tiktok�*s last chance — the social media platform will make a final plea at the us supreme court today to prevent a new law which could shut it down in america. the uk bond market crisis deepens — chancellor rachel reeves heads to china after the pound fell to a ill—month low.

also in the programme, nicolas maduro starts his third if it doesn't separate from its chinese owner, byte da nce. the split is required by a biden administration law which says it's necessary to protect national security. tiktok and some its content creators have argued the ban would violate their first amendment rights to free speech. tiktok says it's used by around 170million americans.

the new law is set to take effect in nine days time. our north america technology our north america technology correspondent lily jamali has correspondent lily jamali has more. more. congress passed that law congress passed that law in april on national security in april on national security grounds. grounds. lawmakers expressed concerns lawmakers expressed concerns that tiktok�*s chinese that tiktok�*s chinese ownership, bytedance, ownership, bytedance, means that the data of millions means that the data of millions of americans could be of americans could be compromised, and that they are compromised, and that they are also prone to manipulation also prone to manipulation by china's communist party. by china's communist party. tiktok has consistently tiktok has consistently denied those allegations. denied those allegations. they have expressed confidence they have expressed confidence that they will get the outcome that they will get the outcome that they seek from that they seek from the supreme court. the supreme court. president—elect donald trump, meanwhile, has weighed in, despite once trying to ban the app himself. he has now filed a brief in this case asking the supreme court to temporarily block the law so that he can try to save it. joining me now is kelsey chickering, principal analyst at forrester.

shejoins us from she joins us from florida. shejoins us from florida. you have been following this case pretty closely. tiktok believes it will prevail. tiktok believes it will pre either it basically we will either see it basically get diverted, trump decides it is not something he needs to enforce, orwe is not something he needs to enforce, or we see it ultimately sell it but we stand by our prediction that it will not divest or get banned in 2025. ~ ., ~ ., ., ., 2025. we talk a lot about the bannin: 2025. we talk a lot about the banning of — 2025. we talk a lot about the banning of tiktok _ 2025. we talk a lot about the banning of tiktok in - 2025. we talk a lot about the | banning of tiktok in america. the law says it could continue to exist if bytedance were to

sell it. if the court which the law, is there a buyer waiting in the wings? fix, law, is there a buyer waiting in the wings?— law, is there a buyer waiting inthewinus? �* , , , ., in the wings? a few buyers have made themselves _ in the wings? a few buyers have made themselves known - in the wings? a few buyers have made themselves known that i in the wings? a few buyers have | made themselves known that we have seen in the last couple of weeks. i think it is still really early to tell whether someone first of all will be able to come forward but the bigger question is whether the chinese government and whether bytedance would even be willing to sell and i think that is the biggest question out there right now is will they be willing to sell? and at this point they have indicated they would not. point they have indicated they would not-— would not. content creators would not. content creators would have _ would not. content creators would have their _ would not. content creators would have their follower i would not. content creators i would have their follower base on tiktok disrupted. but many of them could actuallyjust moved to other platforms. indeed many of them are probably already on multiple platforms. probably already on multiple platform-— platforms. sure, but abound would be — platforms. sure, but abound would be incredibly - platforms. sure, but aboundl would be incredibly disruptive to the content creator economy. tiktok is the place where trends are born, where songs go

viral, where even books go viral. it is a place where creators have invested in making content and amassing followings that many of them have actually been able to monetise really well. if it were to go away in nine days and suddenly they weren't able to use tiktok anymore, they could move over to instagram or youtube but it would still require a lot of effort to rebuild some of those followings, the equity and to continue to make content for those new platforms. i will say though, if tiktok is banned, meta— and google have a lot to gain. we have asked us tiktok usesin gain. we have asked us tiktok uses in our survey is to say, where would you spend the most time if tiktok were banned? overwhelmingly they say instagram reels and youtube shorts. ., ~' , ., instagram reels and youtube shorts. ., ~ , ., ., instagram reels and youtube shorts. ., ., , ., shorts. thank you for sharing our shorts. thank you for sharing your thoughts _ shorts. thank you for sharing your thoughts with _ shorts. thank you for sharing your thoughts with us - shorts. thank you for sharing your thoughts with us and i shorts. thank you for sharing i your thoughts with us and we await the decision from the us supreme court. staying in the us, and the devastating fires that are destroying large parts of los angeles are on track to be among the costliest

