apple makes a comeback in china, as sales of its iphones rebound in april. sri lanka is set to hike wages of workers in the tea industry next month. but, not everyone is happy about that. hello and welcome to business today. i'm steve lai. to our top story today — as the world's biggest smartphone makers are battling it out for market share in china, apple has cause to celebrate. the bbc�*s north america business correspondent erin delmore tells us why. china is the worlds biggest smartphone market and apple is one of the worlds biggest smartphone makers. but apple has missed news so well in china. iphone sales fell by 37% during the first two months of this year. competition is heating up in the region. hallway is increasing its

market share, opening more stores, adding more distributors ends telling more problems for the it overtook apple as a second most popular smartphone maker during the first quarter of the year. but now apple has reason to celebrate. the companies iphone sales in china rose 52% in april compared to a year ago. that's according to data from a research company is affiliated with the chinese government. that entity, the china academy of information and communications technology doesn't track apple specifically instead it measures the increase in foreign shipments. but in the an branded game, apple is the lead player. and apple could see more games for that is been discounting select models which could lead to more sales. staying with technology — nvidia's momentum continues, with its stockjumping 7 percent to hit another record high on tuesday. the chipmaker and leader in the artificial intelligence space is now valued at $2.8 trillion. it is currently wall street's third most valuable company behind microsoft and apple.

this year alone nvidia has seen its share price double. tuesday's jump also helped propel the tech—heavy nasdaq to a fresh high. open ais formed a new committee responsible for valuing artificial intelligent models without the teams first task will assess open a iiss current safety practices over the next 90 days before giving their recommendations to the board. once the board has reviewed the findings the ai it will share publicly. all this comes as the company begins training of its next day i've modelled for the actor disbanded a previous team focused on the long—term risk of ai in may. focused on the long—term risk of ai in may. in other news, shareholders of american oil company hess have approved its $53 billion merger with rival chevron. the deal still has to gain regulatory approval from the us federal trade commission, which could come next month. but a more serious stumbling block is hess�* dispute with exxon mobil over its lucrative guyana

assets, which both companies have a stake in. under a joint operating agreement, exxon has a right to refuse the sale of hess�* guyana assets — which is one of the world's fastest growing oil reserves. chevron has said they would pull out of the deal if hess�* guyana stake was not included. let�*s turn to sri lanka now — the government has ordered the nation�*s tea industry to raise workers�* wages by next month. companies that refuse to do so could be taken over by the government. tea producers are warning that the 70% increase in pay for tea workers, to around 5 and a half dollars a day, would hurt their business. sri lankan tea is one of the country�*s biggest exports. the industry is worth at least $1.3 billion and brings in much needed foreign currency into the country. for more we�*rejoined by ganeshan wignaraja, a visiting senior fellow at think tank odi. sri lanka announced this wage

hike for plantation workers in response to the political cycle of producing facing elections in september to october period. and the wage hike to a boat us dollars is 170 a month, it seemed to garner support around 600,000 plantation workers. this is of course got a reaction from the plantation owners and company saying the economy may become uncompetitive. it economy may become uncompetitive.- economy may become uncompetitive. it is 70% increase _ uncompetitive. it is 70% increase they _ uncompetitive. it is 70% increase they are - uncompetitive. it is 70%| increase they are looking uncompetitive. it is 70% - increase they are looking for. the bottom line is five and half dollars a day for these workers. circumstances or situations that they are working or not, what is that like? . ., ., ., ~ , ., like? plantation workers are mostly female _ like? plantation workers are mostly female and - like? plantation workers are mostly female and from - like? plantation workers are - mostly female and from minority community. they have a high degree of poverty amongst them. they�*re probably the worst affected people in sri lanka. at that level this wage hike seems to make social sense. on

the other hand it could turn smit into a wage price cycle in an economy that is recovering from debt crisis. it also put some risk on the economy, the tea industry that also produces a significant export earning of $1.3 million. it�*s a bit of a dilemma. watch reluctant really needsis dilemma. watch reluctant really needs is a strategy for this industry to make it much more competitive going from a mass market export to more niche products, especially organic tea for the for that it really needs proper branding and marketing as well as raising productivity measures which is important as well.— important as well. sounds like ou see important as well. sounds like you see opportunity _ important as well. sounds like you see opportunity for - important as well. sounds like l you see opportunity for growth. give us a sense of how it stacks up when it comes to the overall economy for them it is terribly important in the context of this economy that�*s trying to recover from eight economic crisis.— trying to recover from eight economic crisis. this year sri lanka made _ economic crisis. this year sri

