hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm arunoday mukharji. lets start by talking about the bitcoin bounce. the world's largest cryptocurrency topped 50 thousand dollars for the first time in more than two years on monday — the latest sign of a massive rebound for the crypto sector. so what's behind the rally? our correspondent michelle fleury has more from new york. if you had invested $8,000 and been coined at the start at the year, you would have more than you started with. after reaching a milestone on monday that it hasn't seen since december 2021. one explanation is that you can now put money into bit through your investment bank. us financial regulators recently approved the first exchange traded funds

tried directly to the crypto currency. the demand for these bitcoin funds the began trading in january has bitcoin funds the began trading injanuary has been robust. it is also been expectations that the first rate cut in years could come as early as may. higher rates scare investors away from crypto currencies so lower rates are seen as a positive. while investors are now starting to look at crypto currencies as illegitimate asset class, many wonder if they are still very volatile. bitcoin is worth about $20,000 less than the record high the token hit it back in 2021. staying with the us, former president donald trump has asked the supreme court to keep his criminal trial for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 elections on hold. mrtrump is campaigning to return to the white house this year as a potential republican candidate. one issue that's likely to rank high in terms of voter concerns

is the country's relationship with china. president biden has been taking a tough stance, restricting chip technology exports — including limiting trade on batteries for electric vehicles. and potential republican candidate donald trump has renewed threats of tariffs against china. during his years in office, he put around 250 billion dollars of tariffs on a wide range of products. for more, let's bring in amy celico, a former american diplomat and us—china trade expert from albright stonebridge group. she's been telling me about what we can expect of the us china relationship in the coming days. it china relationship in the coming days.— china relationship in the coming days. it was such an intense year _ coming days. it was such an intense year where - coming days. it was such an intense year where the - coming days. it was such an intense year where the us l coming days. it was such an i intense year where the us and china were talking unofficial levels in many key areas of disagreement as well as key areas of competition. for example, with the united states and china restarting military to military talks, it's not a

sign of or an improved relationship but it is a sign that both sides understand these are very difficult issues, an accident could quickly escalate into a conflict if they can't prevent it. and so whether it's on economic issues, military issues, transnational issues, the us and china are talking again, but again, iwould again, but again, i would hassan again, but again, iwould hassan to add the relationship isn't necessarily improving, it's just managing the tensions that exist a little bit better than we were able to do in 2023. in than we were able to do in 2023. , ., , , ., 2023. in terms of results, what would china _ 2023. in terms of results, what would china be _ 2023. in terms of results, what would china be looking - 2023. in terms of results, what would china be looking at, - would china be looking at, or rather, preferring in the circumstances? i rather, preferring in the circumstances?- circumstances? i think president _ circumstances? i think president trump - circumstances? ithink president trump in - circumstances? ithink president trump in his reelection big talking very much on more punitive damage to the us china relationship in order to shore up american interests. so of course his talk of a 60% tariff hike imports from china is meant to do what he is long wanted to

do, which is reduce the trade deficit that the united states has with china. now he is also talking about implementing a four—year national reassuring plan to again reduce us reliance on china for so many different kinds of goods coming into our market. the biden administration is doing the same, in increasing export control restrictions, so limiting american technology exports to china, and of course maintaining those tariffs that president trump had put in place when he was in office. and so for the chinese, i think they are very loath to say who they are very loath to say who they would prefer in office. what they continue to say is, to enter lockers is they want the us china relationship to remember some of the benefits of the economic relationship, thatis of the economic relationship, that is very difficult right now as americans, democrat and republican, or looking at the national security consideration. . ., ,

national security consideration. . consideration. that was amy's silicone was _ consideration. that was amy's silicone was speaking - consideration. that was amy's silicone was speaking to - consideration. that was amy's silicone was speaking to me . consideration. that was amy's silicone was speaking to me a | silicone was speaking to me a short while back. they are demanding better pay and better working conditions according to driver's groups. drivers who are considered independent contractors have accused platforms of taking disproportionately high commissions. the move comes after lift said it would guarantee weekly earnings for drivers in a first for the us ridesharing industry. police in delhi have imposed a month—long ban on public gatherings ahead of a planned march on the indian capital on tuesday by thousands of farmers. police say the demonstration poses a significant threat to public safety and thousands of security forces have been deployed. routes into delhi from neighbouring states have also been barricaded. farmers from more than two hundred unions plan to converge on the city on tractors to push for

better crop prices promised after another protest in 2021. india is months from national elections, in which millions of farmers form an influential voting bloc. it's a busy election year in many parts of the world. this week, on wednesday — indonesia goes to polls to select its next political leader. millennials and gen zs make up more than half of the country's 205 million eligible voters. the number one concern for them — jobs. my colleague steve lai sent this report from jakarta, ahead of the presidential election.

