more turbulence for boeing as its ceo announces his exit from the company. and we look at the chinese company that has emerged as a frontrunner in the global electric vehicle market. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm steve lai. we start with boeing. it has announced that its chief executive will step down later this year. has been under pressure since a panel on a boeing 737 blew off midflight in the us injanuary. amid the deepening safety crisis, two other senior executives are also leaving the company. the bbc�*s international business correspondent theo leggett has more. a terrifying moment for passengers

as a door flew off a brand—new alaska airlines boeing 737 max injanuary. the incident plunged boeing into a crisis, raising questions about its attitude to safety. now the boss, dave calhoun, says he's stepping down. he was appointed at a desperate time for the company. bad design and corporate failures had been blamed for two tragic accidents involving the 737 max — in ethiopian and in indonesia — in which 346 people died. mr calhoun promised change but critics say that hasn't happened. he had opportunities to make changes as a member of the board. certainly in a ceo position, it's been one failure after the other, so i can't say there's been really any successes under mr calhoun. humanitarian worker sam pegram died when the ethiopian plane crashed. not only does poor safety kill people but it's pretty damning for the share price

and the careers of ceos as well, so, let's get somebody who can put focus where it matters and make planes safer for everybody. in a letter to workers, mr david calhoun said... his successor will need both qualities if they're to pilot the aerospace giant back into less turbulent skies. theo leggett, bbc news. plenty more on this story including the news analysis on the bbc news website. now to the annual boao forum for asia. it kicks off today in hainan in southern china. technology, trade and innovation are high on the agenda and the list of attendees include various high—profile business leaders. let's get more from our asia business reporter, sura njana tewari.

tell us more about this forum and tell us why it is more important. it and tell us why it is more important-— and tell us why it is more imortant. , ., ., , , important. it is an opportunity for foreign _ important. it is an opportunity for foreign investors _ important. it is an opportunity for foreign investors to - important. it is an opportunity for foreign investors to come l for foreign investors to come to china and see where they might want to put their money. it is also a chance for chinese businesses to see where they may want to expand their businesses. now, china, of course, is facing a severe slowdown. there is the property crisis, youth unemployment is very high and spending is at an all—time low. and so it really needs some investment and that economic growth. it also has that very ambitious gdp target - 5%. that very ambitious gdp target — 5%. already we are hearing from the foreign that investment in leisure is projected to reach a 4.5% so leaders will really be banking under that kind of growth. other topics up for discussion ai, electric vehicles and the chinese belt and road project.

the message certainly has to be china is open for business? it doesn't seem so and it comes just days after another invest in foreign open in beijing, the china development forum which was attended by some big ceos around the world, including apple ceo. they often complain that there is redtape in china and that regulations are not clear and also things like intellectual property theft. at that forum in beijing, chinese leaders said foreign firms would have a level playing field along side chinese firms. we will have to see if similar promises come out of the boao forum. . ~' ,, , . staying with china. and zooming in on the ev market, where one player has emerged as the front—runner — byd. recently the carmaker has been engaging in a full—out price war, discounting almost every electric and hybrid model it sells in china.

byd will report its annual results later this morning. ray wang from constellation research. i think we're expecting a 33% increase in net profits and we will see where that goes. there's a forecast net profit that will be 6.4%, a little bit higher than what was 4.9% higher than the last quarter, year over year. but we're in the middle of a price war and i think all tension is to see whether the oed�*s gaining in market share and gaining in profits and it will be interesting to see what's happening there because we've seen a slump in china for a little bit but we actually think that the government programmes at the moment that are actually encouraging the buyback and replacement of old cars with incentives for evs. so we'll see how that plays out when the numbers come out. just coming back to byd. they took the sales leadership crown in 04 of 2023. do you expect them to hold it in 01 of 202a? i think it will be close. there was a slump in china with the price war and a lot of what was going on may actually hold them back.

