Original Broadcaster Captioning (Enhanced). Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:00:04Now on BBC News. The latest
00:00:06business news from across the globe.
00:00:09globe. Business Today. Straight talking.
00:00:19talking. Iran says it's made a deal deal with Oman over shipping in the
00:00:23the Gulf, but its neighbours and
00:00:24and the US may not like the terms.
00:00:28terms. A reshuffle at DeepMind. Google
00:00:30Google shares fall after a shake
00:00:32shake up at its AI unit that sees
00:00:34sees pioneer Sir Demis Hassabis step
00:00:37step aside and payback time. The The Trump administration refunds
00:00:41refunds $100 billion in illegal tariffs,
00:00:43tariffs, but now it faces a new battle
00:00:45battle over its latest import taxes.
00:00:47taxes. A top lawyer tells us they
00:00:49they are also unfair and fighting fighting fire with tech. We speak
00:00:53speak to a company that's using AI
00:00:56AI to detect and track wildfires
00:00:59wildfires in Greece. All of that
00:01:02that to come. In this edition of of Business Today. But we're going
00:01:05going to start with the Iran conflict
00:01:07conflict and hopes of an agreement agreement to end the deadlock over
00:01:11over the Strait of Hormuz, which which has choked off vital supplies
00:01:14supplies of oil, gas and chemicals. chemicals. Iran says it has reached
00:01:17reached a deal with Oman on shipping shipping through the Straits, and
00:01:21and a joint announcement is being being finalised. Well, this follows
00:01:24follows promises from President Trump Trump and other senior US officials
00:01:27officials that a deal is imminent. imminent. But major questions remain.
00:01:31remain. Regional sources have been been telling the Reuters news agency
00:01:34agency that the agreement would give give Iran control of ships entering
00:01:37entering the Gulf, a situation the
00:01:39the US may be unlikely to accept.
00:01:42accept. Meanwhile, traffic through through the vital waterway remains remains at a near standstill. As
00:01:46As you can see there, the time lapse lapse image from earlier shows how
00:01:50how few ships are making that journey.
00:01:52journey. For now, oil traders are are taking a rather wait and see
00:01:55see approach. The international benchmark
00:01:58benchmark Brent crude has been trading trading at around $80 a barrel since
00:02:02since reports of an agreement first first emerged earlier this week.
00:02:05week. Well, speaking in Las Vegas, Vegas, President Trump reiterated
00:02:08reiterated that oil prices will come
00:02:10come down once the war in Iran ends.
00:02:13ends. When gasoline when oil goes goes down and it's going to go down
00:02:16down very rapidly and it's happening happening very soon, already happening
00:02:19happening if you look today, it's
00:02:21it's $75 down to 75. It's dropping
00:02:24dropping and we may have to send send it up again. We may have to
00:02:27to you know what happens when we we send it up, but we hope we don't
00:02:30don't have to. But when that oil
00:02:33oil and gasoline go down, everything everything else follows. Well, we've
00:02:36we've been speaking to Cormac McGarry,
00:02:38McGarry, who's the director at security security consultancy Control Risks.
00:02:41Risks. He told us their base assumption assumption and advice to clients
00:02:44clients is that Iran will retain retain control of the Strait of Hormuz
00:02:48Hormuz in some form or other. Did Did the harsh tactical reality of
00:02:52of the Strait of Hormuz is that Iran
00:02:54Iran has emerged from this war with with almost full tactical control
00:02:57control of the Strait of Hormuz. Hormuz. So the long-term scenario
00:03:00scenario planning that we're trying trying to do at Control Risks for
00:03:03for our clients in all the scenarios,
00:03:05scenarios, scenarios we look at realistically, realistically, they include Iran
00:03:09Iran maintaining some level of control. control. So what we see in the next
00:03:13next few days, if it does actually
00:03:16actually emerge into reality, it's it's probably going to be a reality
00:03:19reality in which Iran has realistic
00:03:22realistic control of the strait. strait. So big question though how
00:03:26how would Iran controlling the strait strait go down with its Gulf neighbours,
00:03:30neighbours, especially Saudi Arabia? Arabia? Well, Doctor Yousef Alshammari
00:03:32Alshammari is the President of the the London College of Energy Economics.
