sophie: on to our top stories. philippine central bank left its interest rate at a record low, saving ammunition as inflation pressures persist. further with it the person who will take the top job at the bank in july. ,ou are a three decade veteran price stability will be a priority when you take the role of governor on july 3, but with inflation at the fastest pace since 2014, how will this shape your monetary policy outlook? >> hello. good morning. this, we areok at in an inflation targeting framework, and based on our own forecasts, we think inflation will be peeking around the third quarter and should taper off well within our target range for inflation, so that gives us some settings arerate still appropriate at this time. with that pace of modern inflation coming to a not likely see a move in the rates likely as economists expect? >> it is still data dependent. baseline effects are still in play at this point. as i mentioned, since we are this acceleration will taper off soon enough, so at this point in time

>> i am sophie kamaruddin. rishaad: i am rishaad salamat coming to you from bloomberg's headquarters in asia and hong kong. this is "bloomberg markets: asia." ♪ sophie: the yen climbs from a two-month low as investors seek safety on reports that north korea will proceed with the nuclear test. rishaad: the own yang high on the agenda as the new president takes power in seoul, korea. alert asang on high the new president takes power in seoul, korea. right, we saw another record when it came to the nasdaq, weakness for the dow, and the s&p -- we have this whole story about the index, some say it is a view on options. lows, but to 24 year if you look at u.s. policy uncertainty chart, it is in marked contrast. indeed, we have that disconnect between the two bank. might have more to say about the options market, traders looking for that rebound as volatility creeps into different asset classes. by the way shinzo looking stretch, so perhaps that will give some room for recovery when it comes to volatility. perhaps tra

sophie kamaruddin is with us. sophie: hey, manus.ir has reported a 6% gain in annual earnings fueled by a capacity growth. net income at the biggest discount airline increased to 1.3 2 billion euros. and we will be joined by the ryanair cfo at 7:00 a.m. u.k. town. british airways says its i.t. systems are back up in running, and that it will be operating at full flight schedule at heathrow and gatwick, after a bank holiday weekend of travel misery for thousands of passengers affected by the computer meltdown. citigroup is estimated the chaos will cost the airline 100 million euros. akzonobel has successfully dodged a takeover by elliott management to oust the chairman. of the commercial court of the netherlands ruled the company is under no obligation to honor demands from shareholders led by the new york-based fund for a vote on the removal. that strengthens the hand in rebuffing takeover talks with the u.s. suitor. singapore has find credit suisse asotal of $1.2 billion usd regulators completed a two-year enview of its involvem wit

sophie: what are we take a look at a wider picture.e profits in japan have been suffering when it comes to sluggish sales, so what is the outlook here? , theecifically for toyota biggest businesses in the u.s. japan is doing ok for them. sales have been recovering somewhat, but still relatively smaller market. they make most of their money in the u.s., and over there, sales have fallen in the last couple of months. rishaad: they want the only wants to see sales fall, were they? >> no, it is across the industry. the other thing we should mention is the switch to pick up trucks and suvs, where it is withfor toyota to compete americans, because they are well-known for the big suvs, big , heavy duty pickup trucks. sophie: how can it entice customers more, incentives? >> yeah, it will be tough. toyota say they will control incentives, but if one cuts prices, they will have to follow. rishaad: i want to bring up a #8481. you look atcome if it against volkswagen, nissan, honda, all of those three are under book value. toyota isn't. >> i think

sophie kamaruddin with the latest from hong kong.'s second-largest economy has maintained its momentum. the china official holding up. and it wasd at 51.2 the nonmanufacturing pmi that we .aw rise to 54.5 the debate is the propensity for china to deliver reflation. how is the trend looking, roque and? andt has been re-fleeting -- reflatrining. most economists thought we would see a leak and we would see a tick down. nationalot there bureau of statistics at this morning with the official pmi for manufacturing and nonmanufacturing they close better than expectations. that was a bit of a surprise so 51.2, we were expecting 51. that is a good thing and the bureau of statistics showing that external and domestic demand keep improving. as a go back to that point about the reflation, the question is how long can you keep this up because if you drill into the indices input and output prices were negative in may. that is worrying because we had that greater pricing power from chinese industrials where as the four pluse it, after years of defl

huw, thank you sophie. .a new two—year contract with the club. arsenal finished fifth in the premier league this season, the first time they've finished outside the top four since wenger took over in 1996. but on saturday, arsenal beat chelsea to win the fa cup. the former military leader of panama, general manuel noriega, has died at the age of 83. he was seen as the last strongman of latin america. a key ally to the united states in the 1980s, noriega was helpful in washington's battle against the spread of communism before being toppled when american troops invaded. our world affairs editor, john simpson, looks back at his life. he may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch. american politicians used to say of leaders like manuel noriega — he may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch. they selected him, trained him, encouraged him to be a bulwark against communism, but noriega went too far. the cia used him to get information about fidel castro in cuba, then found he was giving informa