tesla was also pushing really hard towards the end and of course the new models with the cybertruck, so we will see if they can hold the crown of number one ev volume producer but i think it will be very close. the china development forum plans were put in place to spur innovation and growth especially in high—tech and clean energy. how do you see that impacting the ev sector in china? it's a boom. the xpengs, the zeekrs, the saics, the wulings, they're basically hoping for that renewal, the replacement from the internal combustion engines to ev, it's part of that modernisation and the reduction of dependency on germany, japan and the us, especially on the technology, and it gives them the ability to leapfrog ahead. so i think it's going to help the car makers in general but it's a very competitive market, especially given there are more players coming into that market very soon.

the eu has announced investigations in some of the biggest tech firms in the world for uncompetitive practices. they are being looked into the potential breaches of the act. they could be fined if they are found to have broken the rules. adam neumann has reportedly moved to buy the trouble for sharing company, we work. it was once valued at close to $50 billion. it filed for bankruptcy in the us last november. in the last hour, sri lanka's central bank has decided to lower interest rates by 50 basis points. now it is trying to steer the country out of its with debt.

the inflation rate has eased to around 6% but the economy still faces issues in the months ahead, the economy still faces many challenges. says ganeshan wignaraja from global think tank odi. the economy's indeed recovering. inflation is down to about 6% and the exchange rate is around 300 rupees to the us dollar. and there is also foreign reserves — extra 2.5 billion and tourism numbers are up. this is really due to decisive measures by the wickremesinghe government, with indian and the imf programme, but there is growth that is needed for the economy to come out of this crisis and to be able to pay off its debts — and exports are also needed and that's the big challenge going forward. the president says he expects the country to make a full

recovery byjune this year, obviously buoyed by the positive trajectory things have been going in. do you think that's realistic or do you think there's still a long way to go? growth this year could be i-i.5% in 2024 which is below the three odd per cent before the debt crisis in 2022 and poverty has risen to something like a quarter of the population, measured at about $3.65 which is the standard middle income policy measure, and we need growth of about 5% over 3—4 years to get to some kind of normalcy but unfortunately we have elections this year for the presidency and then parliament in 2025, and the two main opposition parties are saying they want to renegotiate the imf deal so there is uncertainty ahead in this very recovering scenario.

getting some context to the troubles plaguing sri lanka. japanese drug maker has recalled five health supplements because of concerns over kidney problems. the pharmaceutical said at least 26 people have been hospitalised after taking the product. they contain a type of yeast, fermented rice, which aims to lower bad cholesterol. however the sucker based firm has not yet reached a conclusion between its product and the kidney issue. —— osaka. experts are linking a shortage in canadian maple syrup to warmer weather but this will not affect the availability or price of maple syrup to consumers at least not for now. good news if you like it with your pancakes. and that's it for this edition of asia business report.

thanks for watching.

hey, i'mjulia with the catch up. tonight a festival of colour, a dragon ball theme park, and the race that would make superman weep. but first, the un security council has demanded an immediate ceasefire in gaza between israel and hamas. they have also demanded that all hostages be released. it is the first time they have reached this agreement. the us had previously used their veto but this time they changed their position and abstained. in response, the israeli pm benjamin netanyahu has cancelled a planned meeting between israel and the us. two men have been found guilty of cody fisher's murder. the 23—year—old was stabbed in a birmingham nightclub

on boxing day in 2022. the court heard that it was a revenge plot after cody brushed past one of the men in a bar two days earlier. his mum described the pair as evil. some other stories now. saudi arabia have announced they're building a dragon ball theme park, but some fans have criticised the idea because of the country's human rights record. and a runnerfrom scotland has become the first woman in history to finish the barkley marathons in tennessee. it covers 100 miles and enough uphill terrain to scale mount everest twice. plus you've got to finish it in 60 hours or less, which she did, with one minute and 39 seconds to spare. and we will leave you with ten seconds of colour, yes. and this is holi, or the festival of colours, and millions of indians have been celebrating it all over the world. people throw bright colours over friends and family

and dance to mark the beginning of spring. you're all caught up now. have a good night. hello and welcome to sportsday with me will perry. poland stand in the way of wales, who are are one game away from a place at euro 202a. the ugly side of the game — brazil's viniciuer breaks down as he's asked about racism ahead of his country's friendly against spain. and we hear from the first female runner to complete one of the world's toughest races as she arrives home in britain.

welcome to sportsday.