we take a look at the fallout on business from the suez canal disruption. and the future of ai — predictions for how this game—changing technology might change our lives in the yearahead. hi there, welcome to asia business report. i'm mariko oi. we start the programme in the suez canal, as companies scramble to avoid shipping disruptions following recent attacks on vessels by the iran—backed houthi rebels. about 12% of global trade normally passes through the canal — that's around 17,000 ships a year. but now many companies, including oil giant bp and danish shipping firm maersk, are re—routing to take the much longerjourney around the southern tip of africa.

appliance company electrolux is setting up a task force to find alternative routes while ikea is warning of potential product shortages. ryan petersen from the supply chain management company flexport told me more about how the disruption is already impacting business. it's just getting started, but over the weekend and through today, we've had all ten of the top container shipping lines in the world represented about 95% capacity have begun delivered vessels to avoid salem to the red sea and to go around the tip of africa, as you said. it takes about 25% longer to go that way, from asia to europe, and it went reduction in the supply of shipping, we are going to see huge delays, obviously, but also big price increases, because its supply and demand, and if the supply comes down .5%, one thing we've learned last few years is a small disruption in supply can

lead to a huge swing in price. indeed, we are seeing an impact on oil prices as well there. the united states planning to form an international coalition to protect those ships. what's your reaction to that? is that going to help?— going to help? this is the founding _ going to help? this is the founding mission - going to help? this is the founding mission of - going to help? this is the founding mission of the l going to help? this is the l founding mission of the us navy, to protect freedom of navigation, going back to 1798, so it is sort of on some level going back to the roots of the navy. at this is a much harder problem than even piracy, because these are missiles being fired from within civilian areas in yemen, and there are terrorists moving around, so it is not a simple thing for a military task force from the navy to civilly stop it, but obviously when you have safety, civilians in ships don't deserve have missiles thrown at them, so let's see what the navy can do about it. let's turn our attention to japan, because today is the day toshiba gets

delisted, ending its 7a—year stock market history. but generally speaking, its stock market is one of the best performers this year. the nikkei 225 is up almost 30% partly thanks to the weakness of its currency, the yen, which helps the country's exporters. its ultra loose monetary policy plays a key role aimed at beating decades of falling prices known as deflation, and after yesterday's decision by the bank ofjapan, people are wondering how much longer they'll keep negative interest rates. earlier, i spoke to kei 0kamura from investment management firm neuberger berman. and i started by asking him whether or not japan's economy can handle higher rates. the short answer is yes. 0bviously the short answer is yes. obviously this is a pivotal moment for the japanese economy, as it tries to exit out of the lost decade. i think what is important that came out of yesterday's meeting by the central bank was that the doj governor was intent on taking a very cautious and measured approach to raising rates going forward, which we think makes

sense —— boj. 0urfew is that if we look into 2024 we are going to continue to seek consumer prices edge up and stabilise, but for the time being, the boj wants to see more data to see whether consumer prices will sustain itself and wage hikes i think is going to be a really important point about that story. let's now talk about the united states and the battle we are seeing in a couple of industries between companies and unions, pay for workers. first it was the car industry and now it is airlines. southwest airlines and its pilots' union have reached an agreement in principle for a new contract. michelle fleury has more. while major us carriers american, delta and united airlines all reached new contract agreements with their pilots unions, one noticeable holdout was southwest airlines, where pilots were demanding higher pay and better work rules.

negotiations have dragged on for more than three years, but now a preliminary deal has been struck. hailing the agreement, which does still need to be approved by rank and file members, captain casey murray, president of the southwest airlines pilots association, said, "we're finally at a place where we think "the value of our pilots and their productivity "is being realised." now, if approved, the southwest airlines pilot deal is the latest success for america's labour unions after lengthy strikes. there were, after all, agreements between hollywood studios, actors and writers, as well as between car makers and the united auto workers, with many labour economists predicting yet another big year for organised labour in america in 2024. artificial intelligence became the most talked about technology theme this year. businesses across every sector started to explore how ai, and more specifically generative ai, could drive greater growth and efficiency. so will it become an even bigger part of our daily

life in the new year? our technology editor zoe kleinman has more. 2023 was the year the world woke up to ai. if you cast your mind back to january, millions of us were using chatgpt for the very first time, and for lots of us, it was the first time we directly interacted with al and had ai reply to us. fast forward to the end of the year, and we know that that tech is powerful enough to pass the trainee exam ta ken by lawyers. there's billions of dollars of investment pouring into this area, and the tech is evolving very rapidly. sam altman, who's the founder of open ai, the company behind chatgpt, says what's coming at us in 2024 will make what we have now look like a quaint relative. we've seen some really impressive advances, particularly in health care, where an ai tool was able to come up with a formula for a new antibiotic that beat a deadly hospital superbug. we also saw ai used in an amazing bit of kit

that helped a paralysed man to walk again. but, really, what's been in the limelight this year has been generative ai — that is al that makes content like music, text and video and audio, some better than others, depending on your taste. and what we've seen with that is it's already massively disruptive. it's affecting jobs, it's affecting education. and more worryingly, we're seeing it spout out misinformation. its creators call it "hallucination". and this is basically when these tools start making stuff up. half the world is going to be voting in an election somewhere in 2024, and this is part of the reason why the world's regulators are scrambling to come up with legislation and rules to try to harness this powerful tech, so that we can maximise the benefits of it to our society and minimise the risks. with the upcoming holidays, sales of caviar is booming. traditionally, it used to come from russia or iran, but there is a new player in town, china, which is taking major market share.