00:03:35Economics. He's with us now. And And good to see you again. Maybe Maybe let me start with that question.
00:03:39question. What would be the wider
00:03:40wider impact on the region? Good
00:03:43Good morning Ben, and thanks for
00:03:45for having me. Well, I certainly certainly don't think that a deal
00:03:49deal of this form will be acceptable acceptable for Gulf countries. I
00:03:53I see it as a major win for Iran
00:03:57Iran from this conflict. Literally
00:03:59Literally the aim of this deal, although
00:04:01although it's kind of it could bring bring some sort of some sort of a
00:04:05a relief to the market. Possibly Possibly it could allow the shipping
00:04:08shipping movement to rise a little
00:04:10little bit, but it also gives Iran
00:04:12Iran more leverage and moreover,
00:04:14moreover, they like an administrative
00:04:16administrative role over the strait strait because it's if Iran is going
00:04:20going to control the inbound which
00:04:24which is going to some somehow have
00:04:25have control on all the imports for
00:04:29for the GCC countries in the region.
00:04:32region. Also on the other hand, also
00:04:34also the deal also kind of provides
00:04:36provides a Iran with oversight on
00:04:39on all ships that is going to exit
00:04:42exit the Strait of Hormuz. That again
00:04:44again that crude oil, oil and gas
00:04:46gas exports. So, I don't think any
00:04:49any deal of this form will be acceptable acceptable for Gulf countries because
00:04:52because we've heard from, for example,
00:04:54example, Sultan Al Jaber, many weeks
00:04:57weeks ago that, it's an international
00:05:00international waterway and an unrestricted
00:05:02unrestricted movement is deeply being being sought by, by the Gulf countries.
00:05:06countries. Yes. Sorry to jump in. in. And as you touched on there,
00:05:10there, I mean, perhaps unacceptable unacceptable to some Gulf countries
00:05:12countries and also maybe ironically ironically also unacceptable to the
00:05:15the United States. Is there a way way that the White House can spin
00:05:18spin this as a victory? Well, I the
00:05:22the situation of the United States
00:05:25States is kind of, questionable here
00:05:28here because the US has promised promised to bring back the Strait
00:05:32Strait of Hormuz into a status quo.
00:05:34quo. We've been hearing reports from
00:05:37from New York Times and others that
00:05:38that the US is running out of the
00:05:41the ammunition. The cost of military military escalation in the region
00:05:44region is region is rising. Also
00:05:47Also adding to that, the energy prices
00:05:50prices that and we have mid-term mid-term elections coming up later
00:05:52later this year. So I believe the
00:05:55the US is is somehow in a in a conflict
00:05:58conflict that is trying to gain some some wins out of. But OK. So far
00:06:02far I see Iran is a major winner. winner. Really good to talk to you.
00:06:05you. Thank you for your insight. insight. Doctor Yousef Alshammari Alshammari there at the London College
00:06:09College of Energy Economics. Grateful Grateful for your time. Thank you.
00:06:11you. We'll keep a close eye on any any developments there. But also
00:06:15also in the Business Today. Shares Shares in Google have been falling
00:06:17falling after a shake-up at the top top of the company's AI business.
00:06:21business. Demis Hassabis, who's the the chief executive of Google DeepMind,
00:06:23DeepMind, is set to become chief
00:06:25chief scientist at Google's parent parent company Alphabet. Well, that
00:06:28that comes as four of Google's AI AI researchers announced that they
00:06:32they were leaving to start their their own companies. Here's our North
00:06:36North America business correspondent correspondent Samira Hussain. Google
00:06:38Google is under immense pressure pressure as it competes with the
00:06:42the likes of Anthropic and OpenAI.
