the plane—maker faces allegations of safety failures after a series of incidents — including a mid—air blow out on one of its jets. boeing has defended its fleet, saying billions of travellers have flown safely. from new york, michelle fleury reports. this was damaging testimony for the plane maker. boeing engineer turned whistle—blower, sam salehpour, claimed boeing used short cuts to reduce bottlenecks during the assembly of its 787 dreamliner planes. he said he faced retaliation for raising safety issues. and after the threats and after this, you know, it's like, you know, it really scares me, believe me. but i am at peace. you know, if something happens to me, i am at peace because i feel like by coming forward, i will be saving a lot of lives, and i'm at peace. another boeing engineer, ed pierson, accused the plane—maker of a criminal cover up after a door blew

out of a 737 max plane shortly after take—off. and a preliminary investigation revealed the door was missing four bolts. the ntsb chair reiterated to congress last week that boeing has said there are no records documenting the removal of the alaska airlines door. i'm not going to sugar—coat this. this is a criminal cover up. records do, in fact, exist. i know this because i've personally passed them to the fbi. boeing, which is one of the world's two major producers of commercial planes, insists its jets are safe. as for its culture, in a statement to the bbc, boeing said it was taking steps to foster a safety culture that empowers and encourages all employees to raise their voices. it said retaliation was strictly prohibited. the plane—maker ceo, david calhoun, didn't appear today, but lawmakers said they expect him to testify in the future. us presidentjoe biden has called for sharply higher tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from china. he's expected to propose

raising the rate from 7.5% to 25%. mr biden�*s remarks were aimed at pleasing steelworkers — a key voting block — in the swing state of pennsylvania. he also promised steelworkers he would block the sale of us steel to a japanese firm — which has been controversial. the us house speaker says he plans to include the tiktok bill in a package of bills that are being fast tracked through congress. lawmakers want tiktok�*s owner bytedance to divest its us assets or face a ban. the bill needs to go to the senate, and if it passes there, president biden says he will sign it. shipping companies across the globe are keeping a close eye on the conflict in the middle east. freight costs have already gone up significantly due to escalating tensions and volatile oil prices. those costs could increase further, if there's any disruption to the strait of hormuz. just last weekend, iran's revolutionary guards seized a cargo ship linked to israel, along

the narrow waterway. our business reporter david waddell has more. in that scene aboard the msc ares filmed on saturday. it appears to show two people understood to be iranian revolutionary guards descending onto the vessel. the ship's leased by msc, the world's biggest container shipping company, but she's partially owned by an israeli businessman, eyal ofer, which may have made her vulnerable to iranian attention. that took place at the strait of hormuz, one of a number of major global trade chokepoints, often an anxious passage for western traders. there are tensions to add other choke point locations. this video shows houthi militants storming a british registered cargo ship in november. that was on an approach to the babur mandeb strait, a gateway to the red sea with suez canal to the north. it's often been in the news with ships targeted by those militias or drone attacks from yemen, according to the international monetary fund. suez canal trade fell

by half in the early months of this year compared to the beginning of 2023. it's driven traders around the cape of good hope at enormous cost in time and money, and it's come at a huge cost to the egyptian economy, highly reliant on the canal for billions of dollars of income. further west, one more choke point, the panama canal. water shortages there have led the authorities to reduce the volume of shipping travelling between the atlantic and pacific oceans. the imf reckons that trade on that route has fallen by nearly a third over the past year. let's bring in industry expert peter sand from xeneta, which specialises in shipping logistics. it's quite dramatic what is going on right now in the region. we are aware of the disruptions that everyone in the maritime supply chains are facing right now with the situation in the red sea and

the gulf, with the hijacking of the gulf, with the hijacking of the container ship msc, also over the weekend we saw tensions going one step further up tensions going one step further up also involve an arabian gulf, and what we have seen fairly resilient response from the container shipping industry with no mass exodus of the area, we have seenjust in with no mass exodus of the area, we have seen just in the first few weeks in this month of april that some rates of moved up by 10% in a key corridorfrom shanghai moved up by 10% in a key corridor from shanghai to as well. is corridor from shanghai to as well. , ., ,~ corridor from shanghai to as well. , ., ,, ., ., well. is there a risk strait of hormuz will _ well. is there a risk strait of hormuz will close, - well. is there a risk strait of hormuz will close, and - well. is there a risk strait of hormuz will close, and if. well. is there a risk strait of hormuz will close, and if so | hormuz will close, and if so will that what would that mean? i think the outright street blockage of strait of hormuz is limited but that doesn't mean shipping will continue to do business in and out of the area. it is already before what

is going on right now with the israel— gaza war and the most recent exchange of fire from iran, this is an area that has been a problem in the maritime area for decades, so everyone treated in the area have contingency plans for things like this, but for the time being it seems as if everybody is waiting, and they're waiting with contingency plans ready to avoid the air if such an escalation would also impact further at the maritime industry, but for the time being it seems containers are moving in and out as with any other day, but with the cost of course not only in freight rates but insurance going up by the day. formula i returns to shanghai this weekend after five years. tickets were sold out in minutes when they went on sale in january. in 2019, when the race was last held, 160,000 people attended the grand prix.

