all of those stories here in a short while. time for a look at the business news now. ben thompson is here in the studio, good afternoon. good afternoon, matthew, thank you. we start in the united states, where president biden�*s government says it's throwing billions of dollars more into the global battle over computer chips. in about an hour from now he's going to tour an intel facility in arizona to discuss the us' role in an industry in which many countries are competing and that is crucial to the future of the global economy — powering everything from electric vehicles to artifical intelligence. $8.5 billion is going directly to the chipmaker intel to help it make more chips in the us. it's also getting billions more in loans. the aim is for 20% of the world's computer chips to be made in the us by

the end of the decade. our correspondent, erin delmore, is in new york. just talk to us about this announcement and what it could mean for america's place in that really competitive chip market. america, as ou said, competitive chip market. america, as you said. is — competitive chip market. america, as you said, is working _ competitive chip market. america, as you said, is working on _ competitive chip market. america, as you said, is working on getting - competitive chip market. america, as you said, is working on getting a - you said, is working on getting a 20% share of chip—making worldwide over the course of the next decade and the country has a way to go. at the last measure at the start of this decade it was coming injust above 20%, at about 12% of that global chip—making output and chips are increasingly important because not only do we find them in our computers and cell phones and cars, but they are also at the edge of the race for al technology and that is because some of the highest powered chips in development right now are being used to employ and grow and create that technology all over the world. what we are seeing right now is the us put a bit of its money where its mouth is. it says it wants

to reach that 20% mark, well, here is $8.5 billion flowing into intel, an american chip—maker, and that is the biggest bite yet we have seen of a massive american spending project called the that is a $53 billion a piece of legislation by us administration here, a cornerstone of the administration's agenda, and it will come into effect not only here in arizona, where we are seeing the president to tour the facility in the next hour, but also three other states, in the next hour, but also three otherstates, new in the next hour, but also three other states, new mexico, in the next hour, but also three otherstates, new mexico, ohio in the next hour, but also three other states, new mexico, ohio and oregon. other states, new mexico, ohio and oreuon. , . , . oregon. yes, and as you said, such an important _ oregon. yes, and as you said, such an important industry _ oregon. yes, and as you said, such an important industry and - oregon. yes, and as you said, such an important industry and one - an important industry and one america is keen not to be overly reliant on when it comes to imports, particularly from places like china, and that is important, isn't it? absolutely because the us will frame this is not only a business imperative and a growth imperative, but also international in security imperative. they will talk about the us having to be reliant on its own technology and not on other countries to be able to power everything from consumer electronics

to military applications here in the states. it also harkens back to a moment we all saw really acutely during the pandemic when it became harder to get technology and products across borders and we saw much more of this appetite grow for domestic home—grown industry. this jibes with something president biden has said very long time in his career, including when he was vice president and including when he was in the senate, that he wants to grow americanjobs and in the senate, that he wants to grow american jobs and american manufacturing at the american workforce, which is part of why we hear so much of this from him. and it might be why we see him touring a battleground state today. yes. it might be why we see him touring a battleground state today.— battleground state today. yes, i know ou battleground state today. yes, i know you follow _ battleground state today. yes, i know you follow that _ battleground state today. yes, i know you follow that for - battleground state today. yes, i know you follow that for us - battleground state today. yes, i know you follow that for us for l battleground state today. yes, i - know you follow that for us for now. erin delmore, thank you from new york. it's another one of those weeks where some of the world's most important central banks tell us their latest thinking on how much it should cost to borrow money. injust over three hours' time we're going to hear from the us federal reserve, the most influential of them all, as the impact will be felt notjust in the us, but by everyone else that

borrows in us dollars. the cost of borrowing is set to stay at a range of 5.25%—5.5%, but what economists are watching is the signals that the chair, jerome powell, gives about the way ahead. that's where it is right now. inflation — the rate at which prices are rising — is at 3.2% after rising last month, and is proving rather stubborn to get back to the 2% target. and that's of course a challenge faced by other countries. in the uk we heard a few hours ago that inflation fell to 3.4%, the lowest in two and a half years, but also above a 2% target. and that comes ahead of the bank of england's interest rate decision on thursday. what could happen next? i've been speaking to the former us federal reserve economist claudia sahm and i asked her if we were expecting any change to the widely held view that the us central bank will cut interest rates three times this year.

