:00:00. > :00:00.fire on politicians who were practicing
:00:00. > :00:07.A senior Republican member of the House of Representatives,
:00:08. > :00:09.Steve Scalise, is in a critical condition.
:00:10. > :00:26.The Prime Minister is scheduled to hold talks wit the main parties
:00:27. > :00:27.in Northern Ireland at Downing Street.
:00:28. > :00:31.Now on BBC News all the latest business news live from Singapore.
:00:32. > :00:40.She has done it - US interest rates rise to their highest levels since
:00:41. > :00:46.the 2008 financial crisis but now what? Overall we continue to expect
:00:47. > :00:50.that the economy will expand at a moderate pace over the next few
:00:51. > :00:59.years. And it is crunch time in the bidding war for Toshiba's chip unit
:01:00. > :01:06.but wary as Japan, which has traditionally stood behind its
:01:07. > :01:11.troubled companies? Hello, welcome to Asia Business
:01:12. > :01:15.Report. Despite lacklustre growth the American central bank has taken
:01:16. > :01:20.steps to cool the world's largest economy, forging ahead with the
:01:21. > :01:26.second interest-rate rise this year, signalling another is on the cards
:01:27. > :01:29.in 2017. The Fed reserve, led by the chair, Janet Yellen, had plans to
:01:30. > :01:34.shrink the bond holdings and massive debts which were built up during the
:01:35. > :01:40.financial crisis. Our correspondent Michelle Fleury sent this report.
:01:41. > :01:44.It is steady as she goes at America's central bank. Officials
:01:45. > :01:49.here are determined to stay the course of slowly but steadily
:01:50. > :01:53.raising interest rates. The Fed chair Janet Yellen explained that
:01:54. > :01:56.with the world's largest economy improving, this and further rate
:01:57. > :02:02.rises are needed to head off inflation. We continue to expect
:02:03. > :02:07.that the ongoing strength of the economy will warrant gradual
:02:08. > :02:12.increases in the federal funds rate to sustain healthy labour markets
:02:13. > :02:17.and stabilise inflation around the 2% long run objective. And the head
:02:18. > :02:21.of the International Monetary Fund, speaking in Germany, said that the
:02:22. > :02:28.hike was positive for America, long a driver of global growth. Inflation
:02:29. > :02:35.is getting close to where it should be and not just inflation but core
:02:36. > :02:40.inflation as well, so those are good indicators of an economy that is
:02:41. > :02:43.doing better - largest in the world, hopefully with good spillover
:02:44. > :02:50.effects elsewhere in the world. But not all signs are good - retail
:02:51. > :02:53.sales just dropped sharply. If American consumers feel upbeat it is
:02:54. > :02:58.not shown in their spending. US investors are a different matter.
:02:59. > :03:03.Stock markets continued to hit all-time highs. So is it full steam
:03:04. > :03:08.ahead for further rate rises? I don't think the Fed is giving a
:03:09. > :03:12.massive vote of confidence. They are saying they can ease off the
:03:13. > :03:16.accommodation are bit and so really they are still looking at two
:03:17. > :03:21.aspects of the economy - what they can and can't help. With the Trump
:03:22. > :03:26.administration struggling to enact the economic agenda more than ever
:03:27. > :03:29.control of the US economy lies here with the Federal Reserve. And
:03:30. > :03:34.today's decision to raise interest rates is an example of the Fed doing
:03:35. > :03:40.what it had carefully signalled it would do but Janet Yellen can't
:03:41. > :03:46.control everything and come with the economic state next, future
:03:47. > :03:51.decisions may not be as clear-cut. -- mixed. Well, some investors are
:03:52. > :03:56.worried about the Fed's hawkish tone and that dragged down US stocks with
:03:57. > :04:05.the Dow closing slightly higher at the NASDAQ posted its biggest slide
:04:06. > :04:08.since December and we saw Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Facebook closing
:04:09. > :04:11.lower, and we will look at the currencies now because Janet
:04:12. > :04:15.Yellen's Rosy outlook helped the US dollar to bounce back after a
:04:16. > :04:19.seven-month low and this is where it is trading against the yen and the
:04:20. > :04:26.Australian dollar. Meanwhile, oil prices tumbled 4% to
:04:27. > :04:30.the lowest level in seven months on Wednesday over ongoing concerns
:04:31. > :04:36.about a global supply glut. Let's have a look at how they are going.
:04:37. > :04:39.They are not doing too differently - they continue to slide lower in
:04:40. > :04:44.Asian trade. It is decision day for Toshiba. The
:04:45. > :04:47.firm will name who will buy the memory chip unit today. The sale
:04:48. > :04:53.will cover massive losses from the nuclear business in the US and,
:04:54. > :05:00.interestingly, not one Japanese bidder is in the running. Here is
:05:01. > :05:02.Rupert Wingfield-Hayes with the details.
