ai dominated. find out how barbie movie fever has gripped the mobile world congress too. welcome to asia business report. we have been hearing about artificial intelligence for some time, and this week as the biggest mobile trade show gets under way in barcelona, companies are leaning into al to boost phone sales. the biggest names are showing off plenty of ai powered features including samsung, whose new range has all sorts of ai features including the ability to circle an image or text on an app and immediately search it on google. another flagship smartphone was launched globally at the weekend by xiaomi. the chinese company found success in high—spec low—priced smartphones but is now pushing for high—end products.

it faces stiff competition from apple and samsung. another smartphone has been launched with the ability to anticipate the users�* needs using ai technology. the recognition tech can analyse and make sense of messages and photos to understand the intention of users based on their daily usage according to the company. the company has also shown off technology which allows users to control a carjust by using their eyes. we heard how the chinese offerings were stacking up against the competition. i would say extremely strong showing. as you mentioned, al on the phone is probably the best way chinese vendors are going to be able to compete with apple and samsung, so they are really all systems go on these innovations, but also we are seeing interesting things with electric cars

and in other areas. very strong showing from the chinese at mwc in barcelona as expected. huawei launching a lot of products. a smartphone and an electric vehicle. is this proof they have avoided the us export restrictions on high—end chips? they are extremely resilient, they are not out of the woods because we don't know if the us government is going to increasingly tighten the screws on the chip market or not, but they have definitely survived the worst of it and are definitely here to stay. where are their strengths? they still have the largest market share in mobile networks in the world, so the majority of the world population is using huawei to connect to a mobile network. i think they have shown resilience in the smartphone space, and continue to try to get into new areas like ai and xr and connected mobility.

elsewhere, british firms say they are facing higher shipping costs and delays of up to four weeks due to the recent houthi attacks in the red sea. the british chambers of commerce say more than a third of firms surveyed have been affected and that added costs could contribute to higher prices in the uk economy generally. the husband of a bp employee has been charged with insider trading in the us. the us securities and exchange commission alleges that he eavesdropped on his wife's work calls when she was handling the bp acquisition of a company, and he bought shares in the firm, making illegal profits of over $1.7 million. he has been ordered to repay that money. bp has yet to comment. some economic data that may give us a better picture of how the largest economies

in asia are doing. japan reports national core consumer prices forjanuary. the economy is technically in recession but that hasn't stopped the nikkei 225 closing at record highs last week. china's sluggish economic growth this year has put pressure on manufacturers. we have both the official and private survey on sentiment. the chief market analyst at kcm trade weighed in on the outlook for both japan and china. japan is interesting, the dichotomy where the stock market is hitting record highs while the economy is technically in recession. two main reasons. the yen has weakened 6.6% against the us dollar this year which has given a nice tailwind to japanese exporters such as toyota. and the tech sector injapan. cashing in on gains in the us. it's a case of rising

tide lifting all boats. nvidia shooting the lights out. softbank with a record profit for a japanese company. that has added to the nikkei momentum. china, manufacturing and non—manufacturing data coming up this week. manufacturing numbers probably coming up slightly lower than the key 50 level, indicating a contraction. non—manufacturing doing a little better in china, possibly coming in at about 50.1 or50.2, we will see what transpires. we have seen some action in recent weeks in terms of cutting the key mortgage rate. and cutting the reserve ratio requirement. investors are waiting to see more evidence of a turnaround before investing back into china. chinese equities as well.

foreign direct investment in china, that dropped 11% in january. that's as a result of the property sector. a deflationary story playing out. us aluminium giant alcoa has put forward a non—binding offer of $2.2 billion for australian company alumina. the ceo said he will support the deal in the absence of a better offer. if successful, the merger would consolidate a global mining portfolio of aluminium refineries and smelters under one roof. despite contributing just 3% of global co2 emissions, africa is experiencing serious climate problems. one company, infinity power, hopes to make a difference. we caught up with the company chairman and asked him if they are close to the target. we currently have 1.3 gigawatts in operation across three countries.

egypt, senegal and south africa. we produce a400 gigawatt hours per year. powering almost two million homes. the biggest challenge we see in africa is basically the bankability of projects on the continent and the grid capacity to be able to evacuate the energy into the grids. in senegal, we havejust seen, a significant delay by nine months, their general election. this is a real concern, the impact it will have on democracy there, where it is seen as a bastion of stability. you operate in senegal. your thoughts on that? it's not a good thing in my opinion. government should stick to the dates of elections. but then again, the details behind that, we are not fully aware of, so the reasons behind

that i cannot comment. also elections in south africa, another country you say you operate in significantly. in south africa, many people are suffering with power outages on a daily basis. it's a real headache for households and businesses. at infinity power, how do you counter that? i mean, it's been a struggle for us for the past two or three years in south africa. certain energy purchase programmes, round five and round six, have been put in place that were not really successful. we're in this for the long—haul. we believe in south africa. so hopefully the next round of purchasing for power from renewables will mitigate the mistakes made in the past. both these examples, south africa and senegal, illustrate how important

government is of course when it comes to energy policy, and how you as a company can operate within. yeah, i mean, we operate under the certain country's frameworks. it's been relatively easy in egypt for us, because the programmes have been set and the targets set. thankfully we met these targets, along with others. senegal has been, you know, pretty straightforward in our opinion. we generate on good days of wind around 50% of the country's power. the government and the utility there has been pretty easy to deal with in developing more projects there. south africa, because of the different moving parts, so to speak, ipp offers and the like, it's bit more difficult to manage in south africa. the government has a lot on its

plate to make things work. for the barbie movie fans, you may be able to get your hands on some actual pink merchandise soon. the company behind the classic nokia smartphones is working in partnership with mattel to launch a barbie flip phone due out this summer. the device will look like the throwback phones from years ago with buttons instead of a touch—screen. if you think you can scroll on instagram or tik—tok, think again. the phone will have no internet access at all. that is it for the programme, thanks for watching.

