plus the commercialisation of television channels in india. we will look at the state of press freedom ahead of the election. hello and welcome to business today. let's begin in the us where thejustice department presidentjoe biden has increased tariffs on $18 billion worth of imports from china. he's accused the country of unfairly subsidising its clean energy sector and flooding international markets with cheap goods. from new york, the bbc�*s erin delmore reports. it is not often we find former president trump and current president biden in agreement but president biden is not only keeping tariffs enacted by his predecessor but increasing them.

they focus on the key technologies that power the green transition and include a 100% tariff on all chinese made electric vehicles imported into the united states. that is up from 25%. and a doubling of the levy on solar cells to 50% and a doubling of the levy on semiconductors to 50%. president biden says they are designed to protect us manufacturers from being undercut by china in the industries of the future from ev to solar cells, semiconductors, steel and illuminance and even health equipment like gloves and masks. china heavily subsidised these products which china produces more of than the world can absorb and then dump the excess on the market. driving other manufacturers around the world out of business. china has criticised the plans and vowed to take all necessary actions in response. but since the imports targeted represent less than 5% of total us imports from china the move could carry more symbolic weight and could be a move to attract voters, november.

the tariffs will have a wide impact on supply chains. that's according to deborah elms. she's the head of trade policy at the hinrich foundation. it is about the contested election coming up in november and the fact that there are key battleground states that are active in manufacturing and the biden administration is not interested in losing those voters. so anything you can do to demonstrate that you are tough on china is important. china has been accused of overcapacity in its market in regards to electric vehicles and solar panels. where can it sell those products now? the europeans are extremely upset about this because it means, especially electric vehicles into the us, they need to sell them somewhere, europe is next most likely destination for those cars. there will also be sold presumably across this region in southeast asia as well where they will find a receptive audience

because they are competitively priced and we have many countries looking for transition towards net zero and low carbon footprints. so i think there will be a lot of chinese cars in a lot of different markets now. do these kind of measures usually work was to mark today do what they are intended to do? depends on your definition of work. at when it comes to politics we will see november of out. in terms of economics you can have success in saving the last few jobs in a particular industry but a tremendous cost and there is definite cost to both sectors, tojobs and to consumers which i think is extremely important as well. you've just raised costs on clean energy products.

boeing can be brought to court to face charges against crashes in 2018 and 2019. this is because the planemaker allegedly breached an agreement made in 2021. the deal shielded it from criminal charges. boeing told the bbc that it believed it had honoured the terms of the deal. we will keep a close eye on that story and bring any news as it develops. chief scientist and co—founder of open ai is leaving the company. the announcement by the chat gpt maker ends months of speculation about the future of speculation about the future of the top artificial intelligence research. he played a key role in the brief ouster of the openai boss last year. latertoday, singapore year. later today, singapore will see year. latertoday, singapore will see a changing of the guard. lawrence wong is sworn in as the country's new prime minister. wong takes over the reins of powerfrom lee hsien loong, who has been in the top post for 20 years. veteran economist song seng wun gave us a sense of the challenges ahead.

this is where the challenge lies for the new prime minister in terms of early days, the last or a0 years food on the table, jobs for the kids, roof over their head. today's children and young voters have different aspirations now and dealing with them is about them, their different ambition which includes cost of living, housing and livability, as well, even though all these things are creating better and well paying jobs. there is almost pressure. so balancing that will be the challenge. how it is being done, because china will still remain for singapore. dealing with the aspiration will be the challenge but we will see how it goes. head to our website for more analysis on that

story. china is preparing for a two—day visit by russian president vladimir putin starting thursday. this will be putin's second trip to the mainland in the last six months. according to the kremlin both leaders will discuss a variety of economic and humanitarian issues. shares of alibaba tumbled in the united states after the e—commerce giant reported an 86% plunge in profit. the company's net income fell to $450 million in the last three months of 2023 from $3 billion one year earlier. it has been hit by an economic slowdown in china and weak consumer demand. india's media landscape has changed dramatically since 2014 when prime minister modi's bjp swept to power. there's been growing privatisation. several national news channels

once owned by independent media entrepreneurs are now controlled by billionaire tycoons. our india business correspondent nikhil inamdar has more on the impact. brand modi is the only thing this election is about! - the prime minister has vanquished - the opposition. india's television news screens night after night dishing out flattering coverage of the prime minister. for long ndtv was widely considered a lone independent voice. last year it was snapped up in a hostile takeover by a billionaire tycoon. this journalist became part of a mass exodus as things began to change at the channel. look at the channel

today it is far more sympathetic to the government, far more hostile to the opposition. there was a series of documentaries months after the takeover, and advertorial for the achievements of the victim government. the adani group denies these allegations saying that the television operates with editorial freedom, impartiality and the highest ethical standards. india has hundreds of tv news channels. the opposition runs many regional ones but at the national level most are owned or controlled by ruling politicians or select business barons. a pre—election analysis of prime time coverage of some of channels had startling findings. half of them had anti— opposition themes. over one quarter praised the prime minister and just 1% spoke of substantive issues like jobs and education.

this perceived bias has a direct link to how these channels are funded. a big chunk of the money that many of these television channels earn is through government ads. prime minister narendra modi's government has spent over $700 million on print and television ads in their first eight years in office. this woman tracks the media closely. a large section of media has business interest. it is difficult to have a news channel that questions the government, the very government they are working with, they are in business with. the opposition says the media is no longer asking tough questions to the government. however a government advisor told us it was not the journalist's job. all this newfangled notion of holding power to account, interrogating

power, speaking truth to power, that is language for activists. as modi seeks a third mandate critics say the current television land state gives them a distinct advantage as big money appears to have squeezed out many independent voices. before we go, dating app bumble has apologised news for the british economy before we go. the taylor swift tour will bow boost spending in the uk by £1 million this year. this comes as fans spend on tickets, travel and outfits to see the pop sensation. that is it for this edition of business today.

hi, i am betty with the catch—up. tonight the prisoner manhunt in france, the co—op arena and a woman smacking a crocodile. ajudge has ruled the sentence of a man found guilty of killing three people in nottingham last year was not too lenient. he was a paranoid schizophrenic and is now being held in a secure psychiatric

hospital after he pled guilty to the manslaughter of a man and two students in june last year. the case was referred to the court of appeal but the court agreed with the originaljudge that the sentence is appropriate. some other stories now. you may have heard how manchester's co—op live arena was forced to cancel gigs at the last minute last month after part of the ventilation fell from the ceiling. the boss has defended the delay saying it would have been catastrophic if the incident had happened 15 minutes later. in france, police are searching for an escaped prisoner after two officers were killed and three others severely injured in an ambush on a van. the un says almost 450,000 people have fled rafah in the past week as israel continues its operation in the city.

time for ten seconds of a woman who hit a crocodile. when georgina laurie's twin sister was bitten and dragged underwater by a crocodile she lept into action and punched it repeatedly until it let go. her sister is recovered and georgia has been included on the king's gallantry list. hello and welcome to sportsday — i'm marc edwards. coming up on the program: champions in waiting? manchester city beat tottenham to put themselves on the verge of a historic premier league title. tiger admits he's tired of the fallout between the pga and liv golf —

and calls on the two tours to find a way to work together.