. -- faisal islam, thank thank you. —— faisal islam, thank you.s president to go on criminal trial after a new york judge set a court date for the end of next month. he is accused of falsifying business records in connection with payments made to an adult film star, stormy daniels. from new york, our north america editor sarah smith reports. this is now a familiar scene. donald trump's motorcade arriving at a courthouse. today, as he tried and failed to get this case dismissed or delayed, he argued these prosecutions interfere with his campaign to get back into the white house. how can you run for election to be sitting in a courthouse in manhattan all day long? i'm supposed to be in south carolina right now where other people are and where, again, this is where i should be. mr trump's also facing trial later this year in atlanta, georgia, on charges of election interference. the district attorney who brought the case against him, fani willis, has admitted having an affair with the man she appointed as the chief prosecutor. she was questioned abou

speaking to faisal lslam— faisal islam._ faisal islam. we always expected growth to be weak— faisal islam. we always expected growth to be weak about - faisal islam. we always expected growth to be weak about tackling | growth to be weak about tackling interest rates. that is the right thing to do, you can't have long—term healthy growth with high inflation but also for families, when there is a cost of living crisis, when the cost of their weekly shop is going up, their energy bills are much higher, it is the right thing to do. the underlying picture here is an economy that is more resilient than most people predicted. inflation is coming down, real wages have been going up now for six months and if we stick to our guns, independent forecasters say that by the early summer, we could start to see interest rates are falling and that would be a very important relief for families with mortgages. let’s would be a very important relief for families with mortgages. let's speak to labour's james _ families with mortgages. let's sp

i think it has been interesting and as faisal islam i from the bank.d as faisal islam said its a turning point and the fact that we did have one member of the monetary policy committee voting for a cut does really cement expectation that with rates, the next movement will be downwards. there had still been... if it had gone up considerably again, there have been thought that perhaps we would have further interest increases but it certainly looks according to everything that the bank of england are saying today that unless we see are saying today that unless we see a serious blip in terms of inflation, that the next movement in terms of rates will be down. that's very much good news for all those people that have extract mortgages, to an end. dani, thank you very much that analysis. were going to say goodbye now to our viewers on bbc two. �* , ., , ., two. and “ust to remind viewers that there will two. and just to remind viewers that there will be — two. and just to remind viewers that there will be a _ two. and just to remind viewers that there will b

our economics editor faisal islam reports. signs of the times in harlow town centre.r hairdressers, retailers, restaurateurs and others on the high street. on the other, the need to fill recruitment gaps, too. it may look like a recession — indeed it is now officially a recession — but it's not a very normal one. we went to the foodbank because some of the products are so expensive. for example, meat. never got any money, can't go out, everything's expensive now. things have changed. hopefully they're going to get better, or they'll get worse, won't they? we'll have to ride it through, like we've all done. - here's one way of comparing recessions. in the �*80s, �*90s and 20005, the hit to the economy can be seen here, both how deep and how long the recession lasts, with the worst during the great financial crisis of 2008 onwards. but here in red is what we've seen so far in the recession now confirmed to have started last year. and how things might pan out over the next year if forecasters are right. it is still a recession, but a more moderate dip. the bigger picture

our economics editor faisal islam reports. signs of the times in harlow town centre.he struggle for hairdressers, retailers, restaurateurs and others on the high street. on the other, the need to fill recruitment gaps, too. it may look like a recession — indeed it is now officially a recession — but it's not a very normal one. we went to the foodbank because some of the products are so expensive. for example, meat. never got any money, can't go out, everything's expensive now. things have changed. hopefully they're going to get better, or they'll get worse, won't they? we'll have to ride it through, like we've all done. - here's one way of comparing recessions. in the �*80s, �*90s and 20005, the hit to the economy can be seen here, both how deep and how long the recession lasts, with the worst during the great financial crisis of 2008 onwards. but here in red is what we've seen so far in the recession now confirmed to have started last year. and how things might pan out over the next year if forecasters are right. it is still a recession, but a more moderate dip. the

faisal islam, bbc news.n, widely considered one of the greatest drivers of all time, has been with mercedes for the past 12 years. his decision has shocked the world of formula 1. 0ur sports correspondent natalie pirks reports. mercedes is the team where hamilton has enjoyed his greatest success. but now he�*s ready for another chapter in his story, only this time in red. he�*s called leaving mercedes one of the hardest decisions he�*s ever had to make and added, "the time is right for me to take this step, and i�*m excited to be taking on a new challenge." "i want to finish on a high, i�*m 100% committed to delivering the best performance i can this season, making my last year with the silver arrows one to remember." as the longest—serving formula 1 team, ferrari holds allure and romance, but they haven�*t had a championship winning driver since 2007. but this could be a marriage made in heaven. it�*s like a dream come true for him, i should imagine, because going to ferrari is everything. it�*s so romantic