00:06:44OpenAI. It is why this big shake-up
00:06:46shake-up of their AI leadership has has investors just so nervous. There
00:06:50There are worries that alphabet has
00:06:52has actually fallen behind in the
00:06:54the AI race, even though it created
00:06:57created some of the key technologies technologies that are underpinning
00:07:01underpinning current AI models. Now Now also remember like other tech
00:07:04tech firms, Google continues to spend spend big on AI data centres and
00:07:08and such to the tune of somewhere
00:07:12somewhere between 195 to $205 billion. billion. That's an awful lot of money
00:07:16money to spend on a division of a a company that is going through such
00:07:19such a massive shake up. Samira Hussain Hussain now with the latest from
00:07:23from New York. Well staying in the
00:07:24the US the Trump administration has
00:07:27has refunded $100 billion of its its so-called Liberation Day tariffs
00:07:31tariffs to businesses after they they were ruled to have been illegal.
00:07:34illegal. It's around 60% of all the the tariff revenue that was collected
00:07:37collected by the government under under the policy, according to a
00:07:40a recent court filing from US customs. customs. Meanwhile, 25 Democrat led
00:07:44led states are suing the Trump administration administration over a new wave of
00:07:48of tariffs on imports from dozens dozens of countries. They're accused
00:07:51accused of failing to tackle forced forced labour, while the states say
00:07:54say that the new tariffs are, quote, quote, arbitrary, capricious and
00:07:58and contrary to law. We've been speaking speaking to Professor Barry Appleton,
00:08:01Appleton, who testified to the government government over the issue about the
00:08:05the legality of those new tariffs.
00:08:06tariffs. Well, it's kind of complicated.
00:08:09complicated. Look, nobody is in favour favour of the use of forced labour
00:08:12labour in imports, right, where everybody everybody all the countries have
00:08:15have laws that deal with it. The The difference is their laws are
00:08:19are different from the way the US
00:08:20US does it. The US has put in a reverse
00:08:24reverse onus. They've said everything everything is deemed to be use of
00:08:28of forced labour. Unless you can
00:08:30can prove it to the alternative.
00:08:32alternative. And so many countries countries like the UK, Australia,
00:08:35Australia, Canada have forced labour
00:08:36labour laws. But they say you have
00:08:39have to only prosecute those who who have an allegation of use of
00:08:43of forced labour. And the Americans Americans have imposed a tax on that.
00:08:47that. So it's not that there's a a proof of any link to forced labour.
00:08:50labour. It's simply that there's there's a difference in the way that
00:08:53that everybody's enforcing it. And
00:08:54And that seems pretty unfair. Elsewhere,
00:08:57Elsewhere, Africa's richest man has has told the BBC about his plans
00:09:00plans to build a new oil refinery refinery in Kenya, which he says
00:09:04says will help African countries countries become energy self-sufficient.
00:09:07self-sufficient. Nancy Kacungira Kacungira caught up with him in Lagos
00:09:09Lagos and began by asking how advanced
00:09:12advanced those plans really are. are. We're really planning something
00:09:15something very big within the African
00:09:18African continent and a lot of people people say, well, does the refinery
00:09:21refinery in East Africa, does it it make sense? It makes a lot of
00:09:25of sense because the refinery is
00:09:26is not only for Kenya. That's why
00:09:29why we are calling it East African
00:09:32African refinery, you know. So that
00:09:35that can serve a lot of countries countries up to even Egypt. How much
00:09:38much do you expect the East African African refinery to. I think we.
00:09:42we. Thought it was going to cost cost 17 billion, but it's going to
00:09:44to cost much. It will cost less than
00:09:46than that. We are looking at about
00:09:50about 15.5, $16 billion. Why will will it cost less than you originally
00:09:54originally anticipated? Because this
00:09:56this one will be faster. So in terms terms of financing costs will be
00:09:59be less. And then also you know,
00:10:04know, we are wiser as a company then
00:10:07then that when we built this one one because we are just learning
00:10:10learning when we built the one here. here. So that is really what is helping
00:10:13helping us. So in terms of timing,
00:10:16timing, we'll be able to build in
00:10:18in less than four years. So the location
00:10:21location is decided. What about the the financing. Are you looking at
00:10:24at cash debt equity. Yeah. Well we
00:10:25we at. All that you know equity and
00:10:29and debt. So 30% is going to be equity.