matt: thanks very much, sophie.an president michel temer has headlined a conference in sal paulo. he fights for his future temer said he has no intention of stepping down . it comes as the country's central bank is expected to cut rates later today and signals there could be more to come. r for more, the head of maker research joins me now. hanks for your time. let me get your take on what's going on in brazil. as an investor, should you be running scared here? >> i think you should be concerned. i don't know if you should be running scared. the situation is that the economy as everyone knows by now has been in a deep recession and has started to recover and inflation is subsiggede, very low, below target. inflation expectations starting to come down. we expect a 100-point basis rate cut today. this political crisis made its wave -- matt: don't we need temer in power and his presidency not marred by scandal if he is to push through the reforms that are necessary for the economy? >> it would certainly help if he were

helena: sophie, good to talk to you. prime minister theresa may says her party will keep its pledge to reduce net immigration if it wins next month's election to many business owners say they need immigrants to maintain staffing levels. she said the overall number of immigrants would be in the tens of thousands. statistics show you 300,000 more people moved to britain than left last year. mrs. mason brexit would give britain more control over its own borders allowing it to more easily control migration. malaysian authorities have made significant progress in their crackdown on pangolin poaching after investigators seized a record hall of illicitly traded scales belonging to the world's most traffic mammal. pangolin are not widely known whether scales are priced. united nations estimates that trafficking of the rare animals is worth $23 billion every year. reporter: it is one of the -- i t's among those most threatened by smuggling. the pangolin -- covered in scales. the same material that makes up our fingernails. its ha

sophie: the group has been shopping for overseas investments and is now the biggest investor.y took a majority stake in an airport. javier: that is all. back to you. brent: headgear bands prevent people from playing high-level sports. that is why a young basketball player is asking people to lift the ban. and nike has a sports job for women. the entrance into modest sportswear is being held for its potential to bring more muslim women into sports. >> as she plays for the bradford cobras in the north of england, local leagues allow wearing a hijab, but internationally, basketball governing body does not. she said this is stopping muslims, sikh, and jewish women from playing, so she is calling for the ban to be lifted. >> create role models that are muslims that are in sports for young girls to take them on board and aspire to be like them. we are only seeing negative things. if we create something different than our young girls -- then our young girls can aspire to play sports too or whatever they want to do in life. ♪ >> that will then be, people will see that, then they won't

thanks to sophie long for conveying those m essa 9 es to sophie long for conveying those m essa g eskey questions for the british authorities is how salman abedi became radicalised, and the influences on him in recent years. there are reports that his character and conduct changed and some in the local muslim community insist that they reported their concerns about him to the police five years ago. our home editor, mark easton, takes a closer look at the government's counter—terrorism strategy and how it has been implemented here in manchester. in the streets of south manchester, condemnation of monday's attack is total. but from this area more than a dozen men have been identified as having been radicalised and then followed the path of extremism. salman abedi is just the latest. the question which screams at you at times like this is — how can we stop young people from being radicalised in the first place? the government's answer is prevent a controversial strategy which requires public workers and others in the community to report any possible signs of extremism to police. in the

let's go to sophie for a look at how things are tracking. sophie: oil prices are continuing to plot on that path. new york crude at $49 a barrel. looks like the convergence could be happening. hedge fund managers perhaps being caught unaware. as you noted, we have the likes of iron ore and cover on the rise. that is really giving a boost to commodities players in the region. asian stocks largely on the up following the gain on wall street that pushed he s&p 500 above 2400 for the very first time.we had the nikkei 225 gaining half a percent , going closer to the 20,000 level. look at the singapore stocks. sliding a third of a percent. shares fallingrs for a fifth straight day. when you take a look at resilience, that's the name of the game for the cost be -- kospi, planning about a quarter of a percent. in korea, mark mobius saying he's confident about moon's administration. the domestic situation is looking more certain. pi are seeing the kos becoming the best-performing. the msci world index is the yellow. the cost be up 22%. although globa

here is sophie kamaruddin with more.an stocks under pressure today as investors see the latest coming out of washington, d.c., focusing what is going on with japanese markets, falling over .6%, the nikkei 225 dropping for a third day in four. utilities leading gains when it comes to leaders in the index, up .8%. ,his is gas utility stocks rising as they look set to win more customers from incumbent power players. the big medicine machine orders spurring investors to divest ahead of gdp figures tomorrow, and a stronger yen also feeding the drop in tokyo, sending shares of exporters lower. we do have financials and energy leading the drop in tokyo. the direction of the yen is also likely to be determined by the euro, which is making gains against the dollar. the common currency has hit a ,ne-year high against the yen looking steady for the moment, but given how the euro is gaining against the dollar, that may feed into the yen's climb against the greenback as well. the dollar very much in focus today, getting dented from u

