helping boost sales. china tech analyst rui ma explained how alibaba plans to turn things around. i think ali baba has as you mentioned, is i think ali baba has as you mentioned, is dealin- i think ali baba has as you mentioned, is dealin- with i think ali baba has as you mentioned, is dealin- with the mentioned, is dealing with the relatively sluggish economy in china and cautious consumers. it has faced really stiff competition from the tempo owner —— temu. in prioritising its business. it struggled through its reorganizations, we can see to to keep some of those costs under control. tell us a little _ those costs under control. tell us a little bit _ those costs under control. tell us a little bit more _ those costs under control. tell us a little bit more about the new strategies been. what are the upcoming projects for ali baba to get it back on track? before the vice chairman got back as the chairman,

reprioritizing its core commerce business, investing all in on al for its cloud business and then in its commerce business really exploring and investing more in its international business. so in terms of major specific initiatives, i would say for investors the thing to watch is that's been reported that ali —— alibaba is going to move to a model versus its current business model which is an annualfee business model which is an annual fee plus service fees. and that will start in september and that could really change things up.— september and that could really change things up. when we look at alibaba, _ change things up. when we look at alibaba, how _ change things up. when we look at alibaba, how does _ change things up. when we look at alibaba, how does it - change things up. when we look at alibaba, how does it reflect . at alibaba, how does it reflect the state of the chinese economy?— the state of the chinese econom ? . �* , economy? overall, it's the same sto . economy? overall, it's the same story- the _ economy? overall, it's the same story. the economy _ economy? overall, it's the same story. the economy is _ economy? overall, it's the same story. the economy is not - story. the economy is not growing very quickly for retail, for cloud which are its core businesses. i don't think there are any clear drivers for significant growth in the near term, obviously alibaba is

investing heavily in al hoping that's the next breakthrough, but i think that's pretty unproven at this point and not something we can expect to really explode near term. so i think what it's really going to do is alibaba is really going to have to rely on what we said earlier, really reprioritizing its core business and do what jd its core business and do what jd has done, streamline its operations to increase profits. we also got earnings fromjd.com, one of aliba ba's key competitors. the chinese e—commerce company saw net revenue for april to june come in better?than?expected. profits for the period also jumped by more than 70%. the reason for the strong result has been a discounting strategy that the company has engaged in since 2022. the stock was up over 4% on wall street. tapestry saw a strong quarter, amid growing demand for its popular coach handbags. for april tojune, the company saw net sales of over

$1.5 billion, with sales at coach accounting for onver 70% of that revenue. the solid result comes despite a slowdown in consumer spending globally. walmart�*s quarterly revenue grew by nearly 5%, as more people visited stores and bought goods online. comparable sales, a key growth metric for the us retailer, was up by more than 4% compared to the year before. the company also raised its outlook for the year, sending shares climbing on wall street by over 6%. turning now to the us where democrat nominee kamala harris is set to unveil her economic plan on friday. the economy and the high cost of living have been a key issue for voters, that both harris and republican nominee donald trump have addressed in their campaigns. our north america editor sarah smith filed this report from maryland. along the shore of the chesapeake bay, it costs more to eat out than it did before. maryland's famous crabs and seafood have increased in price like just about everything else in america. so it may look like the living

is easy but people are still worried about inflation. who do you blame for the crisis? i blame the democrats. yeah? i believe... yeah, the policies are hurting the working man. i get paid by the hour so to get up and go to work every day, i take it you have to do that to get the american dream but ijust know it's getting harder. every three days i have to goi to a grocery store and i spend $100 every time i go to the grocery store. it's nuts. that gets really hard to take. donald trump's pitch that he is making is, "if you felt better off four years ago than you do now, vote for me." does that make sense? that isn't an compelling argument to me. i mean, maybe for people who already decided they are going to vote for trump that will be something that they will repeat. most voters say the economy is their number one issue in the coming election, and despite good news about record job creation, economic growth and the lowest inflation rate in years, it is still a potential

liability for the democrats. now, while the rate of inflation may be falling, prices are of course still increasing and very few voters say they feel as though the economy is improving. even in the white house economists describe there being a bad vibe around. and in an election year, that really matters. kamara harris plans to lay out an economic policy focused on reducing the cost of living, including banning excessive corporate profits on food. today, she is announcing lower prices for prescription drugs. and so in the outer states of america, no senior should and so in the united states of america, no senior should have to choose between either filling their prescription or paying their rent. now, this is a little bit day because this is... we're talking about a thing called the economy. the economy could be a winning issue for donald trump but he just can't stay on message. he says he doesn't think it's the most important topic and attacks the way ms harris laughs. he's got an idiosyncratic take on inflation.

