he s there for two days, and the visit is aimed at strengthening ties with its southern neighbour. china is already vietnam s biggest investor. this year, registered investment from mainland china and hong kong combined doubled to more than $8 billion. that s compared to 2022 when pandemic restrictions were still in place in china. but with the us pushing to grow its influence in the region, beijing is also clinging to deepen relations with hanoi even further. raji biswas from s&p global market intelligence describes what s at stake for both countries. i think it s very much reflecting the importance of vietnam for china economically and of course it s an important neighbour as well. so, the political relationship, i think that will be important in terms of president xi s visit to strengthen bilateral ties further. but also, vietnam has become increasingly important in its own right as an export market for china. it s now the fifth largest export market for china and it s gro
be important in terms of the president strengthening bilateral ties further. in vietnam has become increasingly important in its own right as an export market and is not the fifth largest export market for china and growing tremendously over the last 25 years as it is become more important as a manufacturing hub for other countries and a enhancing economic ties is going to be very much the centre for prison xijinping s visit xi jinping s visit president. xi jinping s visit president.- xi jinping s visit resident. ., president. are you not concerned president. are you not concerned that - president. are you not concerned that those i president. are you not - concerned that those issues could overshadow some of the economic agenda? i could overshadow some of the economic agenda? economic agenda? i think for some years. economic agenda? i think for some years, this economic agenda? i think for some years, this is economic agenda? i think for some years, this
by the americans. all this raises the ghosts of 1948 for palestinians, when more than 700,000 of them fled or were expelled byjewish troops as israel won its independence. israel never allowed them home. two of the gaza hostages were in new videos. hanna katsir blamed benjamin netanyahu, israel s prime minister, for their plight. so did yagil yaakov, who s 13. hostage videos are usually made under duress, so the bbc is not broadcasting them. and across the west bank, the other side of the occupied territories, more palestinians were killed as armed groups fought israeli raids. the gaza war is igniting the west bank. the israeli army s reprisals included the destruction of roads and infrastructure. existing tension and hatred have been deepened. the danger remains of the war spreading across the middle east. in yemen, the houthi regime, an ally of iran, posted more videos of attacks on israel with missiles and drones. so far, they ve all been intercepted by american and israel
britain s ecomomy is expected to have gone into reverse shrinking by 0.1%. and if that continues for the rest of the year two quarters of negative growth that would constitute a recession. the bank of england has raised the cost of borrowing to a 15 year high, to try to rein in soaring prices, and that s weighing heavily on many businesses and households. on thursday, official data showed a steep jump in the number of people falling behind on mortgage payments. our cost of living correspondent, colletta smith, reports. good morning, donna speaking, how may i help? with rates on the up, more people have been struggling to pay their mortgage bill. don t worry, i m sure we can get this sorted out for you. ..and an increasing number are now officially in arrears. you know, nobody wants to send debt collectors to your door. nobody wants that. that s not what we want. we want to help you, we want to get a solution in place with you, but we can only do that if you give us a ca
the title of his speech was unpacking the new order. i think what he was basically talking about was the united states leading western efforts to try to impose technology sales to china to make china less capable with things like chip making and green technologies and i have to say that many people in that room, business delegates, would probably agree with him. the old order, if you want to call it that, the idea of countries making stuff that is the quickest and efficient countries, making it and then selling it so people who need it, i think that worked for many businesses. the problem is that western governments were not that happy about that because if you have a dominant partner, that does pose a threat to you if you are a western country and that is why you see chip technology restrictions in the us and the retaliation, the rare earths potential ban or at least restriction of what china has to the rest of the world. this is fundamentally what the tension is at this con