it is working on giant said it is working on fixes like meal deals, which sent shares up by over 3%. with the latest, our bbc north america business correspondent. no amount of special sauce can make higher prices more palatable, as mcdonald's has found out. sales at the burger giant spluttered, consumers around the world shying away from the higher cost of burgers and fries and soft drinks. even the ceo admitted it was too expensive. last year, we warned of a more discriminating consumer, particularly among lower—income households. as this year progressed, those pressures have deepened and broadened. on a call with investors, mcdonald's said food, labour and paper costs had risen as much as a0%, forcing it to raise prices. but one analyst we spoke to noted that the golden arches had been faster on the draw with price hikes than its rivals. mcdonald's pricing increases have been faster than the rest of the industry.

consumers are savvy and have been aware, so that gap needs to narrow after having the cheaper menu disappeared over the last couple of years. they need something where people have a sense there is consistent every day value, price certainty matters a lot. the fast food giant is working on fixes like extending its $5 meal deal into august at some us restaurants. that sent the share prices higher. more restaurants from mcdonald's to taco bell are launching value meals to win over budget—conscious consumers. apple has released a preview of its first version of apple intelligence, the brand—new iphone software. it includes automatically generated e—mails, images and improvements to voice—assisted siri. but iphone users may need to still wait a while for the upgrade, as apple intelligence is reportedly not going to be released this fall but later

in the year. us carrier delta airlines has reportedly hired a law firm and will seek compensation from microsoft and crowdstrike over the global cyber outage earlier this month. delta cancelled more than 6,000 flights, leaving hundreds of thousands of travellers stranded. the cost to the airline's operations is estimated to be around $350 million, and counting. the us secretary of state antony blinken is on a tour is on a tour of asia, and currently injapan. leaders in the region are keen to get insight into the economic and trade policies of kamala harris before the november presidential election. a reset of us ties in the region under the biden administration could be upended by the possible return to the white house of donald trump and proposals for new tariffs and calls for a weaker dollar.

trade is everything. economics usually trumps security in most of asia. his counterparts will be asking a lot of questions about trade and economic policy from the united states for the next six months under biden and potentially what happens after that if kamala harris ends up president. how important would you say it would be for the biden administration to ensure some measures are in place before the elections in case the verdict goes in favour of the republicans? there are a number of places and countries around the region thinking about what happens if donald trump becomes president again. they are trying to trump—proof, if possible, certain parts of the relationship with the us that they like, and prepare for parts of a trump administration that they might like better. they are trying to create the best possible conditions for now and into the future. how important will it be for kamala harris to clearly

outline some of her future economic policies with regard to this region? what should those priority areas be in your opinion? i think her goal will be not to talk about trade economics at all until november, because this is not a winning strategy generally for votes, other than talking about harsh on china. beyond that, i think she will try not to talk about trade and economic issues abroad. it's not something american voters are keen on at the moment. the region is interested in what kind of policies might she have, and how similar to the biden administration. that would be an interesting question that will come up again and again in every meeting of us officials from now until the election. if we talk a little about former president donald trump, who said over the weekend that the us cannot allow china to dominate. stern statements by donald trump. how are the asian nations viewing that possible

trump presidency? i think they are fairly relaxed. a lot of asian governments felt they came through trump 1.0, it was difficult and disruptive, but for many it was a benefit, particularly the crackdown on china. it meant firms switch up their supply chains into southeast asia, and a lot of governments in the region will say trump 2.0, how much worse can it be than the original version? and in some ways they benefited from his first administration. when you create chaos, you have opportunity. many governments in asia will say, it's not our election, we have no choice over what takes place, we just have to prepare for two different outcomes and see what happens. some quarters have asked for a possible resetting of ties when it comes to us—china relations, especially given the economic cold war we have seen. it was something anthony scaramucci told us last

week on the programme. what is your opinion in terms of balancing ties? i think it's extraordinarily important. i don't think you can have the two largest economies at loggerheads. i don't think you can say, as the us is increasingly saying, that the other side are the enemy. this is a problem. at the end of the day, we live on the same planet, you have to try to get along. if you are in the rest of asia, the deepening tensions between these major powers is a real issue and obstacle to try and negotiate that balance of some sort. britain's new finance minister rachel reeves announced spending cuts on road and hospital building projects, as well as winter fuel payments. she told parliament this was because of the big shortfall in funding that the labour government inherited. she said the previous conservative administration had overspent by $28 billion,

