the race to lead in artificial intelligence. president trump announces a half trillion dollar ai partnership with big tech. streaming success, netflix adds a record number of subscribers and hikes charges for many of its users. there's a new boss at the airline easyjet. it's just released its latest numbers that show it's still making operating losses. also in the programme. trump revokes a biden scheme to encourage electric vehicles sales in the us. we hear from the boss of an ev maker about the impact.

live from london this is business today, i'm sally bundock. so let's get started and once again the business news is dominated by the announcements coming from the white house. president donald trump has unveiled major new investment in artificial intelligence by the private sector. the chief executives of openai, oracle and the japanese investment fund softbank were with the president at the white house on tuesday afternoon to announce they will work together and raise hundreds of billions of dollars for building data centres for artificial intelligence across the us. called stargate, donald trump said the joint venture is a "declaration of confidence in america". michelle fleury has the details. for months, even years, openai, the maker of chatgpt, has been raising finance to build the massive computing power data centres that its artificial intelligence technology needs. in the past, its partner in this project has been microsoft, which is also

its largest shareholders.

earlier was to rescind his predecessorjoe biden�*s plans for artificial intelligence. president donald trump also said he is still considering putting a 10% tariff on imports from china and that could begin on february 1st, the same day he said 25% tarrifs could be slapped on imports from canada and mexico into the us. his trade policy is dominating conversations at the world economic forum in davos. our economics editor faisal islam is there. you don't have to be here to be a little confused about the detail of donald trump's trade and tariff plan. but the executives, the financiers and the leaders are talking about that. especially so because on the first day, on inauguration day, they thought there has been a bit of a reprieve, that there wouldn't be any tariffs until the late spring after an investigation into the numbers. and now we hearfrom the white house, actually,

that those tariffs could hit on the 1st of february. they could hit mexico and canada, sparking fears of a quicker path than expected to a potential tit—for—tat trade war. on investment, a different story. lots of good news around here. hundreds of billions of dollars sloshing around for investment in artificial intelligence. google, for example, announcing that its deepmind unit could see an ai invented medicine being trialled within this year. into all this, the chancellor of the exchequer, rachel reeves, after a turbulent couple of weeks on the global bond markets, saying as you'd expect that britain is a great place for investment, that it's on the up, that you don't want to miss out. but also starting to put some meat on the policy bone, saying that there could be some more room for manoeuvre in terms of investment in new runway capacity in the uk, and also trying to send a signal by firing a key regulator, the competition and markets authority chairman being fired.

and apparently that being used to send a message that the uk is open for business. that organisation had been targeting various big tech companies. so the search for growth, concerns about trade here at the world economic forum. and let's stay with that last item faisal mentioned, the firing of the boss of the uk's competition and markets authority because it was not allegedly sufficiently focused on growth. marcus bokkerink who has chaired the cma since 2022 will be replaced on an interim basis by doug gurr, former boss of amazon uk. gervais williams, head of equities, premier miton gave me his view. it's a good move this, because actually the cma has actually been quite slow at actually coming to a decision on its mergers. clearly, the one which is particularly in focus at the moment is the vodafone merger with three network,

which has been open since october 2023. but if you go back a little further to the microsoft activision merger, that was actually opened injuly 2022 and didn't opine a final determination until november 2023, it was the last of all of the regulatory authorities to clear it. so really we've seen a regulatory authority which is probably excessively bureaucratic, and i presume what they're looking to do is accelerate decision—making in this going forward. uk government borrowing rose by more than expected to £17.8 billion last month. that's the highest december figure for four years, according to official data. the office for national statistics said public sector net borrowing was over £10 billion higher than the same month in 2023. the chief secretary to the treasury darrenjones this morning said the upcoming spending review would interrogate every line of government spending for the first time in 17 years.