anders edenholm reports and tastes. as anton chekhov said, "ah, caviar. "i keep on eating it, but i can never get my fill." it all starts with a fish. sturgeon is one of the oldest families of fish and has been around for more than 200 million years, a kind of living fossil. its curse is the roe it carries, also known as caviar. but severe overfishing had led to a total ban on the sale of caviar from wild sturgeon. it's changed since 2008, where there was still wild caviar. now, all caviar is protected by cites, so it must be farmed. there's no wild caviar left in the world. and the biggest farm in the world is in china. china now produces a third of the world's caviar, followed by italy and france, the rest taken up by smaller producers. and china's part of it is growing rapidly. it will produce 20—30% more caviar each year.

but what about the quality? you can't ignore it. if we were in paris now, out of 28 michelin star chefs, 23 would buy chinese caviar. it's very consistent. the taste is good. but now to the most important question — how do you eat it? i decided to consult an expert. the finest way and the cleanest way to eat it is actually from the back of the hand. and i'm just going to put it here, on your hand. and then by sitting this on here, we're warming up the caviar gently. and then also we have the purest tasting because there's nothing... we're not eating off of a potato or anything like that, we're just having the pure caviar. so then...crush it on the roof of the mouth. salt — quite saline in taste. and there's a tiny little bit of dryness from the walnut. that's about it.

and creamy. this is a brioche, a breakfast brioche. it's filled with scrambled egg, topped with a little bit of creme fraiche and then completely filled with caviar. and it's on our breakfast menu. and we sell a few, quite a few. right. well, that's the way to start the day! yes. anders edenholm, bbc news. he gets paid to taste caviar. what a lucky man! the indian premier league has smashed its record for a playerfor premier league has smashed its record for a player for the australian mitchell starc. i am sure you will hear more about it on sportsday. that is it for the programme. thank you very much for watching. bringing you different - stories from across the uk. i was fat for 20 years. i

needed something more to break that relationship between overeating and overindulgence. list says she has been over for most of her life, and when she started hearing about a weight loss jab that suppresses her appetite gently wanted it. fine appetite gently wanted it. one of my friends _ appetite gently wanted it. one of my friends had _ appetite gently wanted it. (me: of my friends had lost i think 11 stone herself, and she had... it was so radical. in under a — had... it was so radical. in under a year, she lost ten stone. when you hear about the shortage for diabetes patients, liz, do you want to stop losing it? it liz, do you want to stop losing it? ., , ._ it? it would personally make me stop using _ it? it would personally make me stop using it _ it? it would personally make me stop using it if— it? it would personally make me stop using it if i _ it? it would personally make me stop using it if i was _ it? it would personally make me stop using it if i was taking - stop using it if i was taking away from a patient with diabetes. it away from a patient with diabetes.— away from a patient with diabetes. , ., , ., ., diabetes. it is that shortage that has local _ diabetes. it is that shortage that has local gps _ diabetes. it is that shortage that has local gps worried. | diabetes. it is that shortage i that has local gps worried. we are still having some difficulty of getting medication for our diabetes patients. there are people really— patients. there are people really needed for their health. they— really needed for their health. they really should be used only

with a _ they really should be used only with a proper consultation with a doctor— with a proper consultation with a doctor and not online or from somebody— a doctor and not online or from somebody on the internet, where it really— somebody on the internet, where it really is— somebody on the internet, where it really is dangerous. for more stories from across the uk, head l to the bbc news website. hey, i'm zof with the catch up! tonight, a west end nightclub is fined, a dog—tivity and a baby owl in a christmas tree. first, our top story — a volcano has erupted in the south—west of iceland after weeks of earthquakes there. i mean, just look at these scenes. about 4,000 people were evacuated last month from a town close to the eruption. a resident there described it as "crazy" and "scary". you can head to the bbc news website or app for all the latest on this. some other stories now. a nightclub in london has been fined for accidentally serving caustic soda with tequila shots rather than salt.

four women suffered burning in their mouths and had to go to hospital after taking the cleaning substance at tiger tiger in december 2021. the council said the owner has admitted to four health and safety breaches and they were fined £120,000. next, a nativity for dogs. yep, you did hear that right! a cast of dogs have taken to the stage on the isle of man in a special performance of the christmas story. they took on a variation of roles, from mary and joseph to angel gabriel. more than 100 people were packed into thejurby parish hall to watch the show. i'm obsessed! now for ten seconds of a baby owl found living in a family christmas tree. it was discovered when the carpet cleaner noticed the branches were actually moving! look at it, though — it is adorable. and also, what a lovely christmas surprise!

you're all caught up now. see you later.

hello there, welcome to sportsday. i to sportsday. am katherine downes. coming up i am katherine downes. coming up on the programme... farewell to forest. with the team sliding down the table, steve cooper has been sacked. england post their highest score in t20 internationals against the west indies. under the hammer — australia's pace pair starc and cummins break records as they spark a bidding war in the ipl auction. hello there. thanks forjoining us. the nottingham forest manager steve cooper had been living on thin ice, with just one win in the last three months. they had been difficult to beat at home this season, but not in recent weeks, and defeat to tottenham at the city ground last friday night proved to be cooper's last game in charge. the former wolves and spurs manager nuno espirito santo has been in talks with the club and his appointment is expected

to be confirmed shortly. colin hazleden has more.