welcome to asia business report. another one bites the dust — first republic becomes the third bank to collapse in the us since last month. will it be the last? is australia doing enough to keep its carbon emissions on tech? we will have the latest. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm karishma vaswani. we begin with the banking turmoil in the us. shares of several regional banks have closed in the red on monday.

it signals concern about the health of the sector, following the collapse of first republic and its acquisition byjp morgan chase. the wall street giant said it would pay $10.6—billion—dollars to the federal insurance deposit corp, after officials shut down the smaller bank. first republic had been under pressure since last month, when the collapse of two other us lenders sparked fears about the state of the banking system. meanwhile, the managing director of the international monetary fund kristalina georgieva says she expects more weaknesses to be exposed in the banking sector. so just how vulnerable is it? let's ask the chief global investment officer of oreana financial, isaac poole. i think there is a real risk of that. this is probably not the end of bank failures. we are seeing these problems in the smaller, regional, medium—sized banks, really exposed to higher interest rates. we are going to see another interest hike from the fed which might add extra pressure on depositors and so forth.

as we look out, there is a real risk that initially what was a bank specific problem becomes a wider problem for the system. what is driving these risks going forward? is it higher interest rates as you are talking about or something more like a lack of regulation and oversight contributing to into this? that has certainly contributed to. the regulation re—environments and that is likely to tighten up. i think that could add further pressure to the us economy and banking system. we will see, i think, more revelation added on the small and medium—size banks. that will tighten credit positions even further and banks will be cautious about who they lend to going forward. that, of course, would put downward pressure on the us economy which is a doom loop for banks because if the economy falls into recession banks will not benefit from that and exposed banks will find themselves in risk of trouble.

is there any way to arrest this doom loop as you describe it but we are at three banks right now and not the entire sector. is there a way for officials to say we are going to make things stable going forward? i think the acknowledgement that the larger banks are in pretty good shape here, and is just a smaller and medium—sized banks that are at risk. there are some actions that can be taken. for example, more depositary insurance for businesses and extending the deposit insurance beyond the current limits and i think the fed think very cautious being forward and also easing some of the risk in the banking sector. the final rake rake rate type, perhaps this week, which can give the banking sector some time to play it through. well, the turmoil in the world's largest economy is not limited to the banking sector.

it's playing out in congress as well with the two sides of the aisle once again involved in a bitterfight over the debt limit. the us treasury secretary janet yellen said in a letter to congress that the agency will be unlikely to meet all us government payment obligations "by earlyjune, and potentially as early asjune one" without action by congress. in 2011, a similar debt ceiling fight took the country to the brink of default and prompted a downgrade of its top—notch credit rating. a statement from the airline described her handling of the company's finances during the covid crisis as outstanding. she is succeeding alanjoyce who will retire in november. to australia now, where the country's central bank is due to make its monetary policy decision in the next few hours. the meeting comes ahead

of the much anticipated us federal reserve own monetary policy decision later this week. in the last few months, some asia—pacific central banks have started to hit the pause button on rate hikes, australia included... but the us central bank has continued raising its key interest rate, despite the banking turmoil there. so what lays ahead ? lets bring in catherine birch from a—n—z now for more. financial markets and most economists are experts in the rba to pause but we think the decision would be a close one still far too high but the key safety data shows inflation is coming down and probably was in line or slightly below what the rba forecast and there is economic data that will feed into their decision today.

we have just been talking about how the us economy has been impacted by higher interest rate, and particularly the banking sector. how much has australia's economy being adversely affected by the cycle? the banking sector in australia has been very resilient we look across the economic data and see signs of softening but it seems there is a lot of momentum in inflation. the labour market remains tight as well and even though spending, continued spending, is starting ease and business indicators are cited ease as well we are expecting that momentum was on the slow gradually stopped while we do see gdp growth slowing and being below trend by the end of this year, we don't expect things to deteriorate sharply here which is in mind with some of the data we are seen overseas in the us where rates and inflation have been sticky with overall demand.

