prices continue to drop in china. what does it say about the state of the world's second largest economy? plus — disney's cost cutting strategy pays off. the house of mouse unveils its quarterly results and the biggest move yet in the gaming sector. hello and welcome to asia business report. we begin in china where prices have continued to fall for the fourth month in january. the consumer price index dropped to 0.8% last month from a year earlier. producer prices also slipped 2.5%. asia specialist olivier d'assier told me the latest price data from the world's second largest economy is looking rather grim. i think they're much worse than expected, right. so almost twice as bad as expected and probably explains why we have some trading restrictions put on the market three days ago. we had a situation already

where sentiment has been weakening since about mid—january on the lack of stimulus measures by the government. so after the last inflation numbers, so we could have an overreaction, but then again the trading restrictions being what they are right now it's very hard to play out the numbers especially with ten days of holidays coming up after tomorrow. yes. so what do you think the reaction from the chinese government is going to be then to these numbers that are worse—than—expected 7 i think because of the holiday period, they may be buying themselves a few days to think about what to do. it's really a demand side issue with them. as we saw with the alibaba earnings, people don't have the confidence right now to spend or take on debt. all of the measures we have seen so far have targeted the supply side, increasing loans, increasing liquidity. these are not enough. investors want to see some job creation type of investments, some reduction in some of the —

maybe the bureaucracy that prevents people from launching new business from innovating, all of this needs to come out and a lot more spending, the spending has been maybe a tenth of what people expected. so they want to see a lot more fiscal spending as well. speaking of tech companies in china, let's focus on an e—commerce giant alibaba which has published disappointing quarterly results. the company posted sales of $36.7 billion up 5% year on year, but below analyst expectations. ./alibaba's executives announced they'll increase the group's share buyback programme by $25 billion in a move they say demonstrates confidence in the company's outlook. but as we have been discussing, alibaba is facing a slowing economy in china as well as fierce competition from rivals such as jd.com, pinduoduo and douyin. tech analyst and creator of tech

buzz china rae ma explaining why alibaba has been struggling. it did not grow even as fast as the market because last year china grew about 11%, that's according to official estimates but the company itself did not and really it's. .. the investor response is partly because the recovery has not been as great as some have expected. although to others it's been better. it's really because of the competition. so pinduoduo is one of the most aggressive competitors that it faces in its core business. of course it's still less than half of alibaba's business, but it's been growing very quickly in third quarter it grew nearly 100% versus alibaba's 9%. douyin, of course, leader in live streaming e—commerce, a business model alibaba actually pioneered but douyin has taken over as a leader and it's encroaching on pinduoduo�*s gmv as well. e—commerce a competitive

space in china and increasingly a part of the daily fabric as well. but it's still weighed down by a slower economy, isn't it? that's correct. although i think that — despite the fact that — you know, the economy relatively speaking is in a — has seen better days if you look at the expectations for online retail over the next three years, this is a ginormous market. china is almost $3 trillion, online e—commerce, and expectations the next few years is still going to grow at 8% and for a market of that size, that's still significant. so by 2027, you know, professionals, experts, are expecting that it will be a $4 trillion market. from an e—commerce giant to an entertainment giant. india has held growing costs steady at 6.5% since february

2023 as steady at 6.5% since february 2023 as inflation steady at 6.5% since february 2023 as inflation remained within the reserve bank of india's target range. joining us now is our business correspondent. should we expect any surprises today?— any surprises today? economists do not think _ any surprises today? economists do not think so. _ any surprises today? economists do not think so. nearly - any surprises today? economists do not think so. nearly all- any surprises today? economists do not think so. nearly all of- do not think so. nearly all of them believe that this will be a status quo rate decision for the sixth time in a no change expected. they do expect the rbi to keep a keen focus on price rise because food prices, particularly, have been volatile for pulses spices and vegetables. the winter crop output has also anticipated to be much lower this time so that will be a focus point. retail inflation has come down over the last few months. it was 5.7% in december and is still closer to the upper end of the threshold that rbi wants and thatis threshold that rbi wants and that is why they are wary. they wanted closer to 4% and a few weeks ago the chief said that

they are confident the current monetary policy will help them achieve that. not many people are expecting a change in the status quo. add to that the growth, economic growth in the country provides support to the rbi decision, expected to be around 7%. and if you look at the commentary of the rbi on growth as well one thing that analysts expect is the rbi may help by increasing through policy measures, increase liquidity in the system because deposits have gone down on the banks and the government is borrowing less in the interim budget they highlighted that. could be something we look out for. analysts expect the rate cut decision would trail the us fed decision and may even be as delayed as the middle of next year. we will also look out for commentary on the ptm payments, the digital payments business where the bank and the rbi has stopped all banking services. a commentary on that will also be

looked out for.— looked out for. focusing now on disne . disney says — it has reported that beat estimates sending its shares soaring more than 6% in after—hours trading. the company also unveiled what is its biggest bet to date in the gaming industry. our correspondent has more from new york. disney says it's on pace to bring in more money this fiscal year and it expects earnings at least 20% higher than last year. and the company says it's on pace to cut costs. it expects to meet or surpass its goal of cutting $7.5 billion by the end of this fiscal year. the news comes as pressure mounts from an activist investor who has been critical of the company including its disappointing stats at the box office. the company also narrowed its losses specifically in streaming. disney plus increased prices this fall.

