plus we catch up with the ceo of booking.com as the post—pandemic travel boom continues, welcome to asia business report. let's begin in the united states where lawmakers in the house of representatives have overwhelmingly voted to pass a bill that could lead to a ban on the popular social media app, tiktok. that is despite the chinese social media company calling on millions of teenaged users in the us to oppose the bill. our correspondent has been following the proceedings on capitol hill and has more on what is ahead. the house vote sets the stage for what could become an ultimatum to tiktok�*s chinese owned parent company byte da nce. sell off the app or it will be banned. there is a way to go

between here and there. the bill faces an uncertain future in the senate. the senate majority leader chuck schumer has been noncommittal about whether he will bring it up for a vote. some senators have already vowed to vote against it. if it does move through the senate, joe biden has said he will sign it. proponents of the bill argue tiktok is a national security threat and the apps 170 million us users are vulnerable to data theft by the chinese government. the priority is national security and chinese access to millions of american�*s minds. that's what the primary issue is. there are trade—offs with that though. the former president donald trump used to back the idea but he changed his tune, saying while it poses a security and privacy concern, banning the app would be a boon for facebook. which he called an enemy of the people. with that, a national security, free—speech and youth issue also becomes a campaign issue.

protesters took to capitol hill on wednesday in support of tiktok. do you have any concerns about china tapping into people's phones or security risks from china? absolutely not. if i had any concerns about china i would have the same concerns about right here in america, sharing and selling our data as well. a few issues remain, ifjoe biden signs the bill into law, it is almost certain to be challenged in the courts. a for sale would need the 0k of the chinese government and they have said no. and even if it went ahead, the question of who would buy it, nearly all the major us companies are in the midst of anti—trust lawsuits or facing likely ones, making the notion of purchasing a platform with 170 million users unlikely. individuals, companies or groups could take it up but past deals have fallen apart. if the bill becomes law and tiktok is not sold in around six months,

it will be blocked from us app stores and internet service providers. adidas has posted the first annual loss in 30 years. the german warned that sales in north america would fall again, as sportsware retailers in the us struggle with high invent —— inventories. it has struggled since it cut ties with kanye west. there's at a fair amount of uncertainty among businesses due to the ongoing conflict in the middle east and the prolonged war between russia and ukraine. according to dhl, the flow of goods is still growing and that's in their latest report. i caught up with john pearson, chief executive of dhl stress —— express, and

asked for his take on the state of global connectivity. if we look at the trade between geopolitical trading blocs it's essentially the same as all of the other reports. a lot of nervousness that us and china are decoupling, what i will say there is what people don't realise is the extent to which they were coupled over the last two decades. extraordinary levels of trade were happening between china and usa, over the last eight or nine years that's reduced by about 25%, some of those tariffs and discussions have happened but it is now at a level that is commensurate with many other partners. for all the rhetoric and what i would describe as negative narrative about protectionism, nationalism, near shoring and onshoring, i would say each and every dy

a trade deal being written. how overboard is china's economic health when it comes to spurring on globalisation? china continues to be the great force it is in terms of manufacturing and the quality of that manufacturing, there are some de—risking diversification complementary activities happening but as some have coined the phrase, the next china is definitely china. artificial intelligence is disrupting all sorts of things. how is it shaking things up at dhl? we have to move at the right pace, we can over—invest in some elements of technology, of this technology, and not necessarily get any return. we have to be very focused on what is the benefit for our customer, what is the benefit for our employee, what is the benefit for operational efficiency. those are the three same questions we asked ourselves when we embarked on this digitalisation journey. from transporting goods to transporting people. the

post—pandemic travel boom issel under way, with little sign of slowing down over the horizon. booking.com beat expectations in the last three months of 2023, largely because of a strong recovery here in asia. with the platform seeing room bookingsjump by 10%. but bookings jump by 10%. but providers bookingsjump by 10%. but providers including hotel chains marriott and hilton say that demand in the us will normalise this year after a post—pandemic spike. the ceo of booking.com gave me a sense of what's next for the travel industry. we are pleased with the fact that asia is doing a good job in recovering from the pandemic. you saw a delay in asia and that is why we are benefiting now in terms of people going up and travelling around the world. people exploring the usual places they always wanted to go in asia, there is a lot of regional places people want to go to. people want to search in the summer, going further places like paris which is interesting, the olympics will be there. london is always popular and even the states are beginning to become

popular as well. we're getting reports chinese tourists are back to travelling but not necessarily spending at the same levels. is that what you are seeing? china's probably one of the last countries to come back big. it's delayed from other parts of the world. that being said we are pleased people are beginning to travel outbound again and some of the things the chinese government has done in terms of making it easier for visa—free travel, it's helping to bring that along. you said the us is normalising and other hotel groups are seeing growth will not be as fast in 202a. what's your outlook? the thing is always what you're comparing to. last year everyone was into a big "revenge travel" was the term, everyone dying to get out because they had not been able to travel. now things are normalising and it's still really good. the fact is people like to travel as long as global economies are growing, we know that travel will grow

