we begin in the us where the federal reserve held interest rates steady leaving them at a 23—year high. with inflation cooling and solid economic growth, the question on the minds of many economists, consumers and businesses was when the central bank might start cutting rates. but the guidance offered by the fed chairjerome powell disappointed those on wall street who were hoping for a rate cut as soon as march. powell's warning that it is unlikely the central bank will be in a position to lower borrowing costs at its next meeting sent shares lower, with the dow losing more than 300 points and the nasdaq down by more than 2%. from new york, here's the bbc�*s north america business correspondent michelle fleury. the fourth meeting in a row, the federal reserve did not raise interest rates. this is the longest pause since policymakers began their aggressive rate campaign to tame inflation back in march of 2022. but for rate weary americans, well, they will likely have to wait a few more months to see any relief, given these comments

by the federal chair. based on the meeting today, i would tell you that i don't think it's likely that the committee will reach a level of confidence by the time of the march meeting to identify march as the time to do that. but that is to be seen. mr powell's words disappointed us on wall street who believed that the first cut would potentially happen in march. this is after policymakers back in december hinted at rate cuts in 202a. however, mr powell said officials wanted greater confidence that inflation was falling back to its 2% goal first. with prices coming down but still high and with the economy doing well, david ross at trade station believes that this is the right call telling mejerome powell has no reason to show his hand at this point. the rate decision comes after fresh data showing us economic growth slowed down in the last quarter, but performed

much better than forecasters expected. now to other stories making headlines. boeing boss dave calhoun has admitted that the plane maker faces a "serious challenge" as it seeks to restore confidence after one of its 737 max nine jets broke off in mid—air. he was announcing the firm's latest financial results... which showed revenue growing 10% in the last quarter of 2023. boeing says it will not offer guidance for its earnings this year. trust in the firm has been shaken afterjanuary�*s alaska airlines blow out. let's turn our focus now to social media because the bosses of companies likes meta, tiktok and x have faced a grilling from us senators. at the heart of the fiery hearing was the companies�* attitudes to legislation currently going through congress, which aim to hold them to account for material

posted on their platforms. meta ceo mark zuckerberg ended up apologising to families who say their children had been harmed by social media. let's have a listen. would you like to do so now? you are here on national television. would you like now to apologise to the victims who have been harmed? who have been harmed by your products? show the pictures. would you like to apologise for what you have done to these good people? our guest, mitch prinstein from the american pshychological association has done clinical work on teenagers and social media. he told me if social media companies are doing enough to protect young people. it's not nearly enough, i'm afraid. it's very clear that it is notjust the access

to the platform but it is the way that these platforms are built, the functions that are a part of them. the endless scroll, the like button, the followers, the artificial intelligence, they're designed to keep kids engaged for as long as possible and more and more research is showing that that affects kids development, it affects their mental health and it's actually changing the way that their brains are growing. could you elaborate on that about how their brains are growing and how it changes from adults who have come to social media later in life? absolutely. you know, it's important to remember that after the first year of life, adolescence is the next most the same time those kids get their device, they have a vulnerability, a part of their brain that makes them super sensitive to getting social feedback and not yet a fully developed area of the brain to keep them from following their every single impulse. so it's kind of a perfect storm where kids are getting access to a device that gives them notifications

and likes and encourages them to stay on for hours at a time, research is showing that that actually is leading to kids�* brains growing to be smaller and also to work in ways that they're not supposed to maintain, being hypersensitive to those kinds of social cues. why should parents be looking out to safeguard their children against these things and how can they mitigate the impacts of too much social media? unfortunately, there's nothing going on in these companies to make sure these products are safe. so until legislators or tech companies make some very necessary changes, it sadly falls on parents to force those devices out of their kids�* hands to make sure that they are going to sleep and getting eight hours of sleep. that�*s so important for brain growth. that they not spending too much time on it. they�*re screening their kids for more addictive behaviours, like having a hard time withdrawing from social media use.

and mostly, setting all the potential —— parental controls they can to minimise the amount of content the kids are seeing in there. ~ , , ., ., in there. why is it so hard to ush in there. why is it so hard to push through _ in there. why is it so hard to push through meaningful - push through meaningful legislation that can then be meaningfully enforced? well, it�*s a little bit hard to get much done in the us government right now, but also there some questions and some confusion around where this might interfere with free speech. but to be clear, i believe that these acts are not talking about the content. it�*s really talking about the functions that are built in to exploit the way that adolescents have not yet fully developed. and that�*s where the concerns are, where we have to make sure kids aren�*t being exposed to videos that teach them how to cut themselves or engage in anorexia behaviours, which is, unfortunately now, it�*s happening quite often. to india next where the company will be outlining its spending plan. this cabinet will be

interim as the country is gearing up for elections in the next few months. bbc�*s arenaj mukherjee isjoining us from where the finance minister is joining us. what is likely to be the big ticket items discussed?— be the big ticket items discussed? , , ., , , be the big ticket items discussed? , , discussed? this is a series of announcements _ discussed? this is a series of announcements that - discussed? this is a series of announcements that is - discussed? this is a series of l announcements that is awaited from the big businessmen right down to the farmer. these announcements have something from every section of the indian economy and that is what people will be looking out for. but looking back to how the government has been spending so far, one of the big bushes this government has been on capital expenditure. if we were to just take the example from last year, capital expenditure outlined around a it was a 33% hike from the previous time and was nearly 2.3% of the entire gdp so that has been the push of this government to create big infrastructure projects to

