data a day year. the strong data a day after prime minister fumio kishida made a surprise announcement to step down next month. economic columnist william pesek explains how the ldp will navigate the upcoming leadership change. we've seen this interesting period the last 12 years when the liberal democrat party has beenin the liberal democrat party has been in power and promising very big reforms. prime minister shinzo abe took power in 2012, pledging to become japan's version of margaret thatcher and ronald reagan wrapped together we saw very little change, large military easing, the b0] doing a lot, the yen falling. we did not see in terms of increasing innovation, empowering women, and the next leader is going to have to figure out how to reinvigorate that process at a moment when china is slowing, when the us labour market is showing signs of strains. it is

not clear if the market he has an appetite for a big risk. two women have _ an appetite for a big risk. two women have thrown _ an appetite for a big risk. two women have thrown their hats in the ring among several men. is there a obvious candidate? you have a current _ there a obvious candidate? 7m, have a current economic security minister, who throwing her hat into the ring. and a long—time female lawmaker, and it is an interesting wrinkle. i have argued for a long time that it have argued for a long time thatitis have argued for a long time that it is past timejapan needs a female prime minister, and if you were the liberal democrat party and you are talking about empowering one half of the population, what better moment to name a female prime minister than today? and so i think the fact that we have two women who have a decent chance of becoming prime minister, certainly next year, certainly next month, but next year you have a general election as well, it is an interesting moment forjapan. turning to china now, where we'll get a slew of economic data this morning, including if consumers have been spending money,

and how the property sector is faring, amid its debt crisis. analysts are calling for more stimulus measures, after a widely expected post—pandemic recovery failed to materialise last year. still, the government is targeting economic growth of around 5% this year. economist katrina ell joins me now. —— joined ——joined b —— joined b earlier and laid out why chinese consumers are still cautious on spending. i think the main thing we are concerned about is that consumers just haven't got their groove back in this post—pandemic environment. we have seen repeatedly that household spending has disappointed. if we are looking at the consumer sentiment data, it is still incredibly weak, so the retail trade data we are expecting forjuly is expected to remain around that weak 2% year—on—year growth. there just hasn't been that post—pandemic recovery we've seen in other markets. recovery we've seen in other markete— markets. what you think it would take _ markets. what you think it would take to _ markets. what you think it would take to get - markets. what you think it | would take to get consumer spending again instead of saving? i spending again instead of savinu ? ~ spending again instead of savin: ? ~ ., ., saving? i think what we need to see from the — saving? i think what we need to

see from the government - saving? i think what we need to see from the government is - saving? i think what we need to l see from the government is more effective targeted stimulus to lift households out of their funk. i mean, if we are looking at the labour market, the labour market indicators are telling us that households are not feeling secure in their employment. they are also not getting good wage growth and they also don't have a comprehensive social safety net, so that precautionary savings is remaining elevated, so we need to really focus on those structural reforms to really help households, rather than just the more really help households, rather thanjust the more recent really help households, rather than just the more recent 20 point plan we saw from the state council, which superficially suggested let's provide households with better restaurants to spend. it really needs to come back to improving that economic backdrop for them. , ., that economic backdrop for them. _ ., them. government policy and the third time talked _ them. government policy and the third time talked about _ them. government policy and the third time talked about youth - third time talked about youth unemployment but it didn't offer a new big programme for example. offer a new big programme for examle. ~ ., i. offer a new big programme for examle. ~ . ,, ., example. what you have mentioned _ example. what you have mentioned is _ example. what you have mentioned is the - example. what you have i mentioned is the underlying problem we have seen with the

government providing households with stimulus. they can recognise there is an issue, they have highlighted, no, we see youth unemployment as a big concern but they don't take that next step to provide concrete measures on how they will address that. to be fair, addressing youth unemployment is a difficult thing but highlighting it as an issue is not enough and that is all we have seen from china at this stage. chinese tech giant, tencent, has announced a quarterlyjump in profits of 82%. the surge is credited to tencent�*s gaming business. the blockbuster summer release of "dungeon & fighter mobile" has helped to lift china's most valuable company out of a gaming slump. "dnf mobile", as its commonly known, has been dominating the top—grossing game charts in china. investors suggest the company could reap the benefits of its popularity for years to come. apple supplier, foxconn, reported stronger—than—expected quarterly earnings.

for april tojune, the taiwanese company's net profit rose 6% to over a billion dollars. the company attributed much of that success to the artificial intelligence wave, where it currenty controls 40% of the global ai server market. foxconn expects the technology will be a major revenue stream in the future. here in south east asia, thailand's constitutional court voted five to four to remove prime minister srettha thavisin from office. the court's ruling is final and cannot be appealed. ex—senators, appointed by the former military government, filed a complaint that mr srettha gave a cabinet post to a former lawyer, who was once jailed. parliament will now need to choose a new leader, potentially creating political and economic uncertainties, as kirida paopichit explained. no one expected the court ruling to be as it was yesterday, so the economic prospects in thailand will probably look a little bleaker, because there is concern around