they lost subscribers over that but because each subscriber is paying more few for the service, the average revenue per user went up. disney plus streaming offererings including espn+, a focus of a lot of attention this week. the company announced earlier this week that it's partnering with fox and warner bros discovery to launch a new sports streaming operation with espn+ this year. and the ceo said the company is taking a $1.5 billion stake in epic games. it's disney's biggest move in the game space yet. another focus of attention — disney and politics again — after a very public multi—year spat with and law suit against florida governor ron desantis who accused the company of being liberal and progressive. actor gina caramo is suing the company and alleging she was fired from the mandalorian for posting conservative points of view online including on the social media platform x. elon musk has said he'd throw his billions behind x users who claim discrimination at work due to their posts. he's backing caramo's law suit. and one more piece of disney news this week — it turns out that

disney quietly had a hand in the launch of apple's vision pro—headset which just hit stores. customers who shell out $3500 for the headset can watch some of their favourite disney movies in sd or in a handful of universes that disney created. it isa it is a different picture over at paypal. shares of the digital payment giant are down more than 7% in extended trading. revenue in the quarter rose to $8 billion, an increase from last year. but its forecast of flat growth and adjusted profit for the current year overshadowed the market beating earnings report. shares in a semi— conductor chip designer and nearly 20% higher in after—hours trading. the british tech company forecast fiscal fourth quarter sales and adjusted profit above all street expectations as customers aim to design new chips for al. it released and

raised its guidance by roughly $100 million saying market such as automotive and ai $100 million saying market such as automotive and a1 are going to be strong in the fiscal fourth quarter. take a quick look at the latest trade data from the world's largest economy. imports to the united states fell last year relative to the growth in exports reducing the smallest trade deficit for nearly three years. the trade gap stood at $773 billion, down almost 150 on 2022. american consumers purchased fewer foreign goods while us petroleum x ports reached a record high in december. figures also show the us imported moore from mexico last year than from china for the first time in two decades. that is it for today. goodbye for now. bbc news bringing you different stories from across the uk. harry and his family are huge

brighton fans but seven years ago harry suffered a cardiac arrest at school. it was his teacher, christine, who saved his life. harry was playing football at the after—school club and i got called out to the field and he was just lying there. i knew he was not breathing because i checked the breathing and also his lips were going blue. she continued doing cpr for 15 minutes without stopping. she is the most amazing lady and, yes, i'm really, really grateful for what she did for harry. all i can remember was waking up in hospital and not- really knowing what had - happened and what had gone on. cardiac arrest can happen to anyone, as tom lockyer�*s collapsed showed. during his recovery he thanked those who helped him

and encourage more to learn cpr. earlier this week, he returned to his club and was given a standing ovation in their game against brighton. he was very lucky to have people on the football pitch who knew cpr and also have a defibrillator there ready to save his life. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. i'm xoff with the catch up tonight, taylor threatens to sue. loyal fans camp out for the 1975. and graffiti on luxury flats. first — we start with everyone's favourite place — the dentist. the government is planning to try and decrease the waiting list for a dentist appointment in england with a cash incentive. dentists who set up practises in areas of england with poor access to nhs care will be offered a £20,000 bonus. the government has also announced higher payments for nhs dentists who take on new patients and teeth—cleaning in schools as part of a plan to expand levels

of dental care, but dental leaders and labour say the plans don't go far enough. some other stories now. taylor swift has threatened to sue a student who tracks her private jet. her lawyers say jack sweeney shouldn't be sharing her flight information online. jack uses publicly available data to track the take—offs and landings of planes belonging to celebs and post them online a day later. jack has responded and said, "no way do i intend for harm." and what lengths would you go to see your favourite top star? loads of devoted 1975 fans are spending two nights camping outside the glasgow in the freezing cold in the hope of being in the front row of the band's next gig. one dedicated fan even travelled all the way from australia. and time now to leave you with ten seconds of graffiti covering luxury highrise flats in la. 27 floors of this highrise complex were covered with it.

the site has been abandoned since 2019. just imagine though if you wanted to buy one or what if you already owned one? it might be a little bit tricky to live in it. you're all caught up now. see you later.

hello and welcome to sportsday. i'm jane dougall. huge celebrations as nigeria go through to the final of the africa cup of nations where they'll play the hosts ivory coast. a wonder goal from enzo fernandez puts the icing on the cake for chelsea as they win away at villa in the fa cup. and it's heating up in the usa with footballs�* showcase game, the super bowl, just around the corner. welcome to the programme. it's been a battle for them, but nigeria are through to the final of the africa cup of nations where they'll play the hosts, ivory coast.

nigeria's match was filled with drama, going to extra time