welcome to business today, i'm lukwesa burak.e start in china where economic growth slowed last year to its weakest outside the pandemic in well over three decades. the world's number two economy has been struggling since its post covid recovery fizzled out and there could be worse to come. let's just show you the numbers. china's economy grew 5% in 2024 according to official data released earlier. that's down from 5.2% in 2023. economists polled by reuters expect growth to keep slowing to 4.5% this year. compare that to the peak before the global financial crisis when china's economy was growing at a rate of more than 14%. so what's going wrong? our asia business correspondent, sura njana tewari, is following the story. there are countries around the world that will go to great lengths for a 5% growth figure, but as he laid out this is actually one of the slowest rates of growth in several decades in china. this comes against the backdrop of a very real slow down, a protracted property crisis, hyatt local government debt, weak d

hello and welcome — i'm lukwesa burak.easefire and hostage release deal, after overcoming last—minute disputes. the israeli prime minister's office said the security cabinet would meet on friday to ratify the agreement. the far—right security minister itamar ben—gvir has said he will resign if it is approved, calling it a reward for hamas.

i'm lukwesa burak. we start in china, where economic growth slowed last year, to its weakest, outside the pandemic, in well over three decades. the world's number two economy has been struggling since its post—covid recovery fizzled out and there could be worse to come. let's just show you the numbers. china's economy grew 5% in 2024, according to official data out in the last couple of hours. that's down from 5.2% in 2023. economists polled by reuters expect growth to keep slowing, to 4.5% this year. compare that to the peak before the global financial crisis, when china's economy as growing at a rate of more than 14%. so what's going wrong? our asia business correspondent suranjana tewari is covering the story. suranjana, things are tough for china what reactions has a beam to the figures?— the figures? there are countries _ the figures? there are countries around - the figures? there are countries around the l the figures? there are - countries around the world that would go to great length for a 5%

hello and welcome, i'm lukwesa burak. israel and hamas have officially signed a ceasefire and hostage release deal, after overcoming last—minute disputes. the israeli prime minister's office said the security cabinet would meet on friday to ratify the agreement. the far—right security minister itamar ben—gvir has said he will resign if it is approved, calling it a reward for hamas. the civil defence agency in gaza says more than 80 palestinians have been killed by israeli strikes since the deal was first announced on wednesday. doctor mustafa barghouti is a palestinian politician in the west bank and leader of the palestinian national initiative. i spoke to him a little earlier. well, it's a relief that finally we have an agreement. it's a big relief for especially the population of gaza. we are talking about 2.2 million people who are taking hostage practically by israel. they have suffered from starvation, they have suffered from starvation, they have suffered from starvation, they have suffered huge losses, we are talk

mustafa barghouti, a palestinian political leader based in the west bank, who spoke to my colleague lukwesa burak what he had to say about the ceasefire deal and the conditions surrounding it. it's a relief that finally we have an agreement. it's a big relief for especially the population of gaza. we are talking about 2.2 million people who are taken hostages practically by israel. they are suffering from starvation. they've suffered huge losses. we're talking about maybe at least 70,000 people killed, according to the lancet, and more than 109,000 people injured. it's almost 10% of the population of gaza. that's a huge number. if it happened in the united states, you would be talking about 32 million people killed in 15 months. so the people of gaza are feeling relief, hoping that there will be a true ceasefire that could last. and of course, there will be release of israeli captives and palestinian prisoners, which is also very, very useful. but i also feel very sad because all of this could have happened exactly six months ago, on the 3rd ofjuly. this agreement was there. hamas had accepted it

hello and welcome — i'm lukwesa burak.l and hamas have officially signed a ceasefire and hostage release deal, after overcoming last—minute disputes. the israeli prime minister's office said the security cabinet would meet on friday to ratify the agreement. the far—right security minister itamar ben—gvir has said he will resign if it is approved, calling it a reward for hamas. the civil defence agency in gaza says more than 80 palestinians have been killed by israeli strikes since the deal was first announced on wednesday. we are going to discuss this further becausejoining me now is mohammed taha from bbc arabic. where are we in these discussions? i arabic. where are we in these discussions?— discussions? i think the ball toda is discussions? i think the ball today is in _ discussions? i think the ball today is in the _ discussions? i think the ball today is in the israeli - discussions? i think the ball today is in the israeli side . today is in the israeli side because we are expecting cabinet to be called for a meeting