central bankers meet injackson hole, wyoming with the focus on the future is for the fed's interest rates policy. while some business districts are empty, one region has seen people return to the office more than most. hello and welcome to asia business report. i am monica miller. the officials from central banks around the world are gathering at an annual three—day conference injackson hole, wyoming in the united states. much of the focus will be on what federal reserve chairmanjerome powell says when he delivers his speech on friday. investors will be looking for signs the us central bank is nearing the end of its push to raise interest rates which are at their

highest level in 16 years. by making borrowing more expensive, the fed has been trying to tame down inflation but if they go too far, the us economy could slow down too much. blerina uruci is the chief us economist at t rowe price. she told me her expectations on the interest rates. the final inflation has been the defining moment in jerome powell's post—pandemic helm at the fed. what i would be looking for is, given the recent progress in the data where core inflation in the us has fallen significantly from the highs of 2022, will powell be ready to declare victory and recognise the progress that has been made so far? and in this way indicate to financial markets that we are quite close to the end of the tightening cycle. my own expectation

is he will not be ready to do that yet because there is still some uncertainty where we are now in the final mile of bringing inflation from over 3% to 2% which is the fed's actual inflation target. i think he will be ready to say they remain data dependent while saying some progress has been done so far. the other thing i am looking for is how will powell define data dependency? what will be the milestone he will be looking at right now as they make the decision about the last few hikes of this tightening cycle? the chip designer nvidia said it will buy back $25 billion more of its shares, seeing its stock flying in after—hours trading. the company that hit more than $1 trillion in value earlier this year, also forecast revenue in the current quarter higher than expected. its chips power

nearly all of the world's artificial intelligence apps, seeing demand soar with the rise in al. it was a milestone for india. with this, india joins an elite club of countries to achieve a soft landing on the moon after the us, the former soviet union and china. what does this mean for the country's space industry? archana shukla reports. it was a huge moment ofjubilation and pride as india created history. making a soft landing on less explored and trickier lunar south pole, india has established its technical capabilities and tenacity in achieving difficult missions. i think is a very, very important achievement, it is a milestone in indian space science because it will be the stepping stone for many future missions. the young people of today will have a base from which they can proceed further.

the success of this mission has also sealed india's ambition to become a major space power. and anticipation is building up for upcoming missions like the one to study the sun and the country's maiden human space flight programme, which are awaited in the next few months. globally, the space economy and space industry is seeing an exponential rise, with more demand for data from satellite imaging, navigation, and now even space tourism picking up. in just the last ten years, more than $272 billion have been raised in private equity money by space companies around the world. india is now hoping to get a bigger chunk of this money now that the government has opened up the space sector for private participation. india's space industry has often been credited for its ambitious yet frugal aerospace programmes where it spends just a fraction of what the united states and china spend on space research. that is why many around the world consider the success of this lunar mission

a big achievement. grab, the south east asia internet company says it will be profitable earlier than expected. it says recent layoffs have reduced costs while strong for food delivery and ride—hailing services are helping to drive revenue. it shares listed in the united states jumping nearly 8% before the bell. moving on now to the australian airline qantas which has posted a record profit this year. reiterating its forecast to have international flights back to its pre—covid levels by the middle half of next year. as part of its quarterly results, the company said it would also be ordering 2a wide aircraft as part of its fleet extension. the airline has been extensively criticised over cancelled flights, lost luggage, long call centre delays, and difficulty in getting flight refunds. by 2024, four billion people are expected to be travelling

by air every year. —— every day. industry experts say more technology is needed to keep up with that travel demand. sumesh patel from aviation tech company sita told me about the benefits of using better technology. the first being the passenger processing. i mean, the passenger experience. this includes looking at technologies such as biometrics, self—service automation, basically enabling the seamless passengerjourney. and giving the passenger more enhanced travel experience. the second key area where we see this technology helping is to focusing on the operation. looking at the business intelligence, artificial intelligence, machine learning technologies, looking at the airport management and disruption management. it will help maybe to address better

efficiencies and more calibration between the teams and also address the staff shortage challenges. tell us about al — what impact will this have on the travel industry? we offer industries the only machine—learning solution that analyses aircraft data and whether to optimise the fuel and flight paths. what it does is for every individual aircraft, we are different. it uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to tell the pilots what speed, what angle they should take off and basically that helps to save almost 5% in terms of fuek costs and not only only that, it also helps reduce carbon emissions. this weekend on the bbc, we have been looking at the future of working spaces around the world. yesterday we brought you a story of how new york, where office vacancy rates have hit a 30—year high. it is a very different picture in asia where people have been

