the former boss of ftx testifies on his own behalf. we have the latest. data release shows the us economy booming. despite high infrastructures, boosted by high spending. welcome to asia business report. our top story begins in new york this morning. sam bankman—fried, known better

by spf, has testified in his own defence. faces several charges including defrauding his customers as much as $10 billion. charges that he has denied. my colleague erin delmore has the latest. it was a stunning beginning. this is the most eagerly awaited moment in this trial. we expect that he would take their trial in front of a jury today. that was surprise number one. judge lewis kaplan dismissed the jury, saying there is something they need to work out. he then told the rest of us that there were topic areas that the defence wanted to introduce. he admitted it was an unconventional way to move forward. he said his solution was to hear it for his ears only, so they did put sam bankman—fried on the stand. he answered questions from his own defence lawyers, but the jury wasn't in the room. a lot focused on what advice from lawyers made mr bankman—fried think his

company's actions were legal. they got to the research of customer funds and the loans that alameda research doled out to mr bankman—fried and other members. tomorrow, thejury is due back in, and judge kaplan said they may actually spend the first half of next week talking about the case, coming up with their own verdict. that would be an accelerated timeline. we had originally predicted this could go possibly to thanksgiving but they are moving along quickly and in fact the defence even went through a couple of witnesses this morning before we had that unconventional break and finally heard from sam bankman—fried. we will give you the updates as soon as we get those. there is also another big us story. there is also another big us sto . ' ' . there is also another big us sto . ' , ., , ., . story. 4.9%, that is how much american _ story. 4.9%, that is how much american economic _ story. 4.996, that is how much american economic ruin - story. 4.996, that is how much american economic ruin the i american economic ruin the

third quarter. the biggest gain since the end of 2021. consumer spending was strong. contributing to much of that increase in the quarter despite increases in rates. it could give the central bank some reasons to keep policy tight to tamper inflation. i have been speaking to tiffany wilding, who explained why a consumer spending has remained strong despite higher prices. looking at the underlying drivers of the consumption boom in the us, we think it's still to do with the fact that the us government officials had a very large response. in terms of the fiscal transfers, they were large relative to history as well as to our develop market peers. consumers saved up a pretty decent sized stock of savings as a result of that. we think they are spending that

down now, and that's definitely being depleted, especially on a real basis, as higher prices erode the savings. that has been fuelling resilience in the economy. looking forward, we think that starts to fade but for right now consumers still have money in their pockets. we now consumers still have money in their pockets.— in their pockets. we are talkin: in their pockets. we are talking about _ in their pockets. we are talking about the - in their pockets. we are talking about the time | in their pockets. we are - talking about the time where the middle east conflict is playing out. any risks? clearly, the middle east situation and wars in particular, just from an economic perspective, tend to be stagflationary. really the thing we will watch for is the extent of some disruption of supply. they tend to raise inflation and lower output growth. in terms of the developed market's response to that, unfortunately, it's probably going to be tighter for longer. that spending is also reflected in many of the company earnings that we've been covering for you all through this week. amazon has reported a 13%

jump in the quarter ending september. that was hammered by inflation and high interest rates. the company spent much of last year in cost—cutting mode, laying off staff. the strong quarterly report shows amazon's core e—commerce business is recovering. 0ur north america business correspondent michelle fleury sent this report. it was a strong performance by amazon, the giant saying revenue climbed 13% of the quarter, despite challenges posed by inflation and rising rates. sales in north america were up 11% from the year ago. globally, the picture was even stronger. sales rose 16%. amazon's advertising is a growing part of its portfolio. free v is its ad supported streaming video service and it's going to be bringing ads to its core prime video service early next year. the company also highlighted its work and the generative ai space, a hot topic this season.

as for sales, amazon services climbed to $21.3 billion. but investors remain concerned that the pace of growth is slowing after result this week from microsoft and google. it seems tech giants are sending mixed signals about the cloud market. let's take you through some of the companies that have also reported earnings. us chip maker intel reported reports that beat wall street expectations for the july to september quarter. despite its revenue declining about 8%, shares rose about 6% in late trading. the company also said it is on track to catch up with rival tsmc in an increasingly competitive industry. ford also reported their earnings, but unlike intel, it missed expectations and sell shares falling about 3% in after—hours trading. the us auto sector is also

in a state of flux with the ongoing worker strikes that lasted six weeks demanding fair pay and better benefits. the company said the strikes were likely to reflect and the results in the next corridor. ford yesterday said it reached a tentative deal with the united auto workers union pending approval from union leaders. the union has asked striking workers to go back to work during the voting process. in the world of sport, the rugby world cup closes this weekend with new zealand's all—black facing the springboks in paris. they expect record profits from the tournament. this isn't just a story about sport, it is also about travel and strong consumer spending. nuno guerrero told me that many fans are willing to forfeit goods so that money to spend to go see their favourite teams. we have seen travellers want

to see their countries live, and one of the interesting trends is we've seen consumers telling us that they will forgo potentially buying physical goods to actually travel. that's one of the important elements. 50% say that they would prefer to go and watch their teams instant of travelling, but they're replacing that travelling to make sure they are connected to the sports and ensure they are in those moments that are happening around at the moment. one of the other interesting ones, and this is a remarkable statistic, 25% of our travellers are telling us also that they would go and watch their team live instead of spending their birthday with their partner or their spouse. that is an interesting one.

