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tv   Asia Business Report  BBC News  March 28, 2024 3:30am-3:46am GMT

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the national economy and the world economy depends on the port of baltimore. as investigations continue in baltimore, officials say tuesday's collision and bridge collapse could lead to a global crisis. and a surge in rents is changing life on the mediterranean party island of ibiza. hello and welcome to asia business report. i'm steve lai. officials have recovered two bodies in baltimore. a bridge collapsed in the us city on tuesday when a container ship crashed into it. investigators have just said some containers on the ship, containing corrosives and lithium ion batteries, were "breached". the ship was leaving the port of baltimore — one of america's largest. it has since been closed, causing havoc on the movement of goods. it's thought that 8,000 jobs have been affected by the collapse of the bridge.
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the collapse of the key bridge is notjust a maryland crisis, it is a crisis for the globe. the national economy and the world's economy depends on the port of baltimore. the port handles more cars and more farm equipment than any other port in the country. global supply chains are already facing challenging times with attacks in the red sea and water shortages in the panama canal. harry murphy cruise, an economist at moody's analytics, gave us a sense of the impact of the port closure in baltimore. at the moment we see supply chains across the world being incredibly strained and certainly this does not help. that said, the aggregate impacts of the disaster we saw earlier this week should be fairly contained. the port of baltimore, you can measure it a couple of different ways, it is the ninth or 10th largest international port
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within the us. a little under 5% of east coast trade heading to the port of baltimore. that is not nothing but it is not really enough to shift the aggregate needle in terms of global supply chains. we will see impacts for key goods and notably as was said, cars and coal as well. how will those industries in particular, automobile and energy be affected? 25% of us coal exports come through the port of baltimore and that is the equivalent to 1.5% of global coal trade. most of that goes to asia, specifically into india, given the high sulphur levels there. so this could cause some disruption. i think it is worth noting how malleable and flexible coal trade has been over the last few years. go back to the early 2020s when china imposed an unofficial coal ban on australian coal imports
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and australia is the second largest coal exporter in the world. that should have caused massive disruptions and it did around the edges but ultimately we saw musical chairs happening where china changed its suppliers, forcing japan and korea to buy from australia and ultimately the impact was relatively contained. that was a far bigger scenario than what we're seeing with the port of baltimore now. so we do not expect see any large spikes in coal prices because of this. in terms of cars, it is a massive car port with roll—on, roll—off stock and we could see some impact there for asia's big car exporters, particularly in japan. a lesser extent in china with delays in getting their stock into the united states market. that said, we are seeing other ports picking up the slack. much of what is going through the port of baltimore is now being redirected and we see an uptick
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in newjersey and virginia that will prevent a big spike in aggregate prices. in other news, us treasury secretary janet yellen has warned china against flooding global markets with cheap clean energy exports. she says she plans to raise the matter on her trip to the country next month. the world's two largest economies already disagree on a range of issues, including chips. the bbc�*s erin delmore has more from new york. janet yellen spoke in georgia on wednesday but she aimed her words at china. the us treasury secretary warned china against flooding the market with cheap clean energy exports. things like electric vehicles and lithium ion batteries. she said that we have seen this story before and likened this moment to the way china overproduced metals such as steel and aluminium years ago. the department says it is not only a question of price ability, they say it also hurts american companies and workers. the us is working on pumping up its own clean energy sector, offering tax breaks
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and subsidies to developers. meanwhile, the us is taking steps to blunt the power of china's chipmaking industry which it fears can be used to make advanced ai chips that strengthen china's military. it urges ally countries to keep from servicing some important chipmaking tools for china, much like rules already in place in the united states. the chinese president said that such policies will only lead to division and confrontation, adding that no forces can hinder the price of china's technological process. the battle comes as the secretary is getting ready to embark on her second trip to china as treasury secretary. she said addressing concerns over trade will be a top priority. chinese president xi jinping met with a group of american business leaders in the capital city of beijing on wednesday. according to state media reports, he told them that china's economy has not "peaked" and its growth prospects remain bright. the group reportedly included the chief executives of chipmaker qualcomm and investment
