stuck on the runway — boeing plane deliveries drop to the lowest level since the pandemic. and cashing in on trump's china tariff threats — india's tech businesses look to pick up the slack. live from london this is business today, i'm tadhg enright. we start in the uk where pressure on the government's handling of the economy has been mounting as the cost of borrowing has soared and the pound has slipped. as markets seem to be questioning if the uk's economic strategy is right. speaking to parliament on tuesday chancellor rachel reeves said she was under no illusion about the scale of the challenge on the economy. but pointed out that the uk was not alone as borrowing costs around the world were on the increase. leadership is not about ducking

these challenges. it is leadership is not about ducking these challenges.— leadership is not about ducking these challenges. it is about rising these challenges. it is about rising the economic— these challenges. it is about rising the economic headwinds _ these challenges. it is about rising the economic headwinds that - these challenges. it is about rising the economic headwinds that we l these challenges. it is about rising i the economic headwinds that we face are a reminder that we should go further and faster in our plan to kick—start economic growth that plunged after the last government. well, part of that apparent need for speed — what the bbc has been told — will come in the form of fast tracking its industrial strategy — with more announcements like this weeks ai push on the cards. but the focus today will be on the latest inflation figures due out this morning for december, which edged up to 2.6% in november — the second monthly climb in a row. so what can we expect from today's reading? it would be the second monthly climb in a row. that's what i asked simon french from panmure liberum a little earlier.

you've got 2.6 as a market consensus but i think the real risk for markets for the cost of government borrowing is that we see an upside niss of 2.7, 2.8, and there are fears that those payroll taxes, they employ a national insurance increases that were announced by the chancellor rachael reeves back in october will start to pass through to end prices paid for by consumers and thatjust means higher inflation in the uk and a higher cost of government borrowing, compared to some of its european neighbours in particular. we heard rachael reeves say the uk is not alone in suffering, what is the defence? fix, is not alone in suffering, what is the defence?— is not alone in suffering, what is the defence? �* , . , . the defence? a very viable defence, most of the —

the defence? a very viable defence, most of the move _ the defence? a very viable defence, most of the move has _ the defence? a very viable defence, most of the move has been - the defence? a very viable defence, most of the move has been because the defence? a very viable defence, i most of the move has been because of us economic data, strong, both on inflation and on the jobs side. we also heard a lot from president elect trump for the potential of tariffs. all of that has been received quite badly by global bond investors and the uk is just a party to that. i would also say there is that 20, the criticism that bites is the tail risk associated with a budget, associated with the obvious slowdown in the uk economy since the general election on the 4th ofjuly last year. general election on the 4th ofjuly last ear. . ., , last year. indeed, that was the bud . et last year. indeed, that was the budget announced _ last year. indeed, that was the budget announced last - last year. indeed, that was the budget announced last year, i last year. indeed, that was the - budget announced last year, there are difficult choices ahead for rachael reeves, she ruled out borrowing to fund day—to—day expenses before the election and now the choice is basically raising taxes or cut spending, if you are trying to reserve growth, what choice would you make if you were in her shoes? i choice would you make if you were in her shoes? ., . ., , , ., her shoes? i would certainly start in reducing _ her shoes? i would certainly start in reducing spending _ her shoes? i would certainly start in reducing spending rather - her shoes? i would certainly start in reducing spending rather than l in reducing spending rather than taxes but is there a third way? i

think there possibly is and that is why these announcements this week on artificial intelligence, i expect to hear more on planning as we go through the next few weeks, not necessary to commence the markets but actually to convince the budgetary watchdog, the office for budget responsibility, to analyse these as being growth, adding to uk growth. if she can do that before the 26th of march, potentially the head room, the amount she has within her financial rules increases and gets her out of her own black hole. simon french there. we will bring you the inflation figure for the uk when it comes into us in about 25 minutes' time. the social media giant meta has announced it's cutting 5% of its workforce. the company behind facebook, instagram and whatsapp says it expects 2025 to be an intense year. microsoft is also pausing recruitment in a major unit in america as part of its cost cutting plans.

from new york, michelle fleury has more. ina memo in a memo to staff, meta ceo mark zuckerberg said 2025 will be an intense year for the company, as zuckerberg said 2025 will be an intense yearfor the company, as it works on building what he describes as some of the most important technologies in the world. mr zuckerberg went on to say that in order to raise the performance of meta staff, the company would take steps to move out low performing employees faster than originally planned. currently, meta employs some 72,000 people, cutting 5% of its payroll would be its first major staff reduction since it shed a quarter of its workforce in 2022 and 2023. meanwhile, microsoft has also given a signal thatjobs may be coming harder to come by in the us technology sector. it tells its workers on tuesday it plans to pause hiring in its consulting arm in

america. this comes only a week after it announced a round of lay—offs. michelle fleury there. for more i spoke to swetha ramachandran from artemis investment management and began by asking her what's behind this �*intense year�* ahead mr zuckerberg is talking about. certainly, the warfor ai investment shows no signs of letting up. it is estimated that the big four hyper scalars, meta, google, microsoft, will be spending anywhere between 250 billion between them in al capital spending so that is likely to be one of the reasons for this intensity, to generate these large language models that are going to win the day by each of them. to what extent do you — win the day by each of them. to what extent do you think— win the day by each of them. to what extent do you think there _ win the day by each of them. to what extent do you think there is - win the day by each of them. to what extent do you think there is concern l extent do you think there is concern that companies, meta included, have overspent on al in the past few years? overspent on al in the past few ears? ,, ., ., overspent on al in the past few ears? ., , ., years? so, that is an emerging concern that _ years? so, that is an emerging concern that the _ years? so, that is an emerging concern that the market - years? so, that is an emerging| concern that the market seems years? so, that is an emerging i concern that the market seems to be focused on. the companies, at the