faisal islam, bbc news. let's get a sense of the mood among uk's smaller firms.s, founder of small business britain. very good evening to you. many would say it you could see this coming a mile away. to think many businesses were caught by surprise by this? i don't think so. all small businesses we spoke you do have said how 2023 was a tough year coming off the back of several tough years. our research coming out on monday was 2000 and small businesses, nearly 80% said their biggest fearfor small businesses, nearly 80% said their biggest fear for this year was recession. and here we're. part of the challenge is, recession is data, the challenge is, recession is data, the end of last year, small businesses have felt this, they know this. everything has been a problem. interest rates are hard, in frank's chin high, costs are high. it's in challenging —— inflations been high. but we don't want do now is get scared of the word recession and let that create a kneejerk reaction and make us be less positive going into 2024. make us be less positive going into 202a. cert

faisal islam, bbc news.how leg of her eras tour in melbourne on friday. analysts say this 2024 tour will likely surpass the $1 billion mark in march, having already grossed more than a billion dollars in 2023, making it the most lucrative in music history. georgia carroll is a sociologist at the university of sydney. she was also one of the keynote speakers at the weekend's swiftposium. i asked her what kind of ideas were discussed. the swiftposium discussed everything about taylor swift from my own analysis of the economics of her fandom, through people from law and medicine and science and archaeology, it was super varied but a really great place to explore what makes her that cultural phenomenon she has become. what is that when you talk about the factors that make her who she is? what are some aspects that come to mind? a lot of it comes down to the fact that she has been performing for 18 years now, which is a really long time, and the album coming out in april will be her 11th studio album, plus the re

speaking to our economic editor faisal islam, chancellorjeremy hunt insisted the government's plan totions. the numbers speak for themselves but the underlying picture here is that our plan has been to tackle inflation. first and foremost. that does mean higher interest rates. it is the right thing to do for families because when i see the cost of their weekly shop go up and energies go up, the cost of filling up the car going up, that creates real pressure and until you relieve that pressure on families, we are not going to see healthy growth. and when it comes to that battle against inflation, we are making much faster progress than many people predicted, so much so that independent forecasters say that if we stick to our guns, by the early summer we can start to see interest rates falling and that's why it is a very important period now, despite the challenging data, that we stick to our plan to see inflation really start to fall.— our plan to see inflation really start to fall. said this recession, be it for now _ start to fall. said this recession, be it for now relatively - star

and our economics editor faisal islam is here now.s, but what kind of impact will it have? when people hear the word recession, they think of a situation like we showed in 2008, the great financial crisis, or 2020, showed in 2008, the great financial crisis, or2020, during a pandemic. as we have shown, this is not that. it is what you get when you bounce along the bottom with zero growth and then there is a problem in the retail or construction sector, which then causes a dip into a recession, not a slump. that doesn't mean it is not a slump. that doesn't mean it is not a problem. for a government that has claimed that growth will occur, that they will get the economy growing, that was a promise. this is clearly a very deep challenge. for a government that has, since the turn of the year, said we have a turning point, this is not really consistent with that. when pressed, you heard the chancellor saying the turning point will come. when? when the bank of england feels confident enough about inflation to cut interest rates. it's not cl

faisal islam, bbc news.all in inflation, saying it is proof of his economic policies are working. he is under growing pressure from some in his own party to cut taxes when he unveils his spring budget next month. this of course as the uk gears up for an election most likely this year. mr; most likely this year. my overall picture _ most likely this year. if! overall picture here most likely this year. m overall picture here is most likely this year. mg overall picture here is of inflation falling dramatically faster than most people predicted and the economy being much stronger than the bank of england upgrading its forecast for this year next year and the year after and what it says is we've taken difficult decisions, the plan is working but now is not the time to junk plan by a big spending spree, £28 billion a year more, as other parties want to do. we need to stick to the plan because it is working. jeremy hunt. michael _ because it is working. jeremy hunt. michael huesler- because it is working. jeremy

