asia's second biggest economy beat expectations, with japan's economy growing much stronger in the first three months of this year than expected. us lawmakers grill the former heads of the collapsed silicon valley bank and signature bank, looking to find out what went wrong. welcome to asia business report. i'm mariko oi. let's begin in japan.

to go above 30,000. japan has just released growth figures. asia's second—biggest economy grew 1.6% on annualised rate, much better than what had been predicted. i spoke to neil newman from macquarie capital. we have been closely watching wage growth, the wage number, which hasn't really filtered through into anything visible as yet. the gdp number certainly does indicate there is a large amount of the domestic economy now contributing to this. as you mentioned cap ex, business spending was up 0.9 on the annual basis, way ahead of expectations. but even private consumption was also up, 0.6% against the market consensus of 0.4. even though it appears the wage

number we have been looking at, the last numbers were in march, they were not that impressive, in fact they were quite depressing. the next key one will be injune, april's numbers, and that's when we will start to see the increase in overall wages. of course it's notjust the wage number that contributes to all of this, it's the broad household income pay, which includes white—collar salaries as well as blue—collar wages. talking about a lost two decades, three decades almost, does that meanjapan�*s economy is finally starting to pick up? it can become an academic conversation, because around 2016, there was a crossover point, the things that japan makes and sells overseas actually exceeded the amount of things they made and sold plus exports domestically. at that point, around 2016,

japan basically offshored. now when we look at the overall numbers for gdp, it's a bit vague exactly how welljapanese companies are doing. it always comes in on the low side of reality because these are not tracked particularly well. 0veralljapanese companies are doing extremely well. the earning season we have just come through, some very positive numbers, clearly expansion of margins and sales, it's heading in the right direction. finally i think we can look forward to probably two or three years of a bull market injapanese equities. the company behind chatgpt has said artificial intelligence need close dot

. this was a really unusual congressional— . this was a really unusual congressional hearing forl . this was a really unusual| congressional hearing for a number of reasons. the main one was that you had democrat and republican politicians and the chief executive of open ai all in agreement that this could be like the printing press, revolutionary, and it could have real dangers to use vanity, it could lead to mass job losses and fuelled this information. they all agreed there needs to be some kind of regulator. an agency that has specific laws that has real teeth to regulate the entire industry of artificial intelligence. it's pretty unusual to get someone like sam, a technology chief executive, saying, i want regulation. he even pointed out what kind of regulation he wanted. he wants an agency to be able to give licenses to

companies like 0pen ai, be able to give licenses to companies like 0pen al, to carry out research, and if they don't live up to those standards, he wants regulators to be able to take away those licences. that is what he says and many democrats and republicans agreed. some republicans agreed. some republicans want laws to make it easier for republicans want laws to make it easierfor 0pen republicans want laws to make it easier for open al to be sued by general members of the public. it did feel like a bit of a moment. after this hearing, we can be pretty confident there is going to be some kind of new regulator established in the us. i am quite sure there will be a new regulator in the eu and probably in the uk as well. staying in washington, the former heads of two collapsed us banks, silicon valley bank and signature bank, have been defending their leadership. us lawmakers blame their poor management for theirfailures management for their failures after silicon valley bank ran into trouble when depositors withdrew funds at an alarming rate and that caused a run on

the bank and lead to panic in the bank and lead to panic in the banking system. congress wants to know what went wrong. it was the first time anyone had heard from the former ceo of silicon valley bank, after the spectacular collapse of the financial elite macro financial institution that he ran for more than a decade. he did not take responsibility for the collapse. the former executives that where there were slammed for the millions of dollars they received in compensation and were asked if they had any intention of returning some of those funds. how much of the $40 million that you earned from loading up svb bank with risk are you planning to return to the fdic? i know there's been a lot of compensation about compensation. i have a very simple question, how much are

you planning to return? senator, i promise to co—operate. are you planning to return a single nickel to what you cost the fund? senator, i know you are going to. i will take that as a no. senator warren was quick to point out the executives present at the hearing had also lobbied congress to roll back regulations on regional banks, which the federal reserve said was a contributing factor to the bank collapse. it is estimated there are more than 6 billion smartphone users around the world with smartphone applications. they are much more accessible on the phone these days, so it's no surprise that the mobile apps market is lucrative. total revenue in the sector is estimated to go past $450 billion last year,

and according to industry forecast, shopping from your phones will account for 44% of digital sales by 2025, up from just 15% right now. as mobile apps grow in popularity, consumer expectations are also changing. that is something tom knows very well. he is with appdome, a mobile cyber security platform and i asked what consumers can do to protect themselves. the threat landscape has definitely evolved rapidly as consumers move to mobile applications, and the revenue moves to mobile applications. cyber thieves and criminals follow suit. there are some basic things consumers can do, like downloading apps only from legitimate app stores. not doing anything to compromise their operating system, jailbreaking and things of that nature. but the real burden really has to be borne by the publisher of the mobile

