tesla's profits tumble after the ev giant introduces deep cost—cutting measures as it faces stiff competition. a bill to ban tiktok in the us is making its way through congress. we take a look at the battle it could face in the courts. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm mariko oi. let's start with tesla — because the electric carmaker has posted a sharp fall in its profits and revenue for the first three months of the year. profits are down 55%, and revenue is also lower by 9%.

it's been tough several months for elon musk�*s firm — it's been struggling with falling sales because of intense competition from its chinese rivals. we'll have some analysis shortly — but first, here's our business correspondent erin delmore. it's been a rocky road for tesla this year. interest rates are taking a bite out of purchasing power and pushing big purchases out of reach, competition with china especially rival vehicle maker byob is heating up, sales are falling and so is tesla's stock. it's fallen more than 40% this year, the company is cutting prices and announced lay—off, then on tuesday it reported its first quarter earnings. missing expectations on earning and revenue. the company is anticipating lower deliveries this year compared to 2023 but investors have one bright spot to look to come announced it speeding up the launch of a lower—priced vehicle

from affordable models could be a boon for cash—strapped consumers, and a hit worldwide like china and india. tesla's shares soared in after—hours trade. asia editor for automotive news, hans greimel says investors are encourged by the introduction of more affordable models. investors were really bracing for some bad news in this earnings report, but while the numbers weren't great, i think what happened was that it wasn't quite as bad as they expected. plus we saw some good news on the front of this low—priced or affordable cost of car that they are developing. while there is still some uncertainty about whether they are going to push through with a completely new model that's affordable and at the bottom end of the range, they did talk about making some of their existing models may be more affordable and also by pulling forward some new technologies, new platform developments that they have in stock.

so that should help boost sales and probably maybe make their cars more competitive. speaking of affordable ev�*s, can tesla retain its premium ev? they have been facing stiff competition from rivals but even smartphone makers. in the china market which is very important to do is look, it does face that stiff competition, it's a flooded, flooded market with tvs there, but in the united states it still has a stronghold because those chinese cars for the time being at least are being held out of the market, they are being blocked from entering. it does have this stronghold in the us where it can still rely on sales and profits. the caveat there is that ev sales in the united states are starting to slow down, sales growth is starting to slow down so we're not seeing the penetration at the fast rates that we used

to be, so there is a tempering of demand in the us market at the same time. moving on the us congress where a bill to potentially ban tiktok has cleared a key senate committee vote. the legislaton would ban the popular social media platform if its chinese owner bytedance doesn't divest its ownership stake in the app. president biden has previously said if reaches his desk, he will sign it. but it may not be so simple. carl tobias is a law professor at the university of richmond in virginia. he says a prolonged legal battle to challenge the order will take place. all of the outlets are reporting that the company intends to sue, challenging congress' legislation after the president signs it, and will make first amendment arguments on behalf of consumers. and it would go to

the federal appeals court in the district of columbia, and then probably be appealed by whoever lost to the united states supreme court. that could take about two years, but if they sue, so that's the situation that we have now. how realistic is it for this app to actually be banned, or do you think tiktok will try to divest its us state? that's another question, that possibility could arise and i believe the legislation gives nine months for them to find a buyer or to satisfy congress that they have done what needs to be done to protect national security and other important interests. that could be extended i think by the president, another brief period if that deal is not

consummated. so that's another option that could extend out further usage in the united states, for maybe even three years or so. shares in spotify have sought more than 11% after reporting an increase in the number of paying subscribers. it boosted gross profits that topped $1 billion for the first time. the sweetest company has been growing its user base for years i offering promotions and investing in podcasts as well as audiobooks. since last year it started to cut costs through layoffs and its marketing budget to boost margins and profits. from bollywood stars to business leaders, a flurry of deep fake videos seem to have hit many high profile indians in the past few days. some of them are also political in nature, with elections underway in the world's most populous country. from mumbai here's our india business correspondent

