political agenda for the year. china's official work report states the country is targeting growth of around 5%. last year, the economy grew by 5.2%. premier li qiang is now speaking. let's listen in. translation: invigorating china through scien and consolidating the foundation for high—quality development. we will develop a high—quality educational system, implement the party's educational policy and regard high quality development as the life blood of education and also strengthen fundamental education and improve its quality. we will launch an initiative to upgrade basic education and accelerate high—quality, well—balanced development of urban, and rural

divisions in education. we will have public interest in education and pilot comprehensive higher education reform. li comprehensive higher education reform. ,, . . ~ reform. li qiang there talking about education _ reform. li qiang there talking about education and - reform. li qiang there talking about education and the - reform. li qiang there talking about education and the needi reform. li qiang there talking i about education and the need to develop it for a modern economy. we'll get the thoughts of our business reporter on that in just of our business reporter on that injust a of our business reporter on that in just a bit. but first, let's come back to that big sort of headline figure that's come out, where they've stated, or li qiang has stated, that target for gdp for 2024 is 5%. that's right. so that all emerged in the last five or so minutes, steve. maniage is wondered whether or not they'd be able to back up that figure. 5.2%, of course, in 2023. whether or not, given it's coming off now a relatively higher base, whether they were going to be able to achieve this. around 5% does seem to be hedging their bets somewhat. china's economy has been facing a number of challenges and he hasn't shied away from those in his speech either. he mentioned, for example, the geopoliticalrics, the challenges, particularly when it comes to washington, but

also really what we're seeing in this speech so far is it does seem to be something of a morale booster, trying to get the troops to go out and spend and, of course, one of the biggest challenges facing china's economy at the moment has been consumption. and encouraging confidence in the consumer to go out and spend. so there are a couple of lines. he said, for example, that there was favourable conditions outweigh the unfavourable ones and that china will surge ahead towards a great future. he's also spent a lot of the speech lauding the past achievements of the past year, talking about things like science and technology, progress when it comes to the environment, even, for example, lauding the comac airliner taking together skies domestically. that's been a big focus of his speech, trying to rebuild confidence. we focus of his speech, trying to rebuild confidence.— focus of his speech, trying to rebuild confidence. we did hear him speaking — rebuild confidence. we did hear him speaking just _ rebuild confidence. we did hear him speaking just before - rebuild confidence. we did hear him speaking just before we - him speaking just before we came to you, katie, talking about the need for education development, moving into sort of high—tech sector. why is that so important to china's economy?— that so important to china's econom ? ~ , ., , , economy? well, they really see it as a very _ economy? well, they really see it as a very important _ economy? well, they really see it as a very important element i it as a very important element of growth. now, of course, one of growth. now, of course, one of the big issues for china too

is it has been somewhat phased out of the international technology sphere. we've seen for example of course the us restricting chip exports to china and that, of course, hampers a country's economic development. so they want to grow their tech sector. as i say, they lauded a lot of the achievements of the past year when it comes to tech innovation. they see it, of course, as their ticket to the future, really, when it comes to that. another couple of headlines we're seeing — we're expecting defence spending to be announced in the order of about 7% according to reuters and bloomberg. that's more than that 5% gdp target. so we're waiting for that announcement as well. plenty still to watch. thanks, katie. we'll leave it there for now. katie silver speaking to us from our newsroom here in singapore. us business leaders are also paying close attention to what chinese officials have to say as geopolitical tensions have eroded confidence for many american companies that rely on doing business there. here's

what the president of the american chamber of commerce had to say about investment ties between washington and beijing. in ties between washington and bei'inu. , beijing. in the past, the chinese _ beijing. in the past, the chinese government - beijing. in the past, the - chinese government tended to focus more on the supply side by investing in infrastructure. and i think at this point, there is a lack of confidence, consumer confidence, so how do we get the consumers to start spending, let's say, is a challenge for now. we see bank deposits going up while spending is going down in the past few years, particularly during covid. so i think the government does have a tool box to apply to stimulate the growth by, you know, focusing on the consumer side. and i think there are talks about a programme to support households in terms of replacing some

major—ticket items like home appliance, you know, and automobile purchases, replacing the existing ones. so i think that will be a focus, that should be a focus for the government to stimulate consumption rather than just simply focusing on investing in infrastructure. now, i understand you've said in the past that us—china relations are better than in previous years. so how can sort of the political space impact the economic space?- the economic space? well, seepolitical_ the economic space? well, geopolitical tensions - the economic space? well, geopolitical tensions has i the economic space? well, i geopolitical tensions has been a concern forforeign investors in china, including american companies. many of those are members. and because of the uncertainty, right, because companies look for predictability. so since last year, i think the two sides of the governments have tried to stabilise the bilateral relationship with very high—level talks between the

two governments and that's a good sign. and hopefully the two — the newly established channels of communications between the two governments will continue and us business will, you know, certainly provide our support. and i think overall, we are hopeful that the bilateral relationship will remain stable so that we can pursue business opportunities in china for the long term. in other news, elon musk made headlines for suing openai and its ceo sam alternativeman last week, but this week he's —— altman, last week but this week he's facing a lawsuit of his own. elon musk is being accused of unfairly depriving four top twitter executives out of their severance. the former execs say mr musk owes them more than $128 million collectively and they're suing. here's the discrepancy. mr musk said at the time that he fired them for cause, and therefore he didn't need to pay them severance. but

the former executives say that's not true. they'd been on the forefront of efforts to make mr musk follow through on his acquisition of twitter after he offered and then backed away. the group includes twitter�*s former chief executive, the company's former chief financial officer, the former chief legal officer and the former general counsel. the lawsuit was filed in federal court in california on monday. now, there are more than 25 safe and effective vaccines to prevent disease, but millions still die every year, because the vaccines don't get to the people that need them. one company has been looking at ways to streamline the process. my colleague lara lewington from bbc�*s click went along to find out. chikungunya is one of the infections that's spread by mosquitoes. it's usually confined to sub—saharan africa, but has started to spread. one vaccine has just been approved by the food and drug administration in the us, but others are working on it too. one of them is the