earnings season is in full swing in the us, with netflix reporting its results for the october to december quarter. and it would seem netflix is going from strength to strength with the streaming giant outperforming analysts expectations by adding a record 18.9 million subscribers during the holiday period. those numbers were helped by a whole batch of new content, with two back—to—back nfl games, including the jake paul vs mike tyson boxing match, and the return of the popular series squid game. ross benes is senior analyst, tv and streaming, emarketerand tv and streaming, at emarketer and he told me about the resilience of the netflix subscriber base.

fewer people cancel netflix than they do to the other streaming services. it's almost like a utility bill that most people will just keep resubscribing. and netflix knows that so they're raising prices, knowing that most people won't cancel. and netflix has trained its investors to focus less on subscriptions and more on revenue and profit. they stopped reporting subscriptions. this was the last quarter that they've done so, and so raising prices right when you're telling people to look at profit is a good way of boosting your bottom line. we've just had the latest numbers from the airline easyjet. it reported a smaller operating loss in the final quarter of 2024, as costs eased and holiday—makers travelled more over the christmas period. the loss came in at £40 million or close £40 million or close to $50 million, compared with £117 million a year earlier. the company has just taken on a new boss, the former chief financial officer kenton jarvis. and last week it announced it would resume flights to israel after halting them due to the ongoing conflict

in the middle east. john grant is executive vice president at airline analysts, oag. hello, john. hello, sally. these numbers _ hello, john. hello, sally. these numbers are - hello, john. hello, sally. these numbers are not i hello, john. hello, sally. these numbers are not a | these numbers are not a reflection of the new ceo because he is literallyjust in the job tell us what you think in terms of how easyjet is doing. i in terms of how easyjet is doinu. ~ f in terms of how easyjet is doinu. ~' j ., doing. i think they're doing very well. _ doing. i think they're doing very well, they _ doing. i think they're doing very well, they have - doing. i think they're doing i very well, they have improved in what is their first quarter of the year, and they are heading into 2025 in a very good position. yes, they have a new ceo but he was the cfo, and he is i think going to see what happens, implement the strategy that was already in place, and continue to grow the business. everything looks pretty positive for them. demand is strong, they still have some aircraft to take delivery of, the price of fuel is reducing, average fares have held up pretty well considering they

have put more capacity into the market. so i think easyjet are very well placed for 2025 and beyond. very well placed for 2025 and be ond. �* . ~ , ., beyond. and talk us through what this — beyond. and talk us through what this year _ beyond. and talk us through what this year will _ beyond. and talk us through what this year will bring - beyond. and talk us through what this year will bring forl what this year will bring for easyjet because there's a lot going on. interestingly there are conversations about the government being poised in the uk to expand —— announce the expansion at gatwick which would be a real boost for easyjet, you would assume? you would assume _ easyjet, you would assume? you would assume so, _ easyjet, you would assume? 7m, would assume so, they are the largest airline at gatwick but it will result in more competition of course and they would only get a share of those slots. so it is a double—edged sword, they can certainly expand when the opportunity arises, but they may face more competition. having said that, gatwick is much more focused on attracting long haul global airlines to use the available capacity it's building. but it needs to supplement that, with its base customers like easyjet and they will continue to do that. so they have that opportunity. and they have also been designated as the remedial airline in italy, so they have

acquired a number of slots in both milan and rome, that lufthansa and ita, former alitalia, have had to give up. so they have got a lot of opportunities emerging through the air. �* ,., opportunities emerging through the air. �* , opportunities emerging through the air. ~ , ., ., opportunities emerging through theair. ~ ., the air. also they are not as exposed _ the air. also they are not as exposed as _ the air. also they are not as exposed as ryanair- the air. also they are not as exposed as ryanair to - the air. also they are not as exposed as ryanair to the i exposed as ryanair to the crisis at boeing that is causing huge delays to new aircraft are being delivered etc, because easyjet, is it not in the main airbus aircraft? it's a completely airbus fleet. they are not exposed to boeing absolutely, airbus are not the greatest in terms of delivering aircraft on time either but easyjet have a big customer, they have a lot of purchasing power with airbus and they have a great relationship. so i expect the aircraft they have on delivery are on schedule, they will arrive this year, and that will allow them to continue to grow. not only grow but become more fuel efficient and work towards their sustainability targets.