application, the developer. the reality is the sophistication of the attacks, and the malware on people's devices today, really outpaces the ability of the individual consumer to protect themselves. we are all really counting on the developer and publisher to deliver to us the protections that we need to keep us safe, happy, using our applications every day. what about e—wallets? is there anyway to keep them safe? they are a boon, particularly in asia pacific. an amazing adoption of technology in the asia—pacific market as well as around the world. e—wallets are huge around the world, making transactions and purchasing very convenient. a lot of these technologies at their core are mobile apps, so they have all the same

vectors of attack that a traditional mobile app would have, a banking app, etc. a lot of the same tools and techniques that defenders have to use to protect every other app need to be used to protect mobile apps, things like data encryption as well as antifraud defences inside the mobile application itself, which run the gamut of all kinds of techniques and methods to keep us safe. if you are looking at any kind of application that has transactions in it, regardless of how that application is used, or where it is used, the bar is definitely moving up in terms of the quality of protection that needs to be delivered to keep the user safe. vodafone is new boss says the mobile giant will have two shed 11,000 jobs over the next three years as part of her plans to simplify the tiller silicon giant. she is also the finance

director and said performance has not been good enough. it is a tenth of the global workforce. that's it, thanks for watching. jakeis jake is just 11 years old and only began playing 11 months ago. only began playing 11 months auo, , only began playing 11 months am, , , only began playing 11 months ao, , , ., only began playing 11 months auo. , ., ., , only began playing 11 months ago. just playing to notes at the same — ago. just playing to notes at the same time. _ ago. just playing to notes at the same time. and - ago. just playing to notes at the same time. and then i ago. just playing to notes at - the same time. and then making chords and that, which was pretty fun. chords and that, which was pretty fun-— pretty fun. this incredible talent has _ pretty fun. this incredible l talent has been discovered after years of struggle at school. but without any lessons, this natural ability to play the piano has revealed itself by chance at school. figs itself by chance at school. as we were waiting in the waiting room, — we were waiting in the waiting room. we _ we were waiting in the waiting room, we could hear someone playing — room, we could hear someone playing the piano. the head teacher_ playing the piano. the head teacher said, that's jacob playing _ teacher said, that's jacob playing. his mum and i were convinced _

playing. his mum and i were convinced it was not, because he doesn't _ convinced it was not, because he doesn't play the piano. jake doesnt he doesn't play the piano. jake doesn't read _ he doesn't play the piano. ii—e doesn't read music or learn the pieces off by heart. at doesn't read music or learn the pieces off by heart.— pieces off by heart. at times findin: pieces off by heart. at times finding school— pieces off by heart. at times finding school difficult, - pieces off by heart. at times finding school difficult, they | finding school difficult, they would — finding school difficult, they would allow him to play the pian0~ _ would allow him to play the pine it_ would allow him to play the piano. it kind of came out in that— piano. it kind of came out in that setting.— that setting. his teacher thinks he _ that setting. his teacher thinks he could - that setting. his teacher thinks he could take - that setting. his teacher thinks he could take this talent far.— thinks he could take this talent far. �* . . , , talent far. i've already seen him teaching _ talent far. i've already seen him teaching other - talent far. i've already seen | him teaching other students parts — him teaching other students parts of his _ him teaching other students parts of his work— him teaching other students parts of his work as - him teaching other students parts of his work as well, i parts of his work as well, which _ parts of his work as well, which is _ parts of his work as well, which is a _ parts of his work as well, which is a really - which is a really big achievement. - which is a really big| achievement. there which is a really big - achievement. there was also potential— achievement. there was also potentiai to _ achievement. there was also potential to be _ achievement. there was also potential to be a _ achievement. there was also potential to be a composer, i potential to be a composer, a performer, _ potential to be a composer, a performer, working in - potential to be a composer, a performer, working in film i potential to be a composer, ai performer, working in film and tv. , performer, working in film and tv. this track, the wonder of fire, is tv. this track, the wonder of fire. isiust_ tv. this track, the wonder of fire, is just the _ tv. this track, the wonder of fire, isjust the first - tv. this track, the wonder of fire, isjust the first of - fire, is just the first of many. tonight, new zealand, referees. men in the uk are being paid up to £10,000 to pose as dads for migrant women's babies.

a bbc investigation found they are being offered the dosh to add their names to birth certificates. this enables the kid to get uk citizenship and gives the mums a way to stay in the uk long term. at least six people have died and others remain unaccounted for following a fire in a hostel in wellington in new zealand. adverts that claim products are carbon neutral using offsets like tree planting are to be banned by the uk advertising watchdog, unless companies can prove they really work. many big companies use these to boost their green credentials with consumers. students at cambridge university have told they won't be graduating this summer due to a boycott in marking and assessment by university staff. behaviour by managers and players towards referees is not good enough, the boss of football referees have told the bbc.

he said they are exploring audio for video assistant referee decisions to fans. we made a commitment to be more transparent and open, to give the football public some insights into how the decisions are made. now ten seconds of crisp packets and sweet wrappers, some have been found dating back as far as the 19605 on a norfolk beach. pretty rustly. bye for now.

if welcome to if the programme. inter milan progress to the champions league final. a blow for england ahead of the ashes, jofra archer is ruled out for the coming months. and what is getting novak djokovic's back up at the italian 0pen? we start with the footballing news, inter milan have overcome