making commitments they knew could not be paid for. china's taste for coffee continues to gain ground since it first accelerated following the end of covid lockdowns. the ability to go out and meet friends has seen an explosion of so—called cafe culture, but that has also led to fierce competition, as our china correspondent finds out. one of the famous places in the world for tea has taken to coffee in a big way. in most chinese cities, this means major coffee chains. but in shanghai, it's different. there has been an explosion of small specialist cafes. the shanghai government says there are over 8,000 8,000 cafes in the city. in this street, over a stretch ofjust 100 metres, a couple of hundred metres, 18 cafes.

every one of them has lots of customers. translation: in shanghai, | students are being influenced by their parents and drinking coffee. some send their kids to school and pop in for a coffee. so how many cups are people drinking each day? translation: shanghai has long been an international _ trading centre. we started drinking coffee a long time ago. smaller cities also gradually get different types of cafes. some cafes in shanghai are run by people with disabilities. this one with visually impaired staff has a unique way of handing out the coffees. you order here and they pass the coffees through the window. there it is. yet, with this many outlets,

competition is fierce. what advice would you give to friends opening a cafe? translation: don't do it! you need very expensive machines and to put a lot of money into decorating. only a very small amount of money compared to other industries. you have a cafe, you have spent all this money on rent, what are you going to do at night? one solution, turn it into a bar. concerned about the economy, will thirsty customers keep spending? translation: i'm quite optimistic. i i hope the chinese economy will quickly return to pre—pandemic levels. the chinese government says it wants a consumption—led recovery. well, maybe this is a step in the right direction.

that's it for this edition of business today. thanks very much for watching.

hey, i'm lola with the catch—up. first to the olympics in paris, where it's been a great day for team gb — they've won the first two gold medals in the eventing and mountain biking. there were silvers for matt richards in swimming, adam burgess in canoeing and tom daley in the men's ten—metre synchro diving alongside noah williams. that's daley�*s fifth olympic medal. to be here in paris, diving in front of my son, who's just right there, who actually asked me to come back, it's just so special. and yeah, it completes the set. i now have one of every colour. some other stories now. former bbc news presenter huw edwards has been charged with three counts of making

indecent images of children. the offences are alleged to have taken place between 2020 and 2022. the metropolitan police say they relate to 37 images shared on a whatsapp chat. he's due to appear in court on wednesday. next, an update on those junior doctor strikes, which led to loads of cancelled appointments. junior doctors have been offered a 22% pay rise. their union will now put the offer to its members. if they accept, it will mean an end to the strikes, which started in march last year. and it's not time to say bye—bye—bye to the marvel cinematic universe. deadpool and wolverine have just had the biggest opening weekend of the year in the us. robert downeer is also set to return to the mcu as dr doom, a prominent villain. time now for ten seconds of fandom. over the weekend, 40,000 swifties gathered on a hill outside taylor swift's concert in munich to catch a glimpse of her eras tour. that's in addition to

the 7a,000 inside the stadium. legendary stuff. you're all caught up now. have a great night. hello. welcome along to sportsday. i'm hugh ferris. our top stories. two teenagers light up the paris pool, with david popovici winning the closest—fought race of the night. the bar and the gold slips from china's grasp as japan continue their historic dominance of men's team gymnastics. and has rafa nadal played the final singles match of his career? if so, defeat in meeting number 60 with novak djokovic may well be a notable way to go out.

hello again. welcome along. there were a couple of thrilling finishes to two key races in the olympic pool on monday. the women's 200m freestyle provided a shock. the men's edition of the same race less so, although it was incredibly close. romanian teenager david popovici won byjust two hundredths of a second, adding olympic gold to his world title from 2022. popovici was only third at the halfway stage but came through just at the end to pip matt richards of britain, who claimed the silver from lane one. less than a tenth of a second separated all the medal winners, with america's luke hobson taking the bronze. i felt really good, felt strong. um, you know, i thought i maybe might have got it coming into the wall, but obviously didn't know because i was breathing the other way. turned around and saw second by my name, which is a fantastic result. you know, i'd be lying if i said i didn't want to be three hundredths

quicker maybe, and be first by my name.