Troubled travel operator thomas cook begins rescue talks with banks and its largest shareholder. And englands netballers start their World Cup Campaign tonight with a match against uganda in liverpool. Good morning and welcome to the bbc news at nine. The American Military says its trying to put together a coalition to protect commercial shipping in the gulf after the royal navy had to intervene to help a british tanker which was being confronted by iranian vessels. The foreign secretaryjeremy hunt has promised to reverse cuts to the size of the royal navy if he becomes Prime Minister. Rising tensions with iran have led to uk merchant vessels being placed on the highest security alert near the strait of hormuz. On one side are the arab states, including a number of key allies. On the other, iran. Between them, the strait of hormuz at its narrowest point, its only 21 miles across. But in total, a fifth of the worlds oil exports are squeezed through this tiny corridor. So any disruption there affects global oil supplies, and as a result prices. Heres our north america correspondent peter bowes. The plan is to put together a coalition of nations providing military escorts to commercial shipping in the gulf. The us navys fifth fleet said it was working closely with the royal navy as well as regional and Global Partners to preserve and defend the freedom of navigation. On wednesday, three iranian boats tried to block a british flagged tanker passing through the strait of hormuz. Donald trumps nomination to become chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, the most senior officer in the us armed forces, said the intention was to move quickly with a joint effort. Freedom of navigation is a fundamental principle and a norm for the international order, it has been in place for seven decades and we have a crucial role to enforce that norm. So what were trying to do with the coalition to put that together in terms of providing military naval escort to commercial shipping may be an important factor and i think that will develop over the next few weeks. The tension with iran has risen because of crippling economic sanctions which donald trump imposed on the country after the us pulled out of the deal to prevent tehran from building a nuclear weapon. Like the United States, britain and france both maintain a constant naval presence in the gulf. Neither country has confirmed it is discussing plans to form a coalition with the us to escort tankers. Martin lanni was in the royal navy for many years including as Liaison Officer to the us fifth fleet in bahrain in 2016 he told radio 4s the today programme what that cooperation might look like. I think in practice, it means business as usual in everyday terms. The british fleet and the uk Maritime Component command are both co located in bahrain, in the same naval base, in fact, and they work hand in glove on a daily basis with the combined Maritime Forces that are already out there. 30 odd nations actually contribute to some extent to some of that Maritime Security operation. So i think its easy to try and read more into that than probably can be taken. But the subtle difference now, i suppose, is that while we have often had the convoy type protection in the gulf of aden, you have to go back to the 1980s to see a similar thing protecting shipping coming in and out of the straits of hormuz. Its combined, though, with what the white houses nominee to become chairman of the us joint chiefs of staff, general mark milley, has said that washingtons attempting to put together a coalition to provide military and naval escort to commercial shipping, which doesnt sound like business as usual. I think thats a factor of interpretation, mishal. The freedom of navigation is an International Law and i think its reasonable that nation states will protect their own vessels wherever possible. Weve talked about how constrained the shipping lanes are, but its still a fairly long piece of water space to protect. The only way to realistically do that is in cooperation with your allies. So its probably a sensible move in the event that they need to transition to taking a more active stance on protecting shipping. Lets speak now to guy platten, secretary general of the International Chamber of shipping, give us a sense of what a vital route for trade this area is. Yes, its a vital strategic waterway. 10,000 vessels go through every year and about 19 Million Barrels of oil. It isa and about 19 Million Barrels of oil. It is a key bit of water space. And with this recent incident, how concerning is that to your members . We are deeply concerned about the incident, notjust the one a couple of days ago, but also the one last month and the one before that. It is a small number of incidents against the 10,000 vessels that go through safely every year, but we are still concerned. It is important for the free flow of world trade. It is enshrined in International Law and it does need to be upheld by all member states. And with the security setting for uk merchant vessels now being on the highest level, what does that mean in practical terms for merchant vessels passing through that area . We regularly issue guidance to merchant vessels of all flags. You need to co operate closely with your own flag state, in this case the uk flag, and follow their advice. But every ship will have a security plan. There are additional precautions you can take, from posting extra lookouts to making sure your watertight integrity is as good as it can be, and also planning your transit. There are various measures you can put in place and we issue guidance 0h put in place and we issue guidance