interesting, thank you, john, speak to you soon. the new ceo, kentonjarvis, has just taken on the job of the topjob and we do just taken on the job of the top job and we do usually in this programme talk to the ceo of easyjet when their numbers are out, so i look forward to speaking to kentonjarvis soon! around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

now let's return to the various announcements coming from the white house as president trump enjoyed his first official day on the job. we've mentioned the huge investment in al. but what about the other many measures and policy announcements, what will they cost and if the president follows through on his promise of lowering taxes what will this do to america's ballooning national debt which is now over $36 trillion? the us government's long term borrowing costs have risen in recent days on fears about what's ahead.

plus the soaring debt and deficit could set up a conflict between those in the trump administration and in congress who want to rein in spending. elon musk who is among those given that task. i asked romina boccia — who is director of budget and entitlement policy at the cato institute — if she sees a collision coming. this week, we're still in the celebratory phase with a slew of executive orders, but there's already murmurs in congress about what to do with the need to raise the debt ceiling before this summer. and of course, there's also the issue of keeping the us federal government funded past march 14th. there are a lot of republicans that want to see significant deficit reduction, with the us debt already being excessively high at 100% of gdp. trump doesn't seem too keen on that. and so there's now discussions that he may be working with democrats to perhaps pair an increase in the debt ceiling with funding for the california wildfires.

yeah, exactly. the boss of the world's largest provider of employment services randstad predicts donald trump's presidency is likely to be a net positive for the jobs market. the company's annual survey also shows that in the global workplace, work—life balance is now considered more important than pay for employees. sander van't noordende is the chief executive of randstad who is in davos. i asked why he thinks the trump presidency is good forjobs. i would say the 3—3—3 economic plan that donald trump is putting in place is good news. i mean, 3% growth, 3% budget deficit and 3% barrels of oil. i mean, more growth means more confidence in terms of investing in businesses. and investing means investing in infrastructure and technology, but also investing in people. so i would expect our clients

to start hiring more people over the next couple of months. it's all very well having a plan, but as we all are very well aware, governments set a target for economic growth but often don't meet them. no, but it's all about confidence. it's about, is there optimism, confidence in the economy that we're doing the right things. is there going to be deregulation? investment? that creates confidence and confidence creates the willingness on behalf of our clients to invest. what about his immigration plans and the impact that will have on the labour market in the us? it will have an impact, won't it, in many areas. yeah, the impact of that is unclear as of now i would say, sally. i'm not expecting a major, major impact, but it remains to be seen how things will pan out to be honest. your view is a global view. you've just released your annual report and you come to the conclusion that work

life balance is more important to many than pay. talk us through that, because for many with a cost of living crisis right now, it's about how much they're earning more than anything else. yeah, so for the first time, we've been doing this research for a couple of decades now. work life balance scores higher than compensation. i will be honest, it's only slightly higher. it's a bit more pronounced, by the way, in the uk. so workers are clearly saying work life balance is really important. but, you know, pay and compensation and that being competitive is also still very important i would say. president trump has also revoked president biden�*s executive order of 2021 that aimed to make half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 electric. what could this mean for future of ev�*s in us and how will it hit ev makers? michael lohscheller is the global ceo of polestar, an ev maker.

