bring down inflation. plus — as covid fades in the rear—view mirror, we take a look at the recovery of tourism — and why some countries do better at attracting travellers. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm mariko oi. we begin this hour with interest rates — because the us federal reserve has left the cost of borrowing unchanged at a 22—year—high at their latest meeting. it's the second straight meeting that they have held rates steady after 11 consecutive hikes. the central bank's job to tame inflation was complicated by unexpectedly strong growth and consumer spending. while fed chairjerome powell said a painful economic downturn can be avoided, he also said reducing rates is out of the picture for now. our north america business correspondent michelle fleury reports from new york.

after aggressively raising interest rates for the last year and a half, the federal reserve believes it's in a place where it can leave rates, where they are to cool the economy and to slow inflation from its current 3.7% on a yearly basis to closer to 2%. but even though america's central bank opted not to hike right now, fed chairjerome powell suggested officials are prepared to do more if inflation flares again. the idea that you wouldn't would difficult to to raise again after stopping for a meeting or two is just not right. i mean, the committee will always do what what it thinks is appropriate at the time. right now, things look good, even though it's pricey for americans to get a mortgage or carry credit card debt. growth was stronger than expected over the summer. the world's largest economy is still adding jobs on a monthly basis. and the government's latestjobs report is due out this friday. fed staff also don't see a recession, so they don't want to rock the boat, raise rates too high and you risk tanking the economy due to little and inflation could

get out of control. and that's why the federal reserve is taking a breather, waiting to see how things will play out in the future. well, investors have been closely watching the federal reserve and its moves on interest rates. even though the fed's left rates unchanged, the 11 consecutive rate hikes before have already brought rates high, boosting the strength of the us dollar. one effect of high rates is that products from us become more expensive for overseas customers. that's especially so for some countries in asia because central banks in this region have not raised their rates as aggressively, weakening their currencies when measured against the american dollar. and even with the fed leaving rates unchanged, the us dollar is expected to remain strong, according to currencies analyst carol kong from commonwealth bank, whom i spoke to earlier. i think the donors strength can continue in the medium current

medium—term, they're not think about interest rate cuts anytime soon, so i think the cycle has concluded, there will be looking at next may 202a. the higherfor be looking at next may 202a. the higher for interest rate is to keep the dollar supported, at the same time we are expecting the us economy to fall recession early next year because of the receptive monetary policy, so if that financial market volatility were to pick up after that recession we are expected him a we expect changes. we recession we are expected him a we expect changes.— recession we are expected him a we expect changes. we have been talkin: we expect changes. we have been talking about _ we expect changes. we have been talking about that _ we expect changes. we have been talking about that weakness - we expect changes. we have been talking about that weakness of - talking about that weakness of the japanese yen in particular, are there any currencies that are there any currencies that are particularly affected? we

are particularly affected? we are seeing — are particularly affected? - are seeing the yen rise sharply, i think due to a higher us dollar amount i think if we were to see the strengthening in the dollar, the ministry of finance in japan would step into and make changes, we would see some step up changes, we would see some step up in reits from japanese officials, i think that in the case that intervention is imminent.— case that intervention is imminent. ., ,.,, , , imminent. he mentioned possible imminent. he mentioned possible imminent intervention, _ imminent. he mentioned possible imminent intervention, or- imminent. he mentioned possible imminent intervention, or that - imminent intervention, or that p0p up imminent intervention, or that pop up the value of the yen western mark i think if there is indirect intervention. i think the japanese yen over the

following two weeks the japanese yen will likely revert back to its pre—intervention level as we've seen previous interventions. i india and bangladesh have launched three major infrastructure projects to boost economic cooperation in the region, designed to improve areas such as trade, tourism, and sustainable energy. the projects are also aimed at countering an economically powerful neighbour. my colleague arunoday mukharji reports on why this is important. the aim of these three projects is to increase connectivity and also improve energy security in the region. and the first of these projects is a cross—border rail link, built with the help of an indian grant worth nearly $50 million. this cross—border project is going to improve business ties and access to the landlocked northeastern part of india with the chittagong port of bangladesh. experts say the link will help grow small scale industries in the border areas and also boost tourism in india's northeast. it is also intended to help

imports and exports as local producers can now push out their products faster. the second project is a $400 million one, where india has helped construct a 65 kilometre rail line linking bangladesh's second largest port, mangla, to the country's broad gauge railway network. and finally, the third project launched is a thermal power project built with an indian concessional financing scheme loan of $1.6 billion. this is a 50—50 joint venture between india and bangladesh. now, these projects are also important from a strategic point of view, especially in order to counter china's growing influence in the region. now, since 2016 till the end of last year, chinese investments in bangladesh have totaled to around $26 billion, a figure that would keep india on its toes from a geopolitical standpoint. besides india and bangladesh — a number of other countries have been looking to boost tourism numbers.

