apple takes yet another giant bite out of its competition, making a profit of over $11 billion in the third quarter of the year. up up and away, us shares hit a record high for a fifth day in a row. we tell you what's driving the astonishing growth. welcome to world business report. i'm sally bundock. also in the programme: we'll be live in china for the latest on a possible trade war with the us. let's start with the world's most valuable company. apple has published its latest set of results and they show revenue growing to $16.1 billion for the three months tojuly. that combined with a prediction that it will bring in as much as $52 billion in the next quarter saw shares rise by up to 6% in after—hours trade to hit a record high. apple made a pre—tax profit of $11.3 billion in the three months from april to the end ofjune, a solid rise on the previous year. this year the iphone is ten years old, but it's not been performing so well in china, where sales this quarter were flat and total chinese revenue for the company actually fall by 10% compared to the same quarter last year. and apple increasingly trails its arch rival samsung in the smartphone market in terms of share right across the globe, which some analysts say is a problem for a company so reliant on handsets for its profits. one way apple has tried to decrease its reliance on iphone sales is its growing range of services. those grew by 22% year on year in 03, with the company raking in $7.3 billion from things like its app store and apple pay payment system. our tech reporter dave lee has more now from outside apple's hq in silicon valley. investors and apple fans had been concerned that the new iphone, which is due in september, could be delayed until next year because of production issues butjudging by apple's revenue forecast for its next quarter, it expects the iphone production to be right on track so you can expect anticipation for the new phone to go into overdrive in what will be the iphone‘s 10th anniversary what will be the iphone‘s10th anniversary year. other good news for apple was better results for its ipad range, which has grown for the first time in more than three years. the tablet, written off by many as a dying form factor, is stronger than ever and eight of the ten strongest are made by apple. apple's serviced apartment, things like the app store and apple music, have revenues of $7.3 billion in this last quarter, making it the size of a fortune 100 company. a blip in these results and it's been a big blip for quite now for apple is the company performance in china were in this quarter the revenue drops. chief executive tim cook told investors he thinks apple is in cook told investors he thinks apple isina cook told investors he thinks apple is in a trough in the region and he expects better performance in china $0011. expects better performance in china soon. dave lee, bbc news, silicon valley. and a follow—up on a story about apple we were covering yesterday. chief executive tim cook has said he would rather not have removed some software from his firm's app store in china that allows users to access banned parts of the internet. speaking after the release of the firms results he said apple was required by the chinese government to remove the apps. the shares did really well after the day traded and the dowjones industrial average closing on a record high. it's the fifth day in a i’ow record high. it's the fifth day in a row this has happened, getting closer to 22,000. it's the 48 record highs since trump was elected. —— 48. what is behind this long—term trend? —— 48th. this particular run on the dow has been driven by strong corporate earnings. banks continue to perform well despite lower trading numbers and oil companies seem to be read gaining some lost ground now oil prices are starting to rebound. —— regaining. some big companies like facebook and netflix have posted strong earnings for the quarter but if you look at the entire year, all of the indices have been breaking records and all of this is happening despite the legislative stalls in washington. it seems like it may be a while before we see any movement on tax reform or infrastructure spending. but the general sense from wall street is that the white house is business friendly and that can only mean good things. of course there are some other factors contributing to the party. global growth and a weak dollar are boosting exports and investors were really relieved when the federal reserve, america's central bank, promised that it would raise interest rates slowly. samira who's in explaining the white house's being perceived as business friendly but what about its relationship with china? it's being reported president trump is close to a decision on how to respond to what he considers china's unfair trade practices. the reuters news agency says mr trump is looking into initiating an investigation of chinese trade practices. a move which would allow the president to unilaterally impose tariffs. joining us now from shanghai is our china correspondent robin brant. hi, robin. this is something that he talked about a lot during the campaign trail, he would slap ta riffs campaign trail, he would slap tariffs on china, so this could possibly become a reality? yeah, this is the third time president trump has talked about the prospect of possibly a trade war between beijing and washington, dc. you're right, during the campaign it was hugely important for donald trump the candidate and he talked in extreme language saying china had raped the united states ofjobs. what we're seeing now is reports from both reuters and bloomberg, sourced i have to say to anonymous people, the prospect in the coming daysis people, the prospect in the coming days is rising of president trump making a decision to order an investigation under some legislation in the states from 1970s four, a trade act of ayr, to look at the relationship between china and the us and what they see as a long period of hostile chinese actions —— 1974 -- a period of hostile chinese actions —— 1974 —— a trade act there. many firms are here in heavy industry. the fact, and we hear this a lot from us firms here, there isn't really reciprocity and a level playing field so what we might get from the president is an investigation although that