tv Asia Business Report BBC News August 17, 2023 1:30am-1:46am BST
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am monica business report, i am monica miller. we begin the quarterly earnings of us retail target which has become the latest corporate victim of america's culture wars. the company saw sales fall in—store and on line for the first time in years after a backlash over its pride month offering. those reactions were so negative that target felt it had to remove items from some of its stores over concerns about staff safety. our north america business correspondent michelle fleury has more from new york. between april and june, sales target of 5% compared to year ago. e—commerce sales fell 105%. the boss of the so—called big box retailer said it was hard to tell how much it was because customers were feeling pressure from higher prices and how much had to do with the boycott and backlash it based over its pride month offerings that lead to items being pulled from the shop floor to protect the safety of its staff. despite the sales decline, the retailer
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wanted higher profit margins than analysts had selected as it offered fewer discounts. all that bodes well for walmart which is forecast to report a 4% rise in sales. results from the world's largest retailer should also offer a glimpse into demand for back—to—school items. traders are hoping that despite higher borrowing costs, it will show that us shoppers are still willing to spend on essentials. staying with retail, jd.com did analysts forecast for a second—quarter revenue which rose more than $40 billion. the chinese e—commerce giant's focus on lower—priced products bought off in the fight for customers in an economic slowdown. the company said it attracted more benders to its platform and users shop more frequently as it product range expanded. it was a different story for tencent where earning results
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came lower than expected. revenue grew to just over $20 billion. it's gaining business experienced weaker than expected growth. domestic gaming revenue was little changed, a sign that the economic slowdown in china is that the tech giant's recovery from a record slump last year. well, let's turn to us government bonds, which are typically considered a safe haven investment. well, demand for those bonds, commonly known as us treasuries, has held up despite a downgrade by fitch ratings agency at the start of the month. and a report by moody's investors service calling into question the financial stability of some regional us banks. china and japan have typically been some of the biggest foreign buyers of us treasuries, and that has helped to fund the massive us debt pile. earlier i spoke to fixed income expert stephen major, who told me the downgrade has had little impact on the global economy. so far there's not been that
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much of a of an impact. and you're right, there's still plenty of demand for us treasuries. i guess it might be a bit of a nudge for all of the authorities involved in the us to get the house in order over the longer term. but right now there's no meaningful movement in the yields. if anything, we're pretty much the same. 0vernight we were seeing reports that there's a real appetite for short—term bonds. how do you describe this phenomenon? you can see the appetite in the yield level compared to the official rates from the fed. so the t—bill yields actually sit on the lower end of the range, which shows there must be a huge demand for them. and if you think about it, we're talking about yields of above 5% in totally risk free assets. you will get your money back, whatever. and it's in dollars. so investors in asia have no problem buying these securities.
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you know, 5% is something people haven't seen for a long time also. and it's a good level of saving for most people given the expected outlook for inflation. well, let's take a look at agriculture and south—east asia and how climate change and the el nino weather patterns are affecting food production in the region. the united nations says global rice prices have surged around 30% this year. and according to some experts, these extreme weather conditions stress the need to use more modern techniques in farming in asia. deepak moorti is an agriculture specialist with the consultancy firm mckinsey and company and he earlier he told me how climate change is acting as a catalyst for change in global food markets. i think if we talk about climate change in general, there are two things that we see will happen. number one is the fact that it's the main catalyst for supply shocks and a prolonged period of price volatility in the food supply chain. and the second one is the fact
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that it will be the main driver for men and food to compete for land and water. now, the second one is particularly worrying given that we have a growing population to feed. but the good news is there are potential ways to plug this leakages, and the benefits of this can be quite significant. the way to think about it is to split it across two main lenses one from the pre—harvest lens and the second one from a post—harvest lens. your report makes suggestions about changing farming practices. give us an example. so when we think about farming practices and think the report referred more towards post—harvest practices, we were referring to things that impact the value chain post—harvesting. so an example of that is really around supply chain efficiencies, starting from how the farmer
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harvests their produce. so within south—east asia, a lot of the cereal crops are still manually harvested, which results in a lot of losses. so one of the ways to improve that would be to use a mechanised version of it. now, have you heard about clean air zones? well, they are already in operation in hundreds of traffic—choked cities across europe. london's ultra—low emission zone is starting later this month and will become one of the world's largest to tackle air pollution. katy austin took a look at how clean air zones have been working in other parts of england. signs like these have become a common sight. we'vejust entered birmingham's clean air zone. it's been in operation forjust over two years now, and it's one of seven that have sprung up in cities around england over the past few years. here, driving an older,
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more polluting car or van means an e8 daily charge in one residential area. we got a sense of how opinions remain divided. some people welcomed the zone and even said it should be stricter. a lot of people live here, 0k, especially kids, at least those cars, which makes a lot of pollution. i think we should consider in a direction of banning them. 0thers strongly objected. because i'm disabled, i don't have to pay, but i would have to pay if i wasn't disabled. but there's a lot of people around here struggling to put food on the table. and as for the clean air zone, no, it won't work because the people that round here won't be able to afford other cars. the manager of this shop did manage to switch to a car that doesn't attract a charge, but he's still felt a financial hit. 0rder something from my shop. the first question they ask me, "are you in the zone or out of the charging zone?" so once you say i'm inside the charging zone, they're going to add £8 for your delivery.