thailand, for example, where tourism is a big part of its economy, has waived visa requirements for travellers from india, taiwan, and china. tourism has recovered since the pandemic. and as memories of covid—i9 fade increasingly into the past, that recovery becomes stronger. we caught up with the chief executive of travel agency trip dotcom — jane sun, to find out more about the return of travel, and the outlook for next year. it is better to travel 10,000 miles then to read 10,000 books. certain regions recover much faster than the other ones, for example, the middle east are doing very well, qatar gives free visas, dubai gives visa upon arrival, saudi is visa upon arrival, saudi is

visa application online and they also double fight capacity, so we bring lots of customers into the gcc countries. the second reason the region is doing well, they give pilots free visa, as well as a fight capacity is separation sufficient. singapore, the visa application is sufficient, the country is also very welcoming to report return customers, and fight because capacity is returning very rapidly. the area that lacks most fight capacity is north america. and, i think recently because we have already seen positive pick—up in fight capacity. so, in the summer, i think norway, switzerland, finland will get

lots, iceland is also very popular. in the winter, australia, new zealand, this year will become very opulent because it is the summer over there. so, we have seen customers becoming very smart in terms to avoid certain areas. we are highly influenced by confusion teaching, it is better to travel 10,000 miles than to read 10,000 books, so travel in a way, is learning, so we are bringing lots of families and children to the rest of the world. it's a form of learning. we are very optimistic about the shovel industry. also, travel also faces some uncontrollable uncontrollable events, such as natural disasters and wars.

china has agreed to work with the uk, eu and us to manage any issues from artificial intelligence. china has agreed to work with the us, uk, and the eu to manage any potential risks from artificial intelligence. 28 countries have signed a major agreement on al, known as the "bletchley declaration", in a bid to place safeguards around the fledgling technology. this comes as washington and beijing continue to lock horns over the technology sector, with the us recently announcing a new export ban of advanced computer chips to china — a huge roadblock for chinese ai developers. and that's it for this edition of asia business report. thanks for watching. bbc news — bringing you different stories from across the uk. zack is one of 50 meals—on—wheels volunteers known as delivery angels at harrogate neighbours, delivering 150 hot meals a day into the community — and with or without a tractor

delivery, they say the service is more important than ever. it's a big help, great help. and the meals are absolutely fantastic. well, i was tickled to death — ithought, well, this is an unusual thing! the food angels are always so happy, if you want the kettle filling with water. as the population ages, demand for services like this is growing. people are living longer, budgets are cut, so the service is really, really important. people have been isolated. meals on wheels is a vital service. last year we did it in a horse and carriage. this year we thought, what can we come up with that's a little bit different? and we know a member of our team, their mother owns a tractor, so she said, yeah, you can borrow

it for the morning. so that's why we're going on a tractor this morning. now the team just has to decide on the form of transport to choose for next year's national meals on wheels week. hey, i'm zoff with the catch up. our top story — we've got an update on the inquiry into what went wrong with the government's handling of covid. today, we heard from helen macnamara, who was a top civil servant at the time. she was fined for attending a lockdown party in the cabinet office in 2020. she spoke about sexist culture in downing street and some of the attitudes towards lockdown rules. the latest on the israel gaza war. the rafah crossing from gaza to egypt has opened for the first time since the territory was besieged by israel after hamas attacked it over three weeks ago.

at least 20 palestinian patients and 110 dual nationals have left gaza so far, and it's thought 88 injured palestinians and around 500 foreign nationals will be allowed out in the first phase. in gaza, it's believed phone and internet services are completely cut, ccording to the provider pal. some other stories now. england and the channel islands are preparing for storm ciaran later. supermarket shelves are already empty as the met office has warned of major destruction and damage. the storm has already caused flooding in northern ireland. and things are getting serious between channing tatum and zoe kravitz, as apparently they've got engaged, according to us media reports. on saturday, zoe was reportedly seen wearing an engagement ring as the couple went to kendalljenner�*s halloween party. i mean, what a hot couple, let's be honest. time now for ten seconds of halloween cuteness at cotswolds wildlife park.

these animals definitely got their treats carved out. well, i mean, look at these meerkats. they are super cute. you're all caught up now. see you later. hello and welcome to sportsday — i'm betty glover. souh africa are on the brink of the cricket world cup semi finals after thrashing new zealand newcastle heap more misery on manchester united . they win 3—0 to dump erik ten hag's side out of the league cup and we meet lizzi jordan... six years after food poisoning changed her life forever... she's now dreaming of

a place at next summer's paralympics in paris we'll start with the cricket world cup, where south africa have cruised to a 190—run win over new zealand in pune to put them on the brink of clinching a semifinal spot. south arica piled up 357—4 after being put in, and new zealand slumped to 167 all out, a third straight defeat — leaving them with crucial matches against pakistan and sri lanka to come. here's our correspondent joe wilson from paris to pune. south africa play intense world cup sport. against new zealand, quinton de kock made his fourth hundred of this competition. new zealand looked

depleted through injuries. hencejimmy neesham bowling to rassie van der dussen,