. >> so sophie, how much recognition do you believe there is in france of what happened both here and i should say in the uk with brexit. that was predicted to be a little closer. but in the u.s. presidential election as you know, hillary clinton was expected to win convincingly. >> of course, people are very aware what happened last year with the brexit vote and the u.s. election. and that's how they've working the polls with lots of caution and superstition start. it's the nature. if we have polls that are much narrower, then i think people would feel that they couldn't possibly call the results ahead of time. but, if you look at second round since 1981 in france, poll's only been off two points by average, less than two points and now we're looking at a 20 point gap. some of the polls have come up today friday have suggested it's bigger, over 20%. it would take an upset of historic proportions way beyond what happened in the u.s. election and certainly way beyond what happened in the brexit vote for marine le pen to win. obviously turnout does matter. he doesn't wowbility to sound

sophie, let me start with you. in paris, what is the mood of the city on the eve before the vote?i was with machron last night for his very last rally. he held it outdoors in the beautiful thing. and i have to say they are pretty confident now. if you look at the polling numbers in the last-- today, which slaft day that polls are allowed to be published before france goes into kind of a blackout period ahead of voting on sunday, they give macron a 20-point lead. and i think the team is quietly confident. obviously, people feel a little bit nervous saying that publicly, but i think there's a confidence that they are now heading for a victory for macron. >> glor: we talk about the city, and she said she was in southwest france. the dividing line here between candidates and voters and support has been significant-- rural versus urban. >> it's a little bit like big cities, macron. rural, le pen. people with fear, it's all about anger. the anger people out there, so to speak, le pen. the people in cities feel more comfortable with him and will vote for him. >> glor: le pen needs a very

sophy long. bbc news. there hello and welcome to sportsday. i'm hugh ferris.eadlines tonight: juventus are heading to cardiff for the champions league final after beating monaco. we talk to the scottish football that has tried to take his life three times and what is being done to help players with mental health problems. i came off with ten minutes to go, and i heard somebody shouting, hang yourself and do it right this time, or something like that. andy murray reaches round three in madrid as he attempts to reach the final for three in madrid as he attempts to reach the finalfor a three in madrid as he attempts to reach the final for a third year in a row. hello again. juventus have reached their second champions league final in three years after completing a comfortable victory over monaco... who would have needed to make history to overcome their first leg deficit to the italian champions. they're now unbeaten at home for the last 50 matches. so it'sjuve who will take on one of the madrid clubs in cardiff next month. as tim hague reports. this the kind of

judi dench, sophie and keeley, it was ajoy. i was judi dench, sophie and keeley, it was a joy.or the fans who are desperate to know if there will be another series? now. that is the short answer. there ain't no news there. doctor strange has been a huge success. rem infinity war? i am in it but i have not done my bit. they have started filming. beyond that, i cannot really talk much about what i am actually doing. benedict cumberbatch speaking to our entertainment correspondent. a couple of winners we have just learned about. the do ‘s coverage award has gone to the victoria derbyshire programme which appears here on the news channel and they w011 here on the news channel and they won that award for coverage of the abuse within football and the people versus 0j abuse within football and the people versus oj simpson has won the international award. later tonight with another special programme featuring the highlights of the 20 bafta ceremony, that is at half past 12 here on bbc news. the british vetera n 12 here on bbc news. the british veteran of the second world war has become

well, sophie, ispoke will it change anything, laura? to some of the audience tonight after the end of the debate, including some tory voters, and a couple of them were clearly very frustrated that theresa may hadn't bothered to show and in reverse pleased that jeremy may hadn't bothered to show and in reverse pleased thatjeremy corbyn had made the effort to turn up and to debate the other parties here tonight. i think it's pretty clear that in terms of today at least jeremy corbyn has had a tactical win. he has been seen to seize the initiative and come along and take part. i think it's too early to say how that's going to play out with the wider electorate, those people who weren't following every twist and turn of tonight's debate, those people who hadn't necessarily paid much attention to what the line—up was going to be, who the political players were all going to be at this big major event. in the spin room tonight where members of the press we re tonight where members of the press were watching and senior politicians we re were wa

thank you, sophie. aim of researchers at harper adams university who are using robots and drones to grow a hectare of barley. if they succeed it will be the first time anyone in the world has managed to use robots for every stage of the growing and harvesting of a crop. this is a robot tractor, an autonomous vehicle that striving itself as part of a world first experiment. and these are the rules of the experiment. so this is the safety fence around the hectare, and the team don‘t really want to go inside it, but they are allowed inside if there is a safety issue or if they need to do any repairs. but they can‘t touch the barley that‘s growing here. instead, the sewing, spreading, monitoring and harvesting of the crop itself, all of that is done by the robots and the drones. after planting the seed, you need to roll the field. but today, the farming press and project partners are about to see the robot tractor go through its paces. really pleased, actually. all the hard work‘s paying off, and finally sh