lanka made growth - economic crisis. this year sri lanka made growth of - economic crisis. this year sri lanka made growth of 1.696 i economic crisis. this year sri i lanka made growth of 1.696 per lanka made growth of 1.6% per year and it needs all the export earnings it can from tv, which is probably the second most important export industry. —— t. to not only important but crippling foreign debt, some $50 billion that sri lanka has accumulated. an employment and working conditions are also important. sri lanka has this dilemma of trying to deal with all of these things at once. the strategy is needed for sure after the presidential elections in september, october this year. that would include news raising productivity, ensuring better working conditions and upgrading the industry from a mass market tea to a more niche tea.— to a more niche tea. concerns that this _ to a more niche tea. concerns that this wage _ to a more niche tea. concerns that this wage height - to a more niche tea. concerns| that this wage height mandate could impact sri lanka�*s economy for them it could affect the recovery in the short term. i affect the recovery in the short term.— affect the recovery in the short term. ~ ., short term. i think we need to look at this — short term. i think we need to look at this across _ short term. i think we need to look at this across the - short term. i think we need to look at this across the country because it could translate into

other industries also warning wage price hikes. particularly because people have suffered through the crisis. there is some 5 million sri lankans pushed into poverty through the crippling debt in economic crisis weaves face since 2022. this real sense of people hurting in sri lanka and this is one of the moves the government is trying to do to get political support amongst minority community to hopefully get president reelected. this is part of that. over in china, authorities in shanghai are making it easier for homebuyers to purchase property. they are reducing the downpayments that buyers need to make to a minimum of 20% for first—time buyers and 30% for those purchasing a second—home. the minimum level for mortgage rates was also lowered. analysts say other top—tier chinese cities are likely to follow shanghai�*s lead. these measures come after the central government announced a massive rescue package earlier this month to help end the property crisis. chinese officials are hoping to restore confidence among homebuyers, which has been rattled by falling prices, unfinished apartments

and job insecurity. lets get you the latest on the heatwave in india. capital city delhi recorded an all—time maximum temperature of 49.9 degrees celsius. several cities in the north are also grappling with severe heat. the bbc�*s arunoday mukharji has the latest and what it means for business operations across the country. in fact infact in in fact in one city in northern india temperatures touch 50 celsius. it�*s been a harsh few weeks and it�*s likely to remain that way for a while. just imagine, india has been reluctant an entire collection to eight election and the sea. experts say the lack of green cover is to blame for soaring temperatures every year. apart from obvious health implications and extended heat wave has the potential to have a huge economic impact there are risks of decreased workforce productivity, especially for construction workers, delivery agents and

farmers, most importantly. they are particularly prone to heat related illnesses because they are outdoors most of the time. there are worries that intensity could impact agriculture and also affect inflation. nearly half the years population is of war—torn employed in agriculture 90% of india�*s workforce will works in the unorganised sector. most of the unorganised sector. most of the jobs are outdoors. it is this sector that is to be impacted the most in the event of any extended heatwave. whether officials say these conditions are likely to prevail for the next few days, at least. former wework boss adam neumann is moving on after trying to buy the bankrupt company that specialises in shared office spaces. mr neumann had revealed his interest in buying the firm earlier this year, reportedly making an offer of about $500 million. wework recently submitted a plan to emerge from bankruptcy, which it said would help reduce its rent burden by billions of dollars. in a statement on tuesday mr

neumann, criticised his former company�*s plans saying — "for several months, we tried to work constructively with wework to create a strategy that would allow it to thrive. instead, the company looks to be emerging from bankruptcy with a plan that appears unrealistic and unlikely to succeed." wework has so far declined to comment on the issue. before we go, let�*s take a look at how the us markets closed. so far both companies have failed to make progress on terms of a $37 billion deal. the clock is ticking as the deadline for negotiations will expire at 5pm london time on wednesday. and that�*s it for this edition of business today. thanks for watching.

i�*m mark edwards. welcome to sportsday. here�*s what we�*ve got coming up on the show. djok and roll. the world number one opens his french open title defense with a solid win over home hope pierre—hugues herbert. a date with destiny as dortmund dare to dream ahead of the champions league final, we hear from their manager, edin terzic. time to say goodbye for lexi thompson with multiple lpga tour event wins and a major under her belt. she�*ll call time on her career at the end of the season. hello and thanks for joining us on sports day.

we start in paris, where novak djokovic has