same time that they have upped their spending, have also seen a huge leap in the cash flow they are able to generate, simply because their margins have gone up and that has allowed them to fund this increased spending, it is not that the increased spending is coming necessarily at the expense of shareholders or at the expense of other investment areas, it is really being funded at a very healthy cash flow expansion because of how well the underlying businesses have been doing. we the underlying businesses have been doin:. ~ ., ~ the underlying businesses have been doina.~ . ~ , doing. we heard mark zuckerberg talkin: doing. we heard mark zuckerberg talking about _ doing. we heard mark zuckerberg talking about cutting _ doing. we heard mark zuckerberg talking about cutting low - talking about cutting low performers, deleting that signals a greater reluctance to bet on what might be the next big thing and will that apply to the wider tech sector as well? i that apply to the wider tech sector as well? ~ , , as well? i think this is quite secific as well? i think this is quite specific and _ as well? i think this is quite specific and it _ as well? i think this is quite specific and it is _ as well? i think this is quite specific and it is more i as well? i think this is quite | specific and it is more about perhaps human talent where there was an over hiring potentially in 2021, which has been unwinding, and this is possibly another phase of that unwinding. companies are, at this point, prioritising hardware

spending over spending on human capital which is also white one of these reasons for these cuts, it could mean they allow companies to deploy more spending towards areas such as ai. staying with tech and to the company at the forefront of the ai revolution — openai. the firm behind chatgpt has just added a wall street dealmaker — billionaire investor adebayo ogunlesi to its board — as it changes its focus to become a for—profit company. valued recently at $150 billion openai's move to shift away from its not for profit beginings has faced strong criticism from rivals including elon musk, who was one of openai's co—founders. he's filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent the restructuring — accusing openai and its boss sam altman of teaming up with microsoft to create an illegal monopoly. earlier, i spoke to max von thun from the think tank the open markets institute and began by asking him what he expects openai to do differently

as a for profit company. i think it is about really showing that technologies like chat gdp and other models that openai have developed really have viable use cases for consumers, for businesses that are capable of generating a stable long—term revenue stream for open ai. i think the fact that there has been a lot of hype and attention over openai's technologies, i haven't really proved that kind of long—term viability yet. we haven't really proved that kind of long-term viability yet.— long-term viability yet. we were mentioning _ long-term viability yet. we were mentioning moment _ long-term viability yet. we were mentioning moment ago - long-term viability yet. we were mentioning moment ago the i long-term viability yet. we were i mentioning moment ago the lawsuit that elon musk is taken against openai, accusing it ofjoining up with microsoft in a monopoly, what are your thoughts on the merits of that case? ,, ., are your thoughts on the merits of that case? ., ~' , are your thoughts on the merits of that case? ., ~ , . ., , that case? so, there to key claims that case? so, there to key claims that are part _ that case? so, there to key claims that are part of— that case? so, there to key claims that are part of elon _ that case? so, there to key claims that are part of elon musk's i

that are part of elon musk's lawsuit. the first is that moving away from a nonprofit status into a for—profit status, openai is a bad original mission to open, create ai for the benefit of humanity. and the second is that in collaborating with microsoft, it is tempting to monopolise the industry. in terms of the first came, i am quite sceptical. part of the reason of thatis sceptical. part of the reason of that is that when elon musk started openai, leaked e—mails show that he himself was pushing openai to become a for—profit, to make it easierfor openai to raise money, for example. in terms of background, i think that is more about elon musk trying to basically undermine a direct competitor. elon musk has since started his own ai company so targeting them is a useful way of bugging them down legally. in terms

that second argument in terms of monopoly, i think actually that elon musk is absolutely right, even though i am unnecessarily sure about genuine his intentions are. microsoft has invested about $30 billion in open ai, has the right to the majority of openai profits and has privileged access to openai's technology and it has enabled microsoft to be take an early lead and becoming recently dominant and also to prevent openai from competing with it directly as i think up from a fair competition perspective, that is concerning so elon musk does have a point there. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

the company behind tiktok has moved to reassure its staff that

we are updating you with some breaking news which came in from ukraine. there is an air raid alert across the entirety of the country, reports of multiple, multiple guided bombs from russia, they are going outjust bombs from russia, they are going out just after 4am bombs from russia, they are going outjust after 4am local bombs from russia, they are going out just after 4am local time. bombs from russia, they are going outjust after 4am local time. the latest detail, we are hearing from the governor of ukraine's western lviv region saying that russia has been targeting energy infrastructure in the air strike, and that back—up systems are coming online. this all follows what ukraine described as its biggest attack yet on russian positions that happening yesterday, this appears to be rushed's response, president volodymyr zelensky is supposed to be travelling to the polish capital warsaw today, we will have to see if that trip is still going ahead, and we will bring you more updates that trip is still going