sophie, thank you. the sea is calm 110w sophie, thank you.rant boats have started again and in a big way. over easter weekend, more than 8,000 people were rescued from the mediterranean and this weekend, as you mention there, the numbers have been very similar. now this ship i'm on rescued over 500 people on its own. the charity save the children said it was their biggest such operation so far. those migrant people are now safe on the shore, but the bigger question surrounding this sort of migration and the criminal activity that sustains it continues. seven uneventful days at sea with the rescue mission and then suddenly this: we have two rubber boats possibly one wooden boat. team, please prepare on deck for rescue. a scene, said the crew, like never before. first two, then three, then as we were spotted, more and yet more boat loads the people veering towards us to rescue and to safety. these women look really exhausted. they're coming on one by one. one of the women i've seen has a little child with her. this toddler named blessing is one

sophie long for us at backing palace. 0ur sophie long for us at backing palace.gham palace. the headlines on bbc news: the duke of edinburgh is to retire from public duties — a decision he took himself, backed by the queen. the french presidential candidates trade insults on television — now emmanuel macron files a lawsuit to scotch rumours he holds an offshore bank account. the surfer rescued after 32 hours stranded in the irish sea speaks exclusively to the bbc — matthew bryce says he thought he was going to die. and in the sport, the everton manager ronald koeman says he hopes to see his winger aaron lennon back in his team soon, but that his well—being is the most important thing. he was detained by police on sunday under the mental health act and is being treated for a stress— related and is being treated for a stress—related illness. manchester united managerjose mourinho says they are now making the europa league their priority as a pathway to the champions league. they play celta vigo tonight in the first leg of their semifinal. and england's women's cric

let's steep —— speaks to sophie maclachlan, one of theirfundraisers. —— speaks to sophie maclachlan,olved in the movement, on march? i have a very small company. iam the march? i have a very small company. i am the only employee. i have been very worried now for a? years because our politicians, left and right, have not been doing much these last 30 years. i have never voted before. i voted for the first time in my life for emmanuel macron. ijoined the time in my life for emmanuel macron. i joined the campaign time in my life for emmanuel macron. ijoined the campaign through some friends a year ago and i have been working with a fundraising team. i ama working with a fundraising team. i am a volunteer. i worked two days a week. it has been a challenge. we started a year ago with few members. we are now 250,000. and we have over 40,000 contributors. there is a very interesting story about this. it is a party that has got up and running in eu and it is in the second round of the presidential election. it is down to 39—year—old emmanuel macron. but there has been a lot of fundraising go

let's get a look across the asia-pacific was sophie kamaruddin.ikkei 225 falling for a second straight day given that cautious investor sentiment, the yen rising for a third session to a one-week high. while geopolitical risks have increased, sony financial says the market is not buying the yen aggressively. also, that string of earnings out today it's sending real estate stocks higher by 2.6%. we are seeing energy shares dragged over 2%. take a look at what is moving in tokyo, a smattering of results. motorses of the zoo zoo -- motors falling. take a look on the flipside when it comes to gainers. hitachi jumping the most in six months after it forecast a 30% jump in net income for the current fiscal year. this company was upgraded to overweight by j.p. morgan and has reaffirmed plans for ¥1 trillion in m&a. 3.7% -- toshiba corp. up 3.7% given its chip sale of their. you so much. sophie kamaruddin there. we are in the thick of trade monday morning. steady as she goes, that's what we are likely to get in the latest batch of monthly economic numbers

sophie long at buckingham palace. local and mayoral elections in england, wales and scotland. nearly 5,000 council seats are vacant in 88 councils in scotland and wales, and around another 30 are up for grabs in england. some councils will begin counting ballots as soon as polls shut at 10 o'clock this evening, while others will start counting tomorrow morning. results will be announced throughout the day tomorrow. four days before france elects its new president, the two remaining contenders have traded insults in a heated televised debate. the centrist candidate, emmanuel macron, said his far—right rival, marine le pen, risked civil war with her policies; she accused him of being complacent about islamist extremism. our europe correspondent james reynolds was watching. france's next president sat at this table, but at which end? emmanuel macron and marine le pen argued over the future of their country. monsieur macron est le candidat de la mondalisation sauvage... translation: mr macron is the candidate of savage gl

sophie, thank away and come back tomorrow. bravery on all sides. sophie, thank you.ask. this is the manchester islamic centre, the mosque that salman abedi attended. let's listen in. in the name of allah, the most gracious, good afternoon. peace be upon you. i am a trustee of the manchester islamic centre. on behalf of the manchester islamic centre, we would like to welcome you all to the mosque. standing beside me, behind me, is the imam, who is the chief imam of the manchester islamic centre. this man is the chair of the manchester council of mosques. we have also the welfare officer of the manchester council of mosques. we have a member of the youth committee of the manchester islamic centre. we also have another trustee of the manchester islamic centre. we would like to pay our respects to the victims of monday's atrocity with a minute's silence, please.

