as germans head to cast elections this weekend, we take a snap—shot and sustainability on the runway at london fashion week — how the next generation of designers have been given live from london, this is business today. while the future of the israel—gaza ceasefire in the saudi capital riyadh to discuss how to rebuild gaza. much about the effort to rebuild gaza in the aftermath of the war is unclear.

needed in the first three. gregg carlstrom is the middle east correspondent for the economist. real influence when it comes to the palestinians — so egypt, about an egyptian proposal that has been circulating for months, for notjust rebuilding in gaza but also gaza after the war —

hamas would be marginalised at least from running and then the rebuilding process would probably of gaza and sort of work so that is what they will discuss today, and the idea indeed. in two weeks. and their homes at question here, but president trump sees a profit, or will thisjust be a charitable exercise?

i think there is a profit motive but i don't think i think for the countries that are likely to put up money for reconstruction in gaza, they are going to look at this impoverished, was almost entirely reliant on foreign aid to survive. i don't think anyone is expecting their contributions exercise, as you say. i think where there is an expectation of profit you look at egypt, which borders gaza — it has lots of overcapacity not only in building but related sectors. cement production — egypt produces far more cement than it could possibly use. out of reconstruction of gaza.

i think not unlike we have seen in turkey over the past few were going to be heavily involved in rebuilding post—war in syria. the centre—right christian democratic union has been as germany's manufacturing sector has severely slowed. europe's biggest economy also faces high energy prices and stiff competition from china. about the political backdrop of rising anti—immigrant from labour shortages.

i think the immigration, especially the criminality from illegal immigrants, is something that has dominated the election campaign over the last couple of weeks. we had a couple of assassinations, murders. the main problem is, like you mentioned, too—high energy prices and competition from china. as the polls suggest, what changes in economic policy the german election campaign has not been very clear in proposals. what the christian democrats would like to do is cut they would like to open up options to return to nuclear power and on the investment

side what they would like to do the big question is how to pay for it. everyone�*s eyes are also on the support for the far—right afd party. the main parties have said they will not work with them. i wonder, is there a risk of a prolonged political the big question will be, what will this coalition look like? will it be a two—party coalition, ora three—party coalition? means we have this 5% threshold to get into parliament. four or up to eight parties may make it into parliament. a coalition afterwards

so i don't think we will have coalition anytime soon, so i expect it to come at the end of april, maybe even may. that's exactly how it would work, a caretaker government, government, which also means there would be no decisions made. all the expectations that so many people have for investments to come, to unleash also private of stagnation at least until the summer. a decisive few days for germany. towards the milestone of $3,000 an ounce. the investor interest is partly

triggered by concern and its partners. into the us before any such tariffs come into effect. at the bank of england here in london, where $500 billion worth are kept in its vaults, staff have been grappling with the physical challenge of moving, across the atlantic. she told me about the significance of gold at $3,000 an ounce. the price of gold has been bouncing around over the last five years from around the $2,000 level, but it really started to take off last year. the price last year was up about 25% and this year

had a lot of buying by other central banks. of gold in london is less than the price of the futures contract traded in new york. as you say, you have these people in the bank of england archaic. just to be clear, we are talking about a speculative in london today and the futures market in the us suggests absolutely. there's a further quirk.

and furthermore you have a situation where the bars approximately 12.5kg. remarkably archaic system. as somewhat archaic, so how much of it do you think

is a safe—haven asset in general times of turbulence? i think it is a bit of a mixture because, last year it was one of the best—performing commodities. and last year the main thrust of that rise was to do with this flight to safety, this concern around geopolitical risks. banks buying gold. this potential 25% tariff on gold, and it's really ratcheting up concerns that people want the gold out stuff. let's get some of the

day's other news now. the bank of japan is expected to hike interest rates again to counter those rising costs. that could impact businesses — japan's factory activity also albeit at a slower pace — according to a private sector survey. and ai—powered cloud computing. the latest financial report comes days after a widely publicised meeting between president xi and china's tech in late 2020.

despite the measured outlook, it wasn't all bad news — of any company worldwide.

you are welcome back to business today. citigroup is the latest us company to scale back workforce. donald trump's return to the white house has intensified a backlash against diversity, equity

goals put in place only a few years ago. citigroup is reportedly rolling back its diversity, equity and inclusion policies, citing pressure from the trump administration. the bank will no longer have aspirational representation goals, except those required by local law. the bank will also remove requirements to interviewjob candidates from diverse backgrounds. and that's according to a memo to staff from the ceo, jane fraser. the bank will rename its diversity, equity and inclusion and talent management team to talent on his first day in office, donald trump banned dei programmes across the federal level, and called on government agencies to investigate agencies to investigate companies�* diversity policies. companies�* diversity policies. citigroup facilitates much of the us government's payment network domestically and internationally, making it a majorfederal making it a majorfederal contractor vulnerable to the administration's scrutiny. contractor vulnerable and it'sjoining a slew of american firms cutting back on diversity initiatives in the wake of political and legal pressures. and legal pressures.