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clean air zones have come in after the government told a number of councils to bring down air pollution to within legal limits as quickly as possible. birmingham city council told us the proportion of the most polluting vehicles entering the zone had more than halved to 6.4% since it was introduced. but in the famous jewellery quarter, staff at this business say however much they support the principle, it's come at a cost. we've noticed a definite drop in footfall. there's been a lot of confusion in what cars are allowed and what cars are not allowed. the money raised goes towards running the scheme and then to local transport—related projects. in bradford, the clean air zone is slightly different. the rules here mean that there isn't a charge for private cars driving into the zone, but there is one for taxis, vans, lorries and coaches if they don't meet the emission standards. the council says 98% of local taxis now do. helped by grants.
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so has the scheme worked so far? it's still too early to tell. we need to wait until the clean air zone has been in place for at least a year to be able to look at the impact on air pollution, but also to be able to look at the impact on health in bradford. it's already proved a practical headache for this delivery firm based literally around the corner from the clean air zone boundary. bosses here say grants to help replace their non—compliant vehicles would not have covered the cost. so now it's a case of avoiding charges wherever possible. we have a team that have to look at what vehicle can go into what area. it's not always feasible to send a large load in. we understand why they're doing it. we just sometimes think that, you know, sometimes it's rushed and it's not a lot of thoughts going in. the businesses are just trying to make a living.
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they say the patchwork around the country can also be confusing. straying into a different city zone can prove a costly mistake. plans to introduce a clean air zone in manchester are under review amid growing discussion of the best way to clean up the air without hitting people too hard in the wallet. katy austin, bbc news. and that's it for this edition of asia business report. you can always keep up with the day's headlines by visiting our website and if you haven't already, download our app. i'm monica miller. thanks for watching. voiceover: bbc news - bringing you different stories from across the uk. in the long shed next to the river deben, an extraordinary endeavour is taking place. the painstaking recreation of the world—famous sutton hoo burial ship. using tools anglo—saxon shipbuilders would've used, the latest recruits are three apprentice joiners. just massively appreciative, really, of their craft and what they did, and how they engineered these things to go on the sea.
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since its discovery in 1939 by the local archaeologist basil brown, the story of sutton hoo and its extraordinary treasures has enthralled the world. built around 600 ad, the ship is thought to have been the final resting place of king raedwald. backed by sponsors, donations, and more than 100 volunteers, the charity, the sutton hoo ship company, began reconstruction in 2019. it's an experiment. we're building the best guess we can of what that ship looked like. but it'll only be proved once we get it on the water. once the planks are in place, the inside will be fitted out with seating for 40 rowers. if all goes to plan, the launch and river trials will take place in the spring of 2025. voiceover: for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website.
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hello, i'm jack with the catch up. now we're going to kick off with the women's world cup because england have knocked out australia, winning 3—1 at the semifinal stage. goals from toone, hemp and russo secured the lionesses' win against the matildas in sydney. they'll go on to face spain in the final. in fact, it's the first time the england's women team have made it to a world cup final. now i've been talking loads about the cost of mortgages going up lately and now the price of renting has reached its highest level since records began going up by 5.3% in the year up tojuly. it's all because of supply and demand, so more people wanting to rent and fewer properties being available. and in london, rents went up despite house prices falling. a couple of other stories for you and first to the british museum in london, where a member of staff has been arrested after a number
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of items kept in storage there were reported missing, stolen or damaged. the items included old jewellery, gems and glass dating back to the 15th century. the museum says it sacked the member of staff and will conduct a review of its security operation. and take a look at this. it's the red footed booby and it's really rare. the bird is usually found flapping around the galapagos islands, but it's been spotted chilling out on the isles of scilly a mere 6000 miles away. experts say the hot weather could have enticed it here. are they sure? tonight, i'm going to leave you with 10 seconds of cardio. not from me, no, from this — it's the latest social media trend, people trying to copy madonna's choreography. and doesn't it look quite the workout? just promise me don't try it after leg day. you're all caught up now. see you later.
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hello and welcome to sportsday. i'm tulsen tollett. england beat australia to move into sunday's world cup final against spain as the expectation levels rise. never take anything for granted, but i'm like, are mainly middle of a fairytale or something? —— am i in the middle. manchester city claim the uefa super cup with a penalty shootout victory over sevilla. and a training session with a difference, as baltimore ravens and washington commanders go toe to toe in pre season.
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hello and welcome to the programme, where we start with the footballing news that england have booked their place in sunday's women's world cup final after a 3—1win over the co—hosts australia in sydney. ella toone gave england the lead in the first half with a superb strike which found the top corner. australia responded through their superstar sam kerr — starting her first match of the tournament — beating mary earps from 25 yards to make it 1—1. lauren hemp pounced on an australian defensive error eight minutes later to restore england's lead before alessia russo wrapped up the victory late on to make sure of their place in the final against spain. we achieved the final.
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