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company blackstone. staying with china, technology giant xiaomi will hold a launch event later today for its first electric car, the su7. the move sees the smartphone maker entering an already crowded market, dominated by brands like tesla and byd. it comes as trade tensions between china and the us remain high. abhishek murali from rystad energy says the xiaomi car could appeal to ev buyers around the world. xiaomi have said they would try to pace place that may place a price below 500,000. if we look at the features it is offering, there is a high level of autonomous driving rumoured but also an impressive long—range in the vehicle. the single charge is very good and if you combine that with fast charging abilities it makes for an attractive product. amazon is making its largest external investment in its three—decade history as it looks to gain an edge in the artificial
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intelligence race. the tech giant says it will spend another $2.75 billion backing anthropic, an ai startup based in san francisco. the companies announced an initial investment of over $1 billion last september. anthropic is widely viewed as a front—runner in generative ai. its chatbot claude is seen a competitor its chatbot claude is seen a competitor to 0penai's chatgpt. in many parts of spain, rental costs have risen steeply in recent years. in the island of ibiza, this phenomenon is largely driven by tourism. it has become increasingly difficult for local people to find affordable accommodation, a problem which is also affecting businesses. guy hedgecoe reports. ibiza is preparing for the summer tourist season. beaches and resorts have long been a magnet for holidaymakers. but its success has helped create a housing crisis. across the balearic
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islands, rental costs have increased by nearly 20% over the last year alone, and in ibiza the increases have been even sharper. there are several reasons for the steep rises. higher interest rates and a higher cost of living have discouraged people from purchasing property. that, in turn, leads to an increase in demand for rented accommodation, pushing up rental rates. tourism is also a major factor. last year, 3.7 million people visited ibiza and the neighbouring island. many stay in flats, pushing up rental prices and keeping locals out of the housing market. this man is a chef and although he has work, he has been sleeping in his car for the last three years. something that many workers on the island
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now resort to. translation: in ibiza, accommodation is - expensive and is getting more and more expensive. with cost of renting completely out of kilter with what you earn. there comes a moment when you say i cannot do this anymore. i need a house. local activists are demanding that this phenomenon be stopped. translation: the problem we have is that the island'sl housing is not being used for the purpose for which it was built. it is being used as a speculative business and for tourism. this situation is affecting local businesses. the old beach disco and restaurant is preparing for the high season. but finding staff in ibiza orfrom elsewhere is not easy. i have friends on the island whose rent has doubled in the last year so when you look at workers
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coming to the island, it is a massive factor and well—known, so i think it will ultimately affect people coming to the island and getting workers to come to ibiza. before we go, this is something you do not see every day. it is called the air car and created by a company in slovakia and it transforms into an aircraft in just over two minutes. it fully for 35 minutes back in 2021 dunalley technology behind the car has just been bought by a chinese firm. it says vehicles are made based on the air car will be used within a specific geographical region of china. that really is quite remarkable. remains to be seen if we were seated on the roads are in the air any time soon. bye for now.
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hey, i amjulia with the catch up. tonight, passport problems, marriage equality in thailand and an unexpected egg hunt. first an update from baltimore in the united states. investigators have been on the ship that crashed into a major bridge and made it collapse to a recovered black box which records it data. six people who were missing in the river are now believed to be dead. the ship had power issues and the crew made a distress calljust before the crash but could not change course in time. nearly one in six teenagers experiences cyber bullying across the world. a new study says there are more reports now than before the pandemic. experts want urgent education for young people, families and schools about different forms of cyber bullying and its impacts.
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some other stories now. uk travellers are getting turned away from flights because of the ten year passport rule. you cannot go to eu countries if your passport is over ten years old, even if it is still in date, because of a post brexit rule change. and thailand has taken a big step to legalise same—sex marriage. a draft bill has been passed but to become law it needs to pass the senate and get royal sign off. if it happens thailand will be the first country to do it in southeast asia. and we will leave you with ten seconds of this furry egg hunt. this german zoo said the animals are not that fussed by the easter holidays, which makes sense, but the brown bears, monkeys and dwarf mongoose love hunting for treats all the same. and you are all caught up now. have a good night.
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hello and welcome to sportsday with me, marc edwards. chelsea's quest for the quadruple continues. they're into the semi finals of the womens champions league. sinner the winner. the australian open champion eases into the last four at the miami open. from south—east england to seattle. we talk to the british coach breaking new ground in the nfl. thank you forjoining us on sportsday. chelsea are through to the women's champions league
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semi—finals for a second season running with a comfortable

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