higher housing, cars and food costs but once his take—out core inflation was 4.7%, the lowest since october 2021. the good news is that inflation has drifted down from last summer's 40 drifted down from last summer's a0 year highs but it's still well above what the federal reserve thinks of as normal prices. with the overall trend heading in the right direction, policymakers may feel that they don't need to raise interest rates further. us central bank, you may recall, raised its benchmark interest rate to more than five and a quarter %, the highest in 22 years, all in a bid to call the economy and ease the pressure is pushing up prices. —— cool. qualities too early to say mission accomplished, from the white house to wall street there is a sense that progress has been made in the world's largest economy. china's e—commerce giant alibaba reported its strongest quarterly revenue growth in almost two years, pushing its us listed shares up by more than a%. earlier this week the latest data shows consumer prices fell in china injuly, another sign of a slowdown in the world's second biggest economy. we have a consultant specialising in china's consumer market telling us why e—commerce companies are doing well, despite the economy for economic headwind. fix, doing well, despite the economy for economic headwind. 3 lat doing well, despite the economy for economic headwind.- for economic headwind. a lot of consumers _ for economic headwind. a lot of consumers actually _ for economic headwind. a lot of consumers actually have - for economic headwind. a lot of consumers actually have a - for economic headwind. a lot ofj consumers actually have a habit of going online because of covid and even just before covid and even just before covid and even just before covid and a lot of those trends are sustained, even beyond covid. i think it has to do with all the investment, all these players have put in to improving the user experience, you know, investing in content and video, live streaming, all of those actually help to better experience for the consumers. the second important factor is consumers are impatient so a lot i getting more sensitive to price, given the uncertainty on the economic outlook ———— are getting. the online becomes the place to shop when it comes to some more value for money options. if shop when it comes to some more value for money options.— value for money options. if you thou . ht value for money options. if you thought the _ value for money options. if you thought the post _ value for money options. if you thought the post pandemic - thought the post pandemic return to the office would create a bonanza of investment into office space, think again! according to the latest research, investment in commercial real estate in the asia—pacific region actually fell by 17% in the second quarter from fell by 17% in the second quarterfrom one fell by 17% in the second quarter from one year ago. fell by 17% in the second quarterfrom one year ago. one of the authors of this report told us what caused the fall. investments for the first quarter down 17% which is a result of the interest rate uncertainty so it's notjust at the fed, asian central banks across the region here are not only looking at their own economies in terms of data, economic growth figures, as well as inflation but also taking cues from the fed so with the interest rate uncertainty about cost and borrow have gone up significantly since pre—pandemic era, that's one of the reasons why we have seen investments stalling ever so slightly and we also have the situation where the buyers are now not willing to come down to meet or sellers, rather, now not willing to come down to meet orsellers, rather, not willing to come down to meet the buyers's expectations and so the price gap is creating this halt in terms of transaction and activity across the region. transaction and activity across the region-— the region. what about warehouses _ the region. what about warehouses because i the region. what about i warehouses because they the region. what about - warehouses because they were seen as a hot commodity because of the boom and as we heard, it still seems to be going quite strong. i warehouses still quite hot in terms of property investments?— investments? logistics warehouse _ investments? logistics warehouse industrial, l investments? logistics . warehouse industrial, that sector is one of the bright spots that we've seen as a matter of fact. and from a camp —— from a year ago, volumes were up. the reason being is your previous guest mentions, e—commerce is still very much a growing area, even though it has peaked since the pandemic period. there is also demand drivers such as the third party logistics providers, and users's demand needing the logistics warehouse, and facilities are now being updated to be rebuilt and then i think we have to consider the movement of the logistics warehouse spaces from perhaps the more peripheral to more of a urban centre where we do continue to see positive net migration into urban centres and the last mile, they need to keep that closer to bring products to customers fast. since the launch of chatgpt, artificial intelligence has taken the tech world by storm but it's a rapid progress that has divided opinions. seen as a latest disruptor, there has been a lot of discussions about how ai been a lot of discussions about how a! steel millions ofjobs but one company that is embracing ai is zeta global. it offers marketing solutions to some of the world's biggest companies like bmw and jaguar. i caught up with their co—founder david steinberg. he told me why he thinks the benefits from al outweigh the risks. it benefits from al outweigh the risks. , ., ~' benefits from al outweigh the risks. , ., ~ ., risks. if you think about the evolution — risks. if you think about the evolution of _ risks. if you think about the evolution of employment, | risks. if you think about the j evolution of employment, a risks. if you think about the - evolution of employment, a lot of it sort of started with the advent of information being able to flow freely very, very quickly, right, so this first lead to manufacturing being moved from very expensive countries to lower cost countries to lower cost countries and then it led to information service, employees moving from expensive countries to lower cost countries. now what we're looking at is we're going to see the next big sort of leap, probably will hit white collarjobs more than the last two leaps, but it's going to create more jobs at the end of the day than i believe it will destroy. this of the day than i believe it will destroy.— of the day than i believe it will destroy. as you said, in the past _ will destroy. as you said, in the past it _ will destroy. as you said, in the past it was _ will destroy. as you said, in the past it was mainly - will destroy. as you said, in the past it was mainly i - will destroy. as you said, in i the past it was mainly i guess the past it was mainly i guess the blue—collar workers who have been affected by all those tech inventions but now that the white—collar workers have been affected as well, how do you think employees can remain competitive? it’s you think employees can remain competitive?