the impact on employment? in the united states, will the consumer inflation report indicate interest rates could be cut? bitcoin hits an all—time high at over $72,000. in mongolia, we'll hear about the scheme to get more girls into coding — and why. welcome to the programme stop. we're on the verge of the latest indication of how the uk economy is faring. officialjobs market and wages data will be released soon. last month figures suggested the jobs market remains fairly resilient. the unemployment rate across the uk fell to 3.8% in the final three months of 2023.

that's down from 3.9% in the three months to november. it marked the lowest level seen since the november 2022 to january 2023 period. wage growth slowed again in the britishjobs market. but — and this is key — it is still outpacing price rises, according to the office for national statistics. let's hear now from michael stull, director at manpowergroup uk. michael, what are you expecting to see a little later on? i'm always very excited for when the numbers come out. i'm expecting a couple of things, one is i do think unemployment will take up a little bit, as you mentioned wage growth is going to slow. we will see vacancies down and underlying all of that in the labour market we have two bosses, a cold and hot going on. on the

cold and hot going on. on the cold side we have sent a dropping, we've seen hiring slowing down and we are not out of the woods. we are blue business and consumer confidence. manufacturing pmi is a very low, big into caters. 0n the hot side we see a lot of hiring going on especially in the skill shortage areas. it, engineering, care. our manpower employment 0utlook engineering, care. our manpower employment outlook is still pretty positive. companies are doing one of two things. the companies that are hiring, some are going on the offensive, they are betting on a quick rebound and hiring for growth and strategic projects. we see about 60% in that camp and on the other side of the equation we see the other 40% really just standing and waiting to see what happens and backfilling the roles that they have and it's a little bit of a

game of chess right now and i'm betting on when is growth going to come back into the economy. a lot of hiring going on from what you are seeing. why does wage growth remain so strong compared to price rises? that is a great question. _ is a great question. traditionally what we have seen and we have seen it through this cycle as well is wage always follows pricing. attacks always follows pricing. attacks a couple of months to get wages in, and it takes a couple of months to get the wages out. you traditionally see three, four month lag between the two indicators, the slopes of the same, it isjust indicators, the slopes of the same, it is just pushed out a little bit further and that's why we will continue to see wages come down and get more in line with where inflation is sitting. line with where inflation is sittina. m . , line with where inflation is sittina. a . , ., line with where inflation is sittina. m . , sitting. michael, why do you think the — sitting. michael, why do you think the bank _ sitting. michael, why do you think the bank of _ sitting. michael, why do you think the bank of england i sitting. michael, why do you think the bank of england is | think the bank of england is reweighting the data and how will that change things? i

think that we are in a bit of a turbulent time right now because we don't know it clear where the market is. they have changed because they are not getting the survey responses that they got before and they realised that the 0ns data was not exactly reflected in the market. period of the period it's comparable but when you go backin it's comparable but when you go back in time and you try to compare it, it is not there and thatis compare it, it is not there and that is why they are reweighting to better understand exactly where the economy is and i'm looking forward to hopefully the rollout of the share of the new official data.— official data. michael, director _ official data. michael, director at _ official data. michael, - director at manpowergroup, thank you. director at manpowergroup, thank you-— us presidentjoe biden has proposed a $7.3 trillion budget. he wants new social programmes and higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy. the plan offers a stark contrast with donald trump's economic vision ahead of november's us presidential election.

here's more from the bbc�*s north america business correspondent michelle fleury in new york. presidentjoe biden outlined his election year budget pitch which included tax breaks for families, lower healthcare families, lower healthca re costs families, lower healthcare costs and a higher tax on the wealthy and corporations. as well as trying to get more money to help ukraine defend its topic and structure and for aid for israel. if the biden budget became law it would save $3 trillion through higher taxes of the ten years. would also push us debt over 100% of gdp. by contrast donald trump's economic vision is for more tariffs to pump more oil and cut taxes. joe biden has made kitchen sink issues a central part of his real action message, trying to win over american is unhappy with the post— pandemic economy. although this budget proposal has little chance of being approved by congress, it is a blueprint of what the future could hold if the democrats win

in november. global markets will be watching the us consumer inflation report for february later today. it's an important measure on how the world's leading economy is faring. us stocks slipped on monday in anticipation. as people look for any indication the us federal reserve could lower interest rates if inflation continues to slow. the us central bank next meets on the 20th march. that's wednesday next week. for more on this i am joined by sarah hewin, head of research, europe and americas, standard chartered bank. hello there. sarah, what can we expect from the cpi report a little later? we are likely to see headlining inflation staying at 3.1% and thatis inflation staying at 3.1% and that is because there's been a pickup in energy prices in february. core inflation, which strips out volatile readings of

