citizens in thailand and turkey have voted in elections that may shape the future of this region. we'll bring you what we know of the results. and unrest in pakistan continues, as former prime minister imran khan calls for nationwide protest. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm karishma vaswani. millions of votes are being counted across turkey and thailand, with both countries holding once—in—a—generation elections. with most ballots counted in turkey's crucial general election, there does not seem to be a clear winner yet. turkish presented recep tayyip erdogan has said he would respect the vote.

in turkey, soaring inflation and the fallout from the recent earthquake are top of voters�* minds as they decide whether the president, recep tayyip erdogan, will remain in power. standing against him is kemal kilicdaroglu, who is backed by a broad opposition alliance. turnout is thought to have been high, but there are conflicting claims about who is leading. here's what one of the supporters of the opposition had to say. translation: i am so excited. i can't feel my heartbeat. i still believe we will win. we have to get rid of this system already. especially as a woman, i want this change. the situation of the country is obvious. i'm extremely excited. we wait with enthusiasm. i hope we win, i hope all would be as we wish. we are a bit anxious, a bit tense. i haven't been able to sleep for the past week. i woke up at 5am today, casted my vote and directly came here right after. meanwhile in thailand, voters have overwhelmingly chosen to end nearly a decade of military rule. but the question is, who is next? both opposition parties are neck and neck to lead

the new government. here are the leaders of both the move forward and pheu thai parties. we have enough np seats to push any reforms we want to come and then the government will be a coalition, and will be like the western democracy where it is transparent, where it is concise, where there is expectation management of what can be done and what cannot be done. translation: the voice of the people is the most important. l whoever the people trust the most should be able to choose the prime minister of that party. but now i want to take you to pakistan. unrest continues to simmer there, after the former prime minister imran khan gave a virtual address calling for nationwide protest. he says he will start his election campaigning today

following his brief arrest last week and after being ousted last april. the situation has worsened instability in the country at a time of a severe economic crisis. inflation in the country rose to a record of 36% in april, the highest in south asia. the cost of food in pakistan increased 48% in april from a year ago. food prices there have been on an upward trend since last november. and the country is in the midst of an economic crisis that started last year. it's been hit with a double whammy of soaring inflation and depleting reserves of foreign currency, which it needs to purchase imports like food and fuel. yevgeniy zhukov of the asian development bank talked about the importance of the imf reforms. i think it is important that pakistan six to the current programme which it has with the international monetary fund. despite the political situation, it continues the reforms, focusing on strengthening its external balances and also paying special attention to improving

domestic resource mobilisation. some other stories for you today. in the philippines, the country's finance minister has said he sees no reason the central bank should raise interest rates further as domestic inflation is easing. benjamin diokno said he will be advocating for a pause in rate hikes when the members of the country's monetary board vote on thursday. the central bank has raised rates by more than four percentage points since last may. inflation in the country eased for a third straight month in april, coming in at 6.6%. meanwhile in argentina, the central bank there is to raise its benchmark interest rate to 97%. it's part of a package of measures aimed at reining in soaring inflation, which has risen to more than 100%. it's the third time in as many decades that the country has experienced hyperinflation and the prospect of economic collapse. the government will also increase intervention in the foreign exchange market and open up imports of items such as food to discourage mark—ups. the moves are aimed

at restoring confidence in the local currency ahead of general elections later this year. inflation also the spotlight later this week in various parts of the region. here's a look through the economic calendar. on tuesday, china is set to unveil its latest data on industrial production, retail and the labour market. a worry for china watchers — youth unemployment, which is currently at around i9%. midweek, we'll get a gauge of japan's economic performance in the first quarter. analysts polled by reuters are expecting a boost, thanks in part to spending in the services sector. and rounding off the week, another set of data from japan, the latest inflation reading. more companies there have been rising the price of consumer goods and services, so friday's data for april is expected to reflect that. a little earlier, i spoke tojingyi pan of s&p global market intelligence, who told me how japan's manufacturing sector is lagging.

we do see manufacturing having a bit of a slowdown. this was quite common it with china pmi numbers... inflation numbers coming down on good side of things. the effect forjapan particular is strong. it is any multi—month height and self, in terms of prices, so there could be pressure. it will be interesting to see how japan's numbers do pan out. but certainly i think for the china number, we do actually keep quite a close look at how production is expected to fair, given how it appears to be stalling and the chinese economy from the pmi reading so far. i want to pick up on the chinese economy and focusing on jobs and unemployment.