large companies like walmart, target and mcdonald's have already retracted their diversity programmes, as well as tech giants like meta, amazon and google. while the president can't actually compel private companies to curtail their dei efforts via executive order, he can amp up the partisan political pressure. and some companies have cited those political shifts when scrapping dei programs.

but also a lot of the most innovative work being done in response to the challenge to make it more sustainable. with sustainability as part of their training, and dyes, the reuse and recycling of materials, applying sustainable business models, understanding provenance and we have also at london college of fashion our centre for sustainable fashion, which and sustainability and is a powerful body for advocacy in the sector. so sustainability is really

embedded in the practice at london fashion week in making this why not the other more established designers — i think you have to start with the next generation, so in that context it is really great to see the british to formally adopt those after they were introduced in copenhagen in 2023. of the fashion industry, including fashion business —

needs to be thinking about these sustainability but i think making sure that the pipeline of new designers — the kinds of initiatives that the british fashion in the world and it is that ultracheap fast fashion that we pick up on certain websites and certain do you think the big players in that sector are doing enough? no, they are not doing enough. fast fashion is a very, very damaging business practice. it is leading to large amounts of waste and some very damaging environmental impacts. so i think raising the profile

of the need for sustainability that is almost it look at our website, the bbc business page is leading a page, is currently leading a detailing the 99,93, is currently leading a detailing the latest here in j 77 here in the government finances here in the uk, showing a large in 7 butf 77 butvnot 77 7 butvnot ébig as january but not as big as had january but net as big as had hoped january but nat as big as had hoped for. forecasters had hoped for. where stressing january is usually when the government usually whan tha governmant .. in quite usually whan tha gavernmant .. in quite a lot of money takes in quite a lot of money because that is what a lot of people pay their taxes, their that's it.

and they've essentially agreed to do that. so at least we don't feel stupid. but it's claimed donald trump wants 50% of ukraine's mineral security guarantees. spent $350 billion. available data suggests the figure is actually 120 billion. last year, president zelensky did say foreign firms may get after the war. this month, he said...

and we will write a memorandum with some percentages. i was told only 50%. i said, ok, no. extortion, blackmail demand. to trump, it's simply what is owed. control over ukraine's critical minerals, and includes everything from ports and infrastructure to oil and gas. gdp than reparations imposed on germany after the first world war. and there are reasons why the us would want ukraine's resources. and metals to the us — ukraine could be an alternative source. that includes graphite —

used in batteries and nuclear reactors — and lithium, also used in batteries. both are considered critical to the us economy and national security. some are in territory controlled by russia, others are close to the front line. and across ukraine, there are challenges. mining is energy grids, its water infrastructure, it's roads, it's ports, it's rail. and a lot of that is gone. ros atkins. woman they believe was killed, possibly sacrificed, more than 2,000 years ago. they've been studying her remains for more than a year. here's sara girvin.

this bogland outside the town of bellaghy was holding a secret — a secret it kept for more than 2,000 years. the first bog body to be found in northern ireland for years. is in fact a woman. they found evidence of wounds. her skull has never been found. it's very rare to find these bog—preserved human remains from the iron age, and particularly that it's a young woman. so very significant. and we're delighted to be the custodian of these remains with the public. the ballymacombs more woman after the townland where

of history, so artefacts like these and the discovery of those human remains are vital pieces of a jigsaw i suppose, as somebody who works with human remains all the time, like, ijust... i can't emphasise how important it is that we remember that it was a person, it was a young woman. the humanity of the past people we study. research will continue out of sight at the museum, secrets to reveal. sara girvin, bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with louise lear.

hello, there. over the last few days. and windy weather at times. and heavy rain to come as well. where we've got the mildest of the air with that southerly wind. start for all of us. for a time, and the heaviest of the rain will gradually scotland and to the far north of cumbria. but ahead of it, yes, we will see some sunshine. if that happens, we could see temperatures peaking at 16

so saturday, a grey and wet start across east anglia and kent. sunny spells and scattered showers developing into through the weekend, because as we move out pressure will start to wind its way in from the atlantic. until the end of the day.

top temperatures on sunday afternoon, now, looking a little bit further ahead, we keep to the far north and west, with the best of the sunshine

live from london. this is bbc news. the israeli prime minister says

the body of a gazan woman to bring shiri home, the war with russia. white house officials accuse president zelensky of �*insulting' president trump. there needs to be a deep appreciation for what and what we have done since. so some of the rhetoric coming out of kyiv frankly the next chancellor. the vatican says the pope �*had a good night', and had breakfast this morning.