a say australia needs less gas because demand has fallen sharply but the energy sector insist that more gas supplies have acquired to smoothen the transition to renewables. the government has promised to cut carbon emissions by 43% from 2005 levels by 2030 and it aims to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. phil mercer has more. gas has ignited a fierce row over australia's energy future. the government says new gas field will give the power grid the reliability it needs during the transition to renewable sources. australia also wants to reassure its partners that it is a dependable supplier of liquefied natural gas. you make the practical reality is that we need to be investing

in more gas supply. we are a large exporter alongside quatar and the us, we are one of the world's largest exporters and that is really supporting emissions reductions and energy security in our partnering countries including japan, korea, china. but in march, the us secretary general cold and wealthy countries such as australia to urgently stop approving new fossil fuel projects. critics accuse canberra of failing to heed warnings from the intergovernmental panel on climate change and believe that gases are fading resorts. since 2014 and the electricity system, gas use has collapsed tired and if we look after 2030, australia manning market says it will fall a further 34% so you have had a crash upon a crash. the reason for this is, we are moving towards more renewables. clean energy now generates more than a third of australia's

electricity. big companies are also looking at ways to become greener and use less power. innovation is a fundamental part of australia's efforts to tackle global warming. at this treatment facility near sydney algae is being used to reduce levels of pollution and waste water that comes from nearby towns. it is far less energy intensive than traditional methods. we have an aspiration to be carbonate zero by 2030 and across our entire supply chain by 2040. our customers are telling us they want us to be carbon neutral. it is fundamentally important for us that we make investments for an energy intensive organisation to lead the way in carbonate zero. australia has a target to reach net zero emissions by 2050 but coal and gas still generate much of its energy. the switch to renewables is unstoppable. nagging question remains, is the transition happening fast enough?

before we do let me tell you about the escalating feud between the florida state government and disney. a board appointed by governor ron desantis which oversees disney's special district has voted to sue the entertainment giant. this comes a week after disney filed a suit against mr desantis. the board chair said the board had no choice now but to respond. the row between governor desantis and the house of mouse began after disney criticised the state's parental rights in education act that has been dubbed by critics as the don't say gay bill. lots more than the bbc website has always but

for now that brings us to the end of asia business report. at 91—years—old, norma deeves is cycling down familiar roads. as she pedals on this adaptive exercise bike, the screen takes her to beaumaris, where she grew up. this venture is all about getting older people moving and stimulating the brain. seeing her hometown, norma is reminded of the tradition of throwing hot pennies from a hotel balcony. the kids were going mad, you know, to get them first, to get them. were you good at getting them? not really, no. run by digital communities wales and supported by anglesey council, the project also bridges

the gap between generations. local sixth form pupils adapted four of these bikes as part of a one day technology challenge. they'll now be used in care homes across the island. we give them a blueprint of what they were, so basic exercise bike, but we've made modifications to it, implemented code, macro, like, little tiny computers to make it to where it can do what it does. it's another occasion to bring people together. people can talk about their background when they were growing up. that memory lane is always just a short ride away. hello, i'm jack with the catch up. the mum of a student who killed himself days after sharing his suicidal thoughts with his university

said it could have been different if the uni had told his family he was struggling. charlie mcleod was found dead in his student accommodation in aberystwyth in february. the uni said it was in touch with charlie throughout the year. if you feel you need to talk with someone, guidance on how and where to seek help can be found online. just search for bbc action line. some other stories for you now. and first to ukraine, where russia has launched a second missile attack in just three days. these scenes in dnipro where a logistics warehouse was hit, a majorfire broke out and hours later air raid siren sounded across the country, including in the capital, kyiv. fighting continues in sudan, particularly in the capital, khartoum. 0pposing sides had said they would extend a previously agreed truce by three days, but air strikes have continued. more than 500 people are reported to have died

with the actual number believed to be much higher. millions of people remain trapped in the city. heartbreakfor arsenal tonight, as they're out of the women's champions league after losing 3—2 in extra time to german side wolfsburg. and how would you fancy being top of the pecking orderfor thisjob? you would have to bat off 200 other people who have all gone for the role, wearing this costume for seagull scaring duties at the blackpool zoo. applicants even had to send in an audition video. you're up—to—date now. see you later.

hello, i'mjane dougall, from the bbc sport centre. coming up on the programme. belgium's luca brecel is the first player from mainland europe to lift snooker�*s world championship trophy. two—time winners wolfsburg knock arsenal out of the women's champions league in extra time. and leicester city draw a chaotic match with everton, which leaves both in deep trouble in the premier league. there was an exciting finish to the final of the world snooker championship

— belgian luca brecel winning it for the first time. he beat the four time champion, england's mark selby.