ona put in place and we issue guidance on a regular basis to shipping companies and shippers macros brilliant ships cruise as well. The biggest additional finance brilliant ships cruise as well. The biggest additionalfinance is insurance. Because you are now entering into an area where you need to inform your insurer is that you are entering, and that will result in significant additional premiums. After the events of last month, they quadrupled the premium you needed. It has come down a bit since then, but it is still a significant premium. Insurance companies will keep the whole situation under co nsta nt keep the whole situation under constant review. What are your thoughts about the being talked about this morning, with the military in the us talking about building a coalition to protect allied ships, and jeremy saying perhaps the royal Navy Presents needs to be looked at again, jeremy hunt . We have seen that countries coming together has helped with the threat of somali piracy. So we want to make sure the coalition does achieve that freedom of navigation to be able to trade smoothly and safely in these waters. Guy platten from the International Chamber of shipping, thank you very much. The home secretary, sajid javid, has given his backing to the police in their trials of facial recognition software, which is designed to help spot suspects in public places. Mrjavid was speaking at the launch of new Computer Technology which makes use of Artificial Intelligence to speed up analysis of child abuse images. Our home affairs correspondent, danny shaw, reports. A unique glimpse inside scotland ya rds digital investigation department. This is where computers, smartphones and memory sticks are brought for analysis to provide evidence in the most complex crimes. These components are being repaired in the electronics lab. They are from a phone seized during a murder enquiry. Scientists can restore phones thrown into water, set on fire or stamped on. But its painstaking work and there are lengthy delays. The problem for police is that there are so many devices, its taking too long to gather all the evidence, around four months on average. So new techniques are being introduced to speed up the process. Soi so i have started off and it should find something relatively quickly. There you go. A match in seconds. The new technology, shown to the home secretary, will help police scan for images of child abuse. Itll take 30 minutes to examine a hard drive, compared to 2a hours now. It should also make it easier to identify victims. You could describe it as a game changer in that it means that more of the victims will be protected. But also, just as importantly, more of these vile paedophiles will be caught and taken through the courts and this will be presented as evidence and i hope more will be locked up behind bars where they belong. Another benefit is that investigators will not have to spend so long looking at images of abuse because Artificial Intelligence would do it for them. Controversially, ai is also being used to help police spot suspects in public places. The technology is called facial recognition and the home secretary said police had his backing to try it out. Theresa may has said that whoever succeeds her as Prime Minister must be more interested in Public Service than power. She made the comments in an interview with the daily mail as the final two contenders, Boris Johnson and jeremy hunt, prepare to set out their stalls on a special bbc programme tonight. The postal ballot for conservative Party Members will close in ten days. Our Political Correspondent chris masonjoins us from westminster. You have been leafing through the daily mail, we caught you at it. What has the Prime Minister had to say . Yes, here is the interview with the Prime Minister that the daily mail have done today. It tells you something about where she sits in the news pecking order. It is on page ten of the paper. As you say, she has some spiky observations. She doesnt mention Boris Johnson she has some spiky observations. She doesnt mention borisjohnson or jeremy hunt by name, but hazard a guess at who she might be referring to when she said this. Lets show you this key quote from the interview. She also goes onto say that she is pretty cheesed off that there has been all this talk in the leadership race amongst the various candidates that they are going to get better dealfrom the eu. She makes the observation that the eu said the deal is done and they are not going to reopen the withdrawal agreement. She also sports, in this interview, a necklace that she says was sent by some ladies from wiltshire she. She reflect on the fact that she has had quite a mailbag of people expressing sympathy for her political plight. She also talks about setting up an office to explore deep rooted injustices in society. This was one of her big pictures when she arrived in downing street with that speech she gave on the downing street, the words of which were framed and put up words of which were framed and put up in words of which were framed and put upina words of which were framed and put up in a room just inside the door of downing street for much of her time in office. So she is returning to that as she leaves. That agenda was of course pretty much drowned out by the noise of brexit during her time in office. So the Prime Minister is having a bit of subtle rb argy bargy, but labour are having trouble with a different topic . Totally different. This is all about what has happened since that Panorama Programme into allegations of anti semitism was on the telly the other night. We now have this slanging match, frankly, between