is going to be closely watched. as we know historically, this is a chance for the us president to talk about what's happened in the last year, and what is a —— his priorities are for the next year ahead. typically this is an overrated speech but not this year. people will be looking at what president biden says and how he says it. so we can talk about the policy bits that'll be in there, most notably the announcement about building an emergency peerfor gaza, announcement about building an emergency peer for gaza, for the us military to deliver military aid. but to be clear, this is about performance. 61% of biden�*s voters have said he's too old for the job now, everyone will be looking for, regardless of what he says, how he says it, does he have the energy and vitality, and can he win over independence and nikki

haley's motors?— haley's motors? certainly is a key thing _ haley's motors? certainly is a key thing peeple _ haley's motors? certainly is a key thing people are - haley's motors? certainly is a key thing people are talking l key thing people are talking about, the age issue. another thing is the us economy — from the stock market, it's indicated it's showing strength, but americans might not be feeling the benefit. this is the thing, on paper of the economy is quite strong. it looks like a us soft landing after covid and inflation issues we've had, and we don't see a recession on the horizon, so americans should be feeling good about the economy and their pocketbooks. they don't, and there is concern of where things might be going heading forward. but certainly they should be feeling better than they do, but this will be a challenge because again, they'll be looking for biden to say notjust they'll be looking for biden to say not just what's they'll be looking for biden to say notjust what's happening today, but what are the policies going forward and how will we actually drive additional economic growth? so he does have legislative successes to toe, but people will be looking at his energy and vitality, and how he might

differfrom and vitality, and how he might differ from what we might see on the other side of the aisle. it'll be tough for him to sell the american success story when people aren't feeling in their pocketbooks. for us here in asia, what are people hoping to hear? , , . , asia, what are people hoping to hear? ,~/ ,. hear? this is largely domestic oli hear? this is largely domestic policy speech. _ hear? this is largely domestic policy speech, so _ hear? this is largely domestic policy speech, so we - hear? this is largely domestic policy speech, so we won't . hear? this is largely domestic| policy speech, so we won't see much on foreign policy. if we do, it'll be on israel—gaza and ukraine. i would expect biden would tell some successes in shoring up alliances when taking the presidency, keeping supply routes open, building supply routes open, building supply chain resiliency. i wouldn't be surprised if you heard him talk about relationships with korea and japan in particular, i wouldn't expect a lot on china — that's an area that's probably the one bipartisan issue in the states to look at china, but given the us china relationship has improved recently, i don't think we'll see much they are, particularly nothing that will be at national setback in the relationship. i think the focus will instead be on trying to

get aid into ukraine and helping focus on the gaza issue, which is important especially for biden�*s young voters in that constituency. in other news — us bipartisan lawmakers have unanimously approved legislation that would force china's bytedance to divest tittok within six months, orface a complete ban of the app in the us. this bill will now move to the house of represemtatives for approval, which is likely to come in the next few weeks. after that, it's over to the white house, which has already signalled support for the bill. tiktok has been under scrutiny in the us for national security concerns amid its alleged links to the chinese government. to some earnings now — chip giant broadcom beat wall street estimates for the first quarter, as artificial intelligence continues to drive demand for its chips. revenue came in just shy of $12 billion, with sales from its semiconductor solutions in particular generating over $7 billion of that revenue. its stock however traded lower in after hours. tesla rival rivian is looking to turn around sales, with the unveiling of several

new electric vehicles. our north america business correspondent erin delmore filed this report from new york. the electric vehicle maker rivian gave shareholders to bits of good news on wednesday. new ev models and $2.25 billion in cost savings. the news said democrats that share prices up 13% on the day, and offers rivian�*s answer to two issues dogging the company. its cash flow and the consumer demand for the consumer company's dvds. the new models are the are two and/or three. the art to is being offered as a smaller, more affordable suv with a price that'll start around $45,000. that's actually around $45,000. that's actually a few thousand dollars less than the average new car in the us, and weigh less than the $75,000 suv that rivian rivian currently offers. part of the cost savings comes from stopping a plan to build a new factory in georgia, despite

billions in government incentives. and just last month, we sawjob cuts which the company chalked up to sinking demand due to high interest rates and economic uncertainty. the new models are rivian�*s effort to roll in budget conscious customers and win a foothold in the market. there's a lot riding on it, rivian has yet to turn a profit. it's march 8th today — also known as international women's day. it's a good opportunity to look at the advancements that women have made in terms of economic opportunities, education, health, and political leadership. however, there's still a ways to go before women reach parity with men. to help break this down for us, i'm joined now by our business reporter katie silver. help us understand this better. there's a new study from the world economic forum that analysed the data from 146 countries. what they were looking at is how the cap had changed across several key areas— you mentioned some of them there, political

attainment, economic advancement, health care and education. so let's look at what they found. the global gender gap score stood at roughly 68%, so in other words 60% of the gap between men and women had been closed. that's not much different from the 68.1% the previous year. no country has achieved full gender parity, but the ones at the top of the list include norway, germany, nicaragua and namibia. they all have at least closed 80% of their gaps. the top spot for 14 years now in a row is iceland at 91%. while the countries that came in at the countries that came in at the bottom are pakistan, iran, algeria, chad and afghanistan. the organisation says overall women have made progress particularly when it comes to health care and education, but when we talk about access to economic opportunities as well as political attainment, things have actually slid backwards. we can see some improvement in the years ahead. thank you so much, katie, speaking from our