00:10:34equity. And then 70% will be debt. debt. But we know we don't have any
00:10:38any problem raising the money. So
00:10:41So what do you see as the impact
00:10:43impact that this refinery could have have on energy security. Not just
00:10:47just to have a massive impact really,
00:10:49really, and then also it guarantees guarantees the countries getting
00:10:53getting their own products that are are not going to live hand to mouth.
00:10:56mouth. You know, this and then you you know, the refinery is there.
00:10:59there. It's for them. Now let's return return to AI because it's proving
00:11:03proving to be a useful tool in tackling tackling this summer's record. Wildfires
00:11:07Wildfires in Europe, coupled with
00:11:09with satellite imagery, artificial artificial intelligence models are
00:11:12are now being used to help emergency
00:11:14emergency services to detect fires
00:11:17fires earlier and forecast how they they could spread. We've been speaking
00:11:20speaking to Doctor Axel Roenneke, Roenneke, who's from OroraTech, which
00:11:23which helped develop Greece's first first national wildfire detection
00:11:26detection system. He's been telling
00:11:28telling us how it works. From space.
00:11:31space. We can continuously monitor
00:11:35monitor fires with satellites that
00:11:36that measure infrared. So we measure
00:11:40measure heat rather than visible visible smoke or flames, and we scan
00:11:43scan the Earth's surface surface.
00:11:46surface. Looking for heat signatures
00:11:49signatures frequently and globally. globally. So with that information
00:11:52information combined with weather
00:11:54weather vegetation and terrain data,
00:11:57data, our AI turns millions of data
00:12:01data points into a simple alert and and actionable insight like how the
00:12:04the fire evolves, where it goes and
00:12:07and how important it is. Wildfires
00:12:11Wildfires need to be, detected earlier earlier if you want to, if you want
00:12:15want to act, on a manageable size
00:12:17size of the fire. Once fires get
00:12:19get beyond a certain size, there
00:12:22there is no control. So the earlier earlier you can detect a fire and
00:12:25and even predict where fires are
00:12:27are likely to happen, you can put put forces on the ground, be prepared
00:12:31prepared and react when the fire fire is still manageable. And this
00:12:34this is where we need to get to go. go. Further implications there of
00:12:38of AI. Let me show you what's on on the BBC News website right now,
00:12:41now, including news of those who who maybe got involved in SpaceX
00:12:44SpaceX earlier. The story there of
00:12:45of one man who joined in 2009 partly
00:12:49partly paid in stock. Those shares
00:12:51shares now worth a pretty cool $23
00:12:54$23 million. That lock up period period for regional investors or
00:12:57or original owners of shares to sell.
00:13:00sell. Now coming open. So more details
00:13:02details there on the BBC News website website bbc.com slash. That's your
00:13:06your Business Today. See you soon.
00:14:23life savings to marry a woman they've they've only met for a minute. To
00:14:25To find out why. Join me Laura Bicker
00:14:28Bicker here on BBC News. Here at
00:14:35at BBC Verify, we use forensic investigative investigative techniques and tools
00:14:39tools to fact check stories, verify verify information and counter disinformation
00:14:43disinformation using data analysis analysis and the latest technology. technology. Our journalists examine
00:14:46examine the evidence and get to the the facts. Watch our BBC Verify reports
00:14:49reports on the BBC News channel or
00:14:51or go online to find out more.
00:15:17A Cambridge professor who's been the subject of media scrutiny
00:15:20scrutiny after claims of plagiarism plagiarism has resigned hours after
00:15:23after Cambridge University said it it would investigate his qualifications
00:15:26qualifications and honourary appointments. appointments. Professor Jason Arday
00:15:29Arday has been the subject of many many questions in the media in the
00:15:33the last few weeks. Our culture correspondent correspondent Noor Nanji joined me
00:15:36me earlier with more about what happened. happened. Well, I think it's fair
00:15:40fair to say this has been a very very messy and for some people, quite
00:15:43quite uncomfortable story. As you you say at the centre of this Professor
00:15:46Professor Jason Arday, a very prominent prominent Cambridge academic and
00:15:49and in fact the youngest ever black black professor at Cambridge when
00:15:53when he joined back in 2020 2023.
00:15:562023. Now he has been at the centre centre of this row over