debt ceiling debacle. the battle continues to strike a deal before the world's biggest economy runs out of cash. and if you are a tiny country, do you still have room for nature? we take a look at the wildlife being squeezed out of singapore. hi there, welcome to asia business report with me, mariko oi. we begin in washington where the battle is continuing as democrats and republicans negotiate a deal to raise the debt limit. congress must approve raising the debt ceiling or the country could default on its financial

obligations. it has until the first ofjune to sign an agreement or the us could face an economic catastrophe. in just over two weeks the united states could run out of money to pay its debts. the consequences of breaching the debt limit would be catastrophic for the country. and there is pressure on democrats and republicans to make a deal before june first. us presidentjoe biden spoke about the debt ceiling negotiations before leaving for the g7 summit injapan, a trip he is cutting short to get back to washington to continue the talk. i made clear that america is not a deadbeat nation, we pay our bills. the nation has never defaulted on its debt and it never will. we're going to continue these discussions with congressional leaders in the coming days until we reach an agreement.

president biden and congressional leaders have agreed the country will not default but the consequences would be dire for the american economy and all sides are confident that they will be able to get a deal done. but negotiations are getting down to the wire and that kind of uncertainty is never good for financial market. that us debt ceiling may be part of the discussion as the leaders of some of the world's richest nations meet for the g7 summit in the japanese city of hiroshima this friday. along with the us economy, the war in ukraine, the global recession and issues of artificial intelligence are likely to feature as well. this is an interesting grouping of course as we know it has no permanent secretariat but it is a really key grouping that has been meeting since the 1970s to tackle the key issues of the day, geopolitical as well as economic so on the economic side of the agenda, i think

all nations are concerned, this represents half of gdp, about $40 trillion, we've got inflation issues, we have still got some climate change disruptions in the wake of covid. we have got as you just mentioned earlier president biden having to tackle really serious concerns about the us debt default citing the agenda looms large. look for some agreements, bilaterally and as groupings related to things like supply chain resilience and course eyes are also on the us with the potential regional banking crisis. what about al because fumio kishida recently met with the founder of chatgpt who was in us congress yesterday. i think there is a lot of concern for the potential of chatgpt as it relates to business and elections, the ceo was recently in congress discussing potential impacts to the upcoming election

which, the us could be considered one of the biggest political risks of the economic global agenda depending on what happens in the next election, what comes out of it. but i think the ai issues are critical and it is challenging because a lot of people in these positions don't really understand the technology. and other issue is climate change. clearly climate change is top of the agenda, we've seen some new data coming up which is not positive even in the recent days. watch forjoint agreements on things like research and technology into green supply chains, clean energy. that is a really hard one to tackle, always has been but hopefully with this group together and again some of the agenda items being able to move past covid, there is more airtime so to speak and the countries can focus on really tackling this and this could be an area that really affects

everyone to bring those countries together on a common issue. later today china's e—commerce giant alibaba is due to report its latest earnings. analysts expect to see a jump in the final quarter and also looking for details of this spin—off plan which will see the tech giant split into six different business groups including one for its online shopping platform. a short while ago i got predictions of alibaba's results. i am expect alibaba to report a strong earning for today. i'm personally on a mission to share more business content to folks outside china so overall environment is resilient, is consumer market is recovering and number two, our data show

that the growth of alibaba and other e—commerce platform is getting back to a faster pace and thirdly, we are seeing that cross different business units of alibaba they are expanding the number ofjob openings, so that shows a confidence from the management that they want to expand the business, so we are expect in a strong earnings report from alibaba. timor has always been one of its biggest earners but it is now seeing more competition and even though consumer spending has seen a spike we have a very high youth unemployment rate as well so is this spending spike sustainable? we believe that the recovery of the consumer spending is continuous, and we are seeing different pockets going back and recovering at a different pace, so as china is

getting further into the year, consumers pending will cover a different age groups, that is what we are expecting, and in terms of the e—commerce platform, because both the conventional e—commerce platform like alibaba is recovering and what is interesting also to highlight is that live streaming e—commerce is even growing at a faster speed. speaking of chinese tech in the us state of montana the governor has now signed a law to ban tiktok from operating there. the legislation makes it the first state to ban the chinese owned short video app as well as prohibiting app stores from offering it there. tiktok faces growing calls from many in washington to ban the app across the country over concerns that data provided to the app might be fed back to the chinese government. tiktok said in a statement that the ban

infringed the dirst amendment rights of the people of montana — the company also denies it shares data with the chinese government. singapore which is less than half the size of london has a population of nearly 6 million people and that number is rising by more than 3% every year which means there is a big push to develop more housing and quickly, but one consequence of converting forests into residential high—rises is that it has pushed the wildlife out of their natural habitat. wild boars, otters, monkeys, even pythons have been spotted out of the wood and increasingly in residential district. when habitats get fragmented these wild animals who occupy small green pockets are forced to use man—made barriers such as roads or expressways to get to other habitat pockets. nature groups are also concerned about the loss of green spaces and its impact on biodiversity.