the bbc�*s economics editor faisal islam has been taking a look.raine. at the time, the west mounted a counterattack, an economic one. massive sanctions, including the unprecedented acts of seizing hundreds of billions in foreign exchange reserves, cutting off some banks from the western financial system. it sent the rouble plunging and london listings of russia's big banks and energy companies collapsing in value. this is where we are now. the russian economy did collapse, and that's a decline not far off that seen during the pandemic. but since then it has recovered somewhat, showing some unexpected resilience. indeed, president putin has taken to boasting that the russian economy is in better shape than advanced economies. and while, if we take a look at the latest imf forecasts, russian growth was upgraded to outperform in 2024 the g7 advanced nations, it's still catching up from a big fall. and there's something very specific going on. russia has poured money into its occupation of ukraine. the numbers are quite sketchy, but based on the russi

faisal islam, bbc news.entists say it could switch from a close canopy forest to an open savannah with far fewer trees as a result of climate change. sofia bettiza has more from the newsroom. this new study is the most comprehensive to date in terms of its analysis of the amazon rainforest, and it shows that by 2050, half of the amazon could reach a tipping point. and that means that the damage would be irreversible. so why is that? well, it's because the amazon is increasingly exposed to unprecedented stress, and that stress comes from extreme drought, heat, fires and deforestation. and all of this is altering the functioning of the forest, which is producing less rain than ever before. instead, what we are seeing more and more are scenes like these. so essentially the research found that the decline of the forest is going to be even quicker than expected. 0nce we've crossed this tipping point, we cannot... maybe we cannot do anything any more. and then it's useless to stop deforestation, to try to stop...

faisal islam reports. it is two years since russia invaded ukraine.the west mounted a counterattack, an economic one. massive sanctions, including the unprecedented act of seizing hundreds of billions in foreign exchange reserves, cutting off some banks from the western financial system. it sent the rouble plunging and london listings of russia's big banks and energy companies collapsing in value. this is where we are now. the russian economy did collapse, and that's a decline not far off that seen during the pandemic. but since then it has recovered somewhat, showing some unexpected resilience. indeed, president putin has taken to boasting that the russian economy is in better shape than advanced economies. and while, if we take a look at the latest imf forecasts, russian growth was upgraded to outperform in 2024 the g7 advanced nations, it's still catching up from a big fall. and there's something very specific going on. russia has poured money into its occupation of ukraine. the numbers are quite sketchy, but based on the russian budget, it's trebl

the bbc�*s economics editor faisal islam has been taking a look.kraine. at the time, the west mounted a counterattack, an economic one. massive sanctions, including the unprecedented acts of seizing hundreds of billions in foreign exchange reserves, cutting off some banks from the western financial system. it sent the rouble plunging and london listings of russia's big banks and energy companies collapsing in value. this is where we are now. the russian economy did collapse, and that's a decline not far off that seen during the pandemic. but since then it has recovered somewhat, showing some unexpected resilience. indeed, president putin has taken to boasting that the russian economy is in better shape than advanced economies. and while, if we take a look at the latest imf forecasts, russian growth was upgraded to outperform in 2024 the g7 advanced nations, it's still catching up from a big fall. and there's something very specific going on. russia has poured money into its occupation of ukraine. the numbers are quite sketchy, but based on the russ

faisal islam, bbc news. the thoughts of our panel on this is a quick reminder, claire ainslie, former director of economic policy forfor lewis, ainslie, former director of economic policy for for lewis, and public domestic former policy adviser to governor mitt romney in the us. great to have you both off of this. let's talk about the uk economy, what do you make of those figures there, a recession?— there, a recession? well, it's not aood there, a recession? well, it's not good news _ there, a recession? well, it's not good news and — there, a recession? well, it's not good news and there's _ there, a recession? well, it's not good news and there's been - there, a recession? well, it's not good news and there's been a - there, a recession? well, it's not good news and there's been a biti there, a recession? well, it's not. good news and there's been a bit of a debate about a technical recession, but people are not feeling better often part of the reason why it's been declared that we are in a recession is b

the bbc�*s economics editor, faisal islam, has been listening to the ideas of several political and economicrs. well, the context is, obviously when russia invaded ukraine, there was the most extraordinary attempt at economic containment of russia from the west that went further than anyone has seen before, in terms of seizing central bank assets, sovereign assets. and yet, the russian economy has proved to be far more resilient, and resilient somewhat underplays it. there's two. . .there's two reasons for that. despite some restrictions on export, obviously, to western nations... ..the price being paid for the oil and gas that was still flowing meant that revenues were still bumper. the kremlin and its war machine kept on being lubricated with the proceeds of these... ..of these sales. but then on top of that, the central bank was quite skilful in, if you like, putting up buffers around its economy to protect the foreign exchange that was in russia. and then the next stage of that has been a quite extraordinary transformation of the russian economy into a war economy, with massive defence s