who will be the new prime minister, and of course if the new prime minister comes from the current party, the pheu thai party, then the main economic policies will continue including the digital wallet. but if the new prime minister is from a new party, then the digital wallet is up in the air and there might be other new policies by the prime minister from a new party. but in any case i still think most of the long policies that has to do with energy transition, will continue regardless of who becomes prime minister. in the short term _ becomes prime minister. in the short term after _ becomes prime minister. in the short term after that _ becomes prime minister. in the short term after that budget, . short term after that budget, giving that we don't know who will be leading that budget, a country's budget much

determines the focus the country will be moving towards. yes, so the indication on the budget is that other than that it is going to be delayed, i don't think there will be major changes, even if a new prime minister comes, except for, as i mentioned, the digital wallet scheme, which could be scrapped, basically, if there is a new prime minister from scrapped, basically, if there is a new prime ministerfrom a new party. so that is the main implication, but i think other than that it will be the delay of the budget that will actually impact the economy, because the delay of the budget means government investments thatis means government investments that is in the pipeline will be delayed, whereas the current expenditure for salaries, maintenance, orfor expenditure for salaries, maintenance, or for utility bills, that will continue. so i think it is the delay of the budget that will actually impact the thai economy. india's trade deficit has widened over $22 billion in

july due to weak global demand. it is second consecutive month the country trade gap has risen. the bbc�*s india business correspondent arunoday mukharji gives us the larger picture behind the numbers. india's trade deficit for the last year was $19 billion in the she has gone up by nearly $4 billion. all of this means essentially that india is importing way more than it is exporting, something that is a cause for concern to officials. industry experts say there could be many reasons, one could be many reasons, one could be many reasons, one could be a sharp drop in crude metal as well as commodities prices, which could have played a role in reducing the value of exports. experts say many exporters have preferred to target domestic markets because of a sharp increase in international freight charges as well. but there are many in the industry who have also expressed optimism, saying this is just a temporary phase and they are seeing improved demand in the months ahead in countries like uk, the us, western and asian nations as well as the european union. the

same industry experts also believe that after the recent political turmoil in bangladesh, trade ties between india and its neighbouring country are likely to prove in the months ahead, which could also give a boost to india �*s trade, and in officials have also said they are looking to diversify and exploring new markets like africa, so they are hoping to change around their export basket to try and offset the kind of weakened demand they are seeing in many western economies. inflation in the us has fallen to its lowest level in the country for more than three years. the consumer prices index dropped slightly to 2.9% injuly compared with a year earlier. the better—than—expected data means that the us central bank remains on—course to cut interest rates when it meets in september. cisco systems has announced layoffs that will affect 7% of its global workforce. the company stated that the move is part of a wider restructure

to focus on high growth areas like artificial intelligence and cyber—security. this is the second time this year that cisco has announced job cuts. in february, around 4,000 staff were laid off. more business news for you in the next hour. goodbye for now.

hey, i'm zof with the catch up. tonight, molly may announce a shock split from tommy kerry, ed sheeran gets saucy and banksy finishes his drawing trail. 0urtop banksy finishes his drawing trail. our top story tonight. molly may has announced her and tommy kerry have split up after five years together. she shared the news on her instagram story, saying she would be taking some time away from social media. next, adverts for nutrition products promoted by stephen bartlett have been banned, after a watchdog said they were

misleading. you will probably know him from his diary of a ceo podcast, and also as one of the dragons on dragons' den. he has been promoting products for kewell and zoe but without making it clear he has business interests in both companies. and ed sheeran broke off from his tour to sign autographs at a supermarket on tuesday. but there is a very fine catch here. he signed them using his own hot sauce brand, usually called tingley ted's. hundreds of fans went to the sainsbury�*s in hertfordshire to get a bit of the tingley ted. i bet that has very good. good luck if you are receiving your a—level results tomorrow. there has been a spike in top grade since 2019 so hopefully that continues for you. in time now for ten seconds of banksy. safe to say he's been very busy recently, after nine days of p°p�*up recently, after nine days of pop—up artwork around london. he finished his animal trail with a drawing of a gorilla on the shutters of london zoo. just look how amazing that

looks. you are all caught up now. see you later. hello and welcome to sportsday. iam 0lly i am 0lly foster. 0ne game, one goal, one trophy — kylian mbappe's real madrid career is up and running. will this be the season where the premier league finally gets it right with var? they have ambitious plans. and the best tennis players in the world are in cincinnati, although the world number one jannik sinner has a bumpy ride into the third round. hello, there.

kylian mbappe couldn't have asked for much more on his real madrid debut, scoring for the champions league winners in the uefa super cup, as they beat the europa league champions atalanta 2—0 in warsaw. the french forward, who left paris st—germain after seven seasons over the summer, led the line, flanked by viniciusjunior and rodrygo, and that saw last season's stand—out starjude bellingham drop a little deeper in midfield. it was goalless at half—time, but with federico valverde opening the scoring with a tap—in on the hour mark, and mbappe's moment came soon after, bellingham picking him out inside the box and he finished in the top corner. carlo ancelotti admitted that his team didn't quite have the right balance, something that he will have to get right as they start the defence of their la liga title on sunday, but they have won the super cup for a record sixth time. the premier league starts on friday, it will be the sixth season of the video assistant

referee, they are still trying to get it right.