street to new highs. china looks to central asia to boost diplomatic and economic ties, amid a frosty relationship with the west. hello and welcome to business today. i'm steve lai. it was another record day on wall street. the s&p 500 set an all—time high for a second straight day this week, while the tech—heavy nasdaq beat its record set the day before. the rally comes after weaker economic data boosted hopes for interest rate cuts as the bbc�*s north america business correspondent michelle fleury reports. wall street's record—breaking rally, what drove it, investors

digested several reports pointing to a slowing economy. hiring by private employers were higher in june, mcdonald's has been forced

to shorten its breakfast timings in australia by 90 minutes, amid a shortage of eggs thanks to bird flu outbreaks. the disease has been making the rounds in the country over the past few months, forcing authorities to euthanize over a million affected hens. in a statement mcdonald's said they were working hard with farmers across australia and their suppliers to return back to normal as soon as possible. chinese president xijinping has met with russian president vladimir putin in astana, kazakhstan. this is their second meeting in less than two months took place on the sidelines of the shanghai cooperation organisation summit, which was founded by both countries in 2001. beijing has been trying to wield influence in central asia — which is what moscow is also keen to do. project, the belt and road initiative, in kazakhstan more than a decade ago. trade between china and central asia is worth more than $89 billion. with kazakhstan being the biggest trading partner in the region. giuliano bifolchi from special—eurasia explained why beijing was taking such a vested interest in central

asia, especially now. the first reason is that china needs central asia to reach european markets, this is the main reason to support the initiative, this is also the reason why china has invested a huge amount of money as you remember. another reason is china can use central asia it can avoid... china can use central asia it can avoid. . ._ can avoid... there's a lot of -la can avoid... there's a lot of play for _ can avoid... there's a lot of play for china? _ can avoid... there's a lot of play for china? is _ can avoid... there's a lot of play for china? is not - can avoid... there's a lot of play for china? is notjust i can avoid... there's a lot of i play for china? is not just the play for china? is not 'ust the economy. * play for china? is not 'ust the economy. it h play for china? is not 'ust the economy, it was _ play for china? is not 'ust the economy, it was the h play for china? is not just the economy, it was the news - play for china? is not just the | economy, it was the news and information that china was building a military facilities which is a reason in tajikistan, also china has boosted the corporation in the defence sector, china needs to stabilise the region, also fix the problem with neighbouring

afghanistan especially the withdraw from the country in 2021. is withdraw from the country in 2021. , ., ., , ., withdraw from the country in 2021. , ., ., 2021. is china able to continue with this investment, - facing troubles in contention and with the heat you and the us, and their own domestic policy has been struggling. we need to policy has been struggling. - need to invest in the region first of all because both initiatives is part of the chinese narrative and to support it, need to provide more financial help, financial assistance to local governments. also because china is always hoping that not with the united states but the european union and some european union and some european countries that they can reach some deals regarding the belt on the road initiative. turning to southeast asia — indonesia hasjust opened its first ev battery cell production plant. the new factory in western java is a jont venture with south korean battery producer lg energy solution and car maker hyundai motor.

it is estimated to produce enough battery cells for 50,000 electric vehicles in a year. indonesia is pushing to become an ev manufacturing hub in southeast asia, leveraging minerals found locally like iron and nickel, which are crucial to the production process. now, let's talk about weight loss drugs, because novo nordisk�*s wegovy and ozempic have become worldwide hits for the pharmaceutical maker. over the past year, shares in the danish drugmaker have risen by more than 80%, and it's now europe's most valuable listed company. just last week, wegovy was approved in china which by some estimates, has highest number of people who are considered overweight or obese. mark samuels, the chief executive of british generic manufacturers association explained the impact these new drugs would have on the global heathcare system. type two diabetes and obesity which are the conditions treated by these medicines are some of the most financially

burdensome on health systems across the world. in the uk for example, the cost of alone is around £65 billion annually, and around the third of those costs are borne directly by the national health service. so these are crippling costs for any health service around the world. i read in a recent article you described the generate wave of weight loss medicines a transformative opportunity for public health, how so? they've been limited in prescribing these medicines because they are not practical and too expensive for health services are around the world to afford in large numbers, but their patents expired on last week we saw the first generic versions of them which are more affordable equivalents launched. it's usually between 70-90% launched. it's usually between 70—90% cheaper than the original although the medicines are identical in their chemical

output. so for example in the uk, and a round 5% of prescriptions are paid for by the national health service and over 95% of prescriptions are paid for by people privately. so the ability for a weight loss drug and diabetes drug to be made more affordable means far more patients in more countries around the world will be able to benefit from them. turning to an issue that dominates boardrooms around the world — renumeration. although the difference in the pay of men and women is narrowing, a recent report by the world economic forum found that it could take five generations for women to be paid as much as men. we caught up with saadia zahidi, the organisation's managing director, who first shared which country has been leading the way in gender pay parity. 0ne clear winner of course as iceland, which is of course not

only the number one country in the world but has essentially been beating its own record for the last 15 years because it's closed more than 90% of its gender gap. and it is to this day the only country to have done so. other countries in the nordics and in europe do fairly well, too, there are some countries that are lower income economies that have made it into the top 20 and that is because while they are lower income countries, they are distributing their resources and opportunities fairly well and opportunities fairly well and that should set them up for greater growth in the future. the essential, the waste that happens in terms of human capital development for most countries in the world, there has been a lot of investment on health and education, but there are still barriers when it comes tojoining the are still barriers when it comes to joining the workforce. the second element is what happens inside organisations once women havejoined

happens inside organisations once women have joined the workforce, and that is where is a significant what we call dropped to the top from the entry level through to the c suite. what is happening in most labour markets a lot of them being driven by technology, the professions that are growing in the future especially stunned driven professions, have a smaller pipeline of women going in. the second element that the types of professions that are disrupted by technology are those professions in the last decades who have provided livelihoods to women. it's less about gender pay parity but a little bit more of an opportunity to see if more female leaders, potentially end “p female leaders, potentially end up getting elected through this major changes that are taking place that will be affecting

nearly 3 billion people across 60 countries. 0verall, nearly 3 billion people across 60 countries. overall, the structure and political systems looks very similar to what is happening in the workplace in the sense that at local levels of government, only about 35% of government, only about 35% of roles are occupied by women and when it comes to the head of state or government, it's under 15% over the last half—century or so. so we are talking about a long way to go, and this is of course not equal representation. let's recap the market action on wall street. both the s&p 500 and the nasdaq closed at record highs, as weak data fuelled hopes that the us federal reserve may lower the cost of borrowing sooner rather than later. tech stocks like tesla and nvidia also helped propel the market. thanks forjoining me here on business today, i'lljoin you again very soon.

hello and welcome to sportsday — i'm gavin ramjaun. sinner makes it count in his all—italian centre court battle with berretini. the world number one showing his class to progress at wimbledon. britain's emma raducanu looks impressive — she reaches the third round of a grand slam since lifting the 2021 us open title three years ago. and manx magic — mark cavendish breaks the record for tour de france stage wins, overhauling the great eddie merckx. hello there, and welcome along to the programme. we'll start with an update from wednesday's wimbledon to come. but what a treat in the late match on centre court as the men's world number one and top seed, jannik sinner progressed to round three, getting the better of fellow italian matteo berretini. sinner proved just why he's the world's best —