in us history. the private forecaster accuweather said it expected losses of between $135 billion to $150 billion as the blazes rip through an area that is home to some of the most expensive property in the world. fire authorities say more than 5,300 structures have been destroyed by fire in the palisades area. and between four and 5,000 structures have been damaged or destroyed by the fire in eaton. here's our north america business correspondent, ritika gupta. wildfires engulfing swathes of los angeles are expected to be one of the nation's costliest natural disasters. the blazes around santa monica and malibu are consuming some of the most pricey real estate in the us, affecting areas where the median home value is more than $2 million. and in addition to the human costs and property damage in la, there's likely to be longer lasting health impacts

and medical costs due to acrid smoke, as well as a dent in the region's lucrative tourism business. jp morgan warned insurers that the cost is expected to pass $20 billion. the figure could rise further as the fires are not controlled and continue to spread. many affected homes were not insured. some of the biggest insurers hit by hurricanes and other natural disasters over the years have seized writing or stopped renewing policies in high—risk coastal and wildfire areas like pacific palisades. hurricane katrina in 2005 was the most expensive us natural disaster, with an estimated cost of $200 billion, according to national oceanic and atmospheric administration. blazes in california in 2018, including the camp fire caused an estimated $30 billion of damage. in the uk, the government has been defending its handling of the country's economy after a turbulent day on the markets on thursday saw

the pound drop to its lowest level in more than a year and government borrowing cost surge to a 16—year high. the former chancellor, lord hammond has warned the economy is in a fragile state, but the treasury insists there is no need for emergency intervention. meanwhile, the chancellor rachel reeves is flying to china today with a delegation of city executives, as labour seeks closer economic links with beijing as part of its quest for growth. let's head to our asia business hub, suranjana tewari is there. from the chinese side, what are they hoping to achieve from the visit of the uk chancellor? rachel reeves under pressure over this trip to china given what is going on with the uk markets. �* . ., markets. but the goal could ultimately _ markets. but the goal could ultimately benefit _ markets. but the goal could ultimately benefit the i markets. but the goal could ultimately benefit the uk i ultimately benefit the uk economy, with her defender saying the trip is important for uk trade and investment. china is the u.k.'s fifth

largest trading partner, with $68 billion worth of trade going from china to the uk last year. miss reeves will be the most senior british official to visit beijing in seven years. as you mentioned, a concerted effort by labour to build bridges with china and ties have been strained in recent years, with allegations of chinese hacking and spying and its jailing approach pro—democracy figures in hong kong. ms reeves �*s tavern �*rust�* travelling to china with the governor of the bank of england and the chair of hsbc. as for what is in it for china, one of the main goals is more cooperation on financial services. china is moving up the value chain and the uk could help given its expertise in services and financial services. china is expected to be at the sharp end of donald trump's aggressive trade policy, which could result in tariffs of up to 60% on all

chinese goods. chinese officials are already contending with the rapidly declining currency and a stock market sell—off and a protracted property crisis. the uk is unlikely to be able to resist taking sides, rachel reeves and a delegation may be hoping for something of an opportunity amidst those tensions. opportunity amidst those tensions-_ tensions. reporting from singapore. _ tensions. reporting from singapore, thank - tensions. reporting from singapore, thank you i tensions. reporting from singapore, thank you for| tensions. reporting from i singapore, thank you for that. let's talk a bit more about the uk side. anna macdonald, investment manager at aubrey capital managementjoins me from edinburgh. what's on the uk's shopping list from this meeting? i think as your correspondent said, it is to try to boost financial services, which is an uk and china are not in the area of strength for the uk, same pl. services, which is an financial services, which is an area of strength for the uk, and they look to co—operate and they look to co—operate where they can, is what they where they can, is what they say. despite getting quite a say. despite getting quite a lot of criticism, not only lot of criticism, not only about going on this visit when about bit the uk bond market is in a bit of turmoil but also faced with the uk bond market is in a bit of turmoil but also faced with

those allegations around the those allegations around the hacking and spying and various hacking and spying and various things. i think they are trying things. i think they are trying to carve out a niche in to carve out a niche in financial services. financial services. to carve out a niche in financialservices. remember, financial services. remember, we have to carve out a niche in financialservices. remember, financial services. remember, we have financialservices. remember, we have got hsbc, one of the financialservices. remember, we have got one of the biggest banks that has got a we have got hsbc, one of the biggest banks that has got a lot of interest in china. it is lot of interest in china. it is going to be quite difficult to going to be quite difficult to resist the pressure from the resist the pressure from the new trump administration. [30 new trump administration. [30 new trump administration. do ou new trump administration. do you think it will help that, new trump administration. do ou new trump administration. do you think it will help that, unlike the eu and the us right unlike the eu and the us right now, trade tensions between the now, trade tensions between the uk and china are not in the uk and china are not in the same place. for same place. for example, the uk is not levy in tariffs on chinese imported electric vehicles like the eu and the

