the us federal reserve delivers another rate cut — but is fed chairjerome powell on a collision course with president—elect donald trump? plus — meet the future of social media influencers. picture—perfect and completely artificial. hello, and welcome to business today. i'm steve lai. sorry — the timing on that cough. let's begin in the united states — where the federal reserve has lowered its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point. fed chair, jerome powell, says it is too early to tell how the new trump administration might affect the world's largest economy — or borrowing costs. mr powell also hit back at speculation that his post might be injeopardy, as donald trump prepares to assume power in washington. our north america business correspondent, ritika gupta has all the details.

the federal reserve chair, jerome powell, said he would not leave his post if asked by president—elect donald trump. he hit back that the president does not have the legal power to fire or demote him. some of the president—elect�*s advisers have suggested you should resign. if he asked you to leave, would you go? no. can you follow—up on — do you think legally, you're not required to leave? no. in his presser on thursday, the fed chair was inundated with questions about how officials may be adjusting economic forecasts in response to trump's reelection. powell said the election outcome would not affect what policymakers do in the near—term because it's too early to know what actions the trump administration will take, and he added that officials do not adjust their forecast until after a law has been passed. powell spoke after a unanimous decision by officials to cut interest rates by a quarter point, bringing the federal funds rate to a range of 4.5—75% — and it came on the heels of a larger half—point cut back in september.

overall, powell didn't offer too much forward guidance on where rates could go from here, keeping his options open for the december meeting and beyond. though he stressed that officials can take their time to lower their rates because the economy is strong. economist tom porcelli gave me a sense of what lies ahead for mr powell and the federal reserve. i think this is another example of powell really handling it perfectly. he basically said — he did not see scope for him to step down, and if he was asked to, he said he would not. and again, i think that's what the market wants to hear — i think the market wants to hear that there would be a steady hand at the fed as we continue to move forward. his term is up in the next year—and—a—half, and at that point, it sounds like trump will replace him. the trump team has said at this point that they expect he'll stay, that powell will stay through the end of his

term, so that gives him a year—and—a—half. there's no doubt there will be challenges from an economic perspective — but again, i think powell handled it right when he said he would deal with those challenges as they come, whether it's on the fiscal front or from a labour perspective, or an inflation perspective. i think he really answered these questions in such a solid way. shares of trump media have plunged by more than 20% in the united states. the donald trump—owned company, which runs the truth social platform, recently reported losses in the third quarter. but its shares briefly surged when mr trump won the presidential election earlier this week, securing his historic return to the white house. here in asia, donald trump's re—election — fuelled by his immigration and tariffs agenda — has sparked some concerns in india. the country is one of the largest trading partners of the us, even rivalling china. let's bring in archana shukla, our india business correspondent to tell us more. archana, what has been the reaction to trump's re—election, and what impact could his trade policies have on india?

it's expected to be mixed. on one hand, because prime minister modi and trump have had a good rapport, mutual admiration since its first term, it's admiration since its first term, its expected that the two leaders would take it on a very positive note, and there he continued to be a good association like they've had for years now. also, trump's focus on increasing tariffs on chinese imports is something that could help india. the white house sees india as a counterweight to china in the region and are trying to push more commerce deals, defence deals, us companies that are coming and investing to diversify their supply chains and are coming into india. but at the same time, there concerns that these tariff taxes could hit india two. drum has been vocal about india having higher tariffs. has been vocal about india having highertariffs. in has been vocal about india having higher tariffs. in one

of his... this is something that raises concern. there was a us india trade pact with favourable tariffs and the mic on certain product that was proposed during trump's first term, but the biden administration did not take it forward. reports say that india is already preparing grounds for renewed talks. on the other hand, trump's focus on immigration in america first policy also brings in visa concerns for the it sector, which is one of the largest service providers in the united states. but most brokerages believe that the overall impact on india versus any other asian economies would be much minimal as far as trump's policies are concerned. as far as trump's policies are concerned-— as far as trump's policies are concerned. japan's nissan is embarking on a $2.6 billion cost—cutting exercise. the car maker says it will cut 9,000 jobs globally, and slash the pay of its chief executive by half. this follows weak sales in the united states and china — its two biggest markets.