energy and food is likely to fall down to 3.7% which will be living in the right direction. we had a january inflation report that surprised to the upside. was a monthly pickup and inflation that was stronger than had been expected because of surfaces. they hope that this time, february's core inflation is going to resume a downtrend. we've seen some market reaction already so what can we read into that? there is a huge amount resting on this particular report. because as you mentioned, the us federal reserve is poised to cut interest rates in the coming months. the question is when does that happen? it is not likely next week but it is possible that come the may meeting of the start of may or mid june the fed may decide to start its interest rate cutting cycle. at the same time if

inflation is not humming down inflation is not humming down in line with what they are anticipating, if it is looking like it will take some time to get down to target, the fed will then doorway the rate cuts. —— delay. they will have brought into caches for other economies such as emerging market economies.— economies such as emerging market economies. many people watchin: market economies. many people watching all— market economies. many people watching all around _ market economies. many people watching all around the - market economies. many people watching all around the world . watching all around the world and remind us how effects of commerce and why they're watching so closely? because for many central _ watching so closely? because for many central banks, - watching so closely? because j for many central banks, there will be waiting for the fed to make the first rate cut before they can use their own interest rates. the risk is if another central bank decides to cut rates before the fed does, then that pushes the currency up against the us dollar and that makes them less competitive. a lot of central banks are waiting to see when the fed cuts and they would feel comfortable in cutting the rates for their own countries.

the global game of wait and see. sarah hewin, thank you for joining us. the value of the crypto currency, bitcoin, has risen to a fresh all—time high. the new price is above $72,000. earlier this year, us regulators made it easier for investors to trade the currency. that's helped fuel the record breaking run. and now the uk's financial watchdog says it will loosen some of the rules. here's the bbc�*s cyber correspondentjoe tidy. for the last two years, once charting the value of bitcoin have mostly been in one direction. in the last few weeks, it has all changed. almost hourly now this virtual currency is sitting new all—time highs. the reason, it is mostly down to this place. in january is mostly down to this place. injanuary traders is mostly down to this place. in january traders from is mostly down to this place. injanuary traders from us investment giants were given the green light by us watchdogs to start selling products links directly to bitcoin. as a result they spent billions

buying up coins. further stoking the fire, today the uk financial authorities say they are also open to allowing some trading based on crypto assets. some are wondering how father's will go. some people think the potential of bitcoin is to replace all other currencies. there are shops and restaurant like this one in london except that coin. i bought the £7 burger which was 0.0009 between. the way prices are going now, who knows what will worth tomorrow? i going now, who knows what will worth tomorrow?— worth tomorrow? i don't think we will see — worth tomorrow? i don't think we will see bitcoin _ worth tomorrow? i don't think we will see bitcoin becoming i worth tomorrow? i don't think| we will see bitcoin becoming a genuine currency but what we ahsinger it become is a recognised and potentially widely used investment asset. people buying it to save for the longer term and benefit from the price rises. mas from the price rises. was created _ from the price rises. was created by _ from the price rises. was created by anonymous internet userin created by anonymous internet user in 2009 to make sending money is easier sending an e—mail, orwithout money is easier sending an e—mail, or without needing any financial institutions.

transactions are processed by a huge network of volunteers who use computers to check transactions. as a reward they are automatically given new coins. right now the demand for the coins seems to be higher than ever and many bands are celebrating their newfound riches. 0thers celebrating their newfound riches. others are wondering with caution which way the notoriously unpredictable line will go next. american companies are set to announce investments amounting to more than $1 billion in the philippines. that's according to the us commerce secretary gina raimondo who was speaking in manila. she's heading a two—day trade and investment mission, the first of its kind for the philippines. let's cross live now to katie silver in our asia business hub. hi katie. hello. how significant an investment would this be? well, whether or not it's significant or symbolic is the big question here and it is

certainly symbolic. the comments were made in the presidential palace outside after she had met with the president and in this she described it as being ironclad. who's going to this trip? if the delegation that includes the delegation that includes the likes of alphabet, the parent company of google, microsoft as well as united airlines which last week said they were going to be providing direct flights between tokyo and seafood. this investment will be across everything from solar energy, electric vehicles and digitisation but as you say, is more a question really of politics rather than business in some ways and big non— spoken or not mentioned part of the equation is china. we have seen the philippines having increased tension over the south china sea particular after a chinese vessel pointed after a chinese vessel pointed a laser and a philippines vessel about a year or so ago. since then the philippines has been more outspoken scene there will be working on their network of alliances, 18 different countries have signed