this is a tic tac. this is inflation. this is what has happened. kamara harris was right besidejoe biden as his vice president during a period of rampant inflation. will she be blamed for those price rises or rewarded for her promises to bring them down in future? sarah smith, bbc news, maryland. the uk's economy grew by 0.6% between april and june as it continued its recovery from the recession at the end of last year. the latest figure was in line with forecasts and follows a 0.7% increase in the first three months of this year. growth was led by the services sector, in particular the it industry, legal services and scientific research. let's turn to the weekend ahead and anticipation for the start of the english premier league season. the league has widened its fanbase beyond england for decades now with asian television audiences and companies helping drive revenues. james walton goes into what makes the league dominant despite the eruption of several

new leagues in the region. the premier league is actually the most watched sports league in the world, it has around 3.2 billion regular viewers that it's billion regular viewers that its estimated that up close, over half are in asia and over 25% of the tv off audience. this is been historical thing, back to the 905. the primary league was regularly broadca5t league was regularly broadcast in asia, the first one, ever since then the fan base has stuck with what is possibly the most exciting league in the world. ., ., ., world. how close are other leauues world. how close are other leagues to _ world. how close are other leagues to matching - world. how close are other leagues to matching it - world. how close are other- leagues to matching it though? league5 to matching it though? we saw china making a push several yea r5 we saw china making a push several years ago, the saudi league more recently. is it in peel going to endure? traditionally the biggest rivals have been the spanish league, italian league, particularly the 19905 and early 2000. 0ccasionally particularly the 19905 and early 2000. occasionally the bundesliga but if you walk around the streets of asia and look at what shirts are being worn, for out of the top six

most supported teams are from the english primarily, so beyond your barcelona, real madrid, even to us or buy in munich, it's all about the premier league and maybe has been for 20 years it now. es, premier league and maybe has been for 20 years it now. fix. lat been for 20 years it now. a lot of money _ been for 20 years it now. a lot of money has _ been for 20 years it now. a lot of money has been flowing - been for 20 years it now. a lot of money has been flowing into the premier league from asia as well, how are asian companies looking to sponsor and get involved in the product of the premier league? find involved in the product of the premier league?— involved in the product of the premier league? and an average ear, we premier league? and an average year. we see _ premier league? and an average year. we see as _ premier league? and an average year, we see as many _ premier league? and an average year, we see as many as - premier league? and an average year, we see as many as half, . year, we see as many as half, sometimes 11 out of the 20 teams in the premier league having asian companies is the main shirt sponsors, and of course there is more and more opportunity is to take a team like manchester united, they may have american companies on the front of the shirt but they have other things from india, malaysia, sponsors as well. big companies are shirt sponsors and a big development in recent years as gambling companies. this will change from the end

of 2025, 2026, when gambling companies can no longer be the main shirt sponsors, but a lot of asian companies have been shirt sponsors for major premier league teams as well. most analysts had anticipated for the quarter, it continues to grapple with solar post—pandemic demand for its services, its stock fell 7% overnight. be why he is looking to build a factory in karachi to build a factory in karachi to capture the text on market. electric vehicles are not extremely popular in the company, the company is working in partnership with local players to disrupt the current market dynamics. the factory is expected to be completed in 2026. in the meantime, be has already started setting up

showrooms targeting sales from october this year. that's it for this edition of business today, see you soon. hey, i'm zof with the catch up. our top story: if you're

an a—level student, you probably opened your results today. and it might have been good news as top a—level grades have risen for the first time since 2021, with 28% of all grades marked a star or a, and four in five students got into their top choice uni. now, an update on the war in gaza, where officials there say the number of palestinians killed during israel's military campaign has risen to more than 40,000. israel has questioned the figures, which don't say how many fighters are among the dead. it comes as talks on reaching a ceasefire to end the conflict have resumed in qatar. some other stories now five people have been charged over some other stories now — five people have been charged over the death of friends star matthew perry, who was found unresponsive at his home in la in october. a postmortem found he suffered a fatal overdose of ketamine. police say those charged had exploited the star forfinancial gain.

and the uk health security agency is warning about a rise in cases of antibiotic resistant gonorrhoea. most cases of the sti can be treated quickly, but there's growing worry over strains that can't be dealt with as easily if its left untreated, gonorrhoea can cause major health issues, including infertility. and time now for ten seconds of the northern lights from space. solar storms created the ideal conditions for aurora borealis, and astronaut matthew dominick recorded this incredible time lapse of it from the international space station. that looks amazing! you're all caught up now. see you later.

hello and welcome to sportsday — i'm gavin ramjaun. here's what's coming up. it's back — the premier league is about to get under way again, with manchester city going for five in a row. tottenham suspended yves bissouma for their opening on monday, afterfootage appeared to show him inhaling laughing gas. and the australian breakdancer whose performance at the paris 0lympics was criticised says the abuse has been devastatating.

hello there, and welcome to the programme. we've not long to wait now until the return of the premier league. we've had the euros, and the olympics in the meantime, but the drama is back as of friday night. whether it's manchester city going for five in a row, their rivals attempting to dethrone them, or even for the relegation—threatened a calming comfort of mid—table mediocrity, every one of those 20 clubs have something to play for in the new premier league season. it all kicks off at old trafford, where manchester united host fulham. united's new signings, mattias de ligt and noussair mazraoui, will be in the squad. manager erik ten hag is concerned his team aren't ready — the new players have onlyjust arrived — and he says he has injury concerns across several key positions. the issues are there. it's not about the players who are not available. always last season, it is about the players who are available. and we have a good group, we can make a strong selection and we can put out a strong team, so it will do.