yes of
00:16:13of course. So from space we can continuously
00:16:18continuously monitor fires with satellites
00:16:21satellites that measure infrared.
00:16:23infrared. So we measure heat rather
00:16:25rather than visible smoke or flames.
00:16:27flames. And we scan the Earth's surface
00:16:30surface surface looking for heat
00:16:32heat signatures frequently and globally.
00:16:35globally. So with that information information combined with weather
00:16:39weather vegetation and terrain data,
00:16:41data, our AI turns millions of data
00:16:45data points into a simple alert and
00:16:47and actionable insight like how the
00:16:49the fire evolves, where it goes.
00:16:52goes. And how important it is. Europe
00:16:54Europe is getting used to more wildfires. wildfires. It's probably going to
00:16:57to have to. Other parts of the world world are more accustomed to dealing
00:17:00dealing with them. I wonder is this
00:17:03this part of that Europe becoming
00:17:05becoming more capable of managing
00:17:08managing wildfires? Wildfires need
00:17:13need to be detected earlier if you
00:17:14you want to. If you want to act,
00:17:17act, on a manageable size of the the fire. Once fires get beyond a
00:17:21a certain size, there is no control.
00:17:24control. So the earlier you can detect detect a fire and even predict where
00:17:28where fires are likely to happen, happen, you can put forces on the
00:17:32the ground, be prepared and react react when the fire is still manageable.
00:17:35manageable. And this is where we we need to get to go. Obviously there's
00:17:39there's like also in the prevention prevention part that we need to do
00:17:43do things like, removing vegetation
00:17:45vegetation early enough, etc. Is
00:17:48Is there a risk that this kind of of technology could promote maybe
00:17:52maybe some complacency about climate climate change that we rely on technology
00:17:56technology to help mitigate its worst
00:17:59worst impacts? No, we are currently
00:18:03currently using in firefighting often often technologies that are, you
00:18:05you know, 100 years old and we just
00:18:08just need to catch up and use what,
00:18:10what, what we have at hand, to, battle
00:18:15battle wildfires, with the appropriate appropriate means. OK. And setting
00:18:18setting up systems and infrastructure. infrastructure. This is like roads
00:18:21roads and bridges and IT infrastructure. infrastructure. This is something
00:18:24something that every country should should have. OK. Doctor Axel Reineke,
00:18:28Reineke, chief Commercial Officer Officer at OroraTech thanks for joining
00:18:31joining us on BBC News. Thank you.
00:18:34you. Africa's richest man Aliko Dangote
00:18:37Dangote has told the BBC about his his plans to build a new oil refinery
00:18:41refinery in Kenya, which he says says will help African countries
00:18:45countries become more self-sufficient. self-sufficient. My colleague Nancy
00:18:47Nancy Kacungira caught up with Mr Mr Dangote in Lagos and began by
00:18:50by asking him about how advanced advanced the plans for the refinery
00:18:54refinery are. The plans have actually
00:18:56actually gone very far with Kenya
00:19:00Kenya and because what we are trying trying to do really is to try and
00:19:03and make sure that you know, most
00:19:06most African countries we make them
00:19:11them self-sufficient in their own,
00:19:13own, you know, energy needs energy
00:19:16energy needs, which leather and co.
00:19:18co. So going back to your question, question, how far have we gone? We've
00:19:22We've gone very far. And I think
00:19:26think by latest by October we'll
00:19:29we'll be doing, groundbreaking once
00:19:32once we break ground, we will start
00:19:35start the construction very soon.