russell is at home with stone. but at his newcastle studio, an idea he had a decade ago is now starting to take shape. this idea he had a decade ago is now starting to take shape.— starting to take shape. this is m new starting to take shape. this is my new preject _ starting to take shape. this is my new project and _ starting to take shape. this is my new project and it - starting to take shape. this is my new project and it is - starting to take shape. this is| my new project and it is called gron. it is a million drawings. each one is individual. this set is 1000. chinese paper. for the chinese new year. the idea is that a million people can own a bigger artwork. fizre own a bigger artwork. five ears own a bigger artwork. five years you _ own a bigger artwork. five years you say? _ own a bigger artwork. five years you say? what - own a bigger artwork. five years you say? what does| own a bigger artwork. five years you say? what does that mean? �* ,., years you say? what does that mean? ~ :: :: :: ., ~ mean? about 4000 a week. blime . mean? about 4000 a week. blimey- why _ mean? about 4000 a week. blimey. why are _ mean? about 4000 a week. blimey. why are you - mean? about 4000 a week. blimey. why are you doing l mean? about 4000 a week. i blimey. why are you doing it? it's a sort of antidote to the art world. this one, you could

have a million owners of this artwork. it would only ever exist once it's made. theirjobs are to work especially with young people to help bring new opportunities through football and sport. but todayis through football and sport. but today is a bit different. refreshing cpr skills is a core part of what they do as a sports coaches, but using these to help save the life of somebody who has been stabbed, well, that is new. itruiith well, that is new. with everything _ well, that is new. with everything that's - well, that is new. with - everything that's happening in the city of bristol, the increase in knife crime, we wet felted really important the staff were trained. shocked at the amount — staff were trained. shocked at the amount of— staff were trained. shocked at the amount of damage - staff were trained. shocked at the amount of damage a - staff were trained. shocked at the amount of damage a knife can cause _

the amount of damage a knife can cause. internally you just don't — can cause. internally you just don't know. it's quite scary. i don't know. it's quite scary. think it's a don't know. it's quite scary. i think it's a progression from the normal_ think it's a progression from the normal first— think it's a progression from the normal first aid - think it's a progression from the normal first aid training | the normal first aid training that— the normal first aid training that we _ the normal first aid training that we have, _ the normal first aid training that we have, it's _ the normal first aid training that we have, it's really- that we have, it's really prevalent— that we have, it's really prevalent now - that we have, it's really- prevalent now unfortunately. working _ prevalent now unfortunately. working with _ prevalent now unfortunately. working with students - prevalent now unfortunately. working with students on - prevalent now unfortunately. working with students on a l working with students on a regular— working with students on a regular basis. _ working with students on a regular basis. something . working with students on a i regular basis. something they need — regular basis. something they need to— regular basis. something they need to he _ regular basis. something they need to be aware _ regular basis. something they need to be aware of. - regular basis. something they need to be aware of.— regular basis. something they need to be aware of. bleed kits are becoming — need to be aware of. bleed kits are becoming more _ need to be aware of. bleed kits are becoming more familiar - need to be aware of. bleed kits| are becoming more familiar and they contain everything you need to provide immediate emergency first aid to someone losing blood. you do need to know how to use them, but applying pressure to stop any further blood loss really can help save a life. hello, and welcome to sportsday. i'm 0lly foster. liverpool are the wembley winners — jurgen klopp says this league cup is the most special trophy he has won.

india close in on victory in the test series, after leaving england in a spin in ranchi. and the width of a post — that's how close italy were to a famous six nations win in france. welcome along. it's one trophy down, a possible three to go in jurgen klopp's farewell season. liverpool have have won the league cup for a tenth time, extending their own record of wins in the competition. they beat chelsea 1—0 in the final, with their winner coming in the final two minutes of extra time. with that defeat, chelsea have secured an unwanted record — they're the first english team to lose six successive domestic cup finals. 0ur sports correspondent joe wilson was at wembley. it was liverpool's vastly experienced captain virgil van dijk who rose to head

the decisive goal deep into extra time — remembering the headed goal by van dijk which was disallowed earlier in the game. but when he turned to celebrate with his team—mates, he would've seen teenage liverpool players who were only on the fringes of the first team at the start of the season. this is a liverpool team so beset by injuries — so to win in those circumstances i'm sure will be especially memorable forjurgen klopp in his farewell season — may even be a glimpse of liverpool beyond jurgen klopp. singing chelsea supporters i'm sure will be tired of people like us referring constantly to the amount of money they've spent. in truth, there were very expensive players on the pitch in this final who did not look like match winners. connor gallagher was central to chelsea's best moments — almost won the game twice near the end of 90 minutes. but when chelsea needed something extra in extra time, in fact they faded, and that might be the most

disappointing element of this cup final for chelsea fans