sophie: that is exactly the case.e has parliamentary questions, wonder if the party can pull together an ability to push through an agenda which we have yet to see where the details are . further upside for the euro will be determined by what the ecb may do. and morgan saying it will be difficult. we will look to french bonds when they start trading on monday, to engage market expectations. soon a gap between france and germany's 10-year yield leading to the vote. this is premium that investors have been telling french -- the overburdened fell. but this narrowing may slow. this couldshows how be in the offing after friday's close that brought the risk premium to 43 basis points. we are going to get the risk momentum, the tokyo opens. look at futures for asia, we have more liquidity into the picture, so we will see if this risk appetite is maintained. japanese markets are looking at a stronger start. this is after a long break last week, stocks were off for the golden week holiday. we are seeing futures higher in austr

let's get the bloomberg first word, sophie kamaruddin. sophie: the president of the st.jury is out on whether the trump administration will meet wall street expectation. speaking to bloomberg, james bullard said at some point, but honeymoon will come to an end and washington will need to deliver on policy promises that have driven the stock market higher. james: the shoot up after the election, the president was perceived as more pro-business, washington does have to deliver at some point and i think that is a concern going forward, whether the honeymoon period when and at some point and the reality of american politics would settling. we will see if that happens or not. i think the jury is still out on all of that. ratee: japan's jobless remained at the lowest in almost two decades last month, holding at 2.8%. meanwhile, retail sales beat expectations as they rose 1.4%. overall household spending fell by 1.4%. noriega, has died at the age of 83. he recently underwent an operation after a hemorrhage. he had be -- been a key u.s. alley -- ally but was removed from power a

let's return to buckingham palace and my colleague sophie long.ades, he has made over 600 overseas trips alongside the queen, more than 5000 speeches, and he was at lords only yesterday joking that he was the world's most experienced plaque unveiled. that will stop, but we were told in a statement that he is patron, president or a member of more than 780 organisations and his association with those will continue. earlier i spoke to the vice president of the british driving association. he was very good. he was very accurate, very brave, and he was hard to beat. he meant everything to driving. he carried on doing it until he was 65, which sounds pretty good and remarkable to think that was 30 years ago. are you surprised he continued with his role in public life for so long? no. not when you know him. when i used to drive with him the driving was his pleasure and his work as he called it was going places. he had five times the energy i had and was 20 years older than me. i have been out with him in the frost and ice and i thought we would stop for

sophie kamaruddin there on the markets.hree megabanks are rallying today despite forecasting a fourth straight fall in combined annual profit. it comes as the impact of negative interest rates eases. more, garrett allen joining us from tokyo. you see the various bank stocks are writing, including mitsubishi of about 1.5%. why is that? reporter: the markets are going to respond positively to the results this morning. they are forecasting up to $950 billion. their take on things is a little more upbeat than perhaps the other two, which are forecasting lower profits. the market is showing it, certainly. also expecting some announcement on structural reforms and new business plans as some of these megabanks. did we get them? reporter: yes. they also announced another structural reform plan with includes a number of measures to shave some expenses. they're saying their profit level and five years should generate about $300 billion in games. -- in gains. they are renaming themselves. that will take place next year. they're really

thank you, sophie long.ing down on tv junk food adverts. they're proposing a new child health bill, to be outlined in its election manifesto. sophie hutchinson reports. this is going to be a very green smoothie. but it's healthy, though, isn't it? shadow health secretaryjon ashworth being taught how to make a smoothie by pupils at a london school, part of labour's bid to prove it has the solution for cutting childhood obesity. we want to have the healthiest children in the world. now, yes, that's an ambitious target but to be frank, i'm ambitious for the children of this country. our children deserve the best. labour's election pledge is ambitious. it's promising to halve the number of overweight children within ten years, to set up a £250 million fund to pay for nurses and counsellors in schools and to ban junk food adverts from all tv programmes before the 9pm watershed. that would affect shows including the x factor and britain's got talent which are popular with children. labour says it would reduce thei

