all this comes after police attempted to arrest suspended president yoon suk yeol on charges of inciting an insurrection last friday. but presidential security forces intervened, preventing the arrest, while hundreds of his supporters gathered outside his compound. economist krystal tan took me through the effects this tense political situation is having on the economy. the political turmoil is exacerbating economic headwinds in south korea. economic activity ahead of the turmoil was already showing signs of weakening. you know when you look at manufacturing, construction, services activity had slowed in november. if we looks like we will get further weakness in domestic demand. consumer and business sentiment have been shaken, now at levels not seen

since the pandemic. if you look at credit card spending on discretionary categories like recreation, accommodation, services have fallen as well and if you look at the korean wan, it has weakened pushing up inflation. domestic fuel prices have increased and that will weigh on the purchasing power of households. things are not looking particularly good. we do know that president—elect donald trump will take office in the white house later this month with the threat of imposing tariffs looming as well. is that also a concern? odds are that the trade environment will get more fraught and that will be difficult for an export country like korea. so far the plan seem to be focused on china, mexico and canada but there will be negative spillover effects in south korea given how plugged in the economy is in terms of global supply chains and if

the president—elect�*s campaign threat of universal tariffs materialises and south korea does not get exemptions, the hit to the globe will be greater, suffer contact the us accounted for almost 20% of south korea's exports last year. the new year raises a question for the major economies of the world — will they see strong growth in 2025? china and germany stumbled last year and it's unclear whether they have tackled their underlying issues. meanwhile the us saw strong growth, but donald trump's return and his tariff—centred policies could have widespread effects. for a deeper look at what lies ahead, our reporters from new york, berlin, and beijing filed this report. wall street may not believe in santa claus any more but they are grateful for one older gentleman. donald trump may not be in office but he is promising large gifts to the markets and the economy. he says he will support the crypto industry, appointing crypto—friendly regulators.

he says he can cut prices for consumers, although it is not clear how and he also claims he will cut regulations. this promise of even better times ahead as help drive us markets higher at the end of 202a. but some of his other plans pose serious risks. if donald trump comes into office injanuary and imposes huge tariffs on imports to the us, then economies everywhere will face a big disruption and wall street might find a lump of coal in its stocking. traditionally, the german economy is seen as the powerhouse of europe. it is, after all, the largest economy in europe, but increasingly, it is the economic laggard. we haven't seen any economic growth for years and 2025 looks set to be another year of stagnation. that is mainly because of competition from china but also a lack of global demand, both globally, but also

in europe and at home and what is adding to the problem is political uncertainty. the governing coalition here collapsed in november after months of political strife and arguments and there are snap elections in february. the big question is, what will the government do to get the economy going? we're not talking about full—blown recession but jobless figures are rising slowly and there are questions about whether germany's exports—driven industrial model is still working for the whole country. economically going into 2025, china's problems remain. local government debt, a real estate crisis which has seen families lose their entire life savings because of undelivered property and persistent youth unemployment. now, with the latter of those, you might think what about the emerging tech sector? isn't that a bright spot?

can't people go there looking for work? yes, the tech sector appears to have a bright future but it is not as labour—intensive. we are talking cutting—edge robotics, not crowded production lines, so the government needs new sectors to emerge, and to drive this it needs an increase in domestic demand. but the more pessimistic chinese people are about their economy, the more likely these already conservative consumers are to save more rather than spend more. and turning this sentiment around will be very tough indeed. against that global backdrop, hsbc�*s chief investment officer for southeast asia adendia james cheo laid out what investors can expect from the us and china in 2025. i think at this stage it is hard to predict whether it is the scale, the timing and reaction functions of countries. early days but of course

it is a headwind overhanging the region, so i think something to watch out for but a good trump being able to deregulate industries and may benefit the region. we saw michelle fleury talk about those things and the us saw strong growth in 202a. do expect that will continue into 2025? yeah. i think the starting point is strong. the labour market is strong and you have that whole ai attack cycle that is bolstering the economy and are you at very much making the us exceptionalism continue on, tax cuts, fiscal spending or deregulation so i think the outlook is likely to be quite robust in 2025. what is your view for asia?

a nuanced approach. i would say perhaps you have to look at... i think in china, we are neutral on china because there is upside and downside risk but i think in india and the asean region, the outlook is bright because india is easily going to grow by 6.5 or even higher in terms of growth, so a very strong middle class domestic consumption. exports, particularly digital, are quite resilient and insulated from the whole headwinds associated with trade. turning to india and the ongoing debate on h—ib visas — a programme that allows us businesses to tap on global talent. with donald trump set to take over as president, india has been anxiously monitoring us policy on immigration. the bbc�*s arunoday mukharji is live in delhi with more.

india has a lot riding on h—ib visas. put this in perspective for us. why is this important for indian companies? well, it's very critical, steve. because notjust in professionals but every indian origined companies benefit from the h i b origined companies benefit from the h i b programme as we've seen for a long time now which is why any kind of policy change or any tinkering with h i b change or any tinkering with h i b tinkering has an impact on those living and working in the us or on the companies. which is why as the debate unfolded, you saw india rook looking at it and monitoring the developments closely and ending with the statement that came out of the spokesperson of the ministry of foreign affairs who reiterated that the tech and economic cooperation between india and the us is heavily based on the kind of contribution skilled professionals to the us that go on this visa programme, and both countries have benefited from the kind of technical

expertise that has arisen based on the cooperation. so they not only need it to build on this, but maintain it, and increase it as the new president donald trump takes over in a short while from now. but having said that, this was also backed by a lot of figures. in fact, the news agency, press trust of india, did some figure crunching based on immigration data which said that between the period of april to september last year, one in five h i b visas went to india origin companies. and also, according to the bbc�*s own figures that we've been reporting on is that over 70% of h i reporting on is that over 70% of h i b reporting on is that over 70% of h i b visas went to indians and after that, the chinese. so that's why this is a very significant aspect to watch out for. . ~' , ., , significant aspect to watch out for. ., ~ ,, , . significant aspect to watch out for. . ~ , . ., for. thank you very much for caettin for. thank you very much for getting us — for. thank you very much for getting us up _ for. thank you very much for getting us up to _ for. thank you very much for getting us up to speed - for. thank you very much for getting us up to speed with l getting us up to speed with that story. we are keeping an eye on south korea. there is scheduled to be a news conference between

antony blinken and his foreign minister counterpart. when that happens, we will bring it to you here on news and get you up to speed with the developments of south korea as the arrest of president yoon suk yeol still hangs in the balance. god bye for now. —— goodbye for now.

hello and welcome to sportsday with me, chetan pathak. coming up on the programme: not many gave manchester united a chance at anfield, but amad is on hand to hold top—of—the—table liverpool to a 2—2 draw in the premier league. the most followed rugby union player in the world on social media. we speak to american superstar ilona maher as she makes her women's premiership debut for bristol bears. and coco gauff and taylor fritz help the united states to victory over poland in the united cup final in sydney.

welcome along. thank you for being with us. despite overnight snow, both of sunday's premier league games went ahead, including at craven cottage, where fulham drew 2—2 with ipswich, and at anfield, where manchester united put in an improved performance to draw 2—2 with the league leaders, liverpool. ruben amorim's side went into the game having lost their last four in all competitions, but were the first to score through lisandro martinez early in the second half. mohammed salah's penalty saw liverpool turn the game around, 2—1 they led with 20 minutes to go, only for amad diallo to snatch an equaliser ten minutes later. top—of—the—table liverpool are six points clear of arsenal with a game in hand. united are 13th.