ground staff are going on strike today, affecting around 200,000 passengers, and pilots are also walking out at a later date. joining me now is simon calder, travel writer at the independent. you were in berlin yesterday seeing the kiosk unfold. yes i was in burlington airport last night. it was busy. that was because the worlds biggest travel trade fair is taking place. it has tens of thousands of people coming in from across the world. although it is operating today, none of the trains are, or very few are running in germany, and even if you get to an airport your problems are onlyjust beginning because this massive

strike across lufthansa through till saturday morning. 0n strike across lufthansa through till saturday morning. on top of that there is security staff at cologne and dusseldorf and frankfurt airports are causing wild —— widespread cancellations. anybody trying to travel to, from, or within germany at the moment is looking pretty shaky. let pretty sha ky. let us pretty shaky. let us focus on cliff why are they such trouble with the unions? partly because the entire aviation world suffered very much during the covid pandemic. things are bouncing back. there is remarkable profits numbers at lufthansa, i billion euros, around $3 billion in profits, very similar to what the company which owns iberia of spain and british airways did. they have earned that because there is huge demand for travel, but in europe in particular, capacity is still way

down on pre—pandemic times. very simply, supply and demand kicks in. the unions are seeing the profits that are being made and they are very simply saying, we want some of that. lufthansa, of course, particularly because there is so much competition, especially from the budget airlines, ryanair and easyjet. unfortunately we are seeing repeated strikes involving lufthansa, which of course does nothing to help the passenger. i have been hearing from travellers stranded anywhere from the west coast of the united states to vietnam desperately trying to find some way home. is this going to rumble on, this disruption? is this going to rumble on, this disruntion?_ is this going to rumble on, this disruption? this current round, which is effectively _ disruption? this current round, which is effectively paralysing l which is effectively paralysing travel within germany, on german railways, lufthansa operations down to about 10%, 20%, this should be

over by the weekend, and things can start to recover. but the unions are keen to press their point and we could see repeated strike action. well worth seeing that other european air passenger rights rules, anyone who's lufthansa flight is cancelled because of strike action cancelled because of strike action can be flown to their destination as soon as possible, including on a rival airline, at lufthansa's rival airline, at luftha nsa's expense. rival airline, at lufthansa's exnense-— rival airline, at lufthansa's exense. . ~ rival airline, at lufthansa's exense. ., . ., expense. sage advice there. thanks very much- — here in the uk, business leaders and households are weighing up the impact of wednesday's spring budget — the last before a general election. it comes against the backdrop of a struggling economy and a cost of living crisis affecting millions. there were measures to cut national insurance contributions and boost access to child benefit. but there have been warnings that ministers could find it hard to balance the books. emma simpson reports. did you catch any

ofjeremy�*s budget? it was a chance to turn around the fortunes of the conservative party. but was it enough? i think it's good that the workers are going to get money back in their pockets. but then if you think about the cost of living and how everything is going up, then maybe they could have given a little bit more back. anything that cuts taxes, i wish he would have done something a bit more for savers, we're in a position where we're living off savings. i think they're trying to do it in light of a general election and probably not really thinking about what the benefit - to the country is. the centrepiece of this budget was a 2p in the pound cut to national insurance, a tax paid by workers. so who are the winners and losers if you include all the changes to tax and thresholds so far? here are some examples. if you're a low earner on £15,000, you'll bejust over £400 worse off a year. you'll also be a little worse off if you're on £75,000. but if you're a middle earner, you'll be better off.

for instance, if you're on 35k, you'll be up by £352. there are changes to child benefit too. currently, if you earn over £50,000, you have to pay some of it back. but now the starting salary will be 60 grand, helping parents like tim and maddy. yeah, if they changed the threshold, then yeah, that would be a good thing for us because our biggest outgoing really is childcare. that's the most expensive thing for us. but other taxes are being raised to help pay for it all, including a new one on vapes. cigarettes are going up and so will business and premium flights. the windfall tax on oil and gas firms will be extended and the government's stolen labour's idea of abolishing tax breaks for so—called non—doms, wealthy foreigners who only pay uk tax on money made here. the chancellor says things are heading in the right direction. our plan to get the economy back on its feet after the invasion

of ukraine is working. inflation is falling, growth is coming back. if we stick to that plan, we can see growth rates returning to the kind of levels we were used to before. but the backdrop's challenging with public services under pressure. the risk for the future is that these tax cuts come alongside promises of very, very tight spending control over the next parliament. so if we're going to keep these tax cuts, we're going to get cuts in spending. if we're not going to have those cuts in spending, i'm afraid taxes will rise later on. difficult choices lie ahead for whoever wins the next election. emma simpson, bbc news. the european central banks makes its latest decision on interest rates today. many people are expecting it to keep the cost of borrowing steady at 4% — which is a record high. but the big question is, will there be any hint as to when rates might start to come down? sylvain broyer from s&p told us

