impose his botched attempt to impose martial law on tuesday. the finance ministry meanwhile says the government will activate more than $28 billion to stabilise financial markets, the benchmark cost stock index is 21% lower at the moment. my colleague is in seoul. he spoke to a former us ambassador to south korea about what lies ahead for the country. i don't think there is going to be a huge impact on business and investors. i think we are seeing a very short—term episode of political drama that will be resolved over the next few weeks, the next few months, and in some way i think we should take heart that the democratic processes in south korea worked.

the president and, mind you, very unwisely decided to declare martial law to deal with a political impasse between the two parties, and there is the reality in south korea, a very divided public, a very fragmented political — not fragmented, but very divided political scene in which parties have been alternating in power, they've been alternating in their control of the assembly and the presidency. now we have an unusual situation in which a korean president would have been, may still be the only grand president to serve only with an opposition in control of the parliament,

and there have been confrontations in elections, but i think they will work their way through it. essentially, the most likely right now they are entering into an impeachment process with the opposition pushing for impeachment. ijust learned from you that the government party seems to be resisting that, but in some fashion, they are going to work through this impeachment process and at some point have another election, and the democracy will live on, and i think... one of the things i take heart from is realising that the current prime minister of south korea, who is appointed by president yoon, is a very stable man, a very steady hand on the process, a long—time senior civil servant and former ambassador to the united states,

and i feel very confident that he will manage this process better than almost anyone else could. the us and south korea are allies and they have a lot of areas of collaboration from trade to security as well. does this shake the us�*s confidence in south korea at all? no, i don't think so. president yoon has been very active in developing the alliance and directions it hasn't gone before. he has been particularly cooperative with us, building the close relationship injapan and he has taken the lead courageously in some important things, but i think the korean public is united in supporting the alliance with the united states. we have a new president coming in who will shake things up

a bit, as he did in the past, but also, those issues with how those issues with president trump the first time. i think we are going to have some — it will take a while to stabilise the domestic situation in south korea, but i'm very confident that it will take time for the two governments to get used to the incoming us president, but we have had that experience before. so i don't think this diminishes at all the value of south korea as a us ally, the importance of our relationship the korean won is also in focus — it is flat right now against the us dollar. it reversed much of its losses on wednesday after plunging the night before after martial law was declared. the bank of korea has stepped in to stabilise markets. expert vishnu varathan gave me a sense of the bok's plans.

bank of korea has really stepped up. the prompt response from them to be the liquidity provider of last resort has helped to shore up markets. while we recognise the knee—jerk drop in the korean won in the korean market when the martial law implication came through. we don't appreciate the downside. the bok will continue to play that role very dynamically and judiciously. so that will help to shore up some of the confidence, but at the same time, the bok finds itself in a agreater dilemma this time, the reason being i think that the bok just got into a position where they are more comfortable cutting rates to give some economic relief, provide some economic stimulus as the housing prices have started to cool. nevertheless, if the korean won is going to face more downward

pressures, particularly in stocks amidst political uncertainty, the bok might be somewhat more constrained in its ability to cut rates just in case they end up exacerbating downside volatility in the korean won. so, the bok, the direction of travel of policy is more stable, they have scope to cut and they will be providing ample liquidity, but these things come at a fairly high cost and the trade—offs will be sharp with markets sentiments are not holding up and volatility is accentuated. we'll have more on the business and economic impact of the political crisis in south korea throughout the day. you can also find all the latest lines on our live page. do stay with bbc news. some breaking news now — bitcoin has crossed the $100,000 mark for

the first time. an trump promise to make america the crypto capital of the planet create a national stockpile of bitcoin. the bbc�*s mariko 0ijoins me stockpile of bitcoin. the bbc�*s mariko 0i joins me now for more. what is behind this search? we were waiting for it was such a long time. indeed, and it is hard _ was such a long time. indeed, and it is hard to _ was such a long time. indeed, and it is hard to imagine - was such a long time. indeed, and it is hard to imagine that l and it is hard to imagine that it was worth almost nothing only 15 years ago when it started trading, so i'm sure many people will be kicking themselves inking that i wish i bought it back them. i have to say, the brother bitcoin has always been known to be extremely volatile. we have witnessed the price going on a rollercoaster ride many times over the last decade. but as we said, since donald trump was elected as the next us president, the mood has definitely changed and this news of the price crossing 100,000 came after mr trump nominated for atkins who spoke