this is bbc news with me, sophie long. the headlines.dent trump and king salman of saudi arabia meet in riyadh. they've approved an arms deal worth more than 100 billion dollars. the white house described it as the biggest single arms deal in history. back home, there are fresh claims about his reasons for sacking james comey, the director of the fbi. jeremy corbyn insists his party is committed to trident after members of the shadow cabinet publicly disagree over the issue. the tories defend their pledge to cut net migration to "tens of thousands" after it comes under fire from former chancellor george osborne. and here comes the bride — the duchess of cambridge‘s sister, pippa, marries in berkshire. prince george was one of the page boys, his sister charlotte was a bridesmaid. now on bbc news, ainslie‘s america's cup quest. sir ben ainslie is the most successful sailor in olympic history. but since the first race in 1851, no british team has ever won the america's cup. personally, i think for everyone in this team it would be the bigge

sophie.betty, -- mitsubishi is said to report at midday, followed by mitsubishi motors this afternoon. following the news lines that you and yvonne just mentioned, we are keeping an eye on toshiba in tokyo along with crown resorts in sydney as this can casino operator is said to do the joint venture. the largest bank on the radar after its latest earnings update. asian equity futures are pointing higher here after the stocks on wall street into tire and the yen is back above 113. that is a brief look at what we will be watching when trading ♪ yvonne: -- betty: shares hitting a record as the eu retailer saw its first-ever profit as a listed company. china says the internet is growing the -- is ruining the economy. alibaba and others are in a race to the bottom. this is the second hour of "daybreak asia." yvonne man in hong kong. betty: i'm betty liu. -- i don't markets know. it seems likely be -- it seems like we are at the return of the market. pretty much closed right at the height of the se

sophie: the nikkei 225 set for a fourth day lower.k at the sectors, most in the red, barring telcos that gained primarily coming from nippon, rising to the highest level in at least a year. goldman recently upgraded that stock to a buy. as heidi mentioned, we did have factory output data while missing estimates, the data did indicate a rebound in april on exports, growth, and yellow japan's -- and although japan's industrial output is forecasted to fall in may, production is expected to increase through june. a large miss for factory output numbers and seal. -- factory output numbers in seoul. manufacturers registered a slight uptick in confidence. pessimists outweigh optimists. you are seeing swings for the cosby so far this morning -- seeing swings for the kospi. they are offsetting gains elsewhere. samsung securities are predicting a rosier outlook for south korean banks as they see interest margins improving. for now, financials down about .33%. betty: thank you so much, sophie kamaruddin on the markets. we are getting headlines f

sophie long, bbc news, leeds. five minutes until the party leaders debate in edinburgh.eporter andrew black who's in the spin room in mansfield traquair, here in edinburgh, where the debate is about to get under way. just a few minutes until the debate starts. we a re just a few minutes until the debate starts. we are expecting a lot of issues tonight, brexit and independents to name a few. i'm joined exactly by the person you would want to be joined joined exactly by the person you would want to bejoined by, professorjohn curtis of strathclyde university. we've talked a lot about brexit and independents, is that what it will come down to in this campaign? ever since the independence referendum of 2014, the question of how scotland should be governed has been the central issue of scottish politics, and it's been theissue of scottish politics, and it's been the issue above all that has divided voters. if we look at what happened two years ago when the snp got 50% the vote north of the border, 90% of people who voted yes in 2014 reaffirmed their vote on that occasion by vo

sophie long, bbc news, leeds.news channel and on bbc one in scotland at 7:30pm with live coverage of the scottish leaders' debate, and we'll be back at 10pm tonight with the latest on the day's campaigning. but for now it's back to clive. onto football now, and in the premier league manchester city and liverpool have secured the last two champions league places, at the expense of arsenal. while chelsea have been crowned premier league champions. today, they beat sunderland 5—1 at stamford bridge, and after more than 700 appearances it was the captainjohn terry's last game for the club. celtic have completed an entire league season unbeaten, the first time that's happened in scotland since the 1890s. today, they won their final game 2—0 against hearts. they finish the season on 106 points, 30 ahead of aberdeen in second place. joe wilson reports. celtic park can seem like its own world, rotating around the scottish premier league, untouchable, invincible. with traditional respect, celtic were applauded onto the pit

the latest on the markets with sophie. how is it looking? sophie: a down day in asia. falling .5%. leading that tech line of over 1%. this as crude prices hold onto gains. and electronics makers dragging in tokyo and consumer stocks on the back foot following the morning data doubt. household spending is continuing to slump and retail sales put in a decisive beat for april, 1.4% monthly rise. toshiba shares, pulling up the board, this after the company concluded the agreement to split off three units. the split remains july 1, toshiba shares falling for a second day in three. aussie banking stocks after scott morrison introduced a bank levy bill to parliament did not much reaction here off the four big lenders. anz consistently on the back foot here. 2% today.p financials one of the sectors keeping their head above water in the session. fresh off president trump's protectionist tone in europe, it is now down to india and china to discuss potential new world order with leaders. for more on these visits by prime minister modi and premier masayoshi son, what is at stake i

