lawmakers telling you, those lawmakers are preparing to vote on the bill to raise the debt ceiling. of course it passed the house of representatives on wednesday, and that hard deadline of when the us could run out of money to pay all of its bills is monday. of course investors have been really nervous about this — though when president biden and top republican have come to an agreement over the weekend, investors started to see the hope that this deal will happen, and now that it has passed the house, we are waiting for that vote in the senate before the bill has to go to the president biden before they run out of money on monday. so of course, we will bring you all the latest as we get it, and we will have a lot more on our website as well, so do stay tuned for that. the united states and taiwan have just signed a new trade agreement which is meant to strengthen the economic and trade relationship between the two. 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, increasing 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 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, and 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 — — this time, 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 the summit later today and over the weekend, so do stay tuned for that. 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 policy meeting to start giving them signals to pave the way for the first rate cut, which we expect will be in august, with a 60% 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 expected recovery, and manufacturing, surely that's had some kind of impact? there's a little bit of an impact, when you look at some of the export data out of korea at the margin, there's been a weakness in the tech product sector that's offset some of the strength we've seen in exports in autos and in europe. but the external backdrop is quite challenging because of the lack of global demand.

i think the other challenge in korea is obviously household debt is not only high, but it picked up a lot over the last couple years, and after a rate hike by the bok, the tightening is certainly weighing on economic activity given that 80% of household debt is floating, so that'll obviously be a concern. so even though we've had a bit of upside impact 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. 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. the lira, as you say, has been under severe downward pressure for some time now, and the main reason for that is the unorthodox 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 investor confidence in the economy and further downward pressure on the lira. we will see, we think today, the new cabinet announced — there are 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. if we see that — response to inflation which is still at 4% — that'll certainly help stabilise the lira.

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. elon musk has reclaimed his title as the world's richest person, knocking the boss of luxury goods giant lmvh off the top spot. according to bloomberg's billionaires index, his net worth has soared by more than $55 billion since january after a rise

in the value of his electric car company, tesla. he's now estimated to be worth $192 billion. the head of lmvh, bernard arnault, is in the second spot, withjeff bezos and bill gates in third and fourth positions. 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.

back to washington, i think we are about to see the vote starting shortly on that bill to raise the debt ceiling. of course as we mentioned, it was passed by the house of representatives on wednesday. in the senate, they need 60 votes for the bill to pass. let's take a listen to what some of the lawmakers have been saying. mr some of the lawmakers have been sa inc. ~ ~ w' , saying. mr reid. mr ricketts. mr romney... _ saying. mr reid. mr ricketts. mr romney... so _ saying. mr reid. mr ricketts. mr romney... so they - saying. mr reid. mr ricketts. mr romney... so they are - saying. mr reid. mr ricketts. | mr romney... so they are just mr romney... so they are 'ust callin: mr romney... so they are 'ust calling the fi mr romney... so they are 'ust calling the names i mr romney... so they are 'ust calling the names of i mr romney... so they are just l calling the names of lawmakers who are about to vote. as i said, they need 60 votes for this bill to pass the senate, and the hard deadline isjust around the corner, monday, the 5th ofjune, when the treasury secretary has warned of the us could run out of money to pay

all of its bills. so we will continue to monitor the situation in washington, and of course we have all our colleagues in the us keeping you up—to—date on bbc news, do stay tuned. for now, thank you so much for watching. sally has been an hgv driver forjust over a year. she only drives in the day, but says finding somewhere decent and safe to park is difficult. some have got good parking and others haven't. so in the day it's not so bad. but i know that i wouldn't feel safe at night. and you know, i have done one night out alongside my husband and we had to park on the side of the road then. morton coleman runs his family haulage firm in gloucestershire, and he's chair of the road haulage association.

he's handed a petition to downing street this week calling for safer and more secure truck stops across the country. it comes at a time when thefts from lorries cost the industry over £400 million a year, a figure that's growing. most of us wouldn't work in offices if we didn't have proper toilets, proper welfare facilities, a kitchen to go and make and have our lunch and those things, these truck drivers don't have that they have very well modern appointed trucks and decent beds, fridges, microwaves and suchlike, but they still need somewhere to stop. the road haulage association says better facilities for drivers are needed urgently and believes 11,000 safe and secure spaces are needed right now across the country. hey, i'm soph here with the catch up. tonight — andrew tate under the spotlight, jane mcdonald replaces schofield, and new music from sam smith.

first — andrew tate's been interviewed by the bbc whilst under house arrest. reporter lucy williams 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? absolutely 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 at this morning, saying 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.