the bbc�*s economics editor, faisal islam, has been listening to the ideas of several political and economic. well, the context is, obviously when russia invaded ukraine, there was the most extraordinary attempt at economic containment of russia from the west that went further than anyone has seen before, in terms of seizing central bank assets, sovereign assets. and yet, the russian economy has proved to be far more resilient, and resilient somewhat underplays it. there's two. . .there's two reasons for that. despite some restrictions on export, obviously, to western nations... ..the price being paid for the oil and gas that was still flowing meant that revenues were still bumper. the kremlin and its war machine kept on being lubricated with the proceeds of these... ..of these sales. but then, on top of that, the central bank was quite skilful in, if you like, putting up buffers around its economy to protect the foreign exchange that was in russia. and then, the next stage of that has been a quite extraordinary transformation of the russian economy into a war economy, with massive defence s

the bbc�*s economics editor, faisal islam, has been listening to the ideas of several political and economic, the context is, obviously when russia invaded ukraine, there was the most extraordinary attempt at economic containment of russia from the west that went further than anyone has seen before, in terms of seizing central bank assets, sovereign assets. and yet, the russian economy has proved to be far more resilient, and resilient somewhat underplays it. there's two. . .there's two reasons for that. despite some restrictions on export, obviously, to western nations... ..the price being paid for the oil and gas that was still flowing meant that revenues were still bumper. the kremlin and its war machine kept on being lubricated with the proceeds of these... ..of these sales. but then on top of that, the central bank was quite skilful in, if you like, putting up buffers around its economy to protect the foreign exchange that was in russia. and then the next stage of that has been a quite extraordinary transformation of the russian economy into a war economy, with massive defence spending,

speaking to our economic editor faisal islam, chancellorjeremy hunt insists the uk government's planconomy is working despite the latest indications. the numbers speak for themselves but the underlying picture here is that our plan has been to tackle inflation first and foremost. that does mean higher interest rates. it's the right thing to do for families because when they see the cost of their weekly shop go up, their energy bills go up, the cost of filling their car go up that creates real pressure and until you relieve that pressure on families, we are not going to see healthy growth. when it comes to that battle against inflation, we are making much faster progress that many people predicted. so much so that independent forecasters say that if we stick to our guns, by the early summer we could start to see interest rates fall. that's why it is a very important period now. despite this challenging data that we stick to data that we stick to a plan that will see inflation start to fall. for more on this i spoke to bbc chief economics correspondent, dharshini david. she told me how

he's been speaking to our economic editor faisal islam. weaker while we prioritised tackling inflation, and that means higher interest rates, and that is the right thing to do because you cannot have long—term, healthy growth with high inflation. but also for families, when there is a cost of living crisis, when the cost of their weekly shop is going up, their energy bills are much higher, it is the right thing to do. the underlying picture here is an economy that is more resilient than most people predicted, inflation is coming down, real wages have been going up now for six months. and if we stick to our guns, independent forecasters say that by the early summer we could start to see interest rates falling, and that will be a very important relief for families with mortgages. the shadow chancellor rachel reeves has blamed the prime minister personally for the uk economy falling into recession. she said it was rishi �*s recession. she said other countries are doing a better job of growing their economies whilst managing inflation. fist job

speaking to our economic editor faisal islam, chancellorjeremy hunt insists the government's plan toive the economy is working despite the latest indications. well, the numbers speak for themselves but the underlying picture here is that our plan has been to tackle inflation first and foremost. that does mean higher interest rates. it's the right thing to do for families because when they see the cost of their weekly shop go up, their energy bills go up, real pressure and until on families, we are not going to see healthy growth. and when it comes to that battle against inflation, we are making much faster progress than many people predicted. so much so that independent forecasters say that if we speak to our guns, by the early summer we could start to see interest rates falling again. so that's why it's a very important period now, despite this challenging data, that we stick to our plan that is starting to see inflation really fall. so this recession, albeit for now a relatively modest recession, it is, has been, a price worth paying to get inflation down which will help interest r

speaking to our economic editor faisal islam, chancellorjeremy hunt insists the government's plan to

