is dead. he's understood to have died in a military operation, but us officials have not given any details of how he died. the us federal reserve has cut interest rates for the first time in more than a decade. the american central bank said the rate would be lowered by o.25%. and this video is trending on bbc.com. a toddler in china has miraculously survived a six—storey fall, caught by passers—by holding out a blanket below. chinese authorities reported the good news that he not only survived, but got away without injury. that's all. stay with bbc world news. the top story in the uk: the government has announced more than £2 billion of extra funding to prepare

for a no—deal brexit. now on bbc news, live to singapore for asia business report. a cutting response. the fed lowers its interest rates for the first time in more than a decade, but the us president and investors show their disappointment. india's smartphone app economy. how young social media stars can earn more than engineers and lawyers. —— smartphone economy. hello and welcome to asia business report, i'm sharanjit leyl. we start with the us, because the federal reserve has cut its main interest rate for the first time since the financial crisis. the

0.25% cut had been widely expected by investors, but as michelle fleury is reporting, you can see how the markets reacted, you can see investors expressing their disappointment and donald trump also expressing his disappointment after chairmanjerome expressing his disappointment after chairman jerome powell called expressing his disappointment after chairmanjerome powell called the move a midcycle adjustment rather than a turning point in the central bank policy. the last time the us federal reserve cut interest rates, the american economy was in the depths of its worst recession since the 1930s and now it's enjoying its longest period of uninterrupted growth. nevertheless, the federal reserve thinks it's necessary to cut interest rates. in explaining what was seen interest rates. in explaining what was seen as a interest rates. in explaining what was seen as a precautionary interest rates. in explaining what was seen as a precautionary measure, said chairman jerome powell was seen as a precautionary measure, said chairmanjerome powell cited international concerns over domestic ones. it is intended to ensure against downside in risks from week growth from trade policy and offsetting the effects it's having on the economy.

after the announcement, donald trump expressed his ongoing displeasure with the fed, tweeting mr powell and the central bank have let us down by not taking a more aggressive stance on interest rates. earlier, when asked whether the fed caved to white house pressure, mr powell had this to say. we never take into account political discussions. we also don't conduct monetary policy to prove our independence. us stocks fell on the news. wall street hoped many more cuts would follow, but mr powell said this was not the start of a long cycle of rate cuts. rather, it would continue to monitor the us economy and act as appropriate. michelle fleury in washington. the third move comes as central banks around the world are starting to loosen policy in the face of trade wa rs loosen policy in the face of trade wars and a global economic slowdown. earlier i asked a market strategist how the decision in the us could

influence policymakers in other countries. i think really when you see a global easing from central banks, it sets offa easing from central banks, it sets off a tit for tat behaviour from central banks, as really most of them would like to have that pressure on their exchange rate because it boosts exports' competitiveness and stimulates domestic demand, so it's a key measure through which central bank stimulus actually works. with her that from the central bank in australia, the reserve bank. governor philip lowe has been vocal in the fact the australian dollar is a key stimulation measure through which they wish to transmit their easing methods. a weaker australian dollar boosts export competitiveness for australia and it stimulates domestic demand, so that's one of the reasons why as we see the us fed moving on rate cuts, we see other central banks around the world doing the same. not to mention the fact that we also have a deceleration in

global growth at the moment and a downturn in the global manufacturing cycle a nd downturn in the global manufacturing cycle and the industrial sector, and we also have the trade war. eleanor creagh in sydney. in other news, anomalous has said its first—quarter profits soared more than tenfold as japan's top investment bank sought to draw a line after its worst year in a decade with a shakeup of the business. company shares havejumped this morning in tokyo trade. south korean exports fell injuly for the eighth month in a row. the south korean won slipped against the us dollar on news of the ii% south korean won slipped against the us dollar on news of the 11% drop for last month. meanwhile, face—to—face talks between the us and china have ended with little progress. both sides have agreed to resume negotiations in september, extending the uneasy truce between the world's two biggest economies stop now the us is turning its attention to another trade dispute, this time between japan and south korea. later today

us secretary of state mike pompeo is set to sit down with foreign ministers to cool simmering tensions between the two countries stop business leader monica miller has been watching this dispute stop in seoul recently proposed a joint fund with japan to compensate south korean workers working forjapanese companies during the second world war but tokyo rejected the idea out of hand, saying this issue was resolved in a 1955 settlement. last month, japan reigned in exports of high—tech materials to south korea, citing national security concerns. its called a white list of countries that enjoy minimum trade restrictions. the us has proposed a ceasefire to these tensions and wa nts to ceasefire to these tensions and wants to mediate that dispute. washington officials are deeply concerned about these trade tensions getting worse. a stable relationship

between the two neighbours is pivotal to washington's continuing influence in asia, where north korea's nuclear ambitions threaten peace and beijing's's territorial claims disrupt order in the south china sea. tokyo and seoul are some of washington's closest allies in asia and both countries are hosting a total of more than 80,000 us troops. you'll be watching that closely stop thanks, monica. in other news, and the tributes have been paid to vg said artur, the founder of india's guest coffee chain. his body was discovered near a river in the southern city of bangalore, sparking an investigation by authorities and his company into his death. the uk government has announced an extra $2.5 billion of funding to prepare for a no—deal brexit. the plan includes more border force officers and upgrades to transport infrastructure at

