central bank holds m central bank holds interest rates _ central bank holds interest rates steady, - _ central bank holds interest rates steady, but. interest rates steady, but leaves the door open to further hikes to 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 are doing better at attracting travellers. hi there. welcome to asia business report. 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. this is their latest meeting. this is the second straight meeting they have held rates steady, after 11 consecutive hikes. the central bank's job, after 11 consecutive hikes. the central bank'sjob, to after 11 consecutive hikes. the central bank's job, to tame inflation, has been complicated by unexpectedly strong growth in consumer spending. after aggressively raising interest rates for the last year and a half, the federal reserve believes it's in a

place it can leave rates where they are, to cool the economy and slow inflation from its current 3.7%, to closer to 2%. even though america's central bank opted not to hike right now, fed chairjerome powell suggests they are prepared to do more. _, do more. the committee will alwa s do more. the committee will always do — do more. the committee will always do what _ do more. the committee will always do what it _ do more. the committee will always do what it thinks - do more. the committee will always do what it thinks is i always do what it thinks is appropriate at the time. right now, appropriate at the time. right now. things — appropriate at the time. right now, things look _ appropriate at the time. right now, things look good. - appropriate at the time. right now, things look good. even i 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 don't see a recession, so they don't want to rock the boat. raise rates too high and you risk tanking the economy. do too little, and the inflation could get out of control. that's why the federal reserve is taking a breather, waiting to see how things will

play out in the future. even though the feds left rates unchanged, 11 consecutive hikes before brought rates high, boosting the strength of the us dollar. and one of the impacts is that products from the united states become more expensive for overseas customers. many central banks in asia, for example, have not raised their rates as aggressively, weakening their currencies when measured against the us dollar. japan is one of the countries most impacted by the dollar's strength, which is expected to continue for a while. that's according to currencies analyst carol kong from commonwealth bank. if carol kong from commonwealth bank. ., , bank. if were to see strengthening - bank. if were to see strengthening of. bank. if were to see| strengthening of the bank. if were to see - strengthening of the dollar, the risk of the bank ofjapan to intervene and prop up the yen will be elevated as well. we saw some step—up in rhetoric from japanese officials against the weakness in the yen recently, and i think in the

case an intervention... you mention — case an intervention... you mention the _ case an intervention... you mention the bank- case an intervention... you mention the bank of- case an intervention... you mention the bank ofjapanl case an intervention... you mention the bank ofjapan and the possibility of an intervention. would it actually p"°p up intervention. would it actually prop up the value of the yen? if we were to see a direct intervention, it would strengthen the yen temporarily. it may surge by 2 to 3 yen, but over the following two weeks, the japanese yen will likely revert back its pre—intervention level as we've seenin pre—intervention level as we've seen in the previous interventions.- seen in the previous interventions. ~ ., interventions. well, as our . uest interventions. well, as our guest mentioned, - interventions. well, as our guest mentioned, because i interventions. well, as our - guest mentioned, because the japanese yen is weak, it makes imports more expensive, pushing up imports more expensive, pushing up inflation in a country where prices had for decades stayed more or less the same. prime minister fumio kishida hasjust announced a stimulus package worth more than $110 billion to cushion the population from the heavy blow from inflation. he said the package will also include income tax cuts, adding

he'll give more details at a press conference later today about the stimulus package and how it will be funded. mr kishida has been grappling with falling approval ratings. but that weak yen has helped japanese exporters as it makes their goods cheaper to customers abroad. shares in toyota are up by 6%, after the company reported strong profits. meanwhile, the firm said it will raise the wages of its nonunion factory workers in the united states and this follows the united auto workers union winning a major pay and benefit hike from ford, general motors and stellantis. india and bangladesh havejoined and bangladesh have joined together to and bangladesh havejoined together to promote trade and sustainable energy. it's aimed at countering an economically

powerful neighbour. well, the aim of these three projects is to increase connectivity and 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 land going to improve business ties and access to the [and locked north—eastern part of india, with the chittagong port of bangladesh. it will help grow small scale industries in the border areas and also boost tourism in india's north—east. it's also intended to help imports and exports, as local producers can push out their products faster. the second project is a $400 million, where india has helped construct a 65km rail line linking bangladesh's second large of the port to the country's broad gauge rail network. the third project is a thermal power project built

with an indian concessional financing scheme loan. 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 to end of last year, chinese investments in bangladesh have totalled to around $26 billion, a figure that could keep india on its toes from a geopolitical stand point. china has agreed to work with the us, the 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 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, which is a huge road block for chinese ai

