driving a wedge between two close allies. plus, bitcoin has an extraordinary week. we look into what's driving the rally in the world's biggest cryptocurrency. hello and welcome to asia business report. we began in the us, where these shares of us steel have dropped for a second day of the president biden came out against the proposed sale of the domestic industrial powerhouse to a japanese steelmaker. this comes ahead of his meeting with japan prime minister fumio kishida next month. our business correspondent has more from new york. president biden is taking a stand against a deal in the making. us steel, an american company, is set to be brought by nippon steel, a japanese company but president biden says that us steel should stay in the us. the president praised

the iconic 123—year—old american steel company and said it's vital that the company remain owned and operated in the states. this is a big deal and notjust politically. nippon steel is set to pay $14.9 billion to acquire the us giant. but politically, this is territory president biden knows well. he has cast himself as a champion of the working class and called himself the most pro—union president in history. he made headlines for walking the picket line with striking auto union workers last fall. unionised steelworkers could lend the president support in his election bid. they form the largest industrial union. and for his part, donald trump pledged to block the deal if he takes the white house again. they agreed that foreign ownership would leave the us vulnerable when it

comes to prioritising their own defence and infrastructure. it's bound to become a topic of conversation between key allies when japanese conversation between key allies whenjapanese prime minister when japanese prime minister fumio whenjapanese prime minister fumio kishida and his wife visit the white house for an official state visit. former treasury secretary steve mnuchin says he's building an investor group to buy tiktok. he has spoken to a bunch of people about buying the popular social media company. he didn't offer details about who may be in the group. tiktok faces an uncertain future in the us. the app uncertain future in the us. the app could be banned unless chinese owner bite —— bytedance says their stake. the case on didi is centred on the $4.4 billion they raised during their initial public offering

in america. investors allege that didi concealed a chinese government order to postpone its listing until it resolved privacy concerns. shares tumbled after chinese�*s cyber security regulator banned them renewable energying new users. in the past hour, we have got a fresh snapshot of china's housing market. with new home prices falling by 1.4% in february, from the same period in 2023. that was the largest decline in more than a year. the real estate sector makes up a third of the chinese economy and has been in a severe state of crisis. but could there be some green shoots? 0ur of crisis. but could there be some green shoots? our business reporter investigates. china's new home prices have been falling. in the month of

january, they dropped by 0.75%. for years, january, they dropped by 0.75%. foryears, investing january, they dropped by 0.75%. for years, investing in real estate was a fundamental part of the chinese dream. individuals borrowed to buy new condos and the investors bought up condos and the investors bought up big. the government liked it. the property sector became a pillar of the country's economic growth. the problem was you had skyscapers across the country literally built on debt. it's an unstable foundation, and the government introduced a number of rules to put the pin in to burst the bubble. known as the three red lines, the general principle articulated by xijinping is that property is to be lived in the, not to be speculated upon. the problem was the pin was perhaps too sharp, and the

sector has come crashing down, having contagion impacts across the economy. it's smaller regional areas known as tier 3 or 4 cities feeling it the hardest. roads of new apartments for sale but no—one wanting to buy. in one of them, it would take almost ten years to sell the number of apartments available, given current clearance rates. now beijing is ramping up efforts to boost confidence and encourage people to spend. last week, the country's national people's congress was seen as an opportunity to boost morale and rates have been cut to encourage people to buy. the question, though, is will the? in other news, the starship rocket developed by elon musk�*s company, spacex, has come close to completing a test flight into space on its third attempt, but was lost during re—entry to earth's atmosphere. spacex hopes that starship will carry astronauts to the moon and beyond. the uncrewed craft�*s performance surpassed

the previous two flights, that endedin the previous two flights, that ended in explosions minutes after launch. they completed many of the flight objectives in a low orbit around the earth, but it skipped a key attempt to reignite the engine in flight. bitcoin has had an extraordinary week. it's currently trading at more than $71,000. it hit an all—time high on thursday, monday, and last week, overtaking highs last week, overtaking highs last seen in november 2021. is the appetite for risk well and truly back? we have the chief executive and co—founder of hex trust. he explains what is driving bitcoin�*s rally. we trust. he explains what is driving bitcoin's rally. we see it to - ed driving bitcoin's rally. we see it topped 73,000. _ driving bitcoin's rally. we see it topped 73,000. | _ driving bitcoin's rally. we see it topped 73,000. i would - driving bitcoin's rally. we see | it topped 73,000. i would say the main reason is the massive... fall of ftx. they

control an astonishing 4%. 95% of the total supply is already mined. previously there was a structural imbalance between demand and supply. i5 structural imbalance between demand and supply.- demand and supply. is the a- etite demand and supply. is the appetite for _ demand and supply. is the appetite for risk _ demand and supply. is the appetite for risk back - demand and supply. is the appetite for risk back for l appetite for risk back for investors?— appetite for risk back for investors? absolutely. we talked about _ investors? absolutely. we talked about a _ investors? absolutely. we talked about a concept - investors? absolutely. we talked about a concept ofl talked about a concept of perfect alignment of stars, that would ignite a new cycle. and the main factors were really the clean—up of less legit companies, regulatory across manyjurisdictions, and across many jurisdictions, and microeconomicly, across manyjurisdictions, and microeconomicly, the prospect of decreasing interest rates in the us, favouring assets that are more inflation production and less yielding. you mention the halving _ and less yielding. you mention the halving of— and less yielding. you mention the halving of bitcoin. - and less yielding. you mention the halving of bitcoin. can - and less yielding. you mention the halving of bitcoin. can you| the halving of bitcoin. can you help us understand that better, in simple terms?—