about deregulating the cryptocurrency industry before as the chair of the country's financial watchdog, the securities and exchange commission. of course this comes after the current chair, gary gansler, has announced he will step down because esther trump basically publicly said he would fire a gansler on day one. mr ganslerwas he would fire a gansler on day one. mr gansler was known as a sceptic of the industry, calling cryptocurrencies a wild west. this really shows how mr trump is sending the message to the market that the us will change its attitude or regulations towards the cryptocurrencies industry. it is interesting, though, this 100 thousand actually happened many hours after mr attkins's nomination, especially because the us does have a lot of number of dough traders, but it is also interesting to note that south korea and other asian countries actually do have many crypto traders as well, and there are also reports that a sense of martial law was announced on tuesday night, the surge, there was a

surge in crypto trading in south korea. that is interesting as well. mariko oi keein: interesting as well. mariko oi keeping us — interesting as well. mariko oi keeping us across _ interesting as well. mariko oi keeping us across the - interesting as well. mariko oi keeping us across the bitcoin| keeping us across the bitcoin movements. many thanks. police in new york are searching for a gunman who shot dead a top medical insurance executive outside a hotel. the attacker lay in wait for brian thompson, who was the head of unitedhealthcare. investigators say they do not know the motive of the assailant. the attack unfolded in one of the busiest parts of manhattan, close to the tourist areas of times square and central park in an area where shootings are extremely rare. 0n the money markets, all three major indexes have closed up higher. the dowjones industrial average were led higher biotechnology stocks and expectations of lower interest rates. a quick read of our top three. pressure continues to build on south korea's president to step down of a

botched attempt to propose more martial law. we will have more on that later in the morning. many thanks for watching.

hey, i'm ashlyn with the catch up. tonight, a russian money—laundering operation. euro success for wales. and spotify wrapped. but first, relationship red flags — what have we learned about them in the classroom? he took our social media passwords, he was constantly asking for locations, he was contacting siblings and ourfriends. she had every right to end that relationship. these are the life—saving lessons that parents of murdered teenager holly newton are passing on to pupils. a study out today found almost half of 13— to 17—year—olds who've been in a relationship have suffered physical violence or controlling behaviour from a partner. a multibillion—pound russian money laundering operation has been taken down in a sting. 71 people have been arrested in the uk alone, but the network stretches across 30 countries. the moscow—based operation,

headed by this woman, swapped cash from street gangs in the west for untraceable cryptocurrencies. some other stories now. would you say porridge, crumpets and pancakes are junk food? well, certain types of these will now fall under a new junk food advertising ban. it also classes muesli and sweetened yogurt as less healthy food. and it's celebration time for wales. these women made history, qualifying for the euros. time now for 10 seconds of spotify wrapped. taylor swift is the top artist of the year with more than 26.6 billion streams globally, but sabrina carpenter's espresso is the song that comes out on top. you're all caught up now. have a great night.

hello and welcome to sportsday. i am 0lly foster. the slot machine's winning run comes to a halt, leaders liverpool are held at newcastle. after a seven—game itch, manchester city are back in the groove, the champions taste victory for the first time since october. and sumo's grand tournament is returning to the grand setting of the royal albert hall next year. hello there. it was a thrilling night in the premier league, 25 goals scored across the six matches. let's start at st james park where leaders liverpool dropped points for only the third time this season. they came from behind twice at newcastle and then led 3—2

in the 90th minute only for fabian shar to capitalise on a goalkeeping error to equalise from a tight angle. newcastle had led 1—0 at half—time thanks to a brilliant strike from alexander isak and then led again through anthony gordon after curtis jones had equalised. mo salah thought he'd won it for liverpool, he scored twice, put them ahead for the first time, only for schar�*s late strike to get a share of the points — 3—3 it finished. it was again a great game to watch. so this is what we do. with the exception of us not winning today because the last few times we won. but there were moments in the game that i thought, ok, if we go away with the draw, i am happy about it, before the end, 3—2 up, but of course it is a disappointment.