more turbulence for boeing as its ceo announces his exit from the company. and we look at the chinese company that has emerged as a frontrunner in the global electric vehicle market. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm steve lai. let's begin in the us, where planemaker boeing has announced a mass shake—up in leadership. chief executive dave calhoun, the chairman of its board, and another top executive have all said they will leave the firm, that is facing a safety crisis. he has been under pleasure since the panel on boeing plane blew off in mid—january. two other senior executives are also leaving the company. theo leggett has more.

a terrifying moment for passengers as a door flew off a brand—new alaska airlines boeing 737 max eight january. the incident plunged boeing into a crisis, raising questions about its attitude to safety. now the boss, dave calhoon, says he is stepping down. he was appointed at a desperate time for the company. bad design and corporate failures had been blamed for two tragic accidents involving the 737 max, in ethiopian and in indonesia in which 346 people died. mr calhoon promised change but critics say that hasn't happened. yet opportunity _ that hasn't happened. yet opportunity to _ that hasn't happened. yet opportunity to make changes as member of the board. —— he had opportunities. it has been one failure after another so i can't say there has been any successes under dave calhoon. humanitarian worker sam pegram died when ethiopian plane crashed. ., ., , ., , crashed. not only does poor safety kill— crashed. not only does poor safety kill people _ crashed. not only does poor safety kill people but - crashed. not only does poor safety kill people but it - crashed. not only does poor safety kill people but it is i safety kill people but it is pretty damning for the share price and the careers of ceos

as well so let's get somebody who can put focus where it matters and make claims safer for everybody. in matters and make claims safer for everybody-— for everybody. in a letter to workers. — for everybody. in a letter to workers. mr— for everybody. in a letter to workers, mr david - for everybody. in a letter to workers, mr david calhounl workers, mr david calhoun said... his successor will need both qualities if they are to pilot the aerospace giant back into less turbulence guys stop theo leggett, bbc news. you can find more on this story including the latest news and analysis on the bbc news website. now to the annual boao forum. trade and innovation are high on the agenda and various high—profile business leaders are included. our brute business leaderjoins us now. talk us through it. the business leaderjoins us now. talk us through it.— talk us through it. the boao forum is _ talk us through it. the boao forum is sometimes - talk us through it. the boao i forum is sometimes dubbed talk us through it. the boao i

forum is sometimes dubbed as asia's davos. and effort for chinese leaders to try and court things like foreign investment and even chinese businesses to try and expand and this year it is more important than ever because china is facing a big slowdown. it obviously has that property crisis, youth unemployment is very high as well so politicians want foreign investors to go to china, poor investors to go to china, poor in money and they also want to local businesses to expand. on the agenda — artificial intelligence is very high, investing in asia is very high and developing the belt and road project. whetherforeign road project. whether foreign investors road project. whetherforeign investors might —— whether foreign investors bite, that is another question altogether. inks very much for that. staying with china. and zooming in on the ev market, where one player has

emerged as the front—runner — byd. recently the carmaker has been engaging in a full—out price war, discounting almost every electric and hybrid model it sells in china. byd will report its annual results later this morning. for more on what we can expect, let's bring in ray wang from constellation research. i think we are expecting a 33% increase in net profits and we will see where that goes. there is a forecast net profit that will be 6.4%, a little bit higher than what was 4.9% higher than what was 4.9% higher than what was 4.9% higher than the last quarter. year over year. they think we are in the middle of a price war and i are in the middle of a price warand i think are in the middle of a price war and i think all tension is to see what is gaining in market share and profits and it will be interesting to see what is happening there because we have seen it slumping china for a little bit but we actually think that the government programmes at the moment actually encourage the buyback and the placement of all cards —— and replacement of old cars with tvs. -- and replacement of old cars with tvs-— with tvs. just coming back to byd. with tvs. just coming back to byd- they — with tvs. just coming back to byd. they took _ with tvs. just coming back to byd. they took the _ with tvs. just coming back to byd. they took the sales - byd. they took the sales leadership crown in q4 of 2023. do you expect them to hold it in 01 of 2024? i do you expect them to hold it in 01 of 2024?— in q1 of 2024? i think it will be closed- _ in q1 of 2024? i think it will

be closed. there _ in q1 of 2024? i think it will be closed. there was - in q1 of 2024? i think it will be closed. there was a - in 01 of 2024? | think it will - be closed. there was a slumping china with the price war and a lot of that was going on may actually hold them back. tesla is also pushing hard towards the end and forced the new models with the cyber truck so we will see if they can hold the crown of number one ev volume producer but i think it will be very close.— will be very close. plans were ut in will be very close. plans were put in place — will be very close. plans were put in place to _ will be very close. plans were put in place to spur _ will be very close. plans were | put in place to spur innovation and growth especially in high—tech and clean energy. i do you see that impacting the ev sector in china? it is do you see that impacting the ev sector in china?— ev sector in china? it is a boom- — ev sector in china? it is a boom- they _ ev sector in china? it is a boom. they are - ev sector in china? it is a boom. they are hoping i ev sector in china? it is a | boom. they are hoping for ev sector in china? it is a - boom. they are hoping for that renewable —— renewal. the replacement for the internal combustion engines to ev, it is part of the reduction in dependency on germany, japan and the us, especially on the technology, and it gives them the ability to leapfrog ahead. i think it will help the sector in general. there will be two more players coming in. they