ports. britain's opposition labour party described the move as a waste of taxpayer money. the boss of ryanair has won staff to prepare forjob cuts in the coming weeks, saying the airline has 900 to two many pilots and cabin crew. in a video message to workers, michael only reclaim the planned cuts to flights next summer due to the grounding of its boeing 737 max fleet. in the hopes of becoming social media stars, young people in india's smaller towns are signing up for a live streaming app called bego live, as singers and dancers who attract large numbers of followers can attract more money than engineers and lawyers. but the platforms paving these parts to fame are among several vying for a slice of the world's second smartphone market. with just a smartphone app and a mobile app, ranji performs her daily

tribute to 90s bollywood for 60,000 virtual fans. its tribute to 90s bollywood for 60,000 virtualfans. its not tribute to 90s bollywood for 60,000 virtual fans. its not harming anyone, right? a five digit good salary. better than going to a workplace and working. i do say things to them back, i say, you're the ones watching me so i don't know what your problem is! thanks to a basic salary from bego live and gifts from admirers, live streaming will soon become ranji's main source of income. and she's by no means alone. across india, more than 13,000 rappers, dancers and musicians are on the 03 payroll, and this is how they are recruited. in the mostly rural state of recruited. in the mostly rural state otharkhand, this is a scout handpicked to discover and train local talent. translation: handpicked to discover and train local talent. translationzlj handpicked to discover and train localtalent. translation: i look for my potential hosts on social media. if they have any talent, i

message them or comment on their posts and ask if they would like to bea posts and ask if they would like to be a host. when i get a reply from them, i tell them about bego. injust two months, he's them, i tell them about bego. in just two months, he's earned enough information to support his young family. but the rewards for firms like mac 03 might be much larger. ina larger. in a country with hundreds of millions of smartphone users, the so—called attention economy is big as nurse and companies, including many chinese owned firms, are spending billions of dollars trying to get in on the act. but with their rapid growth has come concerns over harmful, explicit and even illegal content harmful, explicit and even illegal co nte nt sto p harmful, explicit and even illegal content stop bigo says it strictly regulates what its millions of users can do and say. whatever regulations the government say, we follow them. we have over 500 million people who are on these platforms in 19 languages. we want a platform for all users.

the start—up uses algorithms to detect when hosts smoke, swear or mention contentious subjects. scouts are also trained to sensor culturally offensive content, none of which bothers ranji.|j culturally offensive content, none of which bothers ranji. i want eve ryo ne of which bothers ranji. i want everyone to send me kisses and love mes. . . everyone to send me kisses and love mes... the only verdict she claims is that of her legion of honour newfound followers. a quick look at those asian markets before we go. the nikkei 225 in tokyois before we go. the nikkei 225 in tokyo is lower following wall street's losses after the fed rate cut. that's it for this edition of asia business report. thanks for watching. this is bbc news. the top stories this hour: osama bin laden's son, hamza, chosen successor to lead al-anda, has reportedly been killed. it's unclear if the us played a role in his death. the us federal reserve cuts interest rates for the first time

in more than a decade, president trump demands a bigger reduction. there is major disruption tonight for roads and rail services in the north of england, as well as homes being flooded, as intense rain affects many areas. a major incident has been declared in cheshire, while parts of north yorkshire had a month's worth of rain injust four hours. our correspondent judith moritz reports. using inflatable dinghies to get to flooded homes, rescue crews help 11 people and four dogs to safety this evening in bramall, south of manchester. with force enough to pick up this being, water in the area has been raging all afternoon. in nearby cheadle hume, the floods moved along roads, across driveways and energy back gardens. in poynton, a major incident was declared as people grabbed whatever they could to bail out the water. the last 2a hours in north yorkshire have been atrocious. this toddler carried out

of the torrent, his family in the car when rescuers reached them. in the end, they came around the field and waded through to the back of our car and rescued us and a few other people from the boot of the car. from the boot of the car? in the boot of the car, yes, i guess we were on a slope and it is where the water seemed the slowest and the lowest that way. hailstones hammer down on this housing estate in leyburn. you couldn't believe what you were filming? no. allison lawes was in disbelief as she videoed the storm on her phone. today she was left to clean up and reflect on the speed with which the flood took hold. there was a carpet of hailstones across everywhere, it was like winter, it was like it had snowed. the next thing i heard was gurgling up my plug hole in the bathroom which i had never heard before, and the rain started. i went downstairs to make a cup of tea and realised

the water was coming through the door. there ‘s been disruption to travel across the north today. the settle—to—carlisle train line suffered a landslip and will stay closed until tomorrow. this new bypass road near manchester airport has been blocked for hours. and this part of buxton in derbyshire was a no through route. with so many roads blocked some commuters got creative, urban canoeing the most effective way to get across town. hello, this is sport today, live from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme: england welcome back pace bowlerjames anderson, as the hosts prepare to face australia in the opening test of their ashes series in birmingham. georgia hall looks ahead as she gets set to defend

the women's british open, which tees off in the coming hours. and tottenham beat hosts bayern munich on penalties to win the audi cup. hello there and welcome to the programme, where we start with cricket, and on the eve of the first test between england and australia in birmingham, the home side sprang a surprise by leaving jofra archer out of their starting line—up. the west indies—born pace bowler, who starred during the recent world cup, will have to wait a little longer to make his test debut. chris woakes is the preferred option, after taking six wickets in last week's win over ireland. our sports correspondent joe wilson reports. cricket history lesson one — the ashes equals the ultimate. the smallest prize in literal size, they are holding it,