selected to join the s&p500. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm arunoday mukharji. the price of bitcoin has continued to soar overnight — up more than 6% today to over $42,000 — values it hasn't seen since april last year. meanwhile gold has been approaching an all—time high of more than $2100 an ounce. the two assets have jumped in recent days as investors bet that the us federal reserve will cut interest rates next year after 11 hikes since march 2022. for more on why lower rates make precious metals and cryptocurrencies more appealing, let's speak to stephanie leung from investment management platform stashaway.

there are a few things that drive gold and crypto prices higher. the first one is the quality and the second is the us dollar. let's talk about liquidity. easing from china and also from the us, the fed has actually been injecting liquid italy, overnight repo facility. so also from a seasonality perspective, november december actually quite favourable in terms of financial conditions, and indeed the rally, or the fall of interest rates have helped also financial conditions to ease in the past few weeks and hence we've seen a surge in liquidity in the system and that propels both gold and crypto currencies higher. the next reason is for the us dollar. both gold and crypto currencies is dominated by us dollars. when the dollar

becomes weaker that is a tailwind for the causes. given that the market is now pricing in an increasingly probability of cuts are starting as early as april next year, the us dollar has been weakening versus both other currencies including gold and crypto currencies. the white house is challenging a deal that allows purdue pharma settle lawsuits against it for $6 billion. the company has been criticised for making the opioid crisis worse — and families who lost loved ones say the deal allows the sackler family, which owns purdue, to be partially protected. the case is being heard in the supreme court — with justices divided over whether to approve the deal. it's only because the sacklers have taken the money offshore, right? i mean, it's not like, it's not like by operation of law, it's necessary to do this. it is necessary to do this because the sacklers have

taken the money and are not willing to give it back unless they have this condition. uber stock came close to a record high on monday, on news that the company is set tojoin a leading american index of publicly traded companies. our business correspondent erin delmore in new york has the story. the s&p 500 is readying for a new member. uber is set to join the elite index later this month and investors are pleased. uber�*s stock ended monday, up more than 2% after rising around 5% in early trading. that put shares not too far off from their all time high of $63.18 apiece. that was back in february 2021. and it's a turnaround story for uber. shares are worth more than double what they were at the start of the year and nearly triple what they were worth in the summer of 2022. that was the summer when many workers left theirjobs, what we call the great resignation. labour shortages were particularly acute in jobs that require people to do their work in person, like driving a car. and when it came to share price, rising interest rates didn't do

the company any favours. so uber is readying for a celebratory milestone and an influx of attention. people who invest in s&p 500 index funds own a stake in all of those different stocks. so when uber or any company becomes included in the s&p 500, that can send a jolt to its share price. in other stories making business news... the music streaming company, spotify, is to cut around 1,500 jobs worldwide — almost a fifth of its workforce. bosses at the firm say it needs to be more efficient as it deals with a period of slower growth. investors clearly likely the announcement — with shares rising more than 7% on the news. the president of the cop 28 climate summit in dubai has hit back at criticism — saying his work is being constantly undermined. sultan al—jaber 7 who also heads up the uae�*s state oil firm adnoc — said this after a leaked video

emerged of him saying there was no scientific evidence for a need to cut completely the use of fossil fuels. he has insisted he does respect climate science. who a big row when it comes to oil — the president of the south the president of the south american country guyana has accused the venezuela of trying to create a conflict over the disputed oil—rich region of essequibo. on sunday, caracas held a referendum on its claim to the territory, which it says was wrongly assigned in the nineteenth century to the british colonial authorities ruling guyana. president ifran ali said he wanted to assure his guyanaese countrymen there was nothing to fear. last week, the international court of justice ordered venezuela to refrain from taking any action which would modify the current situation. ever grant has been given an extension to work out a deal with its overseas creditors. the process of liquidating the

company. this is what it will mean for the most indebted developer. the sixth of such adjournment, give them another month or so to try and figure out a better plan around restructuring, it's really a rough deal most of their creditors, more than half of the debt is not collateralized and recovery rates are expected to be in the low single digits. thisjust buys a to be in the low single digits. this just buys a bit further time for them to try one more proposal before total liquidation goes through. you feel that the situation is not as bad as it could be in terms of the property sector,. they're going to have to may rebuild confidence in the economy before young couples consider buying or investing in real estate again. there is a gaping hole in that ecosystem, 20 million unfinished

