the crisis at snap — shares in the social media firm are plunging in after—hours trading. we look into what's driving the sell—off. is canada losing its cool? why fewer permanent residents are applying for canadian citizenship, and some have even begun to leave the country. hello, and welcome to asia business report. we begin with snap because shares of the social media firm are down more than 30% in after—hours trading. the snapchat owner missed wall street estimates for quarterly revenue as it continues to struggle with competition from much larger rivals like meta and alphabet, which grab a much larger share of digital advertising. the disappointing earnings announcement comes a day after snap announced it would lay off 10% of its staff. the 528 employees whp were sacked join

——the 528 employees who were sacked join a much larger group of tech workers across the industry who've lost their jobs since the end of the pandemic. earlier, i spoke to tech sector expert, dan ives, who told me snap�*s quarterly results look rather bleak. if you looked up "disaster" in the dictionary, you'd see snap�*s earnings. and this just continues to be the trouble. they're on the outside looking in — another black—eye quarter for snap, especially this the advertising team. the surge in tech lay—offs in 2024 would suggest that there's trouble in the industry, perhaps, but that may not necessarily be the case if we look at other key measures? i think it's a tale of two cities. the strong are getting stronger. the ai revolution�*s here. you're seeing more spending in areas like that. but then you see non—strategic areas get cut across path. i think most of these job cuts are in the rear—review mirror, but itjust shows we're going into a fork—in—the—road period for tech where the strong are getting stronger.

how does ai play into that fork in the road? ai is the biggest tech transformation we've seen since 1995 — the start of the internet. i think that's really going to fuel what we believe is a trillion dollars of spend. companies that are on the right side of that, they're going to benefit, they're going to be drinking champagne. ones that are on the wrong side of it, they're going to have to cut a lot of costs and there could be a lot more pain ahead. that's where you're starting to see play out even in this earnings season. spotify has also announced fourth—quarter results after the bell. the popular music streaming service reported fourth—quarter monthly active users and subscribers ahead of expectations, as it grew in all regions. spotify is among the growing number of tech companies who've laid off workers to boost profitability. it's also raised prices for its subscribers. another tech company announcing lay—offs today is amazon. the tech giant is cutting hundreds ofjobs across two of its health care units. one medical, and amazon pharmacy. the news comes as the tech

giant continues to identify areas in the business where resources need to be redirected. earlier this month, amazon laid off employees across its prime video, mgm studios, buy with prime, twitch, and audible units. the tech industry is at the forefront of the deep changes brought about by the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence. two companies are leading such industry—wide transformation right now are cisco and nvidia. the pair are teaming up to offer purpose—built ai infrastructure and ethernet solutions. my colleague, sally bundock, caught up with the executive vice—president and general manager of the cisco networking team, johnathan davidson, and asked him how important the tie—up is. nvidia is synonymous with al, as cisco is to networking. you need to make sure that you've got both of these things. there really is no ai without networking infrastructure. so it's really important that we come with the best technology in the world when it comes to ethernet and connectivity,

and then adding in the best ai technology from a gpu perspective, and bringing those together. and then simplifying it so that any enterprise is able to take advantage of that technology stack. we see that as being a really important piece, notjust of the technology itself, but how you simplify it. we have these things called cisco valid vines, where we make sure it's really simple — think of it as a blueprint for how every enterprise can go and build this infrastructure out, or their own use cases. and build this infrastructure out for their own use cases. so, your customers, how able are they to take this onboard? you've obviously partnered up with nvidia. how soon will they be able to benefit from this investment on your part? there have been surveys that showed 95% of it infrastructure is going to be increasing due to ai workloads. so we know there's a huge demand. but we also know in that same survey that only 13% are prepared and ready for —

with their current infrastructure — to be able to handle ai workload. there's a lot of need in the market place today. this partnership gives us the capability to drive it rapidly into enterprises. we see this with all of our customers — they've been asking for us for something like this for over a year now. so we're excited to actually bring this to market and share with our customers this week. ahead of the us election, there is also growing unease about how ai could be used to spread misinformation. meta has announced it will tighten controls over how ai generated content is shared on its social media platforms. the company's president of global affairs, nick clegg, said images created using ai will be detected and labelled as such when shared on facebook, instagram or threads. in other news, disney's espn, fox and warner bros discovery are gearing up to launch a sports streaming service later this year. users will be able to subscribe

via an app and also be given the option to bundle the new product with disney+, hulu, and max. no details were revealed about the name of the new product or pricing but the service will have an independent management team. for decades, canada has been a magnet for immigrants but recently fewer are applying for canadian citizenship, and some have even begun to leave the country. to help understand why the buzz has quietened a little, this report from punjab in north—west india, which sends thousands of migrants to canada each year. punjab, india's bread basket, land of mustard fields, and also immigrant dreams. millions have left these villages over decades. in canada, the punjabis are amongst the largest diaspora but some are now returning home. balkar�*s family mortgaged land