chinese imported electric vehicles like the eu her the chinese imported electric vehicles like the eu her number is, as darrenjones, her number two said, these are global increases in bond yields that we are seeing but it does seem slightly more extreme in the uk. perhaps staying to reassure markets might have been an advantage but then again, one could have been accused of overreacting and trying to hard. the problem is business confidence has fallen into the

budget and this has put an awful lot of pressure on whether we are actually going to deliver the economic growth that rachel reeves needs in order to be able to deliver what she said that she is going to do, which is that she's going to have fiscally responsible 0utlook that we are going to be able to grow our way out of what are quite difficult financial circumstances. ., ., circumstances. from capital management. _ circumstances. from capital management, thank - circumstances. from capital management, thank you i circumstances. from capital management, thank you forj management, thank you for joining us. prices for re—sold event tickets in the uk are set to be capped to prevent professional touts reselling them at heavily inflated levels. the uk government said it would crack down on ticket touts that are "fleecing the public" and address the lack of transparency in dynamic pricing models. last summer thousands of oasis fans complained about ticket prices to see the band's reunion tour. the world's largest asset

manager, blackrock, has announced it is pulling out of a climate change industry group known as "net zero asset managers". the financialfirm said that its membership had caused confusion on blackrock's practices and invited legal inquiries from government officials. in november, blackrock and some of its rivals were sued by 11 republican led states over its environmental agenda, though the company denied any wrongdoing. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

to venezuela now, where president nicolas maduro will be sworn in for contested, third term later afterjuly�*s election, which the opposition says he stole. the opposition says its leader maria corina machado was briefly detained after addressing protesters who opposed the inauguration, a claim the government described as false.

mr maduro begins his third term with a slightly better economic picture. in february, venezuela finally said goodbye to the rampant hyperinflation that had seen price rises peak at more than 400,000% a year in 2019. now annual inflation is more manageable, but still high at about 50%. let's speak now to andres abadia, chief latam economist at pantheon macroeconomics. let's turn —— let's talk about the turnaround on the economic front. what has led to the improvement in the venezuelan economy? improvement in the venezuelan econom ? , improvement in the venezuelan economy?— economy? many factors. one is that the use — economy? many factors. one is that the use of _ economy? many factors. one is that the use of basically - economy? many factors. one is that the use of basically from . that the use of basically from the us and we have been more dynamic in terms of trade and that has been able to reduce

inflation but inflation is running at more than 50% per year and not only that economic picture in venezuela is still daunting. economic activity and gdp increased about 5% year over year in 2024 but you have to take into account there was a big collapse in economic activity. then the previous year. any marginal improvement can be seen as positive but honestly the situation is daunting, poverty levels are extremely high, inflation will likely continue to increase over the coming months if majuro remains in power. the situation of the economy remains complicated. $5 situation of the economy remains complicated. as you sa , remains complicated. as you say. listening _ remains complicated. as you say, listening of— remains complicated. as you say, listening of sanctions i remains complicated. as you say, listening of sanctions is| say, listening of sanctions is healthy economic picture. it is dependent on foreign trade, dependent on foreign trade, dependent on foreign trade, dependent on selling oil. i wonder what difference do you think the incoming trump administration in the us could make? ~ ., , administration in the us could make? ~ . , ., make? we have seen so far the recent statements, _ make? we have seen so far the recent statements, we've i make? we have seen so far the

recent statements, we've seen| recent statements, we've seen the trump administration will take a more tough line and then president biden. for instance, announcing the nominee for secretary of state, is very critical of maduro �*s government and probably will see more sanctions. mr trump wants all prices relatively low, he wants to deport many illegal immigrants in the us so we really don't know what it is going to be at the end of these actions, his policy towards maduro to begin with, if he stays in power.— maduro to begin with, if he stays in power. what about the links between _ stays in power. what about the links between venezuela i stays in power. what about the links between venezuela and i links between venezuela and china? close political links china ? close political links but china? close political links but of course the chinese economy has been underperforming of late. could that undermine the picture in venezuela?— venezuela? indeed. not only that, the _ venezuela? indeed. not only that, the most _ venezuela? indeed. not only that, the most close - venezuela? indeed. not only that, the most close allies i venezuela? indeed. not only that, the most close allies ofj that, the most close allies of venezuela, russia, iran, all of these countries are dealing

with their own challenges so 1533 00:1