japan raises its cost of borrowing to the highest level since the global financial crisis of 2008. thailand set for a pink tourism boom after legalising same—sex marriage. hello and welcome to business today. i'm steve lai. japan's central bank has raised the cost of borrowing to the highest level since the global financial crisis of 2008. unlike other major economies, the cost of borrowing there has remained low as the country only started to experience inflation in recent years. injuly last year when the bank ofjapan raised rates, it prompted a market sell—off. a short while ago — the benchmark nikkei 225 was down by a quarter of a percent. mariko oi reports.

this chart shows the history of the cost of borrowing injapan. and for the past 25 years has been pretty flat. it was in 1999 when the bank ofjapan became the first central bank in the world to cut interest rates to zero. it was a bold move at the time. the country was experiencing falling prices, also known as deflation, and lower rates were meant to encourage spending and investment — at least in theory. but consumers won't buying it. that's because the value of their properties and other assets were falling, so people didn't feel confident to spend money and it slowed an entire country's economic growth. then, in 2016, the bank ofjapan went further, taking the extraordinary step of cutting rates to below zero. negative interest rates meant that the b0] was, in some ways, paying borrowers to, well, borrow money, and they stayed

there for over eight years, hoping that prices would start to rise. inflation finally arrived several years ago, but it was mainly due to higher food and fuel prices caused by the war in ukraine. in march last year, the central bank moved rates to a range of zero to 0.1%, a tiny rise, but a seismic shift in policy. the boj finally exited its negative interest—rate policy. a few months later the bank ofjapan raise rates again, this time to around 0.25%, showing their confidence in the country's economic recovery and that inflation is finally back. but that triggered a market sell—off because investors worried that they may raise rates to fast and also because of a complex impact on the value of the japanese currency.

rates to 0.5% today. to the us and stocks closed at all—time highs on thursday — following comments from president donald trump at the world economic forum in davos, switzerland. the president urged opec to lower crude prices and said he will push for interest—rate cuts let's get to new york and our north american business correspondent, ritika gupta. the benchmark s&p 500 closed at a record high on thursday, topping the 6100 milestone, this as investors digested comments from president donald trump including a call for cuts in interest rates and oil prices and assessed a mixed bag of corporate earnings. at the world economic forum in davos, switzerland, trump demanded opec lower and increase interest rates. crude oilfell.

trump warned business leaders they will face tariffs for products made outside of the us. while investors have been cautiously monitoring the new president's comments about tariffs, stocks may have got a boost from the idea of interest rates and oil prices coming down. tech stocks, which weighed heavily on the market throughout most of the session, rebounded in the final stretch of wall street trading. this as trump said he signed executive actions related to ai and cryptocurrencies. staying in the us, and donald trump says he would rather not use tariffs against china, but has described them as a "tremendous power" over the country. the us president has threatend to impose a 10% levy on china at the start of february with canada and mexico also facing the threat of tariffs. and trump didn't stop there. he's also promised to go after the european union as well, for what he calls unfair trading practices. deborah elms is the head of trade policy at the hinrich foundation — she gave her view on whether or not trump will follow through on his

threats of tariffs. still unclear. i don't think we should assume this is a negotiating ploy, he is serious about his love of tariffs. how will china respond? ithink about his love of tariffs. how will china respond? i think the chinese might be muted especially if the tariffs applied against china are applied against china are applied against china are applied a 10% but if higher, i think china will say there is no point posing on retaliation, let's do something now.- let's do something now. china is seen by _ let's do something now. china is seen by the _ let's do something now. china is seen by the us _ let's do something now. china is seen by the us as _ let's do something now. china is seen by the us as its - is seen by the us as its advisory, but countries like mexico in the firing line. how will they see the tariffs unfolding with what they see trump wanting to implement? they are being accused of allowing too much immigration and too much fentanyl, neither of which seems to be an issue for canada, so here you have been a long—standing best

friend, deeply integrated 3—way markets and now you will be hit with a 25% are first and that feels i think deeply alarming and unsettling for canada, mexico, otherallies and unsettling for canada, mexico, other allies of the us, so if you are hitting at the series and allies, what does that mean?— that mean? the date of the first of february _ that mean? the date of the first of february has - that mean? the date of the first of february has been l first of february has been mooted by donald trump. that does not leave a lot of room or time for negotiation. ida. does not leave a lot of room or time for negotiation.— time for negotiation. no. the auestion time for negotiation. no. the question you _ time for negotiation. no. the question you have _ time for negotiation. no. the question you have with - time for negotiation. no. the | question you have with trump time for negotiation. no. the i question you have with trump is if i offer him something will he pocket it and still do what he pocket it and still do what he intended, will he pocket it and asked for more? can we give him all? you are constantly worried about an over escalation that leads you to be worse off than if you had done whatever he was planning to do and imposed your own retaliatory measures. in india, a tribunual has temporarily suspended a five—year data sharing ban between whatsapp and its owner meta.

