of course, both have trade and political tensions with china. the move sparked a warning from beijing, which considers taiwan part of chinese territory. samira hussain has more. trade between the united states and taiwan amounts to about $75 billion a year. that number is dwarfed by china's trade with taiwan, which stands at a massive $120 billion a year. by signing this trade deal, the us is looking to build its presence in asia and rival china. taiwan for its part is looking to reduce its economic dependence on china, especially in light of the geopolitical tensions between it and beijing. unsurprisingly, china did not react well, saying the united states should stop any form of official exchanges with taiwan under the guise of trade. beijing has stepped up threats and rhetoric against

taiwan in recent years, increased military drills in the seas around the island, and working to cut off its official ties with countries around the world. discussions between washington and taipei began in august of last year. this current agreement covers issues like customs with regard to trade, anti—corruption measures, and investment opportunities for a small and medium—sized enterprises. let's stay on the topic of tensions between the us and china — asia's biggest annual security summit gets under way later in singapore. defence leaders from more than a0 countries will meet at the shangri la hotel. as tensions continue to grow between the two countries, their defence spending is following a similar trend. monica miller reports. the escalating tension between the two countries is turning out to be costly for the us and china. beijing has increased its military spending by more than 7% this year as they try to modernise their military. however, the americans have

roughly $840 billion — that's more than double what china has to spend. despite geo— political tensions, the two still heavily rely on trade with one another, and that number reached a record high last year of almost $700 billion. that's even if both sides have been in a trade war since 2018. after covid, americans started to buy more goods from china like toys and smartphones, in the us started to sell more products to china like agricultural goods, such as corn and soybeans. but now the two sides find themselves in another clash over semiconductors. washington has imposed export controls on sign that limits the sale of chip—making tools. and as the ai tech race heats up, the stakes will only get higher. monica will be reporting from that summit later, so do stay in tune. we're waiting on the latest growth data from south korea this morning. the central bank there was one

of the first to follow the us federal reserve, and embark on an aggressive rate—hiking cycle to tackle inflation. but some say the bank of korea may be ready to start cutting rates even as early as next month. johanna chua is head of asia pacific economics, at citi global markets asia. she gave me her predictions for what the bank of korea will do. so we are expecting them potentially byjuly, monetary potentially by july, monetary policy potentially byjuly, monetary policy to start giving them i could give some signals for the first rate cut, which we expect will be in august, with a 60% probability, or could be 0ctober probability, or could be october with a 40% probability. what are some of the challenges facing south korea's economy? of course china's slower than of course china's slower than expected recovery, manufacturing, surely that's had some kind of impact? there's a little bit of an impact, when you look at some of the exports out of korea at the margin, there's been a weakness in the tech sector that's offset some of the strength we've seen in exports

in autos to europe. but the external backdrop is quite challenging because of the lack of global demand. i think the other challenge in korea is obvious the household debt is not only high, but it picked up a lot over the last couple years, and after a rate hike by the be ok, the tightening is certainly weighing on economic activity given that 80% of household debt is floating, so if that'll obviously be a concern. so even though we've had a bit of upside with the reopening of the services sector, that's being offset by the fact that the private consumption in korean households is offset by a deleveraging that's also been happening, and the weight of that tightening. sri lanka has cut its interest rate by a huge two—and—a—half percentage points. it's the first cut in three years — something the government says is a sign the country's economy is finally starting to recover from a crippling economic crisis. interest rates had been raised to record levels in an effort to calm spiralling inflation.

the international monetary fund, which is currently funding an almost $3 billion bailout, said the south asian nation is showing a "strong commitment" to implementing economic reforms. now to turkey because this weekend, president recep tayyip erdogan will be sworn in for an unprecedented third term. the results have led the turkish lira to a fresh all time low this week, suggesting a lack of confidence in the administration. richard grieveson is deputy director at the vienna institute for international economic studies. he told me about the unconventional approach the turkish leader has taken to calm inflation. i think the short answer to this question is monetary policy. the lire, as you say, has been under severe downward pressure for some time now, and the main reason for that is the policy being pursued by the central bank at a time when

major central banks around the world have been hiking rates and inflation, turkey has been cutting rates which has led to a loss of confidence in the economy and further downward pressure on the lira. we will see with them today the new cabinet announced — their hopes amongst markets and foreign investors that we will see a return to a more orthodox economic policymaking after the election with a new cabinet, and above all a change in the monetary policy stance —— policy stance. in response to inflation which is still at 4%, that'll certainly help stabilise. now to india — where demand for fuel has grown significantly last month, indicating strong economic actvitity. it's the world's third—biggest oil importer and consumer. according to industry data, petrol and diesel sales soared more than 10% on year in