could possibly be quickly followed by unilateral trade sanctions against china from the united states. i have to say it's not the first time the president—elect has talked about this but i think he has often linked trade to diplomacy, we saw last week i think the failure it is fair to say that america's efforts to force china to do something over north korea and now we're facing the prospect of a trade war again. it's clear those two things are linked at the white house. thanks a lot, robin brant, who is based in shanghai. ‘s political leaders and car industry bosses will be meeting in berlin today to talk about inner—city pollution in 16 german cities —— germany's. it's been reported the government will ask for softwa re reported the government will ask for software updates for around 2 million vehicles at a cost of $354 million. that's instead of more expensive changes to engines to cut diesel emissions. the meeting comes as the european investment bank announced it is examining claims of volkswagen use one of its loans to develop a device to evade engine emission tests. in the meantime major us carfirms emission tests. in the meantime major us car firms have reported a sharp fall in sales injuly, driven down by lower rental fleet sales and wea ker down by lower rental fleet sales and weaker consumer demand. sales were down by 15% at general motors, 10% at fiat chrysler and 7.5% at ford compared with the year before. shares in us car companies fell on the news. let's quickly look at the markets in asia. many tech companies riding high today in asia of the back of the news about apple. many companies in asia supply bits for the iphone and other elements like the ipad. let's quickly look at the united states so you can see how the dow ended. as we mentioned, not far at all from that 22,000 mark. 0uite ended. as we mentioned, not far at all from that 22,000 mark. quite a feat really. the main markets are all higher. apple shares up 6%. apple now at a record high as well. of course, the world's most valuable company in terms of market cap. that's all from me for now, see you ina that's all from me for now, see you in a moment for the news review. women in their early 60s are £32 a week worse off on average because they're having to wait before they can start picking up their state pension. pension ages have been put up for women, and while some are managing to carry on working, new figures show that typically they have lower incomes. simon gompertz reports. waiting for your pension and struggling to get by. shirley from aberdeen is 61, not working because of ill—health and she won't qualify for the state pension until she's 66. i can't afford holidays, i've given up my car. basically my life really. i've got a bus pass, would be! it's the only thing i've got really, not getting my pension, i've got my bus pass. i got my sanity! pension age is used to be 60 for women and 65 for men. by the end of the decade they will be 66 for both, the decade they will be 66 for both, the reform coming in stages. the result is merely a woman the women in their early 60s having weekly average incomes £32 less than they used to be, the hit would be bigger but for the back that many are working. 18% are living in poverty. perhaps the group who are worse off in this reform are the ones that wa nt to in this reform are the ones that want to work, perhaps retire a bit later, but can't do so because they can't find work or their health prevents them from being able to do so. prevents them from being able to do so. women have been campaigning for compensation saying they weren't given enough warning of the pension changes that save £5 billion a year. but the government says their fair and because of rising life expectancy women now get the state pension for longer than previous generations. simon gompertz, bbc news. coming up at 6am on breakfast, charlie stayt and naga munchetty will have all the day's news, business and sport. they'll also have more on the duke of edinburgh's final official royal engagement before retirement. the 96—year—old has been a familiar feature of national life since 1947. today at buckingham palace he'll be given a royal salute by members of the royal marines. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: president trump has demanded the immediate release of two venezuelan opposition leaders. they were arrested after calling for protests against president maduro, who wants to rewrite the country's constitution. save the children says more than a million children in yemen have an increased risk of dying from cholera, that's because of severe malnourishment. the charity says a fifth of those affected are at imminent risk of starving to death. the duke of edinburgh is set for his final official royal —— now it's time for our newspaper review. what's making headlines around the world ? the lead in the guardian: claims there are more than 1500 homes sitting empty in london's grenfell area that are owned by wealthy foreign business people. the report also states that of the survivors of that deadly fire, only 12 households have been reaccomodated. french newspaper, le figaro, features an article on the return of chinese tourism in france, some of whom are spending 200 euros a day on shopping. it comes after a slump in 2016 following the paris attacks. the front page of the times features an article claiming uber drivers are secretly colluding to cause price surges by logging out of the app, so other drivers can then charge customers more under the supply and demand fare model. could saudi arabia be the next tourism hotspot for uk travellers? in the arab news, uk tour operators report having growing waiting lists of holidaymakers willing to pay nearly £5000 to visit the gulf state. it follows a move to introduce visa—free travel to part of the kingdom's red sea coast. and plunging necklines and short skirt banned from ladies golf as part of the new dress code in the lpga tour. the daily telegraph speaks to british number one charley hull who says the new rules are a shame and believes the sport needs to move away from its old—fashioned label. laughter well, plenty to talk about. let's get started. with me is jane foley, senior fx strategist at rabo bank. it is nice to see you. good morning. let's start with the guardian story.