00:19:37soon. We are really planning something
00:19:39something very big within the African
00:19:42African continent and a lot of people people say, well, does the refinery
00:19:45refinery in East Africa, does it it make sense? It makes a lot of
00:19:49of sense because the refinery is is not only for Kenya. That's why
00:19:53why we are calling it East African
00:19:56African refinery. You know, so that
00:19:58that can serve a lot of countries
00:20:01countries up to even Egypt. How much much do you expect the East African
00:20:04African refinery to. I think we. we. We thought it was going to cost
00:20:07cost 17 billion. But it's going to to cost much. It will cost less than
00:20:10than that. We are looking at about
00:20:14about 15.5, $16 billion. Why will will it cost less than you originally
00:20:17originally anticipated? Because this
00:20:20this one will be faster. So in terms terms of financing costs will be
00:20:23be less. And then also you know,
00:20:28know, we are wiser as a company then
00:20:31then that when we built this one one because we are just learning
00:20:34learning when we built the one here. here. So that is really what is helping
00:20:37helping us. So in terms of timing,
00:20:40timing, we'll be able to build in
00:20:42in less than four years. So the location
00:20:45location is decided. What about the the financing. Are you looking at
00:20:48at cash debt equity. Yeah, we're we're looking at. All that you know
00:20:51know looking at equity and debt.
00:20:54debt. So 30% is going to be equity.
00:20:57equity. And then, 70% will be debt.
00:21:01debt. But we know we don't have any
00:21:02any problem raising the money. So
00:21:05So what do you see as the impact
00:21:07impact that this refinery could have have on energy security, not just.
00:21:11just. To have a massive impact really,
00:21:14really, and then also it guarantees guarantees the countries getting
00:21:17getting their own products that are are not going to live hand to mouth,
00:21:20mouth, you know, this. And then, then, you know, the refinery is there.
00:21:23there. It's for them. Well, you'll
00:21:25you'll be able to see more of that
00:21:27that interview broadcast on our new
00:21:30new Africa business programme, starting
00:21:32starting on BBC News in October.
00:21:34October. Now data centres are of
00:21:36of course becoming hugely controversial. controversial. They are vast, noisy,
00:21:40noisy, consume a huge amount of natural natural resources and are widely
00:21:43widely seen as bad neighbours to to those who live around them. But
00:21:46But we are going to need many more
00:21:48more to power the age of artificial
00:21:51artificial intelligence. So could could launching those data centres
00:21:54centres into space be a viable solution solution to this new age problem?
00:21:57problem? Elon Musk's SpaceX certainly certainly thinks so. It's planning
00:22:01planning to launch so-called orbital orbital data centres. And next we're
00:22:04we're going to hear from another another technology company called
00:22:08called orbital that also believes believes SpaceX could be the next
00:22:11next frontier for AI. I'm joined
00:22:14joined now by the founder of one one of those start-ups that very
00:22:17very start-up based in California, California, Ewan Poon joins us now.
00:22:21now. Thank you very much for joining
00:22:24joining us, Ewan. Tell us what are
00:22:27are the benefits of putting data
00:22:29data centres into space? I mean, mean, it's basically getting a tremendous
00:22:33tremendous amount of energy and scale.
00:22:36scale. And we have five times the the amount of solar energy that can
00:22:39can be captured in orbit as on the the planet's surface in a sun synchronous
00:22:43synchronous orbit, you get 24/7 sunlight.
00:22:46sunlight. And we really are just
00:22:48just running out of room energy.
00:22:51energy. The interconnection queues queues are clogged up and to basically
00:22:54basically just get to the next era
00:22:56era of AI. We do need to start tapping
00:23:00tapping into, solar energy up in
00:23:02in space. But Earth's orbit is already
00:23:05already full of satellites, perhaps perhaps not full, but there are certainly
00:23:08certainly plenty of them up there.
00:23:10there. Perhaps are they a different different prospect to, to data centres?
00:23:14centres? Aren't they more bulky? bulky? How would you plan to build
00:23:17build them and get them up there? there? Not quite actually. I think
00:23:21think we only have about 14,000 satellites
00:23:24satellites in orbit, a remarkably remarkably small number actually
00:23:26actually 12,000 of them are Starlink, Starlink, which were just launched
00:23:30launched in recent years. There are are many, many orbits and there are
00:23:33are six degrees of freedom of orbits. orbits. And we're you know, there's
00:23:37there's a lot of space, different different altitudes. So there's a
00:23:41a lot of potential there for being being able to capture a tremendous
00:23:44tremendous amount of energy. Now Now you've talked about, as you say,
00:23:47say, building potentially thousands thousands or launching thousands
00:23:50thousands of these individual little little data centres into space are
00:23:53are at risk, though, of just pushing pushing our problems off the planet
00:23:57planet because space junk space litter
00:24:00litter is another problem of the the modern age. Yeah, it's something
00:24:03something that we need to manage.