bristol—based start—up imophoron. it's developed a new synthetic protein called addomer. the protein is adorned with parts of the target virus but it's not infectious itself. it's a different approach to how other vaccines like the covid—19 ones were made, but there's one big advantage. the addomer can be produced, stored, transported and brought to the people at mpient to the people at ambient temperatures, which can go up to 50 degrees. this is a big advantage to other vaccines, which depend on a functioning cold chain. millions of doses of vaccines are lost every year because of inadequate refrigeration, especially when being sent to developing countries. part of the issue is transporting the vaccine from the distribution depot, where it is kept in cold chain conditions, to the site where it's going to be administered.

it could be hundreds of miles. and then when they get to the facilities where they're going to deploy the vaccine, more often than not, there's not any refrigeration. another big advantage of the technique being used here is that it could be synthesised to target more than one disease in one shot. so when we put it then into the cryoelectron microscope, the electron beam can go through it and we will see our vaccine particles. the microscope can zoom in to 0.1 nanometre detail, that's one ten—millionth of a millimetre. these raw images may not look like much to you or me, but they are a vital part of the process. and if they do succeed, the possibilities in other areas could be huge too, such as cancer vaccines that train the body's immune system to make antibodies against a tumour. this is a small company, though, up against a big challenge, and big pharma, and these vaccines aren't in humans yet, so

there's a way to go. before we go, a reminder that china's national people's congress is under way. there's president xijinping. we'll have more in the next edition of asia business report. m bbc news, bringing you different stories from across the uk. back to training in middlesbrough, ilyas is thinking about his next bout after taking the welterweight bout at the regional unity championship in darlington. there's your welterweight champion!— champion! it's everyday training. _ champion! it's everyday training, no _ champion! it's everyday training, no days - champion! it's everyday training, no days off, i champion! it's everyday i training, no days off, even after the fight, straight in after the fight, straight in after two days, obviously for the next fight. at this amateur level you can keep going as much as you can. not many injuries. if you get injured, you can take time out but at a pro level, you get injured more. amateur, you canjust

keep going. there's a lot into it. there's quite a, like, loads of different martial arts in t ministerthan loads of different martial arts in t minister than 30 i'd say. overall, it's mainly mental toughness you need. you need the discipline, the mental toughness, you need to be able toughness, you need to be able to carry on going, even when you're tired and when your body tells you to stop.— tells you to stop. ilyas's roud tells you to stop. ilyas's proud dad _ tells you to stop. ilyas's proud dad has - tells you to stop. ilyas's proud dad has been - tells you to stop. ilyas's - proud dad has been supporting him since he started at 14. i’m him since he started at 14. i'm ve , him since he started at 14. i'm very. very _ him since he started at 14. i'm very. very proud- _ him since he started at 14. i'm very, very proud. you know, we've — very, very proud. you know, we've ilee“— very, very proud. you know, we've been working hard to get this _ we've been working hard to get this the — we've been working hard to get this. the sky's the limit now. we've — this. the sky's the limit now. we've got— this. the sky's the limit now. we've got one tight there will and another one lined up end of march _ and another one lined up end of march there. and another one in june _ march there. and another one in june as — march there. and another one in june as well. and - june as well. and after that, ilyas and his team have their sights set on the american circuit. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. hey, i'm zoph with the catch—up. tonight — a new documentary on sarah evarard, a real—life james bond speaks out, and a strange sighting in the us.

the detective who led sarah everard's murder investigation has told us about the moment she found out her killer, wayne couzens, was a serving met police officer. sarah was abducted, raped and murdered by couzens as she walked home in 2021. detective katherine goodwin told the bbc about the shock of having to break the news to her boss. i knew that i had to tell my boss and i canjust remember the shock of having to just sit on the floor of the office and say to her, "you're not going to believe this, but he's a police officer." and then the same questions went through her head as went through my head. "are you sure?" sarah evard: the search forjustice is on bbc one at 9:00pm on tuesday and will also be available on bbc iplayer. next, apparently working

for mi6 can be more exciting than a james bond film. that's according to a director at the uk's secret intelligence service. the officer, who's going by the name kwami, said that, throughout his career, he has seen things way more than what you see in the spy movies. time now to leave you with 10 seconds of tumbleweed. no, really, actual tumbleweed is all over the streets in the us because of high winds of up to 35 miles per hour. hopefully that's the last time we see any tumbleweed on this show. it looks like the hair that i pull out of my hair brush. did not look good. you're all caught up now. see you later.

hello and welcome along to sportsday. i'm sarah mulkerrins. coming up on the programme: a goal fest for the gunners. they hit six against sheffield united to keep pace in the premier league title race. a big miss forjump racing's biggest festival as constitution hill is ruled out of cheltenham. and plans begin to bring the world athletics championships back to the uk in 2029.

you're very welcome along to the programme, wherever you are watching around the world. well, arsenal have kept up the pressure in this season's title race in the premier league. the gunners hammered bottom side sheffield united 6—0 to move two points behind leaders liverpool, and arsenal became the first english league side to win three away games in a row by a margin of five or more goals. captain martin odegaard opened the scoring just five minutes into the game. ajayden bogle own goal, along with scores from gabriel martinelli, kai havertz and declan rice had many home fans leaving early at bramall lane. ben white then rounded things off after the break as the blades improved a little in the second half. so mikel arteta's side are third, but sheffield united are rock bottom, 11 points

from safety with 11 games to go.