welcome to asia israel. welcome to asia business report. i am steve lai. we begin in china where authorities are stepping up measures to stabilise financial markets. shortselling will be restricted today in a move that the regulator has said is designed to create a fairer market order. short sellers try to make money on shares, bonds or other financial instruments they think will fall in price. by they think will fall in price. by curbing the practice regulators are hoping to halt a worsening sell—off. china's stock market tumbled for a third consecutive year in 2023. it's benchmark index dropped 11% last year and has extended its slide in the new year. earlier i spoke to the director for economic research at moonee's analytics and she told me this is to address negative sentiment about china's economic recovery. we are

seeinu economic recovery. we are seeing the _ economic recovery. we are seeing the stock-market . economic recovery. we are i seeing the stock-market rout seeing the stock—market rout that has really gathered steam over the past couple of weeks is really a reflection of the fact that there is this unrelenting bearish sentiment when it comes to china — in particular china's economy, so i don't think that curbing shortselling is really addressing the root cause of the problem that households, businesses, particularly in china, not feeling exuberant about the economic recovery, so this latest measure is really a band—aid solution rather than finding an actual solution to the problem. es, finding an actual solution to the problem.— finding an actual solution to the problem. a bit more about the problem. a bit more about the bigger— the problem. a bit more about the bigger problem _ the problem. a bit more about the bigger problem at - the problem. a bit more about the bigger problem at hand . the problem. a bit more about i the bigger problem at hand here then — china's economy, how deep do its problems go? incredibly deep. i think that are some incredibly problematic structural concerns when it comes to china's economy and i think the property market is one that is really front and centre, and what we are seeing is that the correction in the property market is manifesting in so many different areas of

the economy, particularly private sector investment is particularly weak. we have seen a rise in defaults as well, so what we are expecting over the course of this year is that we will see ongoing monetary but particularly fiscal stimulus directed to the property market but not in a way that reinvigorate the property market but in a way that works to try and stabilise it so that we can actually get a broader stabilisation in china's economy because what we have seenin economy because what we have seen in this post corona macworld is it that stimulus is really necessary for china to achieve its growth goals. the us economy _ achieve its growth goals. the us economy is _ achieve its growth goals. the us economy is doing remarkably well. wall street on a good run since the start of the year. what do you think tomorrow's fed meeting will tell us about the direction the fed is going to take? do you think it is likely to start lowering rates? the us economy is a story of resilience, isn't it? and i think what we will see from the fomc's think what we will see from the fomc�*s tomorrow's meeting is that we will see no change in

rates at this stage but we are looking at a rate cut to take effect from may and we will see that easing cycle really kick off from there but because the us economy has been so resilient there is really no rush there to ease back on rates in an aggressive way because the labour market is still holding up quite well and inflation is calling but it is not quite where it needs to be so we don't need to see any rush knee—jerk reactions from the fomc. they have breathing space to take time and make sure that inflation is sustainably back to where it needs to be before they start pulling back on that.- pulling back on that. circling back to china's _ pulling back on that. circling back to china's economic - back to china's economic downturn in its property sector. the hearing for developer evergrande is under way in hong kong but today all eyes will be on whether the firm will be ordered to liquidate its assets. evergrande is the worlds most indebted property developer with more than $300 million in liabilities. it defaulted on its debts in 2021 and has been

working on any repayment plan ever since. working on any repayment plan eversince. china working on any repayment plan ever since. china and the us have been battling over semiconductors that power everything from cars to smartphones. the biden administration will reportedly award billions of dollars in subsidies to chipmakers in the coming weeks to boost semiconductor production in the united states. the plans first reported by the wall street journal are part of the $53 billion chips and science act. both domestic and foreign chipmakers are expected to get a share of of the funds. social media platform x is hiring 100 content moderators for its new office in texas. the team will focus on restricting child—abuse content. it comes days before a us senate hearing about child sexual exportation. x chief executive is scheduled to testify along with the top bosses of meta, snap and tiktok. more than 20,000 tech workers around the world have lost theirjob in the first