00:24:05manage. But you know, there's relatively
00:24:08relatively barren space and it's it's pretty calm up there. So you
00:24:11you know, with proper collision mitigation,
00:24:17mitigation, technology and there's, there's, there's just plenty of space space out there to be used. They
00:24:21They would have a life, I would expect expect they're going to have a relatively
00:24:24relatively limited lifespan though. though. And when one of these data
00:24:27data centres reaches the end of its its useful life, what's the plan
00:24:31plan there? Do you bring them back back down to earth? We actually just
00:24:35just deorbit them. And that's a process process that's very elegant process
00:24:38process of nudging them using a thruster thruster into the atmosphere where
00:24:41where they burn up. So ultimately ultimately with their lifespans in
00:24:43in say less than ten years or so, so, we expect about 7 to 10 years
00:24:47years of lifespan. They just burn burn up and we send a new one up.
00:24:50up. How close are you to making this this a reality? Closer than most
00:24:54most people think. We're sending
00:24:55sending one up next year and this
00:24:58this matches SpaceX's own timeline. timeline. Now, we'll be sending probably
00:25:02probably a few at a time in the next next few years until we scale up
00:25:05up in a big way towards the end of of the decade. And that's all dependent
00:25:08dependent on SpaceX's Starship launch
00:25:11launch capability and launch capacity. capacity. OK, you and Poon, fascinating
00:25:14fascinating stuff. You and poon from from orbital. Fascinating to hear
00:25:18hear about it and, wish you the best best of luck with it. Now let's have
00:25:22have a look at a couple of other other business stories before we
00:25:24we go. The Facebook owner Meta says
00:25:26says an issue during testing allowed allowed one of its AI models to connect
00:25:30connect to the internet and hack hack another organisation system.
00:25:33system. The announcement follows follows recent incidents across the
00:25:37the AI industry, including breaches breaches by OpenAI and Anthropic
00:25:40Anthropic models that have raised raised cyber security concerns, Meta
00:25:43Meta told the BBC it was investigating
00:25:45investigating the hack said it was
00:25:49was caused by a misconfiguration.
00:25:54misconfiguration. That is your Business Business Today. I'm Tadhg Enright Enright plenty more business stories
00:25:58stories on our website you can catch catch up with. Stay with us here.
00:26:00here. Here on BBC News. MUSIC
00:28:56That booming noise that you
00:28:58Hear from automatic
00:29:03semiautomatic weapons. It was a pretty pretty distinctive sound. And that's that's when all of us hit the deck
00:29:07deck all along the banks of Hungary's Hungary's historic River Danube, Danube, overlooking the parliament
00:29:10parliament building, which is going going to dramatically change after
00:29:14after tonight's results. That is
00:29:15is the part of Lebanon that is now
00:29:18now occupied by Israeli troops. We We heard the first explosions after
00:29:22after midnight last night and then then the air raid lasted right through
00:29:25through the night. It's not just just what you see and you hear as
00:29:29as the rocket lifts off. You can
00:29:31can actually feel the force of it
00:29:33it through your body. There. When
00:29:35When the story breaks, BBC News.
00:30:10Live from London. This is BBC
00:30:13News. Iran says a deal with Oman
00:30:15Oman for a new shipping route through through the Strait of Hormuz is in
00:30:18in the final stages. Israel says
00:30:21says two of its soldiers have been been killed in southern Lebanon as
00:30:25as it resumes strikes on the country.
00:30:29country. Fifas president, Gianni Gianni Infantino, apologises after
00:30:32after a backlash over proposals to to sell shares in the World Cup to
00:30:36to private investors. Myanmar's military
00:30:40military leader visits Thailand as
00:30:41as Bangkok pushes for re-engagement
00:30:44re-engagement with its regional neighbours.
00:30:46neighbours. And also coming up, Afghanistan's
00:30:49Afghanistan's exiled women footballers footballers make an international
00:30:52international comeback after a change
00:30:53change in Fifa's rules.