that's absolutely in play and again, as you said, it is the guidance the federal reserve are giving about what they are likely to do or what individual members of them think we are likely to do and yet the federal funds rate is not changing today. the borrowing rate for consumers and businesses absolutely could change today, if we have just two of the participants move their... "i think it would be appropriate to have two "cuts, as opposed to three..." rates are going up today for people and even if the fed stays pat, it is a very unfortunate circumstance because for a lot of reasons we shouldn't be looking at the dot... to decide whether people have enough to pay for their mortgage, yet that is the reality. yes, and all that is driven by prices continuing to rise, of course, and that inflation is proving to be pretty sticky, that inflation that many central banks around the world are finding it so

difficult to deal with it. but it is a bit of a mix. it is not across the board, so all central banks are having to balance their demands and expectations based on some of these indicators moving in very different directions when it comes to what is going up and by how much? the first thing i would say is the federal reserve uses the personal consumption index, that price index for its target measure, not the consumer price index, the cpi that you talked about previously, and they look at it, excluding energy and food. that measure has continued to move down, as in within less than a percentage point of their 2% target, so yes, it has been disappointing the last couple of months and frankly inflation has been disappointing across the world for well over two or three years, so yes, inflation is a big concern. in the united states we have also seen in the past two months some pretty disappointing numbers in retail sales, so again, this is a conflict that is going on across the globe in terms of inflation is still high and yet things are slowing down in the economy and some

countries in europe, we are talking about in a recession or flirting with one. this make the jobs of all central banks very difficult. the timing of the cuts will likely differ because under the hood of inflation and a labour market, there are differences and yet, broadbrush, we are facing the same challenge. yes, and also, as we go into a big election year for many developed economies around the world, central banks pride themselves on their independence, but there is increasing pressure on politicians to make the economy look a bit more palatable for those voters? absolutely, for the politicians. the federal reserve as an institution will not put a thumb on the scale intentionally with the election. they are going to make their decisions as they see best, given the economic conditions and given their mandate of price stability and maximum employment. and yet the decisions that the federal reserve makes, particularly if we were to go into a recession later this year, will have a huge effect on the election.

yeah. but that is a side effect. they are not focused on that, they are not trying to help decide. but they will. speaking to me a little earlier. the war in ukraine is continuing to have a major impact on the food that we eat. it's pushed prices up and disrupted the flow of everything from wheat and sugar to eggs and poltury. ——and sugar to eggs and poultry. and it's why the european union has agreed new restrictions on how much of that stuff can come into the bloc from ukraine. farmers in many eu countries have been unhappy. when restrictions were eased because of the war it meant too much produce was coming into the eu and pushed prices down. polish farmers are continuing their protests. others have been out in force across the globe. arnaud petit is executive director of the international grains council, which is an intergovernmental organisation that tries to promote international cooperation in grains trade. i asked him to explain the potential implications

of the latest eu restrictions. first of all, it is a discussion, and mainly impacting the maize market, that is what the european commission is discussing for the time being. and the question for the eu is more how to avoid a collapse of the domestic market for wheat, particularly in feed wheat, which is the main feed for livestock sector. so, having this control in place would mean more trust would be in place towards volumes and where it is going, but it does not mean it will trigger straightforward cap for free duty import to eu, as we are seeing less import from wheat and maize, particularly from ukraine. and how does the european union balance its responsibilities to be able to support the economy of ukraine whilst also protecting its domestic farmers? we know at this time of year there is a danger that some of the ukrainian farmers may sell at below cost price just

because they need the money at this time of the year? indeed, that is the main risk today, is having these ukrainian farmers looking for cash to buy fertilisers and fuel. i would say today what has been the ukrainian grain industry has been performing really well in exporting outside of the eu, 60% is exported via maritime means and now even they are exporting wheat and maize to asia, south korea and china, so i think it is really having the possibility for ukrainian grain producers to export grains further, where there is a real market with a good price, it may be the best way to support the ukrainian economy. yes, and when we look at production for the eu as well, that getting back on track, so perhaps there will be less need for imports, but at the same time, those sourcing that raw material will be looking for the cheapest price, won't they, given what we have seen with cost pressures right across the industry? yes, for the time being, the market is under pressure, whereas there is

a lot of grains and huge competition between originations. a lot of grains because there is less consumption, we assume —25 million tonnes in comparison to last year will be exported in the global volume of grain trade. and next year we might face another situation where we are forecasting production in eu, but also in the black sea region in decrease, which means we might have less need to import i would say wheat from the black sea and more origination from argentina or australia. bashair ahmed there at the international grains council. —— that was arnaud petit. in other news.... sales at luxury brand gucci

are expected to drop 20% in the first quarter of the year. dutchman —— crypto seizure. another suspect is also thought to be behind that fraud. the person will be sentenced in may. the company that owns gucci has had its worst ever day on the stock exchange. shares are expected to fall 30% by the beginning of the year because of sales slowing down in asia. it wiped $12 billion of the group's value. pakistan has unlocked a tentative deal to unlock a 1—$.1 billion tranche of international monetary fund money. the country has been experiencing an economic crisis with soaring inflation. last summer it agreed a $3 billion bailout with the

imf to avoid defaulting. those are your top business stories this hour. you're watching bbc news.