in simple terms? yes. so basically _ in simple terms? yes. so basically every _ in simple terms? yes. so basically every few - in simple terms? yes. so basically every few years | in simple terms? yes. so i basically every few years the supply of bitcoin decreases. and we expect on april 20, 2024, the supply will decrease from 6.25 to half of that. so, this means that today we have 6.25 bitcoin mined every ten minutes. which is 900 per day and 6300 per week. after 20 april, this number will be halved. so basically if the current demand is stable, we'll have an even more imbalanced structure, structure imbalance between demand and supply. the london stock exchange says it's going to allow bitcoin back to trades later this year. there was a lot of concern about the same mechanism. does crypto need to be regulated, or the fact it's getting more regulated only increases its credibility?— regulated only increases its credibili ? ~ , . . credibility? absolutely. we're now in the — credibility? absolutely. we're now in the phase _ credibility? absolutely. we're now in the phase where - credibility? absolutely. we're| now in the phase where we've several jurisdictions that

already have very strong regulatory framework. particularly the us framework for btc, for the etfs, is quite solid and reliable. in my opinion, what we're missing todayis opinion, what we're missing today is maybe two aspects in the crypto regulation, the first one is the harmonisation of regulation across jurisdictions, to allow the circulation of digital assets properly. and the second one is the expansion of the current basic frameworks on bitcoin to other areas of the crypto mark. france's lower house of parliament has introduced a bill to make it less attractive to buy fast fashion. any are hoping to become the first country to tackle the environmental and other problems caused by cheap clothes. meghan, the duchess of sussex, has launched what appears to be a new lifestyle

brand. it was unveiled on thursday through an instagram account and website containing few details. meghan has embarked on several media ventures since stepping back from royal duties. they will sell home goods such as decanters and kitchen liners and preserved foods like jellies. a quick look at the markets before we go. you can see hong kong's hang seng not looking in good shape, down 1.6%, that's after data showing that us producer prices surged more than expected last month, denting hopes of interest rate cuts. drinking water bubbling up from underground. it's mid—morning on a street in red hill, and

teams have located the problem, thanks to ai technology, that triggered an alarm just after 8:00am. triggered an alarm 'ust after 8:00am. ., .., triggered an alarm 'ust after 8:00am. ., , ., , 8:00am. you can see the flows auoin u- 8:00am. you can see the flows going up and — 8:00am. you can see the flows going up and down. _ 8:00am. you can see the flows going up and down. we - 8:00am. you can see the flows going up and down. we have i 8:00am. you can see the flows going up and down. we have al going up and down. we have a prediction that goes along here with the green light. the prediction is saying, look, based upon the history, this is the kind of flows we should be getting in that area at this time today. you can see over here it's started to jump. as a result of that, the system has noticed that, it's alerted the control room, and it's generated an alarm. control room, and it's aenerated an alarm. ._ generated an alarm. the way the s stem generated an alarm. the way the system learns — generated an alarm. the way the system learns that _ generated an alarm. the way the system learns that is _ generated an alarm. the way the system learns that is by - generated an alarm. the way the system learns that is by having i system learns that is by having gadgets in the ground. 50 system learns that is by having gadgets in the ground.- gadgets in the ground. so we have 1,000 _ gadgets in the ground. so we have 1,000 sensors - gadgets in the ground. so we have 1,000 sensors like - gadgets in the ground. so we have 1,000 sensors like this| have 1,000 sensors like this scattered out across our entire area. because they're bringing back data every 15 minutes, it allows us to find bursts very quickly indeed. and get onto them before our customers are even aware that something is happening. even aware that something is happening-— even aware that something is happening. they know already this leak is — happening. they know already this leak is on _ happening. they know already this leak is on a _ happening. they know already this leak is on a joint, - happening. they know already this leak is on a joint, on - happening. they know already this leak is on a joint, on a - this leak is on a joint, on a 9cm plastic pipe, laid in 2007. according to the regulator, about a fifth of all the

freshwater running through our pipes in england and wales is lost to leakage. there will be much interest in this annual leakage figures out this year. hey, i'm lola with the catch up. tonight — the glastonbury line—up's out, the most powerful rocket ever, and a baby fox. first, there is big line—up news for those who managed to get their hands on glastonbury tickets. dua lipa, sza and coldplay are all heading to worthy farm, and it's the first time the festival's had two female headliners. this comes after it was criticised last year for not having any. and for coldplay, well, this will be their fifth time headlining. chris martin just can't seem to stay away from the pyramid stage. you could maybe argue that's a little bit boring. but then on the flip side, they are one of the biggest bands in the world and they're known for their live show. they always put on a phenomenal show. other artists like my faves

burna boy, peggy gou and olivia dean will also be gracing the world's most famous farm. some other stories now. a 17—year—old boy has admitted to killing 15—year—old elianne andam at a croydon bus stop in south london last year. the teenager, who can't be named because of his age, denied murdering her, but has pleaded guilty to manslaughter. the prosecution haven't accepted the plea and he'll stand trial in november. and for any space fans out there, then this will seriously excite you. elon musk�*s spacex has launched the most powerful rocket ever built into space. you can see the moment it took off here. it was their best launch so far with elon musk commenting on socials that starship will take humanity to mars. but radio contact was lost towards the end of the mission. time now for ten seconds of a woman pretending to be a fox.

staff at a wildlife centre in virginia has been wearing a fox mask whilst looking after a baby fox, known as a kit. this is to make sure it doesn't get used to humans. i mean, look at it. it's so cute! you're all caught up now. have a great night.

hello and welcome to sportsday. coming up: west ham's fine european form continues, while leverkusen's unbeaten run remains, thanks to late europa league drama. we'll look ahead to the final weekend of the six nations rugby with ireland in the driving seat to be crowned champions. and ten birdies in his opening round has world number two rory mcilroy in a share of the lead at the players championship.