to send him to university in toronto. citizenship was his ultimate goal. but afterjust one year, he's come back and started an embroidery business. translation: from rent to groceries, . everything became more expensive. i had to work 40—50 hours every week to survive. the high inflation is making many students leave their studies in canada. the lure of the canadian dream is fading a little and that's palpable on this street in the town of vadinga, where every day, thousands of young people come and meet immigration agents and make plans to leave the country. last year, though, the number of indian students applying for canadian universities dropped sharply. protests over a lack of affordable housing went viral last year. in response, the trudeau government announced international students must have double the amount of money

to cover living expenses when they come to canada. a temporary two—year cap on new international student permits. in addition, the government has introduced a cap on how many student visas are issued every year to help address the housing shortage. canada stopped building housing in large scale for about 30 years. and now, that's come back to bite us as the population starts to grow. but there are deeper reasons for a waning canadian dream. for some, like karan, who've achieved career and financial success, it was the allure of a comfortable rural life that inspired his return to india after 15 years. he's now started an online consultancy to help others come back to their roots. i started this almost 1.5 months ago, and i get 2—3 calls every day.

most of the calls are from canada — people who want to know what kind ofjob opportunities or what is available in punjab. india is growing and people can see that. for decades, immigrants have fuelled canada's economic growth. india is still one of its largest sources of migrants. while the numbers of those leaving canada are still small, they do paint a more complex picture of the opportunities abroad and those at home. now to something you do not see every day. the boss of singapore's biggest bank is taking a 30% pay cut to account for several digital banking outages in 2023 — that's roughly $3 million out of the ceo piyush gupta's annual pay cheque. other members of the management team will also be taking a 21% variable compensation cut. the news comes on the heels of the bank's quarterly result,

when net profit exceeded estimates. before we go, something to tell you about in the entertainment space. actress gina carano has sued disney and lucasfilm after she was sacked in 2021. it was over social media post in which she compared being a republican to being a jew during the holocaust. her court case has been funded by elon musk. elon musk has encourage others, on the platform x, tojoin the suit. the actress who was in the first two seasons of the disney+ show, the mandalorian, is seeking $75,000 in damages. she is also seeking the court to recast her. representatives are not available for comment. that brings us to a close. bye for now.

voice-over: bbc news - bringing you different stories from across the uk. at 102, there aren't many firsts left forjack hemmings. but today, he's about to pilot a spitfire — a dream unrealised until now. jack was a squadron leader in the royal air force during the war, and has long been an admirer of the aircraft. if the spitfire and the harriet had not succeeded in overcoming the germans there'd have been an invasion, and britain would have become german. jack is still working hard for the charity he loves. today's flight is all about raising awareness and vital funding. after plenty of waiting, the weather was right — and it was time to take to the skies. after taking the controls for a time, jack then relaxes as the pilot performs victory rolls. not one... ..not two...

..but three. and when you've waited this long to fly in a spitfire, it'd be rude not to make the most of it. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. hello. i'm jack with the catch—up. tonight, the king's been out and about. why miss japan was stripped of her title. and breaking boundaries around hearing loss. first — the king's been out today for the first time since the palace announced he has cancer. here he is with queen camilla about to travel to sandringham by helicopter. prince harry flew back from california to visit, but apparently he doesn't plan to meet his brother whilst he's here. and we know that cancer in one

way or another affects all of us, so if you're finding the news hard to deal with, you can read info on where to find support by searching for bbc action line. some other news, then: ukrainian—born miss japan has had to give back her crown after a newspaper exposed her affair with a married man. that title will remain vacant for the rest of the year. tom holland's going to star in a western production of romeo and juliet later this year — it's the first time he'll be on stage since starring as billy elliott as a kid. former love islander tasha guri has been chatting to newsbeat about life with a cochlear implant — it's a small device which can help some people who are deaf or hard of hearing. she's trying to headache break the stigma of how people talk when they take theirs off, by posting hers on tiktok. and it is great. because it is like everyone else out there, they might go on love island

and where a cochlear implant and where a cochlear implant and know you can do it. tonight, i'm going to leave you with ten seconds of wrong direction, as drivers in edinburgh say sat—navs keep sending them down this set of steps. they didn't used to be steps, by the way. it's happened an awful lot, lately. thankfully, the council are popping up bollards soon. which way�*s the way out...? hello, and welcome to sportsday. i'm marc edwards. coming up on the programme: it'sjubilantjordan at the asian cup as they stun south korea to reach their first—ever final. it's misery for murray in marseille, though, as the former world number one suffers another first—round exit.

and — fury�*s forgiven — oleksandr usyk holds no grudges after their heavyweight fight is postponed but promises to beat him in may. hello, and thanks for joining us on sportsday. we start with a huge shock at the asian cup asjordan continue to rewrite the history books. having never got past the last eight of the competition, they are now into the final for the very first time. and to get there they knocked out one of the favourites to lift the trophy — beating south korea 2—0. yazan al—naimat put them in front before a superb solo effort from their superstar musa al—taamari — the montpellier winger securing the momentous win in qatar. tottenham hotspur�*s son heung min did have a goal disallowed