i aksed him about his thoughts on trump rolling back incentives to buy electric cars. needless to say, the us is a very important market, not only in terms of size, but also in terms of influence globally. what is the polestar starting point for the us? we manufacture locally in south carolina, in charleston. so we are creating americanjobs. we are now ramping up the production of the polestar 3. we are also increasing the number of dealers. and now obviously we have to make sure that we work through those details. but at the end of the day, i think american consumers are very open minded for electric vehicles, especially on the east and west coast. but of course, we have to make sure that we work through this technical changes now once they are finalised. but we continue to grow in the us. it's a really important market for polestar. and you're owned by a chinese company, geely. so what does that mean for you with regards

to your operations in america? because as you say, you build in america, you sell in america. does that mean you avoid any tariffs going forward or sanctions? yeah, i mean, first of all, polestar is listed at the nasdaq in the us. we also integrate a lot of american technology in our cars, starting with google, but also nvidia chips. but this point i made in terms of manufacturing locally is really of highest importance, and not only from a tariff point of view, but also from an economic point of view. i think the times where you ship cars around the world really have changed. so the polestar strategy is manufacturing locally, our cars for the different markets, the same we are going to do here in europe and in the other markets. so where will you be based in europe if you're not already? yeah, we made last week an important decision that we will introduce a compact suv for polestar. we call it the polestar 7.

and we have made the decision to do this here in europe. and the exact location we will announce in 2 to 3 months, in which country... but also you could tell us now on bbc global news! i mean, it would save you a lot of pr money. you could just announce it here where you want to be based in europe. yeah, thanks for the offer, but we're wrapping up all the details. but back to the point of local manufacturing. polestar is doing really well here in europe. we are strong. we are strong here in the uk and therefore this local... to be fair is not the real reason why you're having to manufacture locally in the us and in europe is because of tariffs put on chinese vehicles made in china and exported to europe and the us? that's the real reason, isn't it? no, it's both. it's obviously making sure we have certainty then in terms of tariffs. but there's also economic reasons. as i said, shipping cars around the world is also a costly exercise and also a time to market, produce cars in europe for european customers is

also the fastest way to bring our great products to customers. this is the end of the programme. much of the world is bracing for significant us foreign policy changes, some with global implications. president trump ordered a 90—day pause in foreign development assistance, leaving millions of dollars in aid in limbo. a review of aid will be led by marco rubio, the new secretary of state. he's the first cabinet member of the new trump administration, and has reiterated president trump's vision of an america first foreign policy. president trump was elected to keep promises, and he's going to keep those promises. and his primary promise when it comes to foreign policy is that the priority of the united states state department will be

the united states, furthering the national interests of this country, and he has given us a very clear mandate, president trump has made it very clear, everything we do, and this is true in government but especially at the department of state, everything we do must be justified by the answer to one of three questions. does it make us stronger, does it make us safer, and does it make us more prosperous? if it doesn't do one of those three things, we will not do it. mr rubio is known as a harsh critic of china, as well as an advocate for israel. he said that ending russia's war in ukraine would be official us policy, and that both sides will have to make concessions to end the conflict. with more on marco rubio's first day as secretary of state, here's our state department correspondent tom bateman. there were hundreds of staff at the state department to welcome marco rubio as he entered the building here with his family in the lobby, he was greeted by loud applause and cheers and whooping as he was really welcomed with rapturous applause

by those staff. with his family, he went up the staircase and made a short address. at pains to pay tribute to the employees here, he called them the most experienced and most talented diplomatic corps in history. and i think also an attempt to perhaps ease or allay some concerns, he said that while there would be changes from the trump administration to the state department here, these would not be in his words destructive or punitive. now, in terms of the policy, mr rubio takes over from antony blinken as secretary of state, with several global crises to deal with in the midst of key decisions that have to be made by the us administration, not least among those the war in ukraine and us support as it has been for ukraine. president trump has indicated he wants a negotiated settlement between russia and ukraine. mr rubio traditionally

more interventionist, believing in us global leadership to solve conflicts but he has tended to track more closely to mr trump's position. now says of course that he do want to see a negotiated settlement between the two countries. and when it comes to the american sponsorship of the ceasefire and hostage release deal in gaza, that will be crucial work that the state department will have to continue. if it is to see the continuation of that ceasefire and crucially, the movement from this first six week phase to a second longer term end to the war that was the aspiration, the hope of the biden administration. president trump saying on monday that he was not confident in the ceasefire itself. so a lot of work to be done. marco rubio now the 72nd secretary of state, first day in the job, try to push forward with their america first agenda.