what he's expecting. it's far too early for the ecb to cut rates this week. the door will open later this year, but for now it's too early. inflation is still above target, especially core inflation. wage growth is still more or less at peak 4% to 5%, far above productivity growth in the eurozone. the labour market is strong. activity is improving. geopolitical developments in the red sea exert upward pressure on prices again. and we'll see that later probably this year. the door will open this year for the ecb, but probably not before june. what would be probably in sync with the fed. what the ecb really needs is more data evidence that wage growth is moderating and we will not get that statistical evidence before april—may. so probably there is a small chance

that the ecb starts cutting rate slightly before the fed, but probably the ecb will cut at the same time, namely injune. let's stay with that theme, because the boss of the us central bank, jerome powell, has been giving his twice—yearly testimony before congress. financial markets are always on high alert for any hints about the path of interest rates. but mr powell was playing his cards close to his chest. erin delmore has the details in new york. fed chairjay powell sat squarely in the spotlight on capitol hill wednesday, previewing what's to come in the year ahead as fed officials contemplate when to cut interest rates and by how much. we believe that our policy rate is likely at its peak for this tightening cycle. if the economy evolves broadly as expected, it will likely be appropriate to begin dialing back policy restraint at some point this year. powell appeared before the house financial services committee, the first stop in his two day tour of capitol hill.

and he pointed to considerable progress on the economy and said that while inflation remains above the fed's 2% target, it has been easing without significantly increasing unemployment. but while rate cuts are likely this year, he said that the fed is looking for more evidence that inflation is falling sustainably back down to the fed's target. and he reiterated that members are being careful not to misstep in either direction, whether that's cutting interest rates too soon or too little too late. he'll have more to say in front of the senate banking committee on thursday. a former google software engineer has been charged in the us with stealing trade secrets about artificial intelligence while secretly working for two chinese companies. joao da silva in singapore has the details. it's a story that reads very much like a spy novel in the age of intensifying competition for al supremacy.

according to the indictment, he was hired by google as a software engineer in 2019. a few years later, he allegedly began uploading information stored in google's network to a personal google account. meanwhile, he was also spending time in china, where a startup tech firm offered him the job of chief technology officer and a salary of nearly $15,000 a month. he also started his own tech firm there with a focus on al. the prosecutors say all of this was happening without him telling google about his work for those other companies. just before the end of 2023, he returned to the us, booked a one way ticket from san francisco to beijing and resigned. that's when google really took action, search his activity history, saw the unauthorized uploads and alerted the authorities. he stands accused of stealing more than 500 confidential files and faces up to ten years in prison and $250,000 in fines on each count.

the us attorney general says he was seeking to enrich himself by covertly working for companies that were seeking an edge in the ai technology race and with the us—china tech rivalry continuing to intensify. it's likely stories like this will only become more common. in other news: the uk faces nearly 20 years of lost pay growth, according to a think tank which focuses on low and middle income earners. the resolution foundation said that, after taking account of rising prices, the average wage will not regain its 2008 level until 2026. meanwhile, the government has cut its for forecast for inflation. nationwide building society has reached an agreement to buy virgin money in a $3.6 billion deal which would see the brand eventually disappear. the deal would create one of the uk's largest mortgage and savings groups.

if the deal goes ahead, it would be the biggest uk bank takeover since the 2008 financial crisis.

hello from the bbc sport centre. the champions league quarter—finals are shaping up nicely, with real madrid and holders manchester city securing their places in the draw for the last eight. madrid beat rb leipzig, with city cruising past fc copenhagen. pep guardiola praised his squad, which had several changes, as they swept aside the danes 6—2 on aggregate, making the quarter finals for the seventh successive season and becoming the first english club to win ten consecutive matches in the competition. guardiola knows the opposition will be tough next up though.

i care all of them. absolutely. just this week, bayern munich were out. real madrid. liverpool's hopes of success in both domestic and european competition have been boosted by the return of mohamed salah as they face sparta prague in the europa league later. managerjurgen klopp revealed that the egyptian had trained for two days prior to the team travelling to prague, and that salah will be involved in their round of 16 first leg clash. but he urged caution given liverpool's intense schedule, which includes the premier league leaders hosting manchester city on sunday. it is so good that he is back. you can see in his face he is very unhappy. we wa nt we want to be careful. we have to be careful.