with india's election in full swing, we examine how women are playing a key role in that mammoth vote. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm steve lai. america's central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 5.25% to 5.5%, as stubbornly high inflation continues to hold off the timing of the first rate cut. the decision, which was expected, comes days after new government data showed that the pace of us economic growth is slowing. bbc�*s north america business correspondent michelle fleury has the details. stubborn inflation pushes back the timing of the first rate cut. the us federal reserve voted to keep its benchmark lending rate at a 23—year high on wednesday. officials have said they want more certainty that inflation is under control before they lower borrowing costs. they don't have that yet.

here is chair, jerome powell, during his press conference. the economy has made considerable progress toward our dual mandate objectives. inflation has eased substantially over the past year, while the labour market has remained strong. and that is very good news. but inflation is still too high, further progress in bringing it down is not assured and the path forward is uncertain. we are fully committed to returning inflation to our 2% goal. while the prices of many goods have fallen, from cars to furniture, an increase in housing and petrol prices have contributed to a recent rise in consumer inflation. with progress on inflation taking longer than expected, hopes for lower rates have dimmed. one scenario that could change that calculation? chair powell said if the labour market unexpectedly weakened, that could spur rate cuts. and sweetening the mood on wall street, the dowjones industrial average closed higher, after the fed chair implied that the central bank's next move was unlikely to be

a rate hike. as you've heard from the us federal reserve, interest rates in america will remain high for some time. this has affected countries that have kept borrowing costs low, like japan. investors tend to prefer markets with higher interest rates, because they get higher returns. one casualty from the strength of the us dollar — is the japanese currency. at the beginning of this year, one us dollar would get you 140 yen. more recently, one us dollar buys you nearly 160 yen. now, that weakness in the japanese currency is also starting to impact the economies of neighbouring asian countries. i spoke to khoon goh from anz, and asked him what the spillover effect would be on some of the other asian currencies. the yen has weakened significantly and has caused quite a lot of spill—away effects

into other regional currencies, particularly the currencies of north asian economies, like the korean, and the taiwan dollar and the renminbi as well. the yen is a very important, what we call an anchor currency for the region because a lot of the economies in asia are export dependent and if the yen weakens and that tilts the relative competitiveness nature of the other exporter nations as well, so that's why a weakening yen can put downward pressure on regional currencies as well. you mentioned taiwan and south korea there. do you expect officials to react, to step up support for their currencies? we have seen the south korean officials coming out verbally and expressing concern about the weakness in the korean won, but at this stage, apart from some sporadic interventions, we have not seen the kind of large interventions that for example the bank of japan supposedly undertook earlier this week. i think for now, south korean officials are just watching the situation but they are not really acting decisively

at this point, and similarly, with the taiwanese officials, there actually hasn't really been a lot of strong communications from them expressing any concerns about taiwan dollar weakness at this stage. so what will you be looking out for in the days ahead when it comes to asian currencies? we have seen another bout of yen strength again. a short while ago, we suspected that there is some of the bank ofjapan intervention behind it and if this continues, given that the fed was a bit more dervish than expected, that could help to cap the low for the yen at around 160. but given that the yield differential is still extremely wide, i don't think the yen can recoup too far because it's still very attractive to buy in whole dollars and use yen as a shorting of funding currency. so i think further strength from here is possible but i think there's a limit to how much more the yen can

strengthen unless the bank ofjapan starts to signal they are prepared to hike rates near term. in other news — hong kong will release its growth figures for the january to march quarter today. earlier this week, the city's finance chief said he was expecting a moderate increase in its gross domestic product. paul chan projected that the economy grew between 2.5 and 3.5% in the first 3 months of the year. hong kong has been looking for new ways to boost its growth, which includes attracting more tourists. meanwhile, microsoft's chief executive satya nadella is on the final stop of his trip to southeast asia. he's been meeting with officials and businesses, and has made several investment announcements, including pumping $1.7 billion into ai and cloud facilities in indonesia. the tech giant is also opening its first regional data centre in thailand. today he will be in malaysia where he's due to meet the country's prime minister and speak at an artificial intelligence event in kuala lumpur. turning to india now, where politicians are recognizing women

as a significant force in the ongoing elections. of the country's billion voters — nearly half are women. as more women head to the polling booths, political parties are courting them with various pro—women schemes and policies. archana shukla reports from the southern indian state of karnata ka. an exhausting wait. but chitra's daily commute in rural karnataka is easier once she hops on. women ride forfree in buses under a state government scheme. for chitra, it's a ticket to financial freedom. translation: i save at least 1096 to 1596 of my salary - and it helps in managing household expenses. besides, we can now travel for work or pilgrimages