month of this year. that is according to a tracking website. google, microsoft, amazon and ebay are some of the companies that have announced spending cuts. tom kung is a director at a researcher and he told me white leading companies in the tech industry are letting people go. it in the tech industry are letting people go. it comes at a time when _ letting people go. it comes at a time when they _ letting people go. it comes at a time when they are - letting people go. it comes at a time when they are newly . a time when they are newly investing in al, so on the surface it looks like shifting from other technologies to ai, but underlying is the fact that the interest rate is a very high, which is the cost of investment. so, they have to prioritise the investment now and the other factor is that the global economy, contrary to the global economy, contrary to the us economy, is not doing that well. so, big tech has to brace themselves for the market not receiving their products that well. so, this is an underlying factor of the global economy going down and interest

rates are staying at a highpoint, and ai is definitely triggering this since last year. triggering this since last ear. �* , ., ~' triggering this since last ear. 3 triggering this since last ear. �*, . ~' i., ., year. let's take you through some of— year. let's take you through some of the _ year. let's take you through some of the key _ year. let's take you through some of the key business i year. let's take you through l some of the key business and economic events coming up this week. as we have been telling you, the fed's two—day meeting starts on tuesday. investors had expected the fed might start cutting interest rates at this week's meeting but with the us economy being stronger than expected that is less certain. before that decision comes out the first batch of tech companies are reporting results with microsoft and alphabets starting tomorrow and bowling announces results for the last quarter of last year on wednesday. they are in the midst of a crisis over the shaping of its 737 fleets. —— boeing. and more tech results are due out on thursday with apple, amazon and meta reporting their earnings. in india thousands of men in the country are desperate for secure jobs and they have been going to recruitment centres to

sign up for work in israel. in a treaty signed last year, india's government promised to send more than 40,000 workers to the middle eastern country. our reporter visited a 0ur reporter visited a recruitment centre in a northern indian state. braving a frosty winter morning, thousands gather at this government recruitment centre willing to risk going to a country at war. the only hope — a well paying job. translation: ~ ., , translation: we are 'ust runnina translation: we are 'ust running around i translation: we are just running around looking - translation: we are just running around looking for| running around looking for jobs. if we get one here, why would we risk going to a war zone? ~ ., would we risk going to a war zone? ~ . ., , ., would we risk going to a war zone? ~ . . , ., . ~' zone? we have families to take care of. zone? we have families to take care of- all— zone? we have families to take care of. all this _ zone? we have families to take care of. all this crowd - zone? we have families to take care of. all this crowd is - care of. all this crowd is waiting _ care of. all this crowd is waiting here only for the hope of a good _ waiting here only for the hope of a good salary in israel. one of a good salary in israel. one of those is _ of a good salary in israel. one of those is a _ of a good salary in israel. one of those is a 24-year-old - of a good salary in israel. que: of those is a 24—year—old man who travelled 300 kilometres to try his luck as a carpenter. a job in israel will get him six times the salary he makes here to ad hocjobs. translation: i to ad hoc jobs. translation: ., .,

to ad hoc jobs. translation: ., translation: i want to break the cle translation: i want to break the cycle of — translation: i want to break the cycle of policy _ translation: i want to break the cycle of policy my - translation: i want to break the cycle of policy my family . the cycle of policy my family has seen. if i get good money i will go, even if it is risky. these are skilled workers are magical part of the labour shortage in israel's construction industry. after work permits of thousands of palestinian workers were revoked amidst the ongoing conflict in gaza. the jobseekers you see around me are part of india's sprawling and precarious economy. they do ad hocjobs with no formal contracts or benefits. most of them, who are even college graduates, and up getting paid just $8 to $10 a day. this is a crisis that has not changed, despite india being the fastest growing major economy in the world. even prime minister narendra modi's focus on foreign investment and big—ticket infrastructure projects has not helped rising unemployment in the country. educated youth about the highest burden. the latest

