of a sooner—than—later interest rate cut, sending wall 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 where the s&p 500 and the tech heavy nasdaq hitting new record highs. the rally comes after weak economic data boosted hopes for interest rate cuts at the bbc�*s north america business correspondent michelle fleury explains. wall street's record—breaking rally kept going on wednesday during light trading in an abbreviated session, white rabbit? investors digester and several reports pointing to a slow economy. hiring by private

reporters was lower—than—expected injune, lower—than—expected in june, the lower—than—expected injune, the number of americans claim unemployment was higher than forecast while a report on service sector activity from the institute for supply management was also negative. but rather than wearing investors, in boosted traders hope that this would be enough to convince america central bank to cut interest rates sooner. the market was lifted by tesla, shares in the electric car maker rose 65%, day after reporting a milder drop in sales for the spring analysts had feared. it was one of the strongest forces pushing out the s&p 500 along with al dialling nvidia. a reminder all us markets are closed on thursday in observance of the fourth ofjuly holiday. but it will be back to business as usual on friday when the labour releases its all—importantjune releases its all—importa nt june jobs releases its all—importantjune jobs report. china's president xijinping met with jobs report. china's president xi jinping met with vladimir putin in because it's done. this is their second meeting in

less than two months which took place on the sidelines of the shanghai cooperation organisation summit which was founded by both countries into thousand and one. beijing has been trying to wield influence in central asia which is why moscow is keen to do. president launched the project in because it's done more than a decade ago. special —— special—eurasia tells us why they took an interest in central asia especially now.- interest in central asia especially now. the fourth reason is _ especially now. the fourth reason is that _ especially now. the fourth reason is that china - especially now. the fourth reason is that china and i especially now. the fourth l reason is that china and the central asia needs to reach european markets, this is the main reason to support for initiatives. it is also the reason why china has invested huge amounts of money, as you remember before in the region and another reason is that if china can stabilise, they can avoid security problems in transit. �* , ., ., avoid security problems in transit. �*, ., ., ., , transit. there's a lot of play for china — transit. there's a lot of play for china when _ transit. there's a lot of play for china when it _

transit. there's a lot of play for china when it comes - transit. there's a lot of play for china when it comes in l for china when it comes in central asia, for china when it comes in centralasia, notjust for china when it comes in central asia, notjust economic interest? central asia, not 'ust economic interest? ., , ., , interest? not 'ust economy. there was — interest? not 'ust economy. there was in — interest? notjust economy. there was in the _ interest? notjust economy. there was in the past - interest? notjust economy. there was in the past the i interest? notjust economy. i there was in the past the news of the information china was building facilities which is a region and also china push the corporation in defence sector because china needs to stabilise the region and also defeats a problem with neighbouring afghanistan, particular after they withdraw from the country. i5 particular after they withdraw from the country.— particular after they withdraw from the country. is china able to continue _ from the country. is china able to continue with _ from the country. is china able to continue with this _ from the country. is china able to continue with this level - from the country. is china able to continue with this level of l to continue with this level of investment? it's facing trouble and contention with the us in the eu when it comes to trade and the domestic economy has been struggling.— and the domestic economy has been struggling. china needs to continue by _ been struggling. china needs to continue by investing _ been struggling. china needs to continue by investing right - been struggling. china needs to continue by investing right in i continue by investing right in the region, forcible, because both are initiatives is one of the main projects, it is also part of the chinese narrative and he needs to support central asia to provide a more natural

system and also because china is always hoping that not with the us but the european union or some european countries that they can reach some regarding they can reach some regarding the initiative.— the initiative. chinese ev . iant the initiative. chinese ev giant byd _ the initiative. chinese ev giant byd is _ the initiative. chinese ev giant byd is opening - the initiative. chinese ev giant byd is opening its l the initiative. chinese ev i giant byd is opening its first factory in southeast asia on thursday. the facility will be in thailand with plans to produce 150,000 vehicles a year, they would be exported elsewhere in the region. the opening also comes on the first day the chinese ev makers gear up day the chinese ev makers gear up to face new tariffs in europe. in in asia has opened its first ev battery production plant and the new factory in western java is a joint venture with south korean battery producer lg energy solution and car maker 0&a motor. it is estimated to produce enough battery sells for 50,000 electric vehicles in the year. indonesia is pushing to become an eu manufacturing club,

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 drug maker 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 the highest number of people who are considered overweight over obese. mark samuels, chief executive british generic manufacturers association explain the impact of these new drugs would have on the global healthcare system.— healthcare system. type ii diabetes — healthcare system. type ii diabetes and _ healthcare system. type ii diabetes and obesity - healthcare system. type ii| diabetes and obesity which other conditions treated by these medicines are some of the most financially burdensome on health system across the world. in the uk, for example, the cost of that alone is around

£65 billion annually and around a third of those costs are borne directly by the national health service. so, these are crippling because for any health service around the world. in a recent data that you describe the first wave of generic weight loss medicines and additionally transformative and additionally tra nsformative opportunity and additionally transformative opportunity for public health, how so? these medicines — they be limited in prescribing these medicines because they've been protected and therefore too expensive for health services around the world. to afford in large numbers. i their patent expired and last week we saw the first generic version of them which are more affordable equivalents launch. 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, only around 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 weight loss drugs and diabetes drugs to be made more affordable means far more patients in more countries around the world will be able to benefit from them. mcdonald's has been forced to shorten its breakfast timings in australia by 90 minutes, emitter orders of eggs thanks to bread flour breaks will stop the disease has been making the rounds in the country over the past few months and forcing authorities to euthanise over a million affected hens. in a statement, mcdonald said they are working hard with farmers across the world and the suppliers to return back to normal across as soon as possible. turning to an issue that dominates boardrooms around the world and that's numeration. the differences in the pay of men and women is narrowing, a recent report by the what the economic forum found that it could take five generations for women to be paid as much as men. — renumeration. the manager

direction shed which country has been leading the way in gender pay parity. one clear winner of course is iceland which is generally the number—1 country in 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 as to this day the only country to have done so. other countries in the nordic�*s and in general in europe do fairly well, too, there are some countries that are lower income economies that have mated to the top 20 and that is because while they are lower income countries, they're distributing countries, they�* re distributing the countries, they're distributing the resources and opportunities fairly well. and that should set them up for graded growth the future. the essential, the ways that happens in terms of human capital development for

most countries in the world, there's been a lot of investment on health and education but there is still barriers when it comes to joining the workforce. the second element is what happens inside organisations once women havejoined the inside organisations once women have joined the workforce and thatis have joined the workforce and that is where the significant, what we coal, drop to the top from the entry level through to this. a third element is a structural changes that we are seeing today happening in most markets and most labor markets, a lot of them being driven by technology. the professions that are growing in the future especially steam driven professions tend to have a smaller pipeline of women going in and then the second element is the types of professions that are being disrupted by technology happen to be those professions that in the last couple of decades, 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 and “p female leaders potentially and up getting elected. through this major changes that are taking place that will be effecting 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 roles occupied by women and when it comes to the head of state government, it is under 15% over the last half century or so so, we're talking about a long way to go and this is of course not equal representation. speaking of election, the collection gets under way in just a few hours time, complete coverage he on bbc news. bye for now.

hello and welcome to sportsday — i'm gavin ramjaun. sinner makes it count in his all—italian centre court battle with berrettini. 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 eddy 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 berrettini.