boost employment opportunities and also have these big tangible infrastructure projects and again leading up to the elections because these are the big tangible products like highways, bridges, which the government can really show as they go ahead and asked for another mandate with the elections gearing up so that is one area of focus. the other area right from 2021 of this government that is now completing ten years have been is in production linked intensive schemes —— incentive schemes. to boost manufacturing and increase that may create opportunities to pivot away from the heavy reliance that india has on china when it comes to importing raw materials for factories so a lot of that is ready happened but having said that, some economists point out that only a fraction of the amount that had been allocated for these production linked incentives have been doled out so there are some questions but of course all eyes on the finance minister who will be about 500 metres away from us at parliament house where she will

be making that announcement. elections are just around the corner. before we go. a usjudge has sided with florida governor ron desantis in his fight with disney. the media giant had accused the republican of organising a "campaign of government retaliation" when state officials voided a development deal involving disney�*s florida theme park. this came after disney criticised a state law that restricted the teaching of sexuality in schools. in dismissing disney�*s lawsuit, judge allen winsor said the actions the governor took were legal. adidas says it will not write—off its remaining inventory of yeezy shoes, despite the end of its partnership with kayne west. the sportswear giant was previously unsure of what to do with the over 300—million dollars worth of shoes left from its association with the rapper. adidas said in a statement

that it plans to sell the collector�*s item "at least" at cost. and that�*s it for this edition of asia business report. thanks for watching. voice-over: bbc news, i bringing a different stories from across the uk. 0n the edge of the north york moores, this sheep—filled farm is changing with the times, with mark and louise embracing even more new ways of working. i think we�*ll put the topside on the top... if that works well. yeah, 0k. what have you got there? brisket. their old milking parlour is now home to a £20,000 vending machine that sells frozen beef and lamb all produced here on theirfarm. all we have to do is just type the number of the locker in the keypad here.

then we'll go through the routine of paying cash or card, and once they paid, the locker will unlock and they can open the door and help themselves to that item. vending machines are already being used on increasing numbers of farms to sell a fresh milk. but this version, selling meat, is thought to be one of the first. a lot milk vending machines are popping up everywhere, and i think people want something something direct from the farm, and i think to know you�*re coming to a farm and you can see the animals and how well they�*re looked after. it is just brilliant — you can come and get the meat and take it away and say you know where it has come from. so, the farming industry steeped in tradition is moving with the times — a tasty joint beef now available to click and collect. hey. i�*m zof with the catch up! tonight — more on vapes, universal rows with tiktok, and an unexpected commuter.

you�*ve probably heard this phrase a lot recently — dry january. one in five drinkers gave up alcohol for the month, and a charity that looks at drinking habits said it saved people around £118 on average! 0ne bbc reporter decided one month wasn�*t enough and has stopped drinking for a whole year! for me i�*m just curious. what happens in 12 months? am i experiencing big changes? has it completely transformed my life or is it the same without alcohol? you can followjess�*s journey through her �*sober diaries�* on the bbc news app or website. some other stories now... the person who made decisions in scotland during the pandemic says she sometimes wishes she hadn�*t been in charge. yes — nicola sturgeon told the covid inquiry she was overwhelmed at times. she also admitted deleting some whatsapp messages but said everything relevant was made available. next — a headteacher in wales says kids as young as seven are being caught with vapes in school and some

are taking up to 15 toilet breaks a day to vape. last week the government said they�*ll ban disposable vapes to protect kids�* health. and universal music is set to pull millions of its songs from tiktok after a disagreement over payments. this move would mean lots of your favourite tracks from the likes of taylor swift, the weeknd and drake could no longer be on the app. and time to leave you with ten seconds of an unexpected commuter on the train tracks at bishop�*s stortford station, delaying trains for as long as 15 minutes! ijust love how unbothered it is. just cleaning its feathers. you�*re all caught up now — see ya!

hello and welcome to sportsday — i�*m 0lly foster. conor bradley is the toast of anfield as he helps liverpool restore their five point premier league lead. the favourites are firing at the asian cup — japan are through to the quarterfinals. just over two years since her 0lympic dream was taken away, we meet faye rogers on the brink of her first paralympics in the pool.

hello there. the pressure was on liverpool at anfield as they looked to regain that five—point lead at the top of the table, and they came through with flying colours against chelsea, with their inspiration coming from an unlikely source, 20—year—old northern irishman, conor bradley, deputising for trent alexander arnold, he scored his first goal for the club and also set assisted two others as they beat mauricio pochettino�*s chelsea 4—1. bradley set up diogojota before scoring their second of the night by half—time. darwin nunez had also missed a penalty, he hit the woodwork four times during the game. bradley then crossed for liverpool�*s third, a dominik szoboszlai header and though nkunku pulled one back, luis diaz added a fourth for liverpool,

a comfortable night for liverpool and a memorable