brazil's president lula is in brics partner china for talks. what threat do the emerging powers pose to the old world order? accelerating into the future — ford launches hands—free driving on uk motorways. welcome to world business report. let's start with china and its growing influence over the world economy because while global finance chiefs meet in washington, president xi is hosting brazil's president lula da silva. trade between china and brazil

surged 10% last year to $150 billlion. they have moved to reduce reliance on the us dollar by setting up payment clearing in the chinese currency, the yuan. former brazilian president dilma rousseff is to be sworn in today as head of the new development bank — a rival to the world bank and imf set by by the so—called brics countries of brazil, russia, india, china and south africa. let's speak now to william jackson, who is emerging market economist at capital economics. xi has been signalling the post—covid reopening of china by hosting a series of world leaders. what can we read into the fact that brazil's leader has been among the first? you are absolutely right. as china moves into its postcode environment

it seems to be wanting to spread its international wings. we have seen talks between saudi arabia and iran recently, and now we have cordial words with president lula, hayes and china at the moment. there is a big political angle to this, to find a way to cement relations with an ally, particularly as relations with brazil were very strained under the previous brazilian president. it is for president lula to show a big shift in foreign policy compared to the foreign government, which was very pro—us. president lula has perceived multilateralism. there are quite strong reasons for the country is to be allied, particularly from the brazilian side, which relies very heavily on china for trade. its

biggest exporter things like soybeans, beef and ion, a lot of which goes to china. economically it is very tight with china. it which goes to china. economically it is very tight with china.— is very tight with china. it has been quite — is very tight with china. it has been quite some _ is very tight with china. it has been quite some time - is very tight with china. it has been quite some time since l is very tight with china. it has i been quite some time since that acronym, brics, was coined. since then, has it paled into more relevant, particularly when you consider the growing dominance of china and india surging not too far behind it. , �* ,, , behind it. yes, the brics surged in the 2000s, _ behind it. yes, the brics surged in the 2000s, but — behind it. yes, the brics surged in the 2000s, but in _ behind it. yes, the brics surged in the 2000s, but in the _ behind it. yes, the brics surged in the 2000s, but in the past - behind it. yes, the brics surged in the 2000s, but in the past decade | behind it. yes, the brics surged in l the 2000s, but in the past decade it has been far more mixed, whereas china has become a true global power, indian growth has been strong, but russian and indian economies have had very tough last ten years. big sanctions have had big effects on russia. brazil's economy went through a lot of turmoil in the middle of the last

decade. they have gone down very different routes.— different routes. william jackson, thank ou different routes. william jackson, thank you very — different routes. william jackson, thank you very much _ different routes. william jackson, thank you very much for - different routes. william jackson, thank you very much forjoining i different routes. william jackson, l thank you very much forjoining us. the health of the us banking sector will be under scrutiny later when jpmorgan chase, citigroup and wells fargo all release their first quarter results. it follows the biggest bank failures in the us since 2008 with the collapse last month of silicon valley bank and signature bank, and also credit suisse being taken over by ubs investors. peter hahn is emeritus professor of banking at the london institute of banking. despite customers pulling almost $100 billion out of the big four banks in the first quarter, he said that wasn't a major threat to the us banking system. it's an excellent change. and i wouldn't let that sound anything nervous. you know, we're in this position now. we were transitioning to what i would call a normal interest rate environment. you almost have to stop and think and say generally people who are under 35 years old might be surprised to earn interest on their savings because they

probably haven't done that in their adult lifetimes. so as we have this event happening that you can get earnings on your savings in america, there are a lot of alternatives to the banking system where you can get more market rate savings a lot more than we have in the uk so it's not unusual, a, large banks aren't paying a high rate of interest and people are taking their money out. and that's a different effect on smaller banks in america, which have had their confidence shaken by the failure of silicon valley bank and there i think money has come out of those banks. that's the big numbers that you're really talking about. the uk has approved driver—assistance technology for the first time which will allow drivers take their hands off the wheel. ford's bluecruise technology controls steering, acceleration and braking, but it's not self—driving technology because drivers must still pay attention to the road.

the software also monitors the driver's eyes and will prompt users to take the wheel if they lose focus. the software is in new ford mustang e cars and it's been approved for use on certain motorways in the uk. joining me now is is tom leggett, vehicle technology specialist at automotive risk intelligence company thatcham research. you stress this is not self—driving technology, but how far does it take us down that road? yes, you're absolutely right. this is not self driving technology, this is not self driving technology, this is assisted driving technology but it is definitely a step in the right direction. what we are most excited about is the new technology for future automation. these technologies are hd mapping, so that is where the car decide where and when i can't operate, but also driver monitoring. those are the systems that look where the driver

can see and making sure they are paying attention to the road in front. those are the key enabling technologies we're most excited about. , ., , , ., about. tell us about the type of roots, about. tell us about the type of roots. type _ about. tell us about the type of roots. type of _ about. tell us about the type of roots, type of motorways - about. tell us about the type of roots, type of motorways in - about. tell us about the type of roots, type of motorways in the about. tell us about the type of. roots, type of motorways in the uk that are suitable for this technology right now. what makes them suitable, how widespread are they? them suitable, how widespread are the ? ., ., ., , , , they? ford have done it sensible thin. they? ford have done it sensible thing- this _ they? ford have done it sensible thing. this technology _ they? ford have done it sensible thing. this technology has - they? ford have done it sensible thing. this technology has been | thing. this technology has been available in the us for quite some time and now they have introduced it here in the uk, they have done very specific routes, which they call blue routes, which is where the system can be enabled. at the moment the systems can only be used on the main motorways, so the m25, the ma, the mi, main motorways, so the m25, the ma, the m1, the key motorways that were used. that is essentially because this technology is really am motorway access technology for the time being. you motorway access technology for the time beinu. ., _, , motorway access technology for the time beinu. ., , _ motorway access technology for the timebeina. ., , , ., time being. you could be cynical and aruue time being. you could be cynical and araue it is time being. you could be cynical and argue it is not _ time being. you could be cynical and argue it is not really _ time being. you could be cynical and argue it is not really that _ time being. you could be cynical and argue it is not really that helpful - argue it is not really that helpful if you have to keep your eyes on the