developers. the new agreement on al was signed at a summit in the uk, the brain child of british prime minister rishi sunak seeking to play mediator between china, the us and the eu in the artificial intelligence arena. eu in the artificial intelliaence arena. ~ �* , intelligence arena. we've been able to convene _ intelligence arena. we've been able to convene such _ intelligence arena. we've been able to convene such a - able to convene such a wide—range of people, including the eu _ wide—range of people, including the eu and china to come together today, dozens of countries signing the first ever_ countries signing the first ever declaration of its sort, saying _ ever declaration of its sort, saying we need to develop a shared — saying we need to develop a shared understanding of the risks— shared understanding of the risks that frontier ai technology poses and work together to develop our understanding of them and then how to — understanding of them and then how to manage them. now understanding of them and then how to manage them.— understanding of them and then how to manage them. now to the travel sector. _ how to manage them. now to the travel sector, because _ how to manage them. now to the travel sector, because a - how to manage them. now to the travel sector, because a number. travel sector, because a number of countries in asia 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 has memories of covid—19 fade increasingry into the past, that recovery becomes stronger. we caught up with the

boss of travel agency trip.com to find out more about the return of travel and the outlook for the next year. it’s outlook for the next year. it's better to _ outlook for the next year. it's better to travel _ outlook for the next year. it�*s better to travel 10,000 miles than to read 10,000 books. certain regions recover much faster than the other ones. for example, middle east are doing very well. qatar give free visa, dubai give visa upon arrival. saudi's visa application is online. and they also double the flight capacity. so we're bringing lots of customers to gcc countries. the second region doing well is thailand. they give five months free visa, also the flight capacity is sufficient. and the third country that's very well is singapore. the visa applications is efficient, and countries also very welcome the

return customers and flight capacity is also rebounded very rapidly. the area that lack most of the flight capacity is north america. and i think recently, because the secretary's visit, we've seen positive pick—up in flight capacity. so, in the summer, i think norway, switzerland, finland, get lots of volume. iceland also is very popular. and in the winter, australia and new zealand this year will become very popular, because it's the summer over there. so we have seen customers becoming very smart in terms of avoiding unpleasant areas.

we are very highly influenced by confucius's teachings, it's better to travel 10,000 miles than read 10,000 books. travel is learning. we're bringing lots of families and children to the rest of the world. it's a form of learning. in the long run, we're very optimistic about the travel industry. also travel is always faces some uncontrollable event, for example, natural disasters. and also wars. that is it for this edition of asia business report. we'll be back tomorrow morning so join us if you can. thank you for watching the programme. bbc news bringing you different stories from across

zak is one of the meals on wheels volunteers. and with or without a tractor delivery, they say the service is more important than ever. by, they say the service is more important than ever. a couple of da s important than ever. a couple of days where _ important than ever. a couple of days where i _ important than ever. a couple of days where i don't - important than ever. a couple of days where i don't have - important than ever. a couple of days where i don't have to l of days where i don't have to cook. a great help. so the meals are fantastic. i thought this is an _ meals are fantastic. i thought this is an unusual— meals are fantastic. i thought this is an unusualthing. - meals are fantastic. i thought this is an unusual thing. the | this is an unusual thing. the food — this is an unusual thing. the food an— this is an unusual thing. the food an gels are always so happy— food an gels are always so happy if— food an gels are always so happy if you want the kettle filling — happy if you want the kettle filling with water or a stiff top taking off yourjam pot. they're _ top taking off yourjam pot. they're always a help. as the pepulation — they're always a help. as the population ages, _ they're always a help. as the population ages, demand - they're always a help. as the population ages, demand for| population ages, demand for services like this is growing. people are living longer. but the service is really important. people are living isolated. so, meals on wheels as a service is vital. last year we did it in a horse and carriage. this year, what can we come up with that's a little bit different? remember our

team, one owns a tractor. now the team just has to decide on the form of transport to choose for next year's national meals on wheels week. hey, arms off with the catch—up. 0urtop hey, arms off 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, a top civil servant at the time. she was fined for attending a lockdown party in the cabinet office in 2020. she spoke about a sexist culture in the downing street, and some of the downing street, and some of the attitudes towards lockdown rules. and 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. 110 dual nationals have left gaza so far. it's thought 88 injured palestinians and 500 foreign nationals will be allowed out in the first phase. gazais allowed out in the first phase. gaza is believed to have phone and international services completely cut. some of the 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 disruption 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 have gotten engaged, according to us media reports. 0n 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. and time now for ten seconds of

halloween cuteness. at the wildlife park. you're all caught up now.

hello and welcome to sportsday. i'm betty glover. coming up in the programme, south africa on the brink of the cricket world cup semifinals 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 lizziejordan, 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, then, where south africa have cruised

to a 190—run win over