the bbc�*s economics editor faisal islam has been taking a look.attack, an economic one, massive sanctions, including the unprecedented act of seizing hundreds of billions in foreign exchange reserves, cutting off some banks from the western financial system. it sent the ruble punching and rushing listings of london big banks and energy companies collapsing in value. this is where we are now, the russian economy did collapse, and that is a decline not far off that scene during the pandemic, but since then it has recovered somewhat, showing some unexpected resilience. indeed president putin has taken to boasting that the russian economy is in better shape than advanced economies, and while if we take a look at the latest imf forecasts, russian growth was upgraded to outperform in 2020 for the g7 advanced nations. it is still catching up nations. it is still catching up from a big fall, and there is something very specific going on. russia has poured money into its occupation of ukraine. the numbers are quite sketchy, but based on the russian budget,

faisal bin farhan welcome the call. he also criticized israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu's defiance of international calls for a cease fire in gaza and the 18th meeting of the iran-armenia joint economic committee has wrapped up in terron with the two sides signing 19 mous to expand economic. the agreements pave the way for the trade volume between the two countries tells us more agreements marking significant step forward in enhancing economic relations between iran and armenia, 19 mous that lay down the framework for expanding mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation in a wide range of areas. iran and armenia's economic relations have consistently strengthened over the past couple of years with bilateral trade reaching 1 billion us dollars, and now both sides are ready to take it to the next level. for both our countries. there is great potential to boost trade and we are adomant about using all the capacities to expand our relations, after note that promoting political and economic relations with iran has be

faisal bin farhan al-soud welcomed the call. he also criticized israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu's defiance of international call for a ceasefire in gaza. a last but not least, the 18th meeting of the iran armenia joint economic committee as wrapped up in tehran with two-side signing 19 mous to expand economic cooperation. the agreements paved the way for the trade volume between. to the two countries has more agreements marking a significant step forward in enhancing economic relations between iran and armenia, 19 mous that lay down the framework for expanding mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation in a wide range of areas. iran and armenia's economic relations have consistently strengthened over the past couple of years with bilateral trade reaching. 1 billion us dollars and now both sides are ready to take it to the next level. for both our countries there is great potential to boost trade and we are adoment about using all the capacities to expand our relations. after note that promoting political and economic re

the bbc�*s economics editor, faisal islam, has been listening to the ideas of several political and economicbank assets, sovereign assets. and yet, the russian economy has proved to be far more resilient, and resilient somewhat underplays it. there's two. . .there's two reasons for that. despite some restrictions on export, obviously, to western nations... ..the price being paid for the oil and gas that was still flowing meant that revenues were still bumper. the kremlin and its war machine kept on being lubricated with the proceeds of these... ..of these sales. but then on top of that, the central bank was quite skilful in, if you like, putting up buffers around its economy to protect the foreign exchange that was in russia. and then the next stage of that has been a quite extraordinary transformation of the russian economy into a war economy, with massive defence spending, with the reorientation of its industrial base towards its war machine. so when you were in davos, what did you pick up about how the west is going to counter all this? we hear of stalemates, of the fact that the ukrainia

revolution and ibrahim the occupation faisal mcdodd he he condemned the turkish occupation in central north and northeastern uh syria as well as the u.s. occupation in northeastern syria, the israeli occupation in the golden heights, how does that impact this the security and the stability of syria to have these countries station there occupying syrian soil? okay, first when you have the turkish occupation in the north, we all know that the turkish occupation as bas basically is basically protecting uh terrorism, we've seen like the all these areas are under control of hds, which is the al-qaeda offshot in syria, so basically the the the the turkish army is protecting the terrorist to blackmail syria ' "this would prevent syria from liberating very bivotal road, which is the m4 highway which links latakia to the to the east to albucamal, also and which is more dangerous also and more effect, more which is worse, the the us illegal occupation is basically ' occupying occupying about 25 to 30% of the syrian territory, they're looting our oil, as you can see i'm wearing a scarf and jacke

islamic republic of pakistan. in south asia and one of the largest in the world, the faisal mosque. the mosque is made in the shape of a bedouin tent, however, unlike it, it can accommodate up to 3 hundred thousand believers. the idea of ​​building this mosque in islamabad was once supported by the saudi king during his visit to pakistan. actually, his name is she. and here is another symbol of the country and its seven regions: the pakistani monument. take a closer look, it's a blooming flower. the four large petals are the provinces of pakistan, and the three small ones are the territories. zaheer, greetings . i can't help but compliment you, you you look very elegant, this is national. yes, that's right, it's called shalwar kameez, it's a traditional costume, but pakistanis wear it to this day, it looks very cool, thank you. in central asia, in general, taxila is one of the ten largest open-air museums , excavations are still ongoing, and many finds, for example, surgical instruments, indicate that... here, for