china's top legislative body has been holding meetings all week. premier li qiang reiterated that the country is on track to hit its growth target of around 5% this year. lily mcelwee from csis says the return of donald trump could make it more difficult for china to meet its economic goals. we've seen the chinese central government have this trickle of information about a fiscal stimulus package to come soon. we don't have all the details about what that would look like in scale and in scope. there are some rumours around the $6—10 trillion range to address issues like those in the real estate market, hidden local government debt. there are some rumours we could see some consumption boosting measures, but i do think that we will need to see more to hit over 5%. how do you think trump's victory will

affect the thinking in beijing? first of all, before beijing even knew who had won, there had been announcements about stimulus measures. so i think there's recognition in beijing that the chinese economy's issues do go beyond us policy measures. that said, trump has won, his administration has announced over the course of their campaign trail that they are intent on implementing major tariffs on china, up to 60% on some chinese goods. we've seen trump do it in the past — he had 25% tariffs on some chinese goods in his first term. he's tied tariffs as a foreign policy tool, so he's concerned about the us trade deficit, and will be focused on remedying the us—china trade deficit. so i think beijing should be wary that there are tariffs to come which will impact its economy. for more on how a trump presidency could impact china's economic plans, you can head over to our website bbc.com.

my colleaguejoao da silva has writen a piece explaining how mr trump's victory is likely to hinder the chinese government's plans to transform the country into a technology powerhouse. artificial intelligence influencers are a growing industry, with some ai models gaining hundreds of thousands of followers and getting increasingly lucrative sponsorship deals.aitana is one of the world's most popular ai models — known for her stylish pink hair. the bbc�*s cyber correspondent visits her barcelona—based creators, who are responsible for producing and curating aitana's "life". a photo shoot with no model. she's not late, though — she doesn't exist. aitana is an ai model. since she was created around a year ago, she's amassed a big following and is making thousands a month for her ba rcelona—based agency. we intend to always try to make it as similar

as what any influencer would do. we take a picture with me in the image — and we have to replace it with al, so we have to play a bit with the lights and shadows to make it as possible. maybe barcelona as the background would be more interesting? touch—ups used to take around a day, but now it's a few hours because of how the ai's improved so much. here's the final product. the studio says they can get thousands of pounds a month for sponsored posts and endorsements with aitana. her virtual life is built for her mostly male fans — a key demographic for these ai models. some find the message they're sending to boys and girls troubling. i see huge issues with the rise of ai in models and influencers. i think they are setting an unrealistic beauty standard that is close enough to being real, that a lot of people who follow them don't realise they're not real — especially teenagers, young teen girls. aitana is marketed as a fitness—loving woman who lives a healthy lifestyle. she's even been sponsored by nutrition and sports brands.

is there a problem where you're promoting a body image of someone that is, in many ways, perfect — and there are some people, some of your follows that say, "i wish i had that body"? in the beginning, we tried to make more curvy models, for example, or not standardised models — and clients didn't like that. but you can see these everywhere. comparing her to the rest of the influencers, she looks the same as the rest. the agency started creating more models with more diverse looks, including some men, too — although apparently marketeers aren't as interested in male ai models. the latest project is for a major car company. the brief is to design an ai model to be the face for an in—car ai voice assistant — a very 2024 assignment. joe tidy, bbc news. and that's it for this edition of business today.

hey, i'm ruby with the catch up! tonight — potential charges for tim westwood, knock—off ozempic, and a social media ban down under. first — donald trump is prepping to pick out his new cabinet. you might recognise some famous faces in line for the top jobs.

the bbc�*s dylan arzoni is in dc with more. well, donald trump will begin to pick his cabinet and other senior advisors in the coming days and weeks, as he prepares to return to this building behind me. some of the rumoured top contenders include robert f kennedy, jr — the nephew of the former presidentjohn f kennedy — as well as the world's richest man, elon musk, who spent much of the last month on the campaign trail for donald trump. some other stories now — the met police have submitted evidence against tim westwood, after historical sexual abuse allegations were made against him. the ex—bbc radio i dj denies those claims. it's now up to prosecutors to decide whether to press charges. the company that makes ozempic is warning against using cheaper replicas. wegovy says knock—offs have been linked to ten deaths and 100 hospitalisations. and do you think social media should be banned for under—16s? that's what australia has got planned.

the government there says it wants to curb content that could harm physical and mental health. we're going to leave you with ten seconds of a nervous dad — so focused on the task at hand that he made his way down the aisle without his daughter! quickly saved there, and it's safe to say it seems like it definitely broke the ice. that's it from us, you're all caught up, see you later!

hello, and welcome to sportsday with me, will perry. coming up on the programme... his days at old trafford could be numbered, but interim boss ruud van nistelrooy leads manchester united to theirfirst european win in over a year. it's lee carsley�*s last england squad before thomas tuchel takes over. we'll tell you who the interim manager has called up, and who misses out. and former england rugby union international danny care tells us everyone in the squad was terrified of eddiejones when he was in charge. if you spoke up, you wouldn't be able to play for england any more. so that was the power that he had.