the un special rapporteur for myanmar says the appeasement of the country's military rulers must stop, along with the flow of money and weapons to the regime. tom andrews said the army is growing increasingly desperate as it loses both territory and public opinion. he reports that in the past five months its air strikes on civilians have increased fivefold. and he said attempts by other south—east asian countries to engage with its leadership hadn't halted the violence. myanmar has been riven by fighting between rebel groups and the armed forces since the 2021 coup, which ousted leader aung san suu kyi. the junta now controls less than half of the country. they have lost tens of thousands of troops to defections, to casualties and to surrender.

they have lost hundreds of military outposts. they have lost dozens of towns and villages. so they are on the run. they're on their back heels. the bad news is, is that they have responded to this by attacking civilians. there has been a five—fold increase in attacks, aerial attacks on civilians. and the reason for this is, is that for them, it's dangerous for their troops to move around on the ground. so instead, they're taking the aerial, the aircraft that they've been able to obtain from abroad, and bomb villages, idp centers, and kill innocent civilians. a five—time increase. tom andrews. earlier, the lakeside mansion where aung san suu kyi spent years

under house arrest went up for auction, with a minimum price of $150 million. but it didn't attract a single bid. the two—storey house and 1.9 acres of land were put up for sale after a decades—long dispute over it between the nobel laureate and her brother. the eye—watering price tag is thought to be based on a valuation by his lawyers. let's get some of the day s other news now. thailand's prime minister has announced that he will halt his overseas travel for two months following criticism of his tours. he's spent time abroad promoting investment in thailand, but has been facing backlash for not focusing on issues like urban pollution. a us appeals court has issued an order effectively blocking texas from implementing one of the toughest immigration laws in the us. the law allowed state officials to arrest and deport people suspected of illegally crossing into the us from mexico. crossing the us border illegally is already a federal crime,

but violations are usually handled as civil cases by the immigration court system. today is the international day of happiness. so what is the happiest country in the world? according to a un report published today, finland is at the top for the seventh year. but the research has also highlighted a rise in unhappiness among younger people, which pushed the us and some large western european countries down the rankings. sofia bettiza has been looking at the data. what determines the happiness of a country? well, the world happiness report, which was published today, measures socialsupport, income, health, freedom, generosity and the absence of corruption. and once again, finland was crowned the happiest country in the world, for the seventh year in a row. as you can see, it is closely followed by denmark and iceland. in fact, scandinavian countries dominate the top five. so why are people there so happy?

wealth does matter, but especially how wealth is distributed. in finland, denmark and in other scandinavian countries, you will find wealth is way more evenly distributed, so more people benefit from the wealth that's being generated in these countries. so wealth is an important factor, but it is more than that. something that really stands out in scandinavian countries is that society is built on trust. essentially, people tend to trust each other. they trust institutions and they feel supported by the state. now, at the bottom of the rankings are lebanon and afghanistan, which remain the two unhappiest countries in the survey. now, what is interesting is that for the first time since the report was published, the united states

and germany are not among the 20 happiest nations. and that is linked with a worrying trend which shows that in the us and in some countries in western europe old people are much happier than younger people. the report doesn't say why, but what is different about this younger generation is how much time they spend on social media, feeling lonely, the difficulty of buying a house and fears about climate change. our reporterjust going through some of the data there. ijust want our reporterjust going through some of the data there. i just want to show the live pictures, a couple of stories we are our eye on because of potential developments. first to gaza, the situation at a hospital and in about 20 minutes' time, we will be talking to james elder from

unicef with the latest on the ground from gaza, with of course more concern and more urging from un secretary to get more aid into gaza. so we would talk to james elder live on the programme. also let me show you the live pictures from the house of lords because that central plank of lords because that central plank of the uk government's legislation, that rwanda bill that ping—pong is between the house of commons and the house of lords, we are expecting more votes there in the house of lords. you watching bbc news. let's turn to wales because... vaughan gething has been formally nominated as the new first minister of wales by the welsh parliament. he narrowly won the welsh labour leadership to succeed mark drakeford, who has stepped down from the post after more than five years. he is the first politician from an ethnic minority background in the role and the only black leader of a national government in europe. after the vote, he set out his vision for wales. i believe the wales of today, and the future, will be owned by all