up different countries have signed up with the philippines since then and as for the philippines and the us relationship of course they have a shared interest when it comes to china and tackling china's influence in the region. the two have a long—standing defence relationship at 73 years ago they signed a mutual defence treaty, the oldest in the region and recently we have seen more and more cooperation when it comes to military cooperation for example recently the us was given greater access to philippine military bases. it was all part of the us strategy to build economic alliances in order to try and counter china and as part of that we are seeing gina raimondo, her neck stop on the trip is thailand where we are respecting announcements on economic ties with supply chain resiliency stop thank you. what resiliency stop thank you. what a multilayered _ a multilayered relationship there. let's get some of the day's other news now. the uk risks blackouts unless it builds new, gas—fired power stations. that's a warning expected later from energy security secretary claire coutinho. new gas stations will replace existing plants, many of them ageing and soon to be retired.

but the government says the c02 produced will not be captured — a measure which limits climate change. that could threaten a legally binding commitment to cut carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 according to critics. bananas — the world's most exported fruit — are set to get more expensive as climate change hits. that's according to one of the world's top industry experts. pascal liu, senior economist at the world banana forum, says climate impacts pose an "enormous threat" to supply, compounding the impacts of fast—spreading diseases. some uk shops have recently experienced banana shortages due to sea storms. it had initially proposed an offer valuing the electricals chain at £700 million. then rested to 757 million or $970

million but curries rebuffed the reproach saying they had significant the undervalued business. currys has more than 800 stores globally and employs 28,000 people. in the uk, it operates about 300 stores with 15,000 staff. let's hear now from will walker—arnott, director of private clients at charles stanley. thank you forjoining us. it's a tough market for retailers with cost of living concerns affecting spending. does that lie behind this discrepancy over valuation? good morning. it's worth giving some background to the story. curry�*s came about in 2014 three merger between carbon warehouse and dixons and it's been through a difficult period. it sends high—end electrical goods and weep into a cost of living crisis, the other issue it has is it had problems with its candidate in business and all in all the

shares are down 60% of the last five years. there was a white knight on the horizon in the form of activist investment manager elliott looking at the business as you point out, the made to bits but they walked away. they cited the fact that there was not enough information provided by the board and have now backed away. the larger shareholder of curry�*s is company that supported the board saying that the two bids undervalued the business. if we went to see whether anyone else will come in. i whether anyone else will come in. . , ., whether anyone else will come in. . . ., whether anyone else will come in. i also want to get your opinion — in. i also want to get your opinion on _ in. i also want to get your opinion on another- in. i also want to get your opinion on another story | opinion on another story because breaded, one of the most popular sites in the world is before evaluation of $6.4 billion when it chairs go public next week —— reddit. it has never made a profit will flow chairs on the stock exchange, finding rebuild its investors are hoping to sell 22 million shares some are between 31 and $34 each. many users worry that will fundamentally change the world.

do you think a move like this could fundamentally change the product? we will have to wait and see. 0ne we will have to wait and see. one of the great things about reddit is the strong community it has and it really came and rose into people's consciousness during the pandemic when they have a whole army of retail investors who were really moving the market in stocks like game stop and amc. we have to remember that this company is loss—making, we had a look at the perspectives yesterday and it made $90 million of loss last year. it's never made a profit in its 20 year history. now beginning to build up a business and advertising which has $800 million of revenues, they also think they can start selling some of their data through life's language models made by the likes of alphabet, the owner of google. there are other revenue streams and it really is a test case for the ipo market which has been dead