so what's driving excitement this year? mark gallagher is a former executive at red bull racing and jordan grand prix and joins me now. he said there is pent—up demand. he said there is pent-up demand-— he said there is pent-up demand. , . ., , , . ., demand. there is an aspect of that because _ demand. there is an aspect of that because the _ demand. there is an aspect of that because the pandemic- that because the pandemic played havoc particularly with the grand prix in china, so it's alas grand prix to rejoin the championship in the of the pandemic but there are other factors as well. perhaps most importantly, the chinese driver on the grid from shanghai, a local hearer, he was only five years of age when the first formula i race came to china backin formula i race came to china back in 2004, and there is huge interest in china in the fight they have a national driver racing in the global championship, and he is a very good driver by the way. so that really helps. and then of course, generally the growth in formerly one a liberty media

took the championship over in 2017. huge growth on social media across the world and some streaming platforms and all of this has helped drive the sport to new audiences and demographics, so i'm not surprised the tickets were sold out quickly. i surprised the tickets were sold out quickly-— out quickly. i can only imagine the pressure _ out quickly. i can only imagine the pressure that _ out quickly. i can only imagine the pressure that nations - the pressure that nations driver must be under. he has this grabbed the experience in the sort is arduous, can you tell us about what the aspirations for those in china trying to achieve success in forming a one?— trying to achieve success in forming a one? when the first chinese grand _ forming a one? when the first chinese grand prix _ forming a one? when the first chinese grand prix to - forming a one? when the first chinese grand prix to place i forming a one? when the first chinese grand prix to place in| chinese grand prix to place in 2004, it's when china was laying out its capability to host global sporting events, the beijing olympics as well, and the result of that was been and the result of that was been a surge in interest in motorsport in china so the motorsport in china so the motorsport landscape in china is very different from what it was 20 years ago. the country has its own racetrack and

teams, its own championships and talent and that i've known of talent of which joe is and talent and that i've known of talent of whichjoe is an example, it's going large. as a large number of prospective racing treasure —— racing drivers in china both men and women, which is been aided by computer games, because online recent games are popular among the younger and incredibly, in my generation, the gamer insert racing phenomenon is with us. people like max verstappen and others are big names in formula 1 today, they grew up with computer games and online gaming so this slightly the market size of the sport and it is definitely still in a sport with where it is beneficial to have money and wealth, so those coming from a well—off background are most likely to get through.

travellers are stranded in dubai after the city was battered by a year's worth of rain in less than 12 hours. videos posted on social media showed roads being turned into rivers. the rain also sumerged the runway of dubai's airport, that is the busiest in the world, causing hundreds of flight cancellations. and that's it for this edition of asia business report. thanks for watching.

hey, i'm zoff with the catchup. tonight, flooding causes chaos in dubai, paris gears up for the summer olympics, and 500 ballet dancers on point. we start in dubai, where things are still very chaotic after the heaviest rain since records began 75 years ago. flights have been temporarily

suspended, and dubai international airport has urged people to stay away. cars were washed away in the streets and several buildings were also flooded. 0ne resident told us about the clean—up. the sunshine helps. there is a strong drainage in place, but also the tankers were out with the hose pipes and they were out just sucking all the water from the road and just getting the roads clear and safe for everybody to get moving again. next, things are hotting up in paris as it'sjust 100 days to go until the start of the olympics. hundreds of thousands of fans are set to attend the games, which begin onjuly the 26th. although security threats, pollution warnings and strike action are some of the issues facing organisers this year, they say they're confident the games will still be a success, though. it's the biggest event that france has ever organised. the venues are ready, the budget is balanced. we know that in this kind of event anything can happen in the last stretch. but i'm very satisfied with

where we stand at this moment. and time now to leave you with ten seconds of 500 ballet dancers from across the us gathering at new york's famous plaza hotel, breaking the world record for most dancers on point. at the same time. it's safe to say, as that saying goes, they were all definitely on point. you're all caught up now. see later. hello and welcome to sportsday — i'm gavin ramjaun... a thriller at the etihad, as champions league holders manchester city are knocked out penalties by real madrid. and they'll meet bayern munich in the semi's — the germans keep their season alive, after knocking out arsenal.

and rafa nadal�*s comeback comes to an end in barcelona — in what could be his farewell at the tournament. hello there, and welcome along to the programme. and the semi—finals for the champions league are complete — after another evening of high drama which saw the holders manchester city go out on penalties to real madrid at the etihad. the game was level 1—1 on the night, and level on aggregate with the 14—time champions holding their nerve in the shoot—out. andy swiss was there for us. but what a dramatic night here at the etihad stadium. real madrid and manchester city began with a teams all square at 3—3after the first leg.

real madrid took the lead during the first half