nikhil inamdar. not one, but two bollywood a—listers. that's amir khan and ranvir singh have recently become targets of deepfake videos that have gone viral here in india. in both, the superstar actors are seen criticising prime minister narendra modhi and also using the election symbols and slogans of the opposition congress party. and the videos have also used voice cloning techniques. both actors have filed police complaints, with mr singh tweeting to his fans to remain cautious of such deepfakes. meanwhile, the deepfakes have also hit india's business world this month, particularly the ceos of both nsc and bfc, which are india's top stock exchanges. now, their recordings falsely showed both ceos offering investment recommendations and stock advice to people. the ceo of the bombay stock exchange has told reuters he has approached

the regulators and will soon be filing a police complaint against the manipulated videos. these instances highlight the growing concerns around the misuse of this technology, particularly during a sensitive period like the national elections. india currently lacks specific laws to deal with deepfakes and ai related crimes, but calls for better legal provisions have grown, given existing laws and not seen to be adequate to tackle the issue. nikhil inamdar reporting there. last week, dubai saw massive rainfall which led to floods and also crippled operations at the airport. paul griffiths is the boss of the company that manages the running of dubai international airport. my colleague steve lai asked him about the recovery from the adverse conditions. well, we've pretty much at 100% capacity now, the infrastructure was back in full service and full operation just a couple of days after the storm subsided.

the president of emirates airline wrote an open letter, i'm sure you've seen it, the very top of that letter was profuse about making an apology to those who were affected. did you think you needed to do the same? every single time i've restated that this has been a very regrettable situation, we are obviously sorry for all of the inconvenience caused to customers and i hope people understand the pressure we've been under and the fact that, you know, this has been... we've never seen anything like it. 254mm of rain fell during the course of probably about 36 hours. i want to ask how the crisis in the middle east has affected operations at the dubai national airport if it has it all? we have been largely unaffected, there have been airspace closures in the region but that means we've just had to route some flights via alternative routes which is arguably perhaps a little more flight time.

is there anything that dubai is asking for travellers underlines to reduce their carbon footprint? i have to say that one of the things that has impressed me in the industry is the move taken by singapore to actually introduce a levy to hasten the development and supply of sustainable aviation fluke. i think there has to be a triumph between industry, consumers and governments to produce the right formula to actually hasten the development of sustainable aviation fuel. it's in very short supply, it's a long way short of being able to replace standard jet a—1 fuel. i think the idea of a sick consumer levy to hasten the investment and supply is a very good move. japan's negate traded up by more than 1.5% after a pretty decent rally in wall street overnight, a lot of focus on

the weakness of the japanese yen heading the lowest level in 34 yen heading the lowest level in sa years. as well as the back 3a years. as well as the back of japan's. 3a years. as well as the back ofjapan�*s. that's it for the show, thanks for watching.

hi, i'm betty and this is the catch up. tonight: nightclubs, baby reindeer and a gull screeching champion. but first, five people have died trying to cross the channeljust hours after the government's rwanda asylum policy was approved. this is the boat involved, south of calais this morning. a 7—year—old girl, a woman and three men died when it got into difficulty. a bbc team on the beach saw people scrambling to get on board. the french police are just standing here frustrated, saying there's nothing we can do to stop the migrants. now they're in the water. the boat is heading off. overloaded, very overloaded there. just hours before, mps had approved plans to send some asylum seekers to rwanda. the government say it

will stop people trying to cross the channel, but opposition politicians and rights groups say it won't work. some other stories now. thousands of london's clubs, bars and venues closed in the last four years. the night—time industries association wants more help, saying it's down to the pandemic and the cost of living crisis. and the creator of netflix series baby reindeer is asking fans to stop speculating about the identity of the stalker in the show. it's based on a true story, and richard gadd says trying to reveal the character's real life identity misses the point. time now for ten seconds of an absolute legend. 9—year—old cooper from chesterfield won a gull screeching competition in belgium — yes, that's a thing — for his seagull impression. my dad's already sent this to the group chat, so if you haven't sent it to everyone you know, you're all caught up. see you later.

hello and welcome to sportsday — i'm gavin ramjaun. arsenal on fire at the emirates — the gunners blow chelsea away to go three points clear at the top of the premier league. the upsets keep coming at the world snooker championship, mark williams the latest to be knocked out in a final frame decider. and surf�*s up for the man who could well have broken own record — riding some seriously big waves. hello there, and welcome along to the programme. arsenal proved just why they're

the team to catch out in front,