newsroom. turning to something we don't talk about often — the cannabis industry. the un's international narcotics board is calling out governments which legalise the cultivation of cannabis for recreational use, saying they are breaking international law. despite the scrutinty, the market for cannabis—based products in the united states is now pretty well—established. jessie shannon is president of the cannabist company, a major us producer and retailer. he explained how the company balances profits and public health, in this week's talking business. we work in incredibly modern and stringent framework. so i think consumers can take a lot of confidence in the systems in place to protect them. but for ourselves, it's part of our mission, vision and values. this industry— peoplejoke all the time, will cannabis be a $100 billion plus industry? it only democrat already is. the rest of the way it's making through its way through these

gray and black markets and infrastructures until we can see continued expansion, which we are seeing across the country, and access to more canopy and more manufacturing and through play. that's when you ultimately will see the cost for safe and tested products to come down to or not below. then i think you're looking at something very similar to what we saw with the end of prohibition of alcohol in this country, where at some point people aren't buying bathtub gin any more, it's easier to go to liquor store and buy a bottle of gin or whisky. in those days are coming for our industry. i5 whisky. in those days are coming for our industry. is a difficult to — coming for our industry. is a difficult to navigate - coming for our industry. is a difficult to navigate the company through the regulatory challenges and changes through the cannabis industry? how do you do that? it’s the cannabis industry? how do you do that?— you do that? it's very difficult. _ you do that? it's very difficult. we - you do that? it's very difficult. we have - you do that? it's very difficult. we have a l you do that? it's very - difficult. we have a team of incredibly bright people who work on that across the country. i alwaysjoke work on that across the country. i always joke around that being a multistate operator in the us is really almost like operating a multinational organisation inside of the country, because every state has nuance and

differences to the frameworks of the regulatory compliance, the systems they may leverage, all the way through even the infrastructure that we have when it comes to retail or cultivation manufacturing. you can see the — cultivation manufacturing. you can see the full _ cultivation manufacturing. you can see the full interview on this weektalking business. before we go — the 92—year—old media tycoon rupert murdoch has in the markets — wall street closed higher, with gains in some big tech heavyweights like nvidia and apple boosting the market. the s&p 500 and nasdaq ended the session at all—time highs. the dow as well closed in the green. we're awaiting president biden, who will deliver his state of the union address shortly. let mejust show let me just show you these pictures, exterior pictures of the capitol, and you can get a sense of the buzz as well by looking at all the world's media gathering outside the building, all ready to report on the state of the union

address, which are coverage on the bbc will start in half an hour's time. goodbye for now. bbc news — bringing you different stories from across the uk. this swan was found with cooking oil in its feathers at little venice, in central london. now it's being cleaned at the swan sanctuary in shepperton, in surrey. how serious is it for the birds, this oil? yeah, it's really serious. it can cause lots of problems. it's not something they can get off on their own, they have to have help getting off. and then, they go back, do they do? they will go back eventually? they will go back, but we will have to wait for the waterways to be cleaned up before they can go back. a few weeks ago, cooking oil was dumped into the canal near alperton, in west london, from what's believed to be a kitchen forfood deliveries. contractors for the canal and river trust are trying to clear it up, costing the charity £10,000 a day.

it has now spread right up the grand union canal to little venice and the paddington basin. so far, 40 birds have been brought here to shepperton — ten have died. so far, there have been no prosecutions of those who dumped the oil. and, while it may not be toxic, the charity says the oil does still have a devastating impact on wildlife. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. hey, i'm zoph with the catch up. tonight — what the budget means for you, a greggs where you least expect it, and kangaroos trying to get a hole—in—one. let's start with the budget — as chancellor atjeremy hunt set out the uk budget for the year on wednesday. experts have criticised the conservatives and labour

of a conspiracy of silence over the scale of spending cuts in the years ahead. they accuse the main parties are failing to address the real issues facing the uk — so basically, it's thought that households are much worse off now than they were at the last general election in 2019. next — three teenagers have been found guilty of killing a 16—year—old boy with a zombie knife at a house party, in bath. mikey roynon died from a single stab wound to the back of the neck during a row in the garden at the party. one of the 16—year—olds was found guilty of murder, and the other two found guilty of manslaughter. they cannot be named because of their age. and this next story is pretty wild — a greggs superfine one school crazy hair day with this iconic greggs hairdo. her mum used real icing and sprinkles to recreate greggs doughnuts and coffee. safe to say, six—year—old lacey had a very,

very good headache — definitely better than mine! —— good hair day. time to leave you with ten seconds of kangaroos trying to get a hole—in—one. the huge stampede of them took over a golf course in melbourne. just look at them go, they are properly rapid! it's safe to say the golfers had their game interrupted for a short while, and then, hopefully they were able to get back to it. you're all caught up now, see you later.

hello, and welcome to sportsday. i'm paul scott at the bbc sport centre. here's what's coming up... red bull suspend the woman who accused team principle christian horner of inappropriate behaviour, as horner says it's time to draw a line under the controversy. liverpool have one foot in the europa league quarterfinals, after a hefty win over sparta prague in the czech capital. after her drugs ban was reduced, simona halep will return to tennis in miami later this month, as she's given a wild card. and anthonyjoshua weighs in almost a stone—and—a—half lighter than former ufc champion francis ngannou ahead of their bout in riyadh.

the red bull racing boss christian horner says it's "time to draw a line" under claims he acted inappropriately towards a female member of staff. he was speaking after it emerged that the woman who made the claims has been suspended from the team on full pay. mr horner says the intrusion on his family has been "very trying" since he was accused of inappropriate and controlling behaviour — which he denies. 0ur sports news correspondent laura scott reports. for all that christian horner tries to block out the noise, the controversy continues. all stemming from allegations made against him by a female colleague, which he denies. in saudi arabia today, every question from the media was directed at horner— none of them about formula 1. asked if

he had