walking around, you can't help but notice the number of young people. nearly half of the population is under the age of 30. but when it comes to employment, youngerjob—seekers are struggling. for those under the age of 25, the unemployment rate is 19%. indonesia needs to create millions jobs for the young labour force. but i think what is more difficult is that to prepare this young labour force, to be able to respond to the new demand from the industry or from the economy. most of the labour force are not highly educated. they are not well trained. i'm in a busy part of jakarta where students from the university of indonesia like to hang out, and they're some of the lucky ones getting higher education. but even they have concerns about what the future holds when it's time for them tojoin the workforce. we've also said that all generation is golden generation for indonesia. so i think the most important for president is who can support a young generation in all or in gen 2. everybody said we will create a gazillion of. newjobs for our first graduates, | but i don't really buy it any more because every year. we have 1.5 billion new graduate - and i'd like to see how-

you can accommodate them. translation: so with that, we are seeking . a president that can create lots ofjobs, but notjust in quantity but also in quality. so we are hoping they don't give us empty promises. as youths, we are going to the workforce to help support indonesia's economic growth. 0ne industry, outgoing president joko widodo has been keen to develop is electric vehicles with potential jobs created up and down the sector that is already showing signs of growth. state run charging stations like this are growing in number and the private sector is getting into the game, too. korean car—maker hyundai is already manufacturing ev cars here. and while all this investment does create jobs, there are still some question marks about the ev supply chain. we see that what happened in nickel industry only selected area in indonesia that get this concentration of investment. and if we look at that area, who are the people that work in that area? they are not the local people. they are mostly

like maybe outsider. so we see that the spillover from the investment to the local people are not that significant. for indonesia's next president, the challenge on the jobs front is twofold creating jobs not just for indonesians, but enough jobs to meet the number of young people entering the workforce each year. stay with our 2024 election coverage tomorrow when i'll be joined by our chief presenter steve lai as voters head to the polls. you can also keep up with the latest results on our website. before we go... social media platform x says it will soon allow brands to run ads next to certain content creators. this would prevent ads from appearing next to controversial or offensive content. firms including apple and disney paused advertising on the elon musk—owned platform last year, after a us left—leaning pressure group flagged that ads were appearing next to pro—nazi posts.

it is unclear how much of its revenue currently comes from ads, and it no longer publishes quarterly reports. tensions are running high in a long running dispute after polish farmers stopped several ukrainian trucks at the border and emptied some of their grain cargo onto the road. ukraine has demanded action. and that's it for this edition of asia business report. thanks for watching. bbc news — bringing you different stories| from across the uk. anna grey is a true believer, no question for her. the climate emergency is real. much more drastic action is needed. but she has a slightly different way of persuading people to her cause. every tuesday morning, she's been standing in the square in petersfield with a placard,

a peaceful vigil, whatever the weather representing women of this town. i feel that we can act locally. we don't have any whistles or glue. and we are, and we don't cause any disruption. so it is just really a polite protest. and i think that's actually what encourages other women to to come and join us. she was inspired by tales of the baltic chain when people linked hands across estonia, lithuania and latvia to demand freedom. there's a real beauty about it. people peacefully and calmly standing together as a clear and visible sign. other women who've seen her stand have started to join in the weekly vigil. polite is always good. is it more likely to change people's minds than lying down in the road? well, it might do might make people think a bit harder. for more stories . from across the uk, head to the bbc news website.

hey, i'm zoff with the catch up. tonight, the latest in the middle east, a young hero raising money for cancer and a carnival in rio. we start in the middle east where two israeli—argentine hostages have been rescued in a raid in rafah. fernando marman and louis har are in good medical condition after being kidnapped on the 7th of october. the men were freed during israeli air strikes in rafah in southern gaza. at least 70 palestinians were killed, meaning the total number of people to have died in gaza is more than 28,000 since the hamas attack on israel. some other stories. now, one in five migratory animal species faces extinction, a un report warns. basically they play a very important role in protecting the earth's habitats by transferring nutrients. experts have begun meeting to sort a plan in response

to this research. next to the arctic, where a boy who doctors thought might never walk has trekked the arctic to pay tribute to his dad, who died from bowel cancer two years ago. caden, who has cerebral palsy, experienced temperatures of below —29 degrees celsius. but his week long challenge involved walking and fishing raised more than £3,000. a big, big congratulations to caden. what an amazing achievement. we're going to leave you with 10 seconds of a carnival in rio with lots of performances celebrating the amazon rainforest and the indigenous communities in brazil. i mean, just look at those outfits, all the sparkles, all the lights, they are quite iconic. and you're all caught up now. see you later.

hello there and welcome along to sportsday. i'm gavin ramjaun. chelsea leave it late, but come from behind to beat crystal palace as the pressure piles on their manager, roy hodgson. tragedy in kenya as the men's marathon world record holder kelvin kipton, dies at the age of 24. and fernando alonso says his

priority is with aston martin as the former f1 champion talks to the bbc on his future moves within the sport's. moves within the sport. hello there and welcome along to the programme. we begin in the premier league where two goals from conor gallagher helped chelsea come from behind to beat struggling crystal palace 3—1 at selhurst park. mauricio pochettino's side couldn't muster a shot until the 45th minutes as palace looked to frustrate their opponents and pick up a much needed win to ease the pressure on manager roy hodgson. palace took the lead throuthefferson lerma, but chelsea continued to push. gallagher equalised and secured the win in stoppage time with a neat first time finish for his second before enzo fernandez added a third with seconds remaining.

i think two different sides i see in the first half.