the last two years. we'll wait and see how the shares go. director of private clients at charles stanley, thank you. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. bbc news, bringing you different stories from across the uk. , ., a, different stories from across the uk. , ., ., _ the uk. they have arrived by the uk. they have arrived by the truckload _ the uk. they have arrived by the truckload in _ the uk. they have arrived by the truckload in recent - the uk. they have arrived by the truckload in recent days| the uk. they have arrived by i the truckload in recent days to the truckload in recent days to the farm on the outskirts of cardiff. thousands of wellies donated by farmers across wales. ., ., , , donated by farmers across wales. ., ., wales. the aim of this is to talk about _ wales. the aim of this is to talk about the _ wales. the aim of this is to talk about the sustainable l talk about the sustainable farming skim. and the impact it has with the government released is implying the potential loss of 5.5 thousand jobs. potential loss of 5.5 thousand “obs. , , jobs. this figure is the discrediting _ jobs. this figure is the discrediting now - jobs. this figure is the i discrediting now because jobs. this figure is the - discrediting now because the government says the analysis is out of date, taken into account the scheme in full? this out of date, taken into account the scheme in full?— the scheme in full? this is the only impact — the scheme in full? this is the only impact assessment - the scheme in full? this is the only impact assessment that l the scheme in full? this is the| only impact assessment that is available at the moment. there's is of the only figures available to farmers to make a decision. �* ., ., , decision. after weeks of angry debate and — decision. after weeks of angry debate and protest, _ decision. after weeks of angry

debate and protest, today - decision. after weeks of angry debate and protest, today a i debate and protest, today a silent demonstration on the steps of the seventh. supporters say there's a big enough budget it could really work. they say paying farmers to increase tree, and by the habitat will make them more resilient to the impacts of climate change.— climate change. for more stories from _ climate change. for more stories from across - climate change. for more stories from across the i climate change. for more i stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news. now mongolia is a country that relies on traditional industries like farming and mining. but the government is keen to diversify the economy. we caught up with one project that hopes to shore up the number of women going into tech. if you see the highest paid positions, they are all filled by men and service lower paid jobs are filled by women. with that in mind, i started girls coding back in 2021. with 30 girls from countries out of mongolia who do not know they have access to internet.

and the result has been encouraging, inspiring — it was everything that we did not expect. now we have 80 graduates and from the 80 graduates, we have about ten girls who went to prestigious universities. many girls are working as part—time coders as well as studying or working on different things. most importantly, these girls became a platform. they helped each other, they mentor each other, they inspire each other, they encourage each other. we want to extend this programme to not only mongolia, but many merchant markets and developing countries where girls are discouraged to pursue stem education, where girls are left out of digital development.

we really need to look at educational system. traditional educational systems do not encourage girls to go to their full potential unfortunately. we have to change that. but when we talk about girls, it's just meaning to create equal opportunity for both genders, not to upscale boys. it's to pursue the education they want. just in general, for al, it's very important that younger generation, government, international organisations understand the capacity of what ai can do and use it for the benefit of humanity rather than the negative detrimental impacts it may create. in today's data—driven world, personal data is big business.

thousands of companies collect and sell your personal data. with many firms holding more data on us than we can even imagine, there has been a rise in the concept of pims. that's personal information management systems. they enable people to centralize their data in one place. allowing you to know what data is held on you, where it's held, and by whom. there is growing competition in the space too. us company cached launching an app in 2023 to let users "take control" of their data footprint and exchange information on their brand preferences for cash. uk—based gener8 has also launched a pims app. it aims to empower people to not only have oversight of the data held on them but to actually earn money from it themselves. the founder, sam jones, joins me now. hello there. good morning, thank you — hello there. good morning, thank you for _ hello there. good morning, thank you for having - hello there. good morning, thank you for having me. i it's a lucrative business, yours is worth £30 million. how much of your revenue do you hope to return to the user? the majority, the weather

gener8 works is by turning your online data into real—world rewards, everyday people are redeeming gift cards, gadgets and donating to charity their earning from their own data. early in the programme we heard about wages and inflation and there's never been a better time for people to passively earn income from their data. i've looked at your app — it asks to go through emails — what privacy concerns have been raised? first and foremost trust is right at the heart of what we do. we take it really seriously. 0ur position is actually about enabling people to earn from what already happens online. what we're doing is enabling people to have a choice, we say right now the status quo is what you are doing your data is being taken up, tracked and collected and today you are not getting anything back from it. if you would like to earn that you can choose to share your data with gener8 and we will share the value back with you suffice it

about giving people a choice that currently they don't have. in terms of how consumers spend their earnings, it's not straightforward, is it? there are different ways that they can spend it? taste there are different ways that they can spend it?— they can spend it? we have built the — they can spend it? we have built the rewards _ they can spend it? we have built the rewards platform l built the rewards platform where people can choose what they redeem. whether that's gift cards, the netting to charity or gadgets and vouchers each week and month. we actually see the most popular reward is people like to donate to charity and i think that says something billy positive you think people earning passive income result in that going to causes... passive income result in that going to causes. . ._ passive income result in that going to causes... people get frustrated _ going to causes... people get frustrated by _ going to causes... people get frustrated by auctions - going to causes... people get frustrated by auctions of - going to causes... people get frustrated by auctions of the l frustrated by auctions of the gift cards and it's not always is he to spend their money? flit is he to spend their money? of course they is he to spend their money? oi course they can sometimes be more demand than there is supply for some vouchers and products but something i think is really interesting is the lack of awareness about the extent to how we are being tracked online. many people wonder whether their phones are listening to them, what i can tell you certain is even your phone network is selling your location data. whether you're