mr trump has also been talking about tiktok. he's been telling reporters about what could happen. let's have a listen. are you open to elon owning tiktok? i would be if he wanted to buy it. i'd like larry to buy it too. i have the right to make a deal. the deal i'm thinking about, larry, let's negotiate in front of the media. the deal i think is this. and i met with the owners of tiktok, the big owners. it's worthless if it doesn't get a permit. it's not like, oh, you can take the us. the whole thing is worthless. with a permit it's worth like $1 trillion. so what i'm thinking about saying to somebody is, buy it, and give half to the united states of america, half, and we will give you the permit. so that is the latest in business. now it's time for a look at the weather with ben rich. hello. wednesday is going to be quite

a quiet day weather wise, albeit a rather murky one at times. however, by the end of the week things will be a lot livelier. we have a named storm on the way. storm eowyn, already yellow warnings from the met office, the risk that some places could see gusts of wind of 90mph. but for the time being, certainly no strong winds. in fact, very few isobars on our pressure chart. so very light winds. that has allowed some mist and fog to form, some of that taking a while to clear. but across scotland, northern ireland, northern england, wales, the south west through the afternoon we should see sunny spells and just the odd shower, whereas for central and eastern parts of england we'll hold on to more in the way of cloud, maybe a little bit of rain and temperatures 5 to 8 degrees. so in spite of the light winds, it's going to feel fairly chilly. and it's going to turn cold again through the night, especially where we have some clear spells. we could see some mist and fog patches, some areas of cloud. temperatures dropping down to freezing, below freezing in places. but later in the night into the first part of thursday morning, we see a band of rain

pushing into northern ireland, that will swing its way eastwards through the day. could well see some snow mixing in over high ground across some northern parts of scotland. it's going to be fairly breezy, but that is just the precursor to what is heading our way on friday. now, to find out where storm eowyn is forming, we have to look out into the atlantic and look up to the jet stream. the winds high in the atmosphere atjet stream level likely to exceed 250mph. so that extraordinarily strong jet stream providing the fuel, the energy to deepen this area of low pressure. this low will be deepening rapidly as it approaches our shores, and storm eowyn is likely to bring widespread gales, outbreaks of rain, some snow across the north, but it is across these irish sea coasts where at the moment it looks most likely that we could see wind gusts of 80 to possibly 90mph, maybe even stronger than that in the most exposed spots. obviously those winds could cause some damage

and some significant disruption, and that does usher in a rather turbulent period of weather. there will be further spells of wind and rain in the days ahead.

live from london, this is bbc news. president trump analysis $500 billion investment in al infrastructure in the us. this is the scene in rafah. over 2,400 aid trucks have entered gaza since the beginning of the ceasefire, as many displaced palestinian people return to assess the scale of damage. tougher age checks when buying ninth online after it is revealed the southport killer bought his murder weapon in two clicks from amazon. tu rkey�*s turkey's president announces a day of mourning after a ski

resort fire that killed 76 people. our correspondent lina sinjab revisits a former assad's security service branch in syria, where she was repeatedly investigated and arrested under his regime. hello. in the us, donald trump has had a busy first full day of his presidency. he has been signing a flurry of executive actions. in the past few hours, president trump has announced the creation of a huge artificial intelligence project called stargate. it will see the private sector invest $500 billion in al infrastructure in the united states over the next four years. he said it would create about 100,000 jobs in the us. the initiative expands exisiting plans to build huge data centres. after signing many executive orders he has sought to justify his decision to pardon more than 1,500 supporters who stormed the us capitol building four years ago. mr trump described their punishments as ridiculous and excessive.

our north america correspondent merlyn thomas reports