sophie: definitely playing catch-up.apanese traders looking refreshed after their three day break. the nikkei and topix surging to highs last seen in 2015 as the yen hovers around seven-week lows. we had that relief from the wind in the french elections for emmanuel macron, and the global growth richard lending some cheer as it looks intact. aussie stocks snapping a four drop, aussie dollar at january lows. set for another fresh high, very resilient, along with the korean won looking past election risks for now. in the bond space, all see bonds sliding as it is risk on sunday,g the vote on matching treasury moves. in the commodities space, focus given that selloff across different commodities last week, but we do have oil on the front wti and brent extending the rebound as goldman and citibank warning that the selloff was not based on fundamentals. and taiwan, we have time when these media reporting that some suppliers of iphone eight parts will kick into gear early, starting production one month earlier than expected in

sophie long, bbc news, leeds. you can see more on all of today‘s stories on the bbc news channel.. let‘s bring you more now on the visit of president trump to saudi arabia. he is due to make a speech to the leaders of more than a0 muslim nations this afternoon. 0ur chief international correspondent lyse doucet has been speaking to former us defence secretary, ash carter. he told her that muslim leaders needed to stand united in the fight against religious extremism. it is important, and this is something the united states can‘t do, that the islamic countries stand together against the use of their religion as an excuse for barbarism. and that is what saudi leaders are saying here in riyadh, and that‘s important because it is something we westerners... do you think they are doing enough? was that your message when ye used to come to saudi arabia as the secretary of defence, it‘s got to start at home? it's one of the messages, yes, that they have to use their moral authority to stand against religious extremism. that‘s something americans can‘t do. we can help them militarily but we

nicola, zoe and sophie grew up together.there's bills to pay and we are already struggling to make ends meet on the wages we have. and now she could face a bill for school lunches. having to pay for school meals willjust be another stress, another bill to pay out. £40 a month, it's a lot of money. so there you have it — the view across the generations. time now for a look at the weather. it's a bit chilly here in halifax. here's sarah keith lucas. we have had some much needed rain across parts of the country but we have not all seen it. there has been glorious sunshine out there too. the satellite image shows we have a peppering of shower ploughed across many northern and western areas. towards the south—east, more cloud and outbreaks of rain here. we will continue to see this rain moving north across east anglia, east england. some uncertainty about the extent of that rainfall but it looks like northern parts of the country see dry conditions with showers fading away overnight. the touch of ground frost in the most prone sp

sophie hutchinson, bbc news.e programmes. david dimbleby will host two question time specials in which leaders will face audience questions and there will also be a seven—way debate with senior party figures. 0ur media correspondent david sillito is here to explain. no empty chairs? absolutely. both bbc and itv from the outset said they wanted there to be an election leaders' debate, remember the one in 2010 with david cameron, nick clegg and gordon brown. that's not going to happen, as far as we can tell at the moment so far. itv said they still want to press ahead with a debate but they haven't finalised who will take part. these are the bbc‘s plans. a series of two question time specials, the first featuring theresa may and jeremy corbyn in the same programme but not sharing the stage. they will appear consecutively facing questions from the audience, and then there will be another question time special two days later with other party leaders appearing on election questions later in the evening. the leaders wi

my colleague sophie long was at the launch in halifax.rrived here late this morning to a small but very noisy protest. she asked voters to strengthen her hand as she fights for britain. see unveiled the conservative party manifesto. it boasted a raft of policy pledges on the nhs, an education, immigration and care. she said her priorities we re and care. she said her priorities were a strong and care. she said her priorities were a strong economy and and care. she said her priorities were a strong economy and delivering brexit. she set out to appeal to working families. this report from eleanor garnier. it is the general election she decided to call. please welcome the prime minister, theresa may. this is her pitch to persuade you that she is the person to sort out the country's problems. because it is the responsibility of leadership to be upfront and straight with people about the challenges ahead. about the difficult decisions and trade—offs that need to be made, and the hard work required to overcome the obstacles in our way — and tha

sophie, thank you.eremy corbyn today, in the west midlands. it has been a day of campaigning in the west midlands for the labour leader. jeremy corbyn started off at the university of worcester, where he met a class of student nurses. he spoke to them about labour's plans to tackle childhood obesity. already we have a ban on adverts for unhealthy products in children's tv. but, labour wants to extended to cover a ll but, labour wants to extended to cover all tv programming, right up until the watershed at 9pm. he also spoke about stopping hospitals from charging for their car parks, thing it was not fair and an unnecessary burden. notjust on nhs staff, but patients and families. jeremy corbyn ended up here in leamington spa, speaking to a crowd of a few hundred people. this wasjeremy corbyn in his element, giving a speech off—the—cuff. i think we should expect a lot more of that over the next few weeks. eleanor ghani in leamington spa. and what about the liberal democrats, well sima kotecha is in st and