properties. so they'll have to jump—start the credit engine before those get finished and allow them property that is still unsold today. in 2016, as part of china's massive belt and road initiative, the property developer country garden unveiled a hundred billion dollar project in southern malaysia called forest city. it was supposed to be home to almost a million people, but eight years on, country garden is facing colossal debts and the complex is virtually empty. 0ur asia business correspondent nick marsh spent a night in forest city and sent back this report. we're injeju, right on the tip of southern malaysia. and there's something strange on the horizon. locals call it ghost city. and on first impressions, you can see why. 0k. this is forrest city. it's a bit dark. think someone�*s forgotten

to turn the lights on? it's hard to believe that anyone actually lives here. 0h, here they are. even in mid—afternoon, forest city feels more like a haunted house than a happy home. do you feel like this is a ghost town? from what i've seen so far, yes, i would have to agree. yeah. maybe you should try after 12. we may be 3000 miles from beijing, but residents like joanne are trying to weather a storm in china's property sector. she wants to get out of forest city. and as night started to fall, i met someone who already had. i feel freedom. to be honest, i feel free. i feel finally i escape. it's a billion project is supposed to be good. it's supposed to meet expectation, but it's frustrating.

the property developer, country gardens, sold this place as a thriving, eco friendly community with beaches, bars, restau ra nts. it was a chance for chinese investors to own a second home abroad and then rent out to locals. but as we've already seen all over china, ourambition all over china, ambition didn't match reality. chinese government controls on how much companies could borrow and how much chinese citizens could spend on foreign property have left forest city in disarray. this place was supposed to be a restaurant. i think behind me, judging by the looks of things, it was supposed to be the kitchen. now, country garden's slogan for this whole place was a prime vision forfuture cities. you just take a look around. it doesn't really seem that way. country garden insists that the project will be finished. but with the company facing debts of nearly $200 billion, it's hard

to see how forest city was supposed to see how. forest city was supposed to house a million people. right now, it's 1% occupied like so many chinese property developments. this place seems to be going nowhere. nick marsh, bbc news. bbc news contacted country garden group in china and received no response. its malaysian operation did respond and said that despite what they called "the noise and current situation", they were running the business as usual and the overall operation in the region and that's it for this edition of asia business report. thanks for watching. one of the most iconic buildings in britain, king's college chapel has been turning heads and craning necks for almost 600 years.

but 160 feet up above that scaffolding work started to see it through the next hundred. a year long conservation of a leaky chapel roof now complete, the focus shifts from conservation to sustainability. we are putting on a38 panels, 219 on each of the slopes north of south slope. we will be complete by the end of december. so what does this all mean in real terms? well, powerwise, it means an anticipated 123,000 kilowatt hours per year. that reduces carbon emissions by more than 23 tonnes a year, the equivalent of planting over 1000 trees. we are responsible for this amazing, iconic building representing tradition. but you know what? the college is really about education. young people always looking into the future. and as we look into the future, we know we have to be serious about sustainability. and that's what we really wanted to do. and i think the energy of that came through. and i think we caught

the moment. 0nce complete, the panels won't change the view, a view that's equally stunning from below and above. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. hey, i'm zoff with the catch up. tonight, weather warnings, china gets its pandas back, and do you think you've got risks? first, billie eilish has asked people to stop speaking about her sexuality and accuse variety magazine of outing her in a recent interview. the singer said she was attracted to women and at the magazine's awards was asked if she had meant to come out on her socials. she sarcastically thanked variety for outing her instead of talking about anything that matters on the red carpet. she also said she didn't believe in people having to reveal their sexuality, saying, why can't we just exist?

some other stories now. raise has been named word of the year by oxford uni press. if you don't know, basically if you're good at flirting, that means you've got ri's eight words on the list, including situation ship. now we all know one of those. next, there've been issues across the country because of the weather. ice and snow has been causing problems, especially in cumbria. there's still a yellow warning for ice in eastern scotland and rain across east england. and if you thought you struggle with your driving test, well, think again. 0ne unnamed learner failed the theory 59 times before passing. that is the most ever. they've been praised for their amazing commitment, spending over £1,000 and 60 hours to get there on. time now for ten seconds of pandas. this pair have left edinburgh zoo after being on loan from china for 12 years. they were loaded on the plane

this morning with bamboo to snack on before taking off for chengdu. you're all caught up now. see you later.

hello and welcome to sportsday. coming up on the program, a rivalries renewed as scotland prepare to meet england, but suggestions the home side will take it easy to help their 0lympic chances hasn't impressed the captain. i think it's absolutely just the question, anyone�*s integrity. and i think it's a huge insult to us. rugby union referee tom foley says he's stepping away from officiating at the highest level after social media abuse following the world cup final. tiger rediscovers his roar, saying it was fun to play competitive golf once again, eight months on from his last appearance. welcome along. thank you forjoining us. we start then with football and the final round of crucial

women's nations league on tuesday