Its 7am in singapore, midnight in london and 6am in bangkok, where hundreds of thousands of mourners have converged on the city many camping on the streets to bid farewell to thailands revered King Bhumibol adulyadej. A funeral procession is about to begin and the cremation will take place at the end of the day, as part of a five day buddhist funeral ceremony. Elaborate preparations including the construction of a vast cremation complex have taken almost a year. Many mourners have spoken of their determination to be there, to pay their final respects. Translation its difficult to put into words but i want to be here. Its overwhelming. I have been uber two days already and want to see our father to heaven. I slept in the rain last night. I stayed put even though it was raining. Even though there are a lot of people here and we cannot get inside to see the procession we are willing to be here, near his majesty, as close as possible. We will stay until the cremation ceremony takes place a
Gdp rose by 0. 4 . Now on bbc news all the latest Business News live from singapore. The us dollar is on the rise, boosted by speculation the Federal Reserve may get a new caucus chief. Lets cross over to thailand where the funeral procession is underway. We are witnesses live pictures inside the grand palace as the funeral proceedings for the late King Bhumibol has begun. Good morning, asia. Hello, world. Glad you could join us. Anticipation over who might be head of the Federal Reserve is keeping the us dollar near its three month high. President trump has not said whether he will reappoint janet yellen, but has floated other possible contenders for the topjob. We floated other possible contenders for the top job. We asked inexpert how this is impacting the markets. You could say there is a lot of speculation over us bank policy. If the Federal Reserve raise Interest Rates, but should weaken the asian currencies. We have seen significant declines in the dollar over recent months. Wha
To bid farewell to thailands revered King Bhumibol adulyadej. A funeral procession has begun and the cremation will take place at the end of the day, as part of a five day buddhist funeral ceremony. Elaborate preparations, including the construction of a vast cremation complex, have taken almost a year. This is the scene live now in bangkok where hundreds of thousands of people are gathering ready for royal cremation day. Many enduring the Tropical Heat during the day, torrential rain at night as they camped out, waiting to get their place and notjust in bangkok but in other parts of thailand as well but bangkok is going to be the focus for the coming days as people try to get a sight of some of those processions, this elaborate 5 day ceremony that has been rehearsed meticulously. An estimated cost of 90 million. It will blend thailands which culture and history for as they say a final farewell to King Bhumibol. Let us ta ke farewell to King Bhumibol. Let us take a look at the late kin
More than half a century after the assassination of president John F Kennedy, the final batch of classified files is being released. When hip hop died, it left a legacy, spoken word poetry. And we explore the mix of rap and conventional poetry thats known as spoken word. Coming up in sportsday on bbc news rangers are searching for a new manager, after sacking pedro caixinha, after 26 games in charge. Good evening. The political crisis surrounding the future of catalonia has reached breaking point, on the eve of a vote in the spanish parliament. Senators are expected to vote tomorrow to impose a form of direct rule on catalonia, following the recent referendum on independence, which the Spanish Government considered unlawful. Catalonias Vice President has warned that any such vote would lead to the declaration of a sovereign catalan state, with far reaching implications for spain and the eu, as our europe editor katya adler reports from barcelona. Hope and excitement filled this barcelo
I am glad you could join us. Its 9am in singapore, 1am in london, and 2 00 in the morning in madrid, where prosecutors says they are preparing criminal charges against leaders in catalonia who declared unilateral independence on friday. Those same leaders have called on their supporters to defy direct rule from madrid. So far, massive demonstrations representing both sides have been peaceful, but nobody knows how long that might last. James reynolds has this report from a pro spain rally in the catalan capital, barcelona. Catalonias pro Spain Movement is emerging from its recent quiet. These are the people who want to stay inside spain. They make up around half the population of this region, and they insist that they are both catalan and spanish. And youre catalan . I am catalan from. My grandparents are catalan, and my parents are catalan, and im a spaniard, and a european. You dont want to leave . I dont want to leave at all. Catalonia is spain, these children write. Catalans are div