joe biden is set to join car industry workers at the picket lines in michigan. we look into what's at stake for the us president. nissan's chief executive tells the bbc the car—maker is accelerating plans toward electrification even as the uk takes its foot off the pedal. hello and welcome to asia business report with me, arunoday mukharji. we begin in the us, with the strike affecting the auto industry, because the us presidentjoe biden is expected to join workers on the picket line in michigan later today. the industrial unrest has highlighted a clash between the president's support for unions and his push for clean energy. our north america business correspondent michelle fleury has the latest from new york.

the fight between america's biggest car companies and the uaw over pay and better benefits is playing out in a key battleground state in the 2024 presidential election. that is michigan. so this visit by president biden is no accident. he's trying to turbocharge the market for electric vehicles. that is part of his policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. his signature legislation, well, it's known as the inflation reduction act, and it includes billions of dollars in incentives to get more clean cars on the road. but republicans, including biden�*s likely presidential opponent, donald trump, who is also visiting michigan on wednesday, well, they've argued the shift to electric vehicles will kill jobs because after all, it takes fewer people to make a battery than a combustion engine. and many of the new battery plants are being built in states that are hostile to organising. add to that biden�*s push for clean energy, well, it hit another roadblock on monday. that is after ford said

it was pausing work on a $3.5 billion battery plant in michigan. it cited concerns about its ability to competitively operate the plant. for the president, who wants to fight climate change and expand the middle class by supporting unions, this is, as they say, where the rubber meets the road. meanwhile, ford motors, which is one of the companies targeted by that strike, says it has paused work on a $3.5 billion battery plant in michigan. the car—maker cited concerns about its ability to competitively operate the plant but declined to say what specific reason triggered the decision. the announcement comes as ford has repeatedly upped its offer to the united auto workers union in labour contract talks. and now to another strike in america that's been making headlines for nearly five months now. that's of course the hollywood writers�* strike. well, the screenwriters are saying they have reached a tentative deal with studio bosses that could see them putting an end

to industrial action. the writers guild of america said the agreement was "exceptional, with meaningful gains and protections for the writers". still, the wga said its members will have the final say. let's focus on artificial intelligence now, because companies that take a "wait and see" approach in terms of adopting the technology will lose out. that's the warning management consultancy bain and company has recently given businesses. in a survey of almost 600 executives, three quarters said ai is already meeting or exceeding their expectations, helping to speed up worker tasks without losing quality. earlier, i spoke to bain and company'sjue wang, who told me the tech sector is at an inflection point. in many ways, you know, artificial intelligence is sort of an overnight success story, many years and decades in the making. these large models trained

on the entire internet, it's led to intelligence of the chat bots and the tools out there that just starts to rival that of the human level intelligence. so obviously that is a big inflection point in the technology industry, and impacts a broad range of workers�* tasks. those 600 executives across 10 different industries said the adoption rate is pretty high at the moment. roughly somewhere between 70—90% of the companies. they experiment with al use cases. some of the top categories of use cases or functionalities we're looking at, adding chat bots, using ai for coding, marketing content generation, sales knowledge assistant, it help desk, you know the breadth and momentum of the adoption is quite

tremendous at the moment. the chief of audio streaming giant spotify says the platform has no plans to ban content created by artificial intelligence. its founder and ceo daniel ek told the bbc there were valid uses of the tech in making music, but ai should not be used to impersonate human artists without their consent. he sat down with our technology editor, zoe kleinman. you have so—called deep fake ais, where someone�*s impersonating some famous artist, etc. and our view is obviously that is not positive, and we believe that, say something in the drake weeknd case, that drake and weeknd should be able to decide what kind of content they want to put out in the world, what they stand for. so you have no immediate plans to ban ai generated content from the platform? no, we have no immediate plans. and in fact, it wouldn't even surprise me that if we look at the top chart of spotify

today that there's a legitimate use of ai done by artists, and we would allow for them. and then there's the ones where it's clearly someone trying to to steal someone�*s name or likeness, or even infringe on someone�*s ip. at which point we would say that is not ok, that is not what we stand for, and we would take that down. you've been very critical of apple's practices, haven't you, in the past and you still are a critical voice. our beef is really around allowing for a level playing field, a fair playing field. apple decides what innovation goes and doesn't go. it taxes all innovation on the internet on this point, and it doesn't have to follow the same rules themselves. and so all we are asking for is they can charge whatever fee they would like, so long as it was possible for us to not be in their store and download the app onto the iphone anyway. apple would say that what you're paying for is

the security that it provides and this enormous audience of iphone users that it has. it's giving you access to a marketplace that nobody else can can access and would argue that it's worth it — what would you say to that? four billion consumers around the world and probably 80% of uk consumers, the primary way they're accessing the internet is through their smartphones. and the primary way they're accessing the internet is through apps on smartphones. and so this is the internet at this point. and that's why, from a principal standpoint, it's really important for me, it's an important business issue for spotify. but i believe it will be very important for the future innovation and for other developers. nissan will accelerate plans