without thinking of budget. free bus rides are quite popular in several indian states, especially among lower income groups. this way more women access job opportunities. opposition leader rahul gandhi, whose party governs the state of karnataka, is hoping these voters will reward their efforts in this election. women now make up for nearly half of the country's voter base. and with a broader social change happening with better education awareness, most women now decide their vote independently, making them a highly sought after electorate for all political parties. and this is why all political parties are out to woo them with incentives from cash handouts to free rations, money to build toilets, cheap loans and even cooking gas, which is one of prime minister modi's style project. subsidies have now ended, but the gas connection has transformed sarga's life. and she says this will be a key factor

when she decides her vote. translation: | save a lot| of time and cooking the gas is very expensive now, so i refill once in two months, but it is still helpful. more women are out voting, but not as many are seen in the workforce. just a third of working age indian women are formally employed. i think there's a lot that can be done by employers to reduce the barriers that women face in accessing work and also think of more ways of creating work. that's the real reason why a labour force participation rate is low and therefore an election promise is not going to be able to solve that. cutting to the chase are those self—employed who want more than just the welfare schemes. translation: bank loans and the government - scheme need a lot of paperwork. can't it be made simpler? but politicians come during elections and then forget us.

that's an ask women increasingly have — to be equal partners, notjust in the electorate, but also in the nation's economy. archana shukla, bbc news, karnataka. in earnings news — estee lauder reported strong quarterly earnings amid a recovery in sales of its beauty products in the us. but it was the outlook for the year that sent its stock down 13%. the beauty brand lowered its annual sales forecast, citing weak demand in china for its premium beauty products. johnson &johnson has outlined a new settlement to resolve nearly all of the lawsuits it faces over allegations that its baby powder and other talc products cause cancer. j&j will pay roughly $6.5 billion to former customers with ovarian cancer claims, over the next 25 years. while the pharmaceutical giant still maintains its talc powder does not cause cancer, the company is looking to put an end to this costly legal battle.

finally, the united states has unveiled another round of sanctions, targetting companies and individuals in russia, as well as those in other countries like china, which still conducts business with russia. russia has insisted that similar measures in the past have been ineffectual. but us treasury secretary, janet yellen said these new sanctions would further disrupt russia's war efforts, by targetting its industrial base and those who supplied it. and that's it for this edition of asia business report. thanks for watching.

hiya. i'm betty with the catch up. tonight, an update on the hainault attack, a lamar diss track and fka twigs handmade deepfake.

let's start in the us, where student protests against the war in gaza are sweeping the country. these are pictures from ucla where counter—protesters attacked a camp set up by pro—palestinian demonstrators. and columbia in new york, where police arrested hundreds of protesters. edgar gomez is a ucla student. there were fights going on, too, like they started hitting each other with sticks. and there were a lot of moments where there were just pepper sprays going on. an update now on last night's lead story. a 14—year—old boy killed in a sword attack in northeast london on tuesday has been named as daniel anjorin. two police officers are still in hospital. a 36—year—old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder. some other stories. a 17—year—old boy has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after three people were injured at a high school in sheffield. the school was put into lockdown following the attack

and students described having to hide under desks. next. kendrick lamar has escalated his feud with drake in his new diss track, euphoria. it's a six minute response to weeks of taunting by drake and isn't subtle when it comes to expressing lamar�*s feelings about the rapper. time now for ten seconds of fka twigs, making a deepfake so it can interact with herfans. it'll mimic her personality, tone of voice and be able to speak english, french, korean and japanese to chat with fans and journalists so she can focus on her music. can i get one to call the doctors for me? you're all caught up now. have a lovely night. hello, i'm mark edwards, welcome to sportsday. here's what's coming

up on our show. advantage dortmund, as sancho outshines mbappe in the first leg of their champions league semifinal clash. sabalenka surges into the semi finals in madrid as she sees off teenager mirra andreeva, but the men's defending champion is out. it's a wednesday of shocks in the snooker as ronnie o'sullivan suffers defeat to stuart bingham, whilejudd trump is also out. hello and thanks for joining us on sportsday. we're going to start in germany where borussia dortmund have beaten paris st—germain 1—0 in the first leg of their uefa champions league semi final. while the spotlight was on psg's expensively assembled squad of superstars, including this man, kylian mbappe, it was manchester united outcast jadon sancho who was the shining light

of this dortmund performance. he completed 12 dribbles — the most by any player