a lot of analysis around the fact that those figures are not particularly rosy. is your sense that that is going to be a big issue going forward for the chinese economy? certainly think it will be a priority. stalling growth since the covid restrictions altogether have been really eased in mainland china itself. the labour market issues have been... they have looked quite close to pre—covid situations, and moving forward, that is going to be something they have a bit of a close eye on as well. that was after one there from s&p global market intelligence, speaking to me a little earlier. and just before we go, twitter�*s new chief executive as the pandemic left many of us working from home and now, hybrid working, right, the popularity of the tracksuit seems to have surpassed that of the traditional suit.

men's suits emerged in the court of king charles ii back in the 17th century. a fun fact for you. as we begin the reign of king charles iii, do men's suits still hold the power they once did? aaron heslehurst�*s been speaking to niccolo ricci, ceo of stefano ricci, italian suit maker to the rich and famous. let's start with this. let's be frank, it may be many people watching around the world right now thinking, i've never heard of stefano ricci, but there are a lot of wealthy, famous men who do know and use you. in fact, you've dressed the likes of tom cruise, michael buble and nelson mandela. how do you make those connections? with people like that —— michael buble? the key is quality. that has been the key of success over our family, my parents started in 1972, in a small production under my grandmother's villa. it is really a family story,

and through the years, we are today with 70 boutiques around the world and shops, covering the most beautiful of the world. but besides from those famous faces is it fair to say that your customer base is for high net worth individuals who have the money and who, i don't know, probably want "made in italy" products? of course. a majority of our buyers are self—made millionaires or billionaires that need something for their wardrobe that is special. our opening price might be a 200 euros tie. we are open to a wide range of consumers entering our store. just briefly, what for example is a tailor—made stefano ricci suit going to cost me? it is 5000, 6000 to start. of course, then we have

extremely unique fabrics that can bring it up to 25,000. a matter of selecting the finest fabric in the world. as we all know, we are all facing soaring inflation. big increases in interest rates. soaring energy prices. a cost—of—living crisis. what impact is all of that having on your business? i have to be honest — looking at our clientele, it is not affecting their spending power including. maybe they might not buy the new boat, the new apartment, villa, but as a matter of clothing, it is not affecting that much. we are experiencing raising prices in the energy cost, transportation, and as a company, we decided to have a small increase in prices, internally. and that's it for this edition

of asia business report. thanks for watching. do stay with bbc news. 3am on the central line in this team is cleaning a mix of human hair, skin and metal that comes from the brakes on tracks. it’s from the brakes on tracks. it's everywhere- — from the brakes on tracks. it�*s everywhere. the team uses a magnetic one is to lift the waste into bags and takeaway times every night. it is hard, hot work. these track cleaning teams work right through the night and what they are trying to do is clean up all of the debris so it doesn't create tube dust which then people breathing. this section of track was cleared just a month ago. two teams managed to cover 40% of the network a year. dust

has always been a problem on the underground. once tube of lovers, as they were then known, clean the tracks. in the debris is also a fire hazard. the dusty slides are the central and bake alone. now research is being done into the health impact of the dust. tfl says the levels of iron oxide are within current health limits and air quality on the tube is not harmful. tfl says results from research will be known sometime this year and also wants to use new technologies to clean the tube's air, but at the moment it says these track cleaners will help keep dust levels down.

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amazing. pm guide dog community are amazing-— guide dog community are amazinu. ., ., amazing. an operation stop mans amazing. an operation stop maggs from _ amazing. an operation stop maggs from continuing - amazing. an operation stop maggs from continuing her| amazing. an operation stop - maggs from continuing her work with guide dogs, but she is now training ted, her dog, to become a therapy dog and hopes to take him into hospices. hello, i'm lizzie greenwood—hughes from the bbc sport centre. coming up on the programme: barcelona have claimed their 27th la liga title and their first since 2019. xavi won eight as a player with barca and now this one as a manager. is the premier league title race over? manchester city could be a game away from being champions after they win and arsenal lose. and the leader of the giro d'italia, remco evenepoel, is forced to withdraw from the race. find out why. so, lots going on with title races around europe. barcelona have been crowned la liga champions for the first time in four

years after hammering local rivals espanyol1t—2.