faster and ourjob of course is to get a bigger part of that growing group. right now we came up with ourfirst quarter and we said room night growth is one measurement, 4% to 6%, we are still being hurt a little bit by the unrest and the war in the middle east and that is taking out a percentage point but hopefully we will continue to see economies grow and that will see travel growing. a lot of customers have been scammed by booking.com copy cats and hoteliers in asia have missed out. what do you need to do to prevent these types of scams? �* , , do to prevent these types of scams? �*, , ., ., scams? it's very unfortunate when people — scams? it's very unfortunate when people are _ scams? it's very unfortunate when people are scammed, | scams? it's very unfortunate - when people are scammed, thered fraud, etc. this is not our systems. what is happening is sometimes a hotel is breached. when their systems are breached, these fraudsters can get information about these

customers and then send them a message claiming to be someone else, perhaps they claim they're us, or some other travel agent. and they will then claim you have to pay rightaway. now, of course, nobody should be doing that. but people sometimes are fooled by these fraudsters. and let's face it, unfortunately, criminals are continuing to come up with very creative ways to try to fool people into sending their money and it's even worse because it looks real because if they breacheded the hotel system, the hotel has information about the details of that travel date, so it makes it seem more real. fortunately, it's a relatively small amount of people who are being hurt this way. as we always said, we don't want anyone to be 30 and we're working with our partners to help them do a betterjob in making sure their systems are secure. foreign governments will soon be stopped from owning uk newspapers and magazines, this comes under a proposed law by the uk government to deliver additional protections for a free press.

the opposition labour party has said it will support the move and it follows criticism of the proposed takeover of the daily telegraph and the spectator by united arab emirates funded investment firm. the next spacex starship could blast off in 2a hours. they were granted a licence to text launch from texas. it came less than a day after the starship's targeted launch time, paving for another demonstration of a spaceship crucial to elon musk�*s satellite launch business and nasa's moon programme. that's it for me. back with more business news right here on asia business report tomorrow. bye for now. voiceover: bbc news - bringing you stories - from across the uk. from these small seedlings growing in a greenhouse in devon, there are big hopes and big ambitions. they're sprouting from

seeds and twigs gathered from the broken branches of the sycamore gap tree — the iconic tree whose felling last september sparked an ongoing police investigation and caused a national outpouring of emotion. tony gates is the chief executive of the northumberland national park authority. he says more than a0 seedlings have already been established — genetic clones which can now be planted in different parts of the country. we all felt a bit low last september when the tree was cut down. you know, such a great symbol of the northeast. we thought, "maybe that's it gone forever." but raising seedlings isn't the only way the tree's legacy is being preserved. a technique called grafting is also being used — with nine of the 20 grafts now showing signs of life. it'll take the seedlings around 100 years to grow into full mature trees — not many of us will be around to see that.

but for those who missed this iconic tree, it's still the best possible news — a sign of hope after months of anguish and despair. for more stories . from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. hey, i'm zof with the catch up! tonight: could tiktok be banned in the us? a guide dog charity appeal. and an unexpected scent from mcdonald's. we're starting with a big row about one of the biggest donors to the conservative party, who's accused of making racist remarks. frank hester has donated £10 million to the tories. he reportedly said the labour mp diane abbott made him want to "hate all black women" and "should be shot". the bbc hasn't verified those comments. he's admitted being rude about her — but says it had nothing to do with her gender or skin colour. diane abbott was the first black woman to become an mp.

there are now calls for the conservatives to hand back the money — but the prime minister's resisted that. some other stories now. us lawmakers have passed a bill that could lead to a ban on tiktok across america. they want the apps chinese parent company to sell its american operations within six months. it's over concerns that tiktok could share us users' data with the chinese government. that's been rejected by tiktok, though. the bill will now go to the senate for final approval. next — people with distinctive facial hair, body piercings and tattoos are being urged to answer an appeal by sight loss charity guide dogs. so, basically, they want more of these people to work with the guide dogs so they can expose the puppies to lots of different things around them. time to leave you with 10 seconds of mcdonalds scented perfume. no, really — the maccas injapan is releasing

a new line of perfumes inspired by maccy�*s chips. i mean, i hope my boyfriend doesn't get any ideas for it. i can't imagine that would smell too good. you're all caught up now, see you later. hello and welcome to sportsday. i'm gavin ramjaun. late drama in the champions

league — we'll tell you who has made the last eight of the competition. a shock at indian wells, as world number two aryna sabalenka is beaten. and rory mcilroy urges golf to come together for the sake of the fans ahead of the players�* championship. i think if you just unify the game, that would be great for the fans. hello there and welcome along to sportsday. the quarter final line—up for the champions league is complete after more late drama saw atletico madrid seal their spot in the last eight, after beating inter on penalties. inter went 1—0 up, thanks to federico dimarco's first—half goal. but atletico levelled and went ahead on the night, thanks to memphis depay�*s brilliant late finish.

that made the score 2—2 on aggregate,