towards electrification, despite the uk postponing its 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars to 2035. the uk's automotive trade body has voiced concerns that postponing the ban on petrol and diesel cars would see consumers delay the switch to electric, partly because evs are more expensive than their petrol counterparts. but in an interview with the bbc, mr uchida said that price parity was not far away. one of the most important things, how we can get the competitiveness to be demonstrated from the cost perspective, and what is the appropriate pricing that the ev that can deliver to the customer. because if you look at the world today, all the ev now is getting more competitive pricing to the customer. so how we can make sure those we deliver to the customer is one thing that as nissan we have a long history on the ev has been in the pioneer.

we really would like to demonstrate that further in here. at the moment, electric vehicles are more expensive than their petrol and diesel counterparts. when will they be the same price? well, it may take a bit of the time, but we are looking at the next few years to make sure how we can maximise the way of the production, and the way of the battery technology with a cost level. that is what we have on our road map. will it happen by 2030? we would have to do in the coming few years. so it will be by 2030 you'll have the price... that's what we are aiming. you talk today about solid state batteries. they're cheaper, lighter, they're quicker to charge. have you cracked it? when will that be a real thing? well, we say that we're going to have a pilot plant of the assb in japan from next year, next fiscal year, that we want to make sure those to be mass produced by 2028. that's what we say. we are on track. there's a lot of challenge on the assb, but we do have a solution to come with that. and that's what we want

to prove at nissan for dealing with electrified vehicle or ev for the past many years. so assb, a solid state battery by 2028? that is what we said. the european union seems worried about the threat of cheap chinese electric cars with state subsidies flooding the market. are you worried about it? how much of a threat is that? i think the competitiveness, fair competitiveness, is always happening. so as long as it's fair, then we do have to plan how we can challenge towards that. it has to be a fair manner for all the competition. and moody's has warned that a us government shutdown would negatively impact the country's top credit rating. it's a stern warning that comes only a month after fitch downgraded the us by one notch on the back of a debt ceiling crisis. that's it for the show. thanks very much for watching. stay with bbc news.

the eyes of the world are set on france at the moment, as the best rugby teams compete for the sport's biggest trophy. but did you know every team competing at the tournament is using a scrum technique developed here in somerset? crouch... blind, set...- crouch... blind, set... those three words _ crouch... blind, set... those three words are _ crouch... blind, set... those three words are now- crouch... blind, set... those three words are now being i crouch... blind, set... those l three words are now being said before every scrum in professional rugby, to reduce the force of the scrum by 25%, reducing the risk of injury. clearly, if we managed to save even one or two people from having a catastrophic spinal injury which would really affect their lives... but equally players who have scrummaged a lot over the years. if we can reduce the

possibility of them having neck problems as they retire and get older, that's also really positive. older, that's also really positive-— older, that's also really ositive. �* �*, ., , positive. and it's not 'ust the way scrummaging is h positive. and it's notjust the way scrummaging is done . positive. and it's not just the i way scrummaging is done which has changed. the activate programme has changed the way teams warm up for matches globally. so remember, the next time you hear crouch, bin deletes a fix, set, it all started here in somerset. —— bind. hi, here's your latest catch up. coming up — nasa's asteroid sample, tackling discrimination in cricket, and dogs at the movies. first, the metropolitan police have launched an investigation into allegations of sexual offences following the recent claims against russell brand. they were already looking at offences in 2003, and some of these new claims are also historic.

brand has previously denied all allegations against him. next up, a space capsule that collected dust from one of the most dangerous rocks in our solar system crashed back to earth over the weekend. nasa says it hopes it'll teach more scientists about the asteroid, which they classed as hazardous, for its probability of hitting the earth in the next 300 years. but the sample could give us more details about how the planets were formed. it's a big moment for the teams involved. when that capsule opens, to see for the first time, this material that no other human has seen before, it's something you think about, we thought about it for the past seven years. some other stories now, the serial killer nurse lucy letby is to face a retrial on one charge of attempted murder of a baby. she was jailed for life for the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of six others. and the england and wales cricket board will invest millions more in women's

cricket. it is in response to a report which found widespread discrimination in the game. finally, i'm going to leave you with ten seconds of dogs at the movies — 219 of them came together at an outdoor cinema in los angeles. it broke the world record for the most dogs attending a film screening. the film of choice? paw patrol of course. that's it from me. you're all caught up.

hello and welcome to sportsday. i'm betty glover. ajax say they're considering legal action after they're given a new date to finish their abandoned match against feyenoord. the countdown to friday's ryder cup is on — we'll hear from both captains. and the england and wales cricket board says it wants "to change the game" to tackle discrimination. we'll start with the news that the dutch football

association has confirmed that the abandoned match