an 02, vodafone, your location is being tracked and recorded every second of the day including the physical shops you walk into, the route you take to work, where you work and even where you live. you can check this for yourself, if you google search 02 motion, the name of the data centre arm and you will see that they sell in their own words micro location insights from 25 million customers to a radius of two metres.— million customers to a radius of two metres. we're running out of time — of two metres. we're running out of time and _ of two metres. we're running out of time and i _ of two metres. we're running out of time and i want - of two metres. we're running out of time and i want to - of two metres. we're running out of time and i want to ask| out of time and i want to ask about tiny tab and harry, how did you get on board? we about tiny tab and harry, how did you get on board? we have a lot of interesting _ did you get on board? we have a lot of interesting investors - lot of interesting investors were that celebrities like the former football manager, were that celebrities like the formerfootball manager, peter former football manager, peter jones, formerfootball manager, peter jones, or even through to the former cricket captain. i think the breath of that... former cricket captain. i think the breath of that. . ._ former cricket captain. i think the breath of that. .. thank you forjoining _ the breath of that. .. thank you forjoining us— the breath of that. .. thank you forjoining us here. _ the breath of that. .. thank you forjoining us here. stay- the breath of that. .. thank you forjoining us here. stay with l forjoining us here. stay with us here on bbc news, thank you for your company. hello there. we've still got significant

problems with a lot of ground water lying around across the southern half of the uk. there are numerous flood warnings out for that, and as well as some large waves around southern western coast. the warnings are all on the website, but we are in for more rain. it's already been moving in through the evening and overnight across the western part of the uk. this is for the rest of the week — you can see the rainfall totals amounting to perhaps 30—40 millimetres again, for many parts. this is the current arm of cloud that's moving in the next area of low pressure, which will give some wet weather through the remainder of the night and into the start of our tuesday morning. perhaps a little bit of mist and fog in central and eastern areas, a bit chilly here, touch of frost in the north — but this is the main story, really quite wet through the rush hour across parts of northern ireland, initially across wales and southern and central england, moving towards the south—east, as well. so it could be quite nasty — hazardous driving conditions, lots of spray and standing water around. that main pulse of rain for many of us lasting 3—4 hours before starting to move out the way,

but we will be left with a legacy of cloud following on behind. quite a bit of that even to the north of the front, across scotland, perhaps some brightness in the far north. still quite a keen southeasterly breeze here, but for most of us, it's a south—westerly, brisker wind — and it's milder, 13—14 celsius, because we're in a warm sector. and as we go through the night, we'll see this low pressure gathering forces and becoming closer to the north, bringing windier weather and wetter weather, as well, as it sinks southwards. so, by wednesday, we think sitting as a slow—moving band of rain, parts of northern ireland, northern england, north wales, as well. showers following on behind — a bit chilly, wintry over the hills — but the main story is again, yet more rain, perhaps not arriving into the south and the east until later on. in fact, it mayjust lift northwards then as we go into thursday. still, as you can see, a lot of wet weather in the forecast for the coming week, but milder as we pick up that southerly or south—westerly wind. 15—16 if we see some breaks in the cloud as we head towards thursday.

and that's, as i say, because of our wind direction coming in off the atlantic for much of last week, we had the chilly wind coming in off the north sea. so it really does make a difference, our wind direction — but coming in from the south and west over the atlantic, it does mean we'll see more rain. as i've said, the warnings are online.

good morning, welcome to breakfast with sally nugent and jon kay. 0ur headlines today. are pet owners paying too much in vets fees? a long awaited review is published into the way the industry operates. prices have been rising farfaster than average inflation — we look at the sacrifices families have been making to care for theirfurry friends, and consider what might be done to improve veterinary practice. we meet alfie, the teenager who lost his father to suicide, who now helps other children bereaved in the same way. described as "the greatest ride on earth", surfers from all over the world descend on the south west of england to ride the severn bore. from these severn bore to the cheltenham roar, is the festival

begins, — cheltenham roar, is the festival begins, kicking