0nto another huge global industry worth billions of dollars. menopause products. it includes everything from relief supplements to lipsticks to temperature regulating vests to combat symptoms of hot flashes. a leading doctor has told the bbc that not enough money is being spent on coming up with better products for women experiencing menopause. i really worry about it. i don't work with any of these companies, i don't have any i read somewhere the other day that it _ i read somewhere the other day that it is — i read somewhere the other day that it is $120 billion a year is spent — that it is $120 billion a year is spent on menopause —related products — but if i was a business person thinking it's 1.2 billion women worldwide menopausal, how can we get them to buy some supplement or face cream or shampoo? when i was struggling and was unable to receive treatment from the nhs, i would have spent a lot of money on anything to help me because it would've been cheaper than a divorce,

i admit that i can keep myjob and my income. people are very desperate to feel better. advertising on some products is great. they also try and push people away from hrc. people away from hrt. it really worries me because there's no evidence that a lot of the supplements really make a difference. they're not going to improve future health as well. the money that's been spent on this isjust awful, actually. before we go, today marks the one—year anniversary of elon musk�*s purchase of the social media platform once known as twitter. in the year since the controversial takeover, a lot has changed. it's now called x, and verified users have to pay for that blue tick mark. it's also lost nearly half of its advertising revenue as well. that is something the company will be looking to get back

under the leadership of the newly appointed chief executive who took the chair injune. that's all we have for you on asia business report. thank you very much for watching. bbc news bringing you different stories from across the uk. halloween is nearly here so it is time to pick those pumpkins. and visitors to this farm can see pink ones for the first time. farmer fiona wilshaw came up with the idea after learning her father had terminal cancer. 0ur dad was... 0ur dad lived and breathed all his time here, so we are really missing him, and we have been missing him for a while because he has not been able to be on the farm for the past couple of months. how much money are you hoping to raise? because you have already raised a huge amount. we set the target of £3,000 and we surpassed that so let's go for £6,000. each year we sort of stepped it up with the pumpkins and this has been our biggest

and best year yet. fiona is following in her dad's footsteps and is running the farm. at just 24 years old, it's a big responsibility but one she is embracing. i have definitely been thrown in at the deep end but i think growing up in the farm, spending evenings and weekends here, you pick up a lot from everybody you are working with. for more stories across the uk, head to the bbc news website. hey, i'm zof with the catch up. tonight — new online safety rules, a glastonbury rumour and a whale of a time. first, though, student accommodation costs are taking up almost all of the average maintenance loan, according to charity unipol. they say people are illegally sharing rooms and working more hours to manage costs. in the last two years, student rents have gone up more than 14%, but loans byjust over 5%. the students in exeter say it's really difficult. most of it, if not all of it. we have to work to be able to make up for the bills. it becomes much harder.

to really balance that time to sort of meet the rent. it's difficult for a lot of people to afford without getting a job alongside. the government say if you're worried, you should speak to your uni for help. some other stories now. israel says an overnight raid in gaza was preparation for the next stages of combat, with a ground invasion still expected. meanwhile, hamas says about 50 hostages have been killed, due to israeli strikes, although that number hasn't been verified. new online safety rules have become law. next, the government says it will make the internet safer with lots of changes, including getting tech firms like tiktok and insta to take more responsibility for content. but it's controversial with worries about privacy. and this next one is exciting — glastonbury organiser emily eavis says she's been offered a really big american artist who she hopes will headline the festival next year. i'm pretty intrigued but i guess we'll have to be patient on that one. and time now for ten seconds of scary surfing. jason breen was surfing in sydney when this huge

whale crashed into him. thankfully, he was all right though. it's a whale! kind of. you're all caught up now. see you later.

hello and welcome to sportsday, i'm lizzie greenwood—hughes. 0ur headlines tonight... more misery for the defending champions at the cricket world cup. it's a heavy loss for england against sri lanka. a ten—month ban from football for sandro tonali as the newcastle midfielder is found to have breached betting rules. and england accuse world rugby of denying tom curry a fair hearing, over his allegation of an on—field racial slur. so, welcome to sportsday, and we're starting at the cricket world cup — because it looks like the defending champions england are making an early exit. they were heavily beaten by sri lanka — theirfourth

defeat in five matches so far.