:05:03. > :05:06.Toshiba was the company that invented the flash memory industry
:05:07. > :05:13.back in the mid-19 80s. Since then it has become huge. Last year it was
:05:14. > :05:17.a $17 billion US market. And to give you an idea of why, here is a trip
:05:18. > :05:22.down memory lane. Remember this? It is an antique now but ten years ago
:05:23. > :05:27.that was the state-of-the-art. It contained 2 gigabytes of flash
:05:28. > :05:34.memory. A few years later it shrunk to this, 8 gigabytes of memory. And
:05:35. > :05:40.now, this is the size of a flash memory card and it has 32 gigabytes
:05:41. > :05:46.on it. That is enough to put your whole life on. And to lose. Let's
:05:47. > :05:51.not forget that Toshiba is not selling its flash memory division,
:05:52. > :05:55.not because it wants to but because of massive debts it has run up in
:05:56. > :06:00.the North American nuclear division so, in effect, to pay off debt in
:06:01. > :06:05.the US it is selling its most valuable asset, but who is turning
:06:06. > :06:12.up to buy them? Well, you guessed it, the Americans, firstly from
:06:13. > :06:17.Western Digital for $18 billion, which was soon followed by Broadcom
:06:18. > :06:22.with $23 billion, then a bit from South Korea and the biggest from
:06:23. > :06:26.Taiwan, $27 billion US. What is extraordinary about all of this is
:06:27. > :06:32.that not one single one has come from a Japanese corporation. In the
:06:33. > :06:35.old days, Japanese companies would look after each other, by each
:06:36. > :06:39.other's shares and they'll each other out but now that has gone. And
:06:40. > :06:43.I have it on very good authority that the Japanese ministry of trade
:06:44. > :06:47.and industry has been frantically trying to put together a Japanese
:06:48. > :06:52.bid and they have failed. And so they have come up with their own
:06:53. > :06:58.government backed bid but even that is being led by an American company,
:06:59. > :07:02.KKR, so what we can say for certain is, in the end, whoever gets control
:07:03. > :07:07.of Toshiba's flash memory business, this is the end of the Japan Inc
:07:08. > :07:11.that we used to know. Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Tokyo.
:07:12. > :07:15.In other news:, the US has raised concerns about China's access to
:07:16. > :07:19.artificial intelligence -based technology developed in America.
:07:20. > :07:24.According to Reuters a leaked report shows proposals from the Pentagon
:07:25. > :07:29.that export controls should be updated to stop Chinese firms being
:07:30. > :07:34.able to invest in some start-ups. And the rules are changing in China
:07:35. > :07:40.for football clubs to help the local development of the sport. Clubs that
:07:41. > :07:45.spend more than $6 million on foreign players will have to pay the
:07:46. > :07:48.same amount into a national soccer development fund. The measure
:07:49. > :07:55.follows a spending spree from teams backed by major private firms and
:07:56. > :08:01.state-owned businesses. Now, the E3 gaming event in LA, that
:08:02. > :08:07.is where the latest things are being unveiled, including the latest
:08:08. > :08:11.company to an veiled their wares, Japanese gaming giant Nintendo,
:08:12. > :08:14.slipping behind Sony and Microsoft recently, they are enjoying a
:08:15. > :08:21.resurgence thanks to the newest console, the Nintendo Switch, and
:08:22. > :08:32.here is Chris Fox reporting. Mario, whoo-hoo! I love this crowd of
:08:33. > :08:39.people that are just super Mario fans. This game is just gonna knock
:08:40. > :08:43.their hats right fighting. Now, Super Mario games are typically the
:08:44. > :08:47.bestselling on Nintendo consoles. It is different than before. More of an
:08:48. > :08:53.open world. The difference in this game is you throw your hat by
:08:54. > :09:02.shaking your controller. Oh, I just snapped her. Sorry. Last year here
:09:03. > :09:07.at E3 Nintendo had one game to show off. This year it has a whole raft
:09:08. > :09:20.of titles. That includes Super Mario Odyssey - quite a turnaround.
:09:21. > :09:28.We have a problem in explaining since the beginning. The video that
:09:29. > :09:33.introduced Switch for the first time was about trying to make people
:09:34. > :09:37.understand, you are gonna be able to play on TV and take it to any place.
:09:38. > :09:44.You can play multiplayer locally anywhere. The Switch is such an
:09:45. > :09:49.improvement on Wii. It seems to have brought back Nintendo's Mojo. It is
:09:50. > :09:58.night and day. They have really turn things around. What do you think is
:09:59. > :10:01.the appeal of Mario, why do people love at? It is a tribute to the
:10:02. > :10:06.creativity and the teams that Nintendo, just the passion and the
:10:07. > :10:13.love for videogames, it never stops and it is a joy to be a part of
:10:14. > :10:17.that. Whoopee! That was Chris Fox with that report.
:10:18. > :10:21.We know that owning a car can be expensive but how about this? A
:10:22. > :10:27.parking space in Hong Kong has set another property price record,
:10:28. > :10:34.selling for just under, wait for it, $665,000, that is according to a
:10:35. > :10:39.newspaper. If it is correct, it is more than a valley of some Hong Kong
:10:40. > :10:41.home is where you can pick up an apartment for $540,000. Gosh, lots
:10:42. > :10:46.of money. Let's have a look at the markets and
:10:47. > :10:49.you can see the Nikkei is flat, following on from Wall Street.
:10:50. > :10:50.And that is it for