research by an indian university shows 15% of all graduates and 42% of graduates under 25 years old have no jobs. under 25 years old have no “obs. ~ ., under 25 years old have no “obs. ~ . ., ., ., jobs. what we need to do in a ounu jobs. what we need to do in a young country _ jobs. what we need to do in a young country like _ jobs. what we need to do in a young country like ours - jobs. what we need to do in a i young country like ours where everyone is getting better educated is to generate more, non—farm jobs. educated is to generate more, non—farmjobs. 0n educated is to generate more, non—farm jobs. 0n the contrary, but we have seen happen in the last five or six years in particular is it that manufacturing jobs actually fell manufacturing jobs actually felt in absolute terms and as a fell in absolute terms and as a share of total employment, manufacturing as a share of gdp actually contracted despite all the talk about make in india. for these jobseekers, the talk about make in india. for thesejobseekers, despite security concerns in israel, the chance to earn an income at least the rest, at least for now. we have an aviation update for you before we go. united airlines has put its boeing 737

max nine planes back in the air. this comes after the aviation regulator said the planes can return to service after inspection however the federal aviation regulator has grounded the model after a door plug blew off an alaska airlines flight earlier this month. that is it for this addition of asia business report. i will be back soon. bye for now. this is sophia, and so is this, and this is her, too. all three sculptures are based on sophia, an 11—year—old slave girl baptized at lancaster priory in 1799. people come in and they do ask the question, you know, why? and the minute that you say these are part of ourjourney in addressing the history that we have in connection

with transatlantic slavery, people go, "0h!" lancaster was once the fourth biggest slave port in the country in 2020. the priory was targeted with graffiti. about its links to the trade. they've deliberately kept it visible today. i think it is really important that we are telling stories about the past. it's something that we we want to acknowledge. we don't want to hide it. we want to be honest about it. staff from the facing the past arts project have been involved with the sophias and other initiatives across lancaster. we've been looking at improving the education of our primary and secondary school pupils. we've looked at improving the slavery walk. we've been looking at whether or not there should be permanent new monuments. voiceover: for more stories from across the uk, - head to the bbc news website.

voiceover: bbc news - bringing you different stories from across the uk. east of eastbourne, the remains of fort fun. once a big attraction but since the summer of �*21, it's been shut. it's a site defiant sports wanted to revive — their place is too small and not suitable. so, claudia, this is our sports court. as you can see, it's not really the right size,

so, unfortunately, we can't offer any tournaments or proper sporting events here because it doesn't meet standards, so the community can't get that opportunity. managing director loretta lock put in a bid for fort fun and believed the site had been earmarked for them. now, it's going to a leisure and hospitality business instead. it's absolutely heartbreaking and it's — again, it's another kick for the community we support — for people with barriers to participation — and that's just not fair. they're a community interest company who promote inclusivity in sport, but they're also open to all. louis is home—educated and he's been coming for several years. me, myself, i come herejust to spend time with my friends. but so many other people may have disabilities, but they don't — they try not to notice that and just let — like, they're here as a sports group. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website.

hello and welcome to sportsday. i'm lizzie greenwood—hughes. the headlines tonight: a famous test victory for england in one of the toughest places to tour. klopp may be off, but liverpool are into the fifth round of the fa cup. and goalie lionel mpasi kicks the penalty that sends dr congo through to the quarter—finals of afcon. hello and welcome to a busy sportsday. and we are starting with cricket. england captain ben stokes says his side's incredible opening test victory

in india was their best under his leadership. facing an india side who'd only lost three times on home soil in the past decade, england somehow turned a 190—run first innings deficit into a hugely unexpected 28—run win. before this, the biggest lead any touring team had previously overturned there was just 65, and that was by australia 60 years ago. england's vice—captain ollie pope was player of the match after saving the game with a stunning knock of 196, while debutant spinner tom hartley took seven wickets to force the win. england lead the five—match series 1—0. we've been a part of some amazing games over the last two years. we've had some incredible victories. but i think considering where we are, who we played against, the position we found ourselves going into, our second — second innings of batting was just be able to sit here. we've gone 1—0 up. i think that's a big reason why i feel this is our best victory since i've become captain.