Jennie Formby, the leader of the party behind the scenes, the general secretary of the labour party, and tom watson, the deputy leader. Tom watson was on the today programme on radio four yesterday and was pretty spiky himself about the leadership and aboutJennie Formby. We have now had this exchange of letters between the two of them, which have helpfully been published. Tom watson wrote tojennie helpfully been published. Tom watson wrote to Jennie Formby yesterday and there was a reply from Jennie Formby last night, very striking. She said, you consistently abuse your considerable platform to denigrate any progress that has been made. You are producing my reputation and publicly attacking me when you know iam publicly attacking me when you know i am undergoing chemotherapy. She acknowledges that there is a real problem in the labour party around anti semitism, but she accuses tom watson of being complicit in creating a perception that anti semitism is more prevalent in the labour party than in wider society. This is deeply irresponsible for the deputy leader ofa irresponsible for the deputy leader of a party which seeks to be in government. If youre wondering why tom watson hasnt been fired, given how outspoken he has been, he cant be because being deputy leader of the labour party is an elected position. He has his own mandate, independent ofJeremy Corbyn. So he has this platform, asjeremy formby jennie has this platform, asjeremy formby Jennie Formby describes it. Has this platform, asjeremy formby Jennie Formby describes it. And they cant do anything about it other than write him spiky letters which are published and allow this slanging match to be aired publicly. We have all been saying, we didnt know that. Chris mason, bring us added value, as ever. Well have the andrew neil interviews with borisjohnson and jeremy hunt in full tonight on the bbc news channel at 7 followed by reaction and analysis from our Reality Check Team at 8. Four british people in a group of foreign teachers and students have been arrested in eastern china. At least some of those being held are from an International Language school, education first. Police injiangsu province said all 16 foreigners had tested positive for illegal drug use. Our china correspondent stephone mcdonnell is following the story. Four britons were amongst 16 foreigners, all language teachers or language students who have been netted in this drug sweep injiangsu province. Police say they were acting on a tip and conducted a raid and they all failed a drug test. That doesnt mean they had drugs in their possession or that they were buying or selling them, it means they had elicit substances in their bloodstream. Illicit substances. In china, it doesnt matter if you we re in china, it doesnt matter if you were in colorado, smoking marijuana, where it is completely legal, last week. If you return to china and faila week. If you return to china and fail a drugs test, bad luck, you are busted. I have seen these tests take place. The police will go into a bar and say to everybody inside, you must give a urine sample on the spot. They hold up to the light. If the crystals change colour, you go directly to a police van and then to a detention centre, which is effectively a jail, where you are held for two or three weeks. And then you are told to leave the country. You lose yourjob and you cant return to china the next several years. And i imagine that thatis several years. And i imagine that that is exactly what will happen to these four britons. Stephen, thank you very much. A man is being questioned by detectives investigating the killing of a heavily pregnant woman and her baby in south london. The 25 year old was arrested on suspicion of murder yesterday. Kelly mary fauvrelle, who was 26, was stabbed at her house in Thornton Heath last month. Her son, who was delivered by paramedics after the attack, died a few days later. At least 35 people have been injured after severe turbulence on an air canda flight which was forced to make an emergency landing. The boeing 777 aircraft, from vancouver to sydney, hit trouble around two hours beyond hawaii and diverted back to the capital honolulu. The aircraft was carrying 269 passengers and 15 crew members. The headlines on bbc news. The us military says its building a coalition to protect commercial shipping in the gulf after the royal navy intervened to shield a british tanker from iranian forces. Cracking down on online paedophiles police are to trial Artificial Intelligence to speed up analysis of child abuse images. Theresa may warns that the next conservative leader must put Public Service before personal ambition as the two candidates are questioned in a bbc programme later. In sport, england will travel to lords on sunday for their first cricket World Cup Final in 27 years, after thrashing rivals australia at edgbaston. The first game of the netball world cup is up and running, with Northern Ireland, england and scotla nd with Northern Ireland, england and scotland all playing later on day one in liverpool. And 11 years on from their last meeting at wimbledon, rafael nadal and Roger Federer meet again in this years semifinals later today. More on those stories just after 9. 30. Thomas cook is in talks with a Chinese Investor about a possible rescue deal for the troubled holiday company. The travel operator confirmed it was in advanced discussions with fosun, which owns club med and wolverhampton football club. If the deal goes through, fosun would control the package holiday part of thomas cook and would have a Minority Stake in the companys airline. Our Business CorrespondentKatie Prescott