the ruling will come as a major relief for the us tech giant, which has its biggest market in india. the bbc�*s arunoday mukharji is tracking the developments. get us up to speed with what this means for meta. it is definitely _ this means for meta. it is definitely being _ this means for meta. it is definitely being seen - this means for meta. it is definitely being seen as l this means for meta. it isi definitely being seen as a relief even though it is temporary because the tribunal hearing the appeal said they were continuing hearing meta's arguments and the major arguments and the major argument it has made if they go ahead and comply or have to comply with the order of the competition watchdog last year, it could impact the advertising business. they also said in the past... they have said the competition commission of india, the and the trust watchdog, does not possess the technical expertise to understand the ramifications. the matter is in the appellate

tribunal and could be challenged in the indian supreme court but we have not got to that stage. this is stemming from whatsapp�*s 202i privacy policies and the accusation was, that went to the competition commission, that whatsapp did not provide an option to users when they provided an update and they were sharing user data with other applications for advertising purposes. they said this undermined users' autonomy and was a violation of competition laws. the matter is in court but facebook has a significant market in india, what's up over 500 million users so they would want to avoid legal tangles in an important market like india. thailand became the first country in southeast asia to legalise same—sex marriage on thursday, with hundreds of couples registering their unions. the new laws could aso see a boom for thailand's tourism, with the hospitality sector

set to see big gains. one of them is timothy hughes who is vice president of corporate development at agoda. he explains how this new law could boost thailand's economy. this is a great story of the coming together of love, equality and economic opportunity, rarely we see the three together. the law came into force yesterday, couples are married, waking up together, unified under legal marriage and what is important for the community of thailand is a marriage but for the economy, we have done modelling that could suggest within two years it could bring 4 million visitors to the market, spending $2 billion in travel spending $2 billion in travel spend which could amount to another 0.3% lift in gdp, so while love is love, money is money and a great opportunity to get the pink dollar into thailand. to get the pink dollar into thaiiand-_ to get the pink dollar into thailand. , ., , ., , ., thailand. these are people that would be supportive _ thailand. these are people that would be supportive of - thailand. these are people that would be supportive of what - would be supportive of what thailand has done and would open the doorfor them thailand has done and would open the door for them to want

to go to thailand. i5 open the door for them to want to go to thailand.— to go to thailand. is that what ou are to go to thailand. is that what you are saying? _ to go to thailand. is that what you are saying? if _ to go to thailand. is that what you are saying? if you - to go to thailand. is that what you are saying? if you take i to go to thailand. is that what you are saying? if you take a l you are saying? if you take a five—hour flying circle around thailand, that encompasses 3.6 billion people who would ——do not have access to marriage equality, a lot of work to attract those people and now the lgbtqia+ part of the community and their families have another reason to come to thailand and we looked at what happened in the new zealand, australia markets in europe and what that drove in europe and what that drove in europe and what that drove in europe and what that rover they legalise same—sex marriage, apply the same—sex marriage, apply the same models to thailand and it could be a 10% uplift, 4 million more people coming to thailand. i5 million more people coming to thailand. . million more people coming to thailand. , _, , , thailand. is it conversely true it could turn _ thailand. is it conversely true it could turn off— thailand. is it conversely true it could turn off more - it could turn off more conservative travellers? indie conservative travellers? we have seen _ conservative travellers? we have seen no _ conservative travellers? - have seen no evidence of that in the past history across other markets i've mentioned, australia, us, canada europe, no negative backlash, all they saw was pink upside.

and that's it for this edition of business today. thanks for watching. i will see you again soon. goodbye for now. hey, i'mjulia with the catch up! tonight — the southport killer's sentence, a reddit protest, and who's been

nominated for an oscar? we'll start with 18—year—old axel rudakubana — who's been sentenced to a minimum of 52 years for the murder of three young girls at a dance class in southport lastjuly, as well as the attempted murder of ten other people, mostly children. he was just nine days shy of his 18th birthday at the time of the offences. that's significant because the law doesn't allow life sentences without minimum term to under 185. and the judge said that's the sentence he'd have given, if rudakubana was old enough. the judge added that it's highly unlikely he'll ever be released. next, working an internship could open doors in your they ask a nominations hour around. the film has broken a record. the best actress nomination makes the first

transgender person to be nominated. —— the 0scar nominations are officially out and the biggest hitter is emilia perez, featuring in 13 categories! that makes it the most nominated foreign film in history. and it's broken another record: karla sofia gascon's best actress nomination makes her the first transgender person to be nominated for an acting prize at the awards. not far behind was wicked with ten nominations including best actress for cynthia erivo and best supporting actress for ariana grande. and here's ten seconds of a rainbow milestone. same—sex marriage is now officially legal in thailand. and as part of a huge celebration, more than 1,000 lg btq couples across the country are getting married, including over 100 at a single shopping mall in bangkok! you're all caught up now — have a good night!

hello and welcome to sportsday. i'm gavin ramjaun. bruno to the rescue at old trafford as fernandes scores a late winner for manchester united against rangers in their europa league clash. marmoush checks in in manchester as city get their hands on a new striker. and it's another ashes win for australia as they secure a series victory, but only after the weather intervenes to frustrate england. hello there and welcome along to the programme.