— competitive? it's a great question. _ competitive? it's a great question, and _ competitive? it's a great question, and to - competitive? it's a great question, and to me, . competitive? it's a great - question, and to me, artificial intelligence is a tool, right? you cannot build a house without a hammer. i believe that employees that embrace artificial intelligence and learn how to use it, to take some of the mundane functions of theirjobs out and use it to help them focus more on creativity, strategy and relationship management, i think those are going to be the employees who thrive in the next generation.— employees who thrive in the next generation. what do you think needs _ next generation. what do you think needs to _ next generation. what do you think needs to happen - next generation. what do you think needs to happen here? | next generation. what do you i think needs to happen here? is it the government introducing regulations? what can be done? what should be done?— what should be done? there needs to _ what should be done? there needs to be _ what should be done? there needs to be a _ what should be done? there needs to be a world - what should be done? there j needs to be a world standard what should be done? there i needs to be a world standard on how ai is being operated and governed globally. if individual countries do it on an island, it's going to be very difficult for different countries to survive but one of the great stories i've heard told was the secretary of artificial intelligence in dubai, yes, that's a cabinet post, gave an incredible speech at paris and he talked about when the gutenberg printing press came out, six governments in the middle east got together and made it illegal and the period of time that it was illegal, about 180 years, europe grew its economy at the fastest pace in its history at that time because of the gutenberg printing press, far outpacing those middle eastern countries who had turned their back on it and made it illegal so embracing new technology is the key to future economic growth and prosperity for all, but we've got to make sure that it is governed in a fair way. the global industry for menopause products is worth billions but doctor louise newson says there is little evidence that many of the supplements will make any difference at all. i supplements will make any difference at all.— difference at all. i really worry about _ difference at all. i really worry about it. - difference at all. i really worry about it. i - difference at all. i really worry about it. i don't . difference at all. i really i worry about it. i don't work with any of these companies, i don't do any work with farmer, in automatic transparency but i read somewhere the other day it is $120 billion a year spent on menopause —related products but if i was a sassy businessperson thinking is 1.2 billion women worldwide that are menopausal, how are we going to get them to buy some supplements or face cream or shampoo? actually when i was struggling and one of able to —— was unable to retrieve treatment from nhs, i would have done anything, it's cheaper than a divorce and mentor could have kept myjob and income and people are desperate to feel better and your advertising some of these products which are great and —— the advertising on some of them is great to push people away from hrt and it worries me because there is evidence that a lot of the supplements would not really make a difference, they are not going to improve future health as well. the money being spent on this is just awful, actually.— just awful, actually. that's it for this edition _ just awful, actually. that's it for this edition of _ just awful, actually. that's it for this edition of asia - for this edition of asia business report. i will be back next hours so do join us if you can. for now, thank you so much for watching the programme. voice-over: bbc news, - bringing you different stories from across the uk. all chant: let them in! this meeting injuly was supposed to be an opportunity for birmingham city council to tell residents about their plans for a £2 billion regeneration of their area, ladywood. but it descended into farce as hundreds were locked outside. cheering and applause. the residents feel left in the dark about the plans — especially the fact that the council has sanctioned the use of compulsory purchase orders, giving them powers to force people out. i want something for my family and friends and children that's going to grow up. and where are you going to stick them? are they going to be just pushed away and forgot? birmingham university lecturer laura kudrna moved to the area a few years ago. she'sjoined a campaign to give residents a voice. there's over 2000 people affected by this and theyjust don't know what's going to happen next. it's not as if the council has sent us letters, saying that our homes are at risk of a compulsory purchase order. instead, we've had to find out from the news. but birmingham city council say the area is deprived and will benefit in the long run. this is a long—term programme, 20—year programme, for an area that most needs it. so, no—one's going to be turfed out of the house. there will be an offer made at some point. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. hey, i'm dylan with the catch up. tonight — devastation in hawaii. wilko in trouble. and tourists in space. but first — at least 36 people have died in hawaii as wildfires sweep across the island of maui. the pictures are absolutely devastating. firefighters are struggling to control the flames. some areas have been completely burnt to the ground as strong winds fuelled the fires overnight. dustin is one of thousands who managed to escape. i ran south and ijust helped everybody i could along the way. inaudible when you can. some other stories now and police in london arrested nine people last night after clashes around oxford street. groups of people had gathered in response to posts on social media, calling for trouble in the area. the home goods store wilko is in trouble after it failed to raise enough money to save the company. the chain's a00 stores will stay open for now but it puts 12,500 jobs at risk. and as elon musk finishes rebranding twitter to x, he's announced he's actioning some memorabilia from the old twitter offices. over at the women's world cup, laurenjames has been given a two—match ban by fifa following the red card she received for stamping on the back of a nigerian player during england's match on monday. and finally, i'm going to leave you with virgin galaxy's first flight. the first three paying passengers on board virgin galactic�*s space flight, along with the pilot, have completed their trip to the edge of space. that's it from me. you're all caught up! i'm sarah mulkerrans. harry kane faces the bigget decision of his career — will he leave boyhood club tottenham for german giants bayern munich? the premier league is back — we'll hear from the defending champions manchester city. day one complete at the women's open — and it's the usa's ally ewing who leads the way. welcome along the programme. lovely to have you with us. so it's appears it is now harry kane's decision to make. will he or won't he move to bayern munich? the german club has agreed a deal in principle with tottenham to sign their record goalscored