road, in fact the software is watching your eyes, then a lot of drivers might not bother with it. you must remember that the hands of function is optional. we would encourage that's because it shows that the driver is engaged. the whole point of the driver monitoring system is to make sure the driver is engaged. i have used this system and it is quite a lot. i was sceptical at the beginning thinking i am not quite sure what the benefit is, but over long distances to fatigue of driving on non—born straight motorways, it allows the driver to relax, heads allows the car to support them in the long, boring driving on motorways. it isjust there to ensure that the driver is engaged in the driving task. in other news: consumers are swapping from fresh to frozen food in a bid to combat

rising grocery prices, according to retailers. data from the research firm kantar shows frozen food is outperforming fresh in supermarkets at the moment with frozen chicken, ready meals, pizzas and chips are the most popular items. boeing has had to halt deliveries of some of its 737 max planes because a problem has been identified with parts made by a third party supplier. the planemaker says it affects a "significant" number of aircraft in production and in storage, but it stressed that the problem was not related to flight safety and that 737 max's already in service can continue to fly. japan has approved a plan to build the country's first casino resort in the western city of osaka. a casino with a conference centre, hotel and other facilities will be built on the artificial island of yumeshima in osaka bay by 2029. the resort is expected to attract millions of tourists and raise almost $4 billion in revenue a year. sterling has hit a io—month high against the us dollar

following a slowdown in the rate of us inflation. the british pound is now worth over $1.25, the highest since june last year. this comes despite the latest gdp figures showing britain's economy flatlining. uk premier league football clubs have agreed to ban advertising by bookmakers and gambling organisations on the front of players�* shirts. however, the change won't come into force until 2026. eight top flight clubs currently have betting firms as their main shirt sponsors. our sport reporterjo currie has that story. gambling sponsors on the front of football shirts have become a familiar sight in the professional game. but in the premier league this will soon be a thing of the past. from the 2025—26 season, clubs in the top flight will not be able to feature betting companies in this way. currently, eight clubs in the premier league have these sponsors with deals estimated to be worth £60 million a year.

the new agreement only applies to the front of shirts and clubs will still be able to feature gambling companies on shirt sleeves and on the led hoardings around the pitch, with adverts on tv remaining unchanged. the move also only affects the premier league, not the english football league. and for some, the new measures don't go far enough. fans are not going to put up with this. they're not going to think, well, it's ok if it's not on the shirt, but if it's three inches to the side or around every single pitch or clubs are allowed to play in leagues named after gambling companies and we know that hundreds of people every year sadly take their own life because of a gambling addiction. so this is the severity of what we're dealing with. the move comes after premier league clubs voluntarily agreed to the change. it's not being forced by the government, but it does come at a time when it's a threat of an independent football regulator hanging over them. in the meantime, new agreements with betting companies for shirt

fronts can still be signed and existing contracts will be honoured in the premier league until the ban comes into place. but it's yet to be seen if something so ingrained in the sport can become less prevalent. joe curry, bbc news. pandora is one of the biggest jewellery brands in the world, but it hasn't yet conquered the biggest market, china. the boss of the company hopes to change that with a relaunch in china. he's been speaking to me on this week's talking business. pandora has been present in the market since 2010. it had a kind of rebirth in 2015, which didn't go down that well, so we've been kind of waiting to relaunch the brand. and, of course, the last few years have been plagued by by the restrictions around the pandemic, so traffic into the stores has been very, very minimal, so we've been kind of seeing sitting a bit on the sidelines waiting for the market to normalize. the perspective on on why we're doing this is, of course, that china is the largest jewellery market in the world and we believe that pandora has has a very good chance to to play well in china.

you can see my full interview with alexander lacik on talking business weekly on bbc news this weekend. stay in touch with the @bbcbusiness team and me on social media — i'm @tadthnright. birkenhead park has always been at the heart of the community. from royal visits to rugby games. today it's in the running to be a unesco world heritage site. birkenhead park was the world's first publicly funded park. it opened its gates in 181t7 and since then has become the blueprint for green spaces around the world, most famously for new york's central park. today, this green space welcomes around two million visitors every year.

we do get visitors coming from all over the world because of its links with central park. we want people to come in on the cruise ships, come to the park and see what we've got here because i know central park's probably ten times bigger than this, but we're special. we're a little oasis in the middle of what's a concrete jungle, really. we used to come when we were young. now we're not quite as young we've got the kids, the grandkids, they're all here now and we love it. other sites shortlisted for the honour include york city centre and a collection of iron age settlements in shetland. there are 33 unesco sites in the uk, two in the north—west — jodrell bank and the lake district national park — and birkenhead park is hoping tojoin them on the prestigious list, which recognises cultural, historical or scientific significance.

sport now and, for a full round—up, from the bbc sport centre, here's cassa. hello from the bbc sport centre. we'll start with manchester united and a night that they will want to forget — they were leading 2—0 against seville in the europa league, but eight minutes of madness could have cost them dearly. marcel sabitzer scored twice in the first half to give united a comfortable lead, but two own goals from tyrell malacia and harry maguire in the final minutes saw the spanish side salvage

a draw ahead of the second leg next week.