the month of may — and that's despite high prices. archana shukla reports. patrol and diesel sales have been up from the 2nd of march after activity started picking up, but as summer and heat deep intimate, fuel went up to fuel generators. it's the most consumed fuel in india, saw a near 10% rise in sale. demand for travel services are also on the rise. it's the summer holiday travel season and domestic airlines are carrying a record number of passengers, and that's reflected in jet fuel sales too. now growing fuel sales too. now growing fuel demand shows economic activity has kept pace in april and may this fiscal also after india posted a 7.2% growth for fiscal 2023. india posted a 7.2% growth for fiscal2023. it india posted a 7.2% growth for fiscal 2023. it also indicates appetite for more fuel imports for the country, where 85% of our age are democrat energy needs are imported. a sticking

point has been high petrol and diesel prices. it has stayed elevated at levels in april and may of 2022 even after global crude oil prices have fallen by more than 40—50% since then. now this is despite india having access to larger amounts of discounted russian crude oil, which according to reports is at least $10 cheaper than international rates. now that means billions of dollars of savings for oil marketing companies. but that has not been passed on to motorists and is still pinching households�*s disposable income and feeding areas democrat into inflation. elon musk has reclaimed his title as the world's richest person knocking the boss of luxury goods giant and staying with elon musk — he's being accused of insider trading by investors who lost billions by trading the cryptocurrency dogecoin. in a filing to manhattan federal court a group of investors allege he used twitter posts, paid online influencers, and even used

an appearince on the tv show saturday night live to boost the value of dogecoin before selling $124 million worth. at one point, the twitter owner replaced the company's blue bird logo with dogecoin�*s shiba inu dog logo, seeing dogecoin�*s price jump by almost a third. a lawyer for musk and tesla declined to comment. also on the topic of insider trading —japanese media is reporting that one of the founders of sonic hedgehog could face jail time and a fine of more than $1 million for trading a stock that he had privledged information about. game developer yuji naka is accused of illegally buying thousands of shares in two video game companies when he knew they were soon to announce deals over new games. mr naka was one of the designers of sonic hedgehog his lawyer says that he was mistakenly sent— mistakenly sent this information - mistakenly sent this information which i mistakenly sent this i information which she mistakenly sent this information which she wasn't meant to see. mr naka was one of the designers of sonic hedgehog

at sega in the early 1990s. it was the japanese company's rival that looked to take on nintendos super mario which had dominated the gaming industry for years. we are keeping an eye on the us senate voting on that debt ceiling bill, so we will keep you updated following that. that's it for the programme, thank you for watching. rehearsals in the hall at eyke primary school. children aged 6—11 are practising amavolovolo, a zulu dowry song.

they offer a unique music programme here — it goes beyond the required government's one hour a week music lesson. they have specialist music teachers, voice coaches, and all the children learn a musical instrument. this all does come at a cost — and with inflation rising and school budgets being cut, the school cannot continue to deliver their music programme. we can't afford it, i think is the honest answer, and that is why we are now having to move to establish a charity so we can access funding in other ways. teachers at the school are running 86 miles to raise money to start the charity. by creating the charity, the hope is more rural primary school halls will be filled with the sound of music. hey, i'm off with the catcher tonight.

andrew tate under the spotlight. jay macdonald replaces schofield and new music from sam smith. first, andrew tate has been interviewed by the bbc whilst whilst under house arrest. reporter lucy williamson put a range of allegations to him, including specific accusations of rape, human trafficking and exploiting women. he denied those allegations and claimed he was a force for good. have you raped anybody? absolutely not. have you trafficked anybody? absolutely not. exploited any women for money. absolutley not. and you can see the full interview on the bbc news website. some other stories for you now — we now know that the two youngsters who died at bournemouth beach hadn't jumped from the pier or been hit by a jetski. police are still trying to work out what happened, but a man has been arrested on suspicion of murder. and kerry katona has spoken out about a toxic culture this morning, saying that she was left suicidal after a lack of aftercare from her interview on the programme in 2008.

meanwhile, jane mcdonald is set to replace phillip schofield as the british soap awards host after philip's departure from itv. and in some fun music news — sam smith has confirmed their collaboration with madonna. "vulgar" is set for release on the 9th ofjune, and i'm so ready for it. time now to leave you with ten seconds of a proposal gone wrong at this beyonce show in london, as one fan popped the question to his girlfriend who ended up dropping the ring, and he also tried to put it on the wrong hand. you know what, i rec his bravery, but public proposals, absolutely no. you're all caught up now, have a good night!

hello, i'm marc edwards, from the bbc sport centre. coming up on this programme... awesome altmaier shocks sinner in a five—set thriller at the french open, as another seed is sent packing from paris. broadnificient — stuart broad stakes his ashes claim, as england take complete control of their test with ireland on the opening day. and au revoir, messi — one of football's greats will soon be without a club, as psg confirm he'll be leaving at the end of the season.