sophie is here to flesh out the other details. sophie.ith oil prices in focus given what saudi and russia have just said regarding their support for extensions of that opec deal over nine months. wti and brent both jumping over 1.5%, but a final decision to be made at the may 2015 meeting in vienna. i want to focus on chinese markets, the mainland and hong that gains weakening after weaker economic data. h-shares on track for a march high, jumping 1.3% based on optimism over infrastructure spending. we do have macquarrie securities had saying growth still looking fine despite that meaningful slowdown. policy makers will keep their focus on reducing financial risks in the second quarter. a quick check on chinese cybersecurity stocks jumping amid a global hacking attack by wanna cry, saying this will boost china's spending on with the focus on industry leaders gaining market share. we will check in on toshiba shares at the bottom of the heroin trading in tokyo resumes. david: absolutely, on that note, the gloves are off. we are talking west

sophie long in halifax.manifesto launch. chris morris and the bbc reality check team have been taking a look through the manifesto. after weeks of hearing about strong and stable leadership we finally got some details to look at but unlike labour and the liberal democrats, conservatives haven't so far released their overall costings in a single table, so we're still working on those. there are some headline numbers though, the tories say they plan to balance the budget later, by 2025. they say they plan to increase nhs spending by minimum of 8 billion in real terms over the next five yea rs. in real terms over the next five years. the social care changes we've already heard about will mean tens of thousands more families have to pay for social care provided at home, but everyone will retain at least £100,000 of savings and assets including value in the family home. a policy designed to take account of the fact we are living longer. the conservatives also wants to raise money by means testing the winter fuel

i noticed the pack of sophie's choice that had been behind my decision in sophie's choice the narrator decides he'll get a job working for an editorial house, not an advertising. so that he can sit at his desk and pretend he's doing his job but trying to write a novel. this didn't work out to three martini lunches. we hatched things in advertising in this very building that went along the lines for international harvester we stand behind every product we make accept our menu or spreader. [laughter] growing up in chicago the closest thing i had to museum was a deck of cards. i don't know if you are familiar with those but it was the kind of first introduction to authors and who they were, the men all had crazy eyes and a lot of facial hair and there weren't very many women. it's incredible to have this museum. it's a tremendous resource, it's really going to be used in chicago. i have no way of researching and i'm tremendously curious if it's true that one of the things chicago can be enormously proud of is that it has many, many classes in different high schools, not just in the city p

let's go to my colleague sophie who is at the manchester royal infirmary this morning where, sophie,aying, many hospitals around the greater manchester police looking the casualties. —— the greater manchester area. that is right, we know that 64 people are being treated for injuries at eight hospitals in the greater manchester police the, i am at manchester royal infirmary where nine victims of the attack are being treated here but just the right of me is the royal hospital and 12 children, those under 16, hospital and 12 children, those under16, are hospital and 12 children, those under 16, are being treated there. much has been made of the mancunian spirit over the last 48 hours, manchester is getting on with its business but of course for the 22 people, the families of the 22 people, the families of the 22 people who died, this attack will never be over. nor will it be for a very long time for some of the people who have been treated in hospitals around manchester. a little earlier we had from the chief officer of great amount to the health and social care partnership anti—gay mar

thanks, sophie. put more money into public services and pay for it by raising taxes. labour and the liberal democrats say they want to pay for the planned boost to the schools budget by increasing corporation tax which is a tax on business profits. the present rate is 19%, a figure which has fallen dramatically from 28% in 2010. labour has said it wants to raise the rate to 26% by 2021, one of the biggest tax rises business has seen for three decades. the conservatives on the other hand want to keep cutting the tax saying they will reduce the rate to 17% by 2020. the big question, of course, will a business tax rise bring in the £20 billion all labour's policy, for example, needs. the labour party proposals would certainly raise more than enough from corporation tax to pay for these increases in school funding, but of course an increase in corporation tax has significant economic effects. it will reduce investment by companies in the uk and in the long one it won't raise as much as it might in the sh

sophie: that will be in focus. we also have korean electionswen tuesday.dollar-yen also looking little changed after climbing back since113, the highest march 17. the yen is in recovery mode, at least when it comes to the euro, after hitting a one year low, so markets taking on a cooler head s win.macron' further gains for japanese shares, the topix above its 50 and 100 day moving averages. momentum thanks to the boj standing by its accommodative stance. let's look at what is moving the rising tokyo, the topix the most in three months, all sectors in the green, energy shares leading that rise in oil, developers on the up as profits are expected to rise on office demand. , plenty ofrs earnings drivers to consider. i want to draw your attention to mitsubishi, shares jumping as much as 13%, the highest in over a year after the u.s. fda approved its als drug. deutsche bank cut the stock to , olympus as full-year forecast trail estimates. that is what we are looking forward to give coming back online today. reserves rose for a third straight month in april. tig