are domestic _ more players coming in. they are domestic rivals. - more players coming in. they are domestic rivals. how - more players coming in. they are domestic rivals. how will| are domestic rivals. how will china ev �*s stack up against the current leader, if you like, in the space, tesla? byd has started — like, in the space, tesla? byd has started to _ like, in the space, tesla? byd has started to expand - like, in the space, tesla? md has started to expand into europe. they have a hungarian plant that is actually going to produce up to 300,000 cars going up against volkswagen and other makers in europe and of course there are other efforts to build a plant in mexico. tesla already has a plant in berlin, a biggerfactory in shanghai and it is going to be a battle between the high—end and low—end which has a full range of models and of course with tesla on the other end of the spectrum and don't count the spectrum and don't count the koreans out— see a lot of effort from hyundai and kia who are building amazing ev cars. the european union has announced investigations into some of the biggest tech firms in the world over uncompetitive —— practices. in the world over uncompetitive -- practices-— -- practices. apple and meta have been — -- practices. apple and meta have been looked _ -- practices. apple and meta have been looked into - -- practices. apple and meta have been looked into the i have been looked into the potential breaches of the

markets act. they face fines of up markets act. they face fines of up to 10% of the annual turnover is if they are found to have broken the rules stop wework co—founder adam and noonan has made an unsolicited bid of $500 million for the firm according to us media reports. wework was once close it —— was once valued at 500 billion dollars. —— $50 billion. it filed for bankruptcy last year. let's turn our focus to sri lanka — as the central bank is due to be in session to review the cost of borrowing. the country is still recovering from one of its worst economic crisis in decades, after its first foreign debt default back in 2022. colombo is in the process of getting bailed out by the international monetary fund. last week the bank improved the third instalment. during the crisis, prices rose in schleicher as much as 70%. the inflation rate has eased to 6% but the economy still faces issues in the ahead. ganeshan

wignaraja from global think tank odi. inflation is down to about 6% and the inflation rate is down 600 new to the us dollar and there is also foreign reserves extra 2.5 billion and tourism numbers are up. this is really judicious decisive measures by the government with indian and the government with indian and the imf programme but there is growth that is needed for the economy to come out of this crisis and to be able to pay off its debts and exports are also needed and that is a big challenge going forward. the president says _ challenge going forward. the president says he expects the country to make a full recovery byjune this year, buoyed by the positive trajectory things have been going in. do you think that is realistic or do you think there is still a long way to go? allah this year could be i— 1.5% in 2024 which is below the three odd % before the debt crisis in 2022 and it

has risen to something like a quarter of the population measured at about $365 which is the standard middle income policy measure. and we need it over 3— four years to get to some kind of normalcy but unfortunately we have elections this year for the presidency and then parliament in 2025 and the two main opposition parties want to renegotiate the imf deal so there is uncertainty ahead in this very recovering scenario. china is one of sri lanka's biggest creditors but nothing has been set so far. is that something that is also a concern? . that something that is also a concern?— that something that is also a concern? ., , ., concern? china comes for some 1596 of the _ concern? china comes for some 1594. of the $50 _ concern? china comes for some 1594. of the $50 billion _ concern? china comes for some 1594. of the $50 billion of- concern? china comes for some 1596 of the $50 billion of our- 15% of the $50 billion of our outstanding public debt and they have been talking to sri lanka along with india, the european union and other official creditors and they

broadly agreed on a deal after difficult negotiations which are somewhat comparable. the fly in the ointment is the private bondholders with which talks have been somewhat slow and quite fractured. there is —— sri lanka put by a bank in the united states and this has gone on for some time. you need the private bondholders on board as well as the official debtors and that is the challenge of defaulting and without a deal on debts restructuring without the official creditors, there should —— they could be some risk to future disbursement because you have to have this agreement on debt restructuring in place and that is the big challenge along with the election uncertainty. that was ganeshan _ election uncertainty. that was ganeshan wignaraja _ election uncertainty. that was ganeshan wignaraja there i election uncertainty. that was. ganeshan wignaraja there from global think tank odi, giving us some context to the challenges sri lanka is facing since it get rid default in 2022. we did mention it is sri lanka's interest—rate decision and we will be keeping an eye on that right here in asia

business report in the hours ahead. for now. —— goodbye for now.

iam i am julia with the catch up. tonight a festival of colour, dragon ball theme park and the race that would make superman weep. but first, the un security council has demanded an immediate ceasefire in gaza between israel and hamas. they have also demanded that all hostages be released. it is the first time they have reached this agreement. the us had previously used their veto but this time they change their position and abstained stop in response, the israeli and pm benjamin netanyahu has benjamin neta nyahu has cancelled benjamin netanyahu has cancelled a friend of my planned meeting between israel and the us. two men have been found guilty of cody fisher's murder. the 23—year—old foot

dollar was stabbed in a birmingham nightclub on boxing day in 2022. the court heard that it was a revenge plot after cody rushed past one of the men in a bar two days earlier. he is mum describes the pair as evil. some other stories now. saudi arabia have announced they are building a dragon ball theme park but some fans have criticised the idea because of the country's human rights record. and a runner from scotland has become the first woman in history to finish the berkeley marathons in tennessee. it covers 100 miles and enough uphill terrain to scale mount everest twice. plus you've got to finish it in 60 hours or less, which she did come up with one minute and 39 seconds to spare. and we will leave you with ten seconds of colour, yes. this is holly, or the festival of colours, and millions of indians have been celebrating it all over the world. people throw bright

colours over friends and family and dance to mark the beginning of spring. you are all caught up of spring. you are all caught up now. have a good night. hello and welcome to sportsday with me will perry. poland stand in the way of wales, who are are one game away from a place at euro 2024. the ugly side of the game. brazil's viniciusjunior breaks down as he's asked about racism ahead of his country's friendly against spain. and we hear from the first female runner to complete one of the world's toughest races as she arrives home in britain. welcome to sportsday.

wales are just one game away from the euros