returning to the office en masse, seeing city centres boom once again. the story from singapore. in singapore, lunch hour is the real rush hour. this is a far cry from even a year ago. a lot busier. noon period, lines are really long. it has changed completely. during covid, it used to be a ghost town. nobody used to be there. now as things opening up, it is pretty much back to normal. easy, cheap commuting and business culture that values face time have spurred the comeback. while many in western countries are still embracing the chance to work from home, singapore has not been as keen. living spaces are much smaller and culturally, there is a tendency to live in multigenerational family homes. if you are not married, you're probably living at home with your parents. as a working professional, you are probably preferring to spend more time in the office

as opposed to constantly being home around your family. that is just natural. asia has some of the world's longest and strictest pandemic rules. city centres like singapore's were unusually quiet until not that long ago. that is all in the past now. you just have to look around. people are back in the city, back in the office. the central business district is the place to be. if you own commercial property, it is boom time. around the corner, a malaysian developer is building this. 64 floors of prime office real estate. ii of which will reportedly go to amazon. fully sheltered, above and underground. there has been no issues getting companies to move in. not only are a flood of chinese and us tech firms coming to singapore, banks and financial companies also see it as a stable base in asia. especially compared to places such as hong kong and china.

we do see there is more confidence, more pickups, more inquiries coming in. only 6% of offices here are currently vacant. in london, it is nearly double that. in new york, it is 22%. there, the future of the working space is in doubt. here, the pull of the city centre is as strong as ever. nick marsh, bbc news, singapore. briefly before we go, the plane maker boeing has identified new problems that may delay deliveries of the 737 max aircraft this year. the company said one of the bulkheads from the supplier has improbably drilled holes but do not expect an impact on the safety of flights. that's all we have for you on asia business report. i am monica miller. thanks for watching.

voice-over: bbc news, - bringing you different stories from across the uk. with these, these, and these, there are more options than ever to peddle around the capital. london's original bike hire scheme was launched by former mayor borisjohnson in 2010 but the numbers using so—called boris bikes are not what they were. figures suggestjourneys made between january and july were down by a third on the same period last year. and are at their lowest for a decade. some believe it is the price. last september, tfl changed the annual subscription and fee for single journeys. i would usually have four journeys for the cost of £2.50 a journey. i want to hire a bike and found that it is £1.65 perjourney. 0thers point to the rise of rival hire bikes.

reducing usage of the santander scheme is the competition from other hire bikes. there are now four main hire bikes. among these riders, ease and comfort is key. i actually don't have my own bike anymore because it got stolen so many times. i used boris bikes. those bikes are heavy. those bikes are heavy. in response, tfl said it is working to make cycling more accessible and increasing the number of the e—bikes in the scheme. voice-over: for more - stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. hey, iam hey, i am zoff with the catch up. tonight, inside the dramatic cable car rescue in pakistan, india lands on the moon, and a british icon turns 100. but first, the leader of a group of soldiers—for—hire who fight for russia in ukraine is listed as a passenger on a plane that's crashed near moscow. yevgeny prigozhin is head of the wagner mercenary group.

his private army have been key parts of on russia's attacks in ukraine. he briefly turned on russia injune, angering vladimir putin. you can get the latest on the bbc news website and app. dramatic new footage of the stranded pakistan cable car. rescuers set up a drone after a rope snapped, leaving passengers dangling nearly 300 metres above a river. luckily, everyone was safely rescued. some other stories now. india makes history, landing the first craft near the south pole of the moon. it is a really difficult area to land in, but despite failed attempt in 2019 and a russian crash at the weekend, india's project successfully touched down. controversial posters promoting an 0nlyfans model have been cleared by regulators when billboards of eliza rose watson went up around london. some say they were inappropriate but the advertising standards authority said the picture was not overtly sexual

and did not objectify women. time now for ten seconds of the big dipper. you might recognise this familiar site from blackpool pleasure beach. it's celebrating turning 100 years old. it's one of the oldest wooden rollercoasters in the world. you are all caught up now. see you later.

hello. i'm marc edwards, welcome to sportsday. here's what we've got coming up on our show. kerr the conqueror. the british olympic bronze medallist takes gold at the world championships. bernardo silva stays at city stopping the summer of speculation, the portuguese playmaker signs until 2026. billy banned. vunipola joins 0wen farrell on the suspended list with england's rugby world cup plans in disarray. hello and thanks for joining us on sportsday.

we start at the world athletics championship in budapest,