the government's answer? an urban development plan it calls city in nature. that plan includes restoring nature into urban areas and can in green spaces with structures like this highway bridge for animals. singapore is very small. whatever we have is this island, i think it is very important that our people also understand that there is biodiversity to be conserved. but critics are not convinced about the government's plan. like robin hicks who has been reporting on sustainability in asia for 18 years. city in nature is little more than a pr plan, a marketing slogan to attract overseas visitors, overseas investment. people are questioning that growth mandate. do we really need to grow beyond 6 million people? do we really need to build more residential areas? more expansion would lead to more displacement of wildlife. this is one of the last two forests

left in singapore and as you can see it is right now in the process of being cut down for a new development. this is meant to be singapore's first housing estate within nature but here is the catch. 90% of this forest will be cleared for the project. we are bringing ourselves closer to nature and nature closer to us so are we ready to encounter wild animals? do we know what to do and what not to do? when we come across wild animals. are we ok with a beautiful sunbird chirping away but if we see a garden snake are we ok with a garden snake sighted in our garden? balancing urban development with nature is clearly no walk in the park. in fact, singapore's limited land space is not only squeezing out its animal population but people too if you are renting because rents have been on the rise for more than two years with some of them rising by 50%, 60%, so find out more

on that story by going to our website. that is it for the addition of asia business report, thank you so much for watching. keeping event going on adventures help our bodies and our minds but as we age, can become more of a challenge stopping this oxford care home is using virtual reality to help residents overcome that. it provides a complete 360 view of the world. we use really low friction shoes so that there is not a lot of effort to move them, it is really important to do. , ., them, it is really important to do. , . ., u, them, it is really important to do. , . ., , do. the seated treadmill can be used by peeple _ do. the seated treadmill can be used by people who _ do. the seated treadmill can be used by people who usually - used by people who usually don't walk it. in the technology can take them to real places where they can even meet up with friend. it is to live longer better, notjust live longer better, notjust

live longer better, notjust live longer and we do that by maintaining physical activity but social connection as well. the start—up has seen a0 people test the cat. it’s the start-up has seen 40 people test the cat-— test the cat. it's very, very interesting _ test the cat. it's very, very interesting and _ test the cat. it's very, very interesting and useful- test the cat. it's very, very interesting and useful and | interesting and useful and nice, i enjoyed it stop blue—eyed say there's definitely a change in motivation. we had a couple of residents that would be very resistant to the idea of going for a walk and after a few times using the technology they feel a lot more comfortable. congrats! they went 200 metres. it's hoped _ congrats! they went 200 metres. it's hoped the experience here will encourage other care homes to make the virtual world a reality for their resident. i'm rachel with the catch up. tonight, new rules for renters, scientists give a warning and beyonce's in cardiff. first up,

if you rent in england, plans for big changes stop with the idea is to ban landlords for kicking people out without good reason or refusing to rent the people on benefits. you also have the right to ask if you can keep a pet. politicians still have two vote on the planet rules are different for the rest of the uk. some other stories now and a warning that the next five years could be the next five years could be the hottest ever on record. leaders agreed to try to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. scientists now say will probably pass that temporarily by 2027 meaning more extreme storms and heatwaves. at least eight people have died and 5000 have been evacuated after major floods in italy stop at a grand prix that was meant to be held there this weekend has been cancelled. next, and there will be some flashing pictures here. prince harry says he, megan and her mum were in a near catastrophic car chase while being followed by a peruzzi in new york. their spokesperson said the incident lasted more than two hours and there were

near collisions. here is the mayor of new york. i near collisions. here is the mayor of new york. i would find it hard to _ mayor of new york. i would find it hard to believe _ mayor of new york. i would find it hard to believe that _ mayor of new york. i would find it hard to believe that there - it hard to believe that there was a two—hour high—speed chase but if it's ten minutes, a ten minute chase is extremely dangerous. minute chase is extremely dangerous-_ minute chase is extremely dancerous. ., ., ., dangerous. time now to leave ou with dangerous. time now to leave you with ten _ dangerous. time now to leave you with ten seconds - dangerous. time now to leave you with ten seconds of - dangerous. time now to leave you with ten seconds of super| you with ten seconds of super fans. beyonce is in cardiff tonight and thousands of these guys are there to see her kick of her uk torah. shields are going to edinburgh, sunderland and london. you are all caught up and london. you are all caught up now, have a good night. ——uk tour.

hello, i'm chetan pathak from the bbc sport centre. coming up on the programme: is this finally their year? manchester city thrash real madrid to reach the champions league final. formula one says it's the "right and responsible thing to do" after cancelling this weekend's grand prix at imola because of severe flooding in italy. novak djokovic suffers his earliest exit at the rome masters since 2013. we start with an emphatic win for manchester

city who've beaten the 1a time winners real madrid a—0