those decent people who recognise that our parliament and our government should look like our country, people who recognise that our hope and ambition for the future relies on unleashing the talent of all of us, a wales that recognises that we can celebrate our differences and take pride in all those things that draw us together and make us who we are. that is the wales that i want to lead, a wales full of hope, ambition and unity. the crown is leading the way in this year's nominations for the bafta television awards which have just been released. let's get more with lizo mzimba. many critics might not have loved the final series of the crown, but it leads the way at the baftas with eight nominations. i don't want to go scouring and searching through the newspapers page after page for negative coverage of diana. i want positive coverage of mrs parker—bowles to be glaringly,

screamingly obvious! dominic west is recognised for playing prince charles... have i made myself clear? ..lesley manville for princess margaret... you know the princess of wales. ..and salim daw, who plays mohamed al—fayed, is also nominated... we met years ago. yeah, we met. ..alongside elizabeth debicki, who plays princess diana. i mean, don't get me wrong, i'm very proud of my 30 years. i'm the best copper that ever lived. but code 11 — job done. the final series of crime drama happy valley was watched by more than 10 million. it's just behind with seven nominations, including best actress for sarah lancashire and supporting actress for siobhan finneran. you've always been like that. oh, yeah, but i'm feeling it now. rock on. also with seven nominations is demon 79, an episode of black mirror where a young woman accidentally releases a demon. you're not real. you're not real, you're not real, you're not real. its nominations include best limited drama and best actress

for anjana vasan. channel 4's dispatches programme, which accused russell brand of multiple sexual assaults, is nominated in the current affairs category. he's denied their allegations. wow! my god, it has been an absolutely brilliant night so far... among the four nominations for the eurovision song contest are best live event and best entertainment performance for hannah waddingham. we still have one more song to hear. 555 of us now. 2024's headline—making drama, mr bates verses the post office, isn't eligible this year, as the nominations cover 2023. but one of the most influential programmes of recent years is already being talked about for next yea r�*s baftas. lizo mzimba, bbc news. finally this half hour, to one of the most read stories on the bbc

news website. it's a wonderful story. i want to take you to the remote scottish orkney islands — you can see them here on this map. there are 70 individual islands, but only 20 are inhabited. one of those islands is called sanday — it has a population of around 500 people. but a mix—up with an order has left the sinclair general stores with this problem — hundreds of easter eggs, far more than the people living there. now, this is embarrassed shop owner dan — he only wanted 80 eggs, don't know why he's smiling because he's mistakenly ordered 80 cases — a total of 720 chocolate eggs. he is now raffling off 100 of the eggs to one lucky winner in aid of the royal national lifeboat institution. a wonderful story. let me tell you what's coming up in the next hour, a really busy hour because we have the

second of their exclusive reports on the conflict in sudan. we are going to be hearing from the neighbouring country of chad, which of course are so many people have been fleeing across the border to that country. we will have our reporter in the middle east, we will be live with james elderfrom unicef, rishi sunak is talking... we'll pay you that interview. we will have more on cricket, the hundred, the draft that is coming out in the next hour. all that after they we re were the weather details. —— after the weather details. hello there. for england and wales we have got a weakening area of low pressure this afternoon — that's why it's cloudy with some drizzle. we've also got damp conditions loitering in eastern scotland. for the north and west of scotland and northern ireland, though, the weather system is disappearing off into the horizon with sunshine following. indeed, that stripe of cloud on the horizon in orkney is the weather system disappearing over the horizon. through the rest of today,

damp and drizzly conditions for wales, the midlands, a swathe of northern england. eastern scotland drizzle reluctant to clear away. given some sunshine for south—east england, temperatures could get up to 17—18. but in the north of the uk the weather will be feeling quite chilly, particularly for the east coast of scotland, where temperatures could be 7 degrees for quite a lot of the afternoon. overnight tonight there could be one or two mist and fog patches and then later in the night we will see some rain moving into scotland and northern ireland. that rain is associated with the next weather system moving in off the atlantic. this warm front will be bringing some milder air back into northern areas of the uk, so temperatures will be climbing by a few degrees. however, it is going to be a wet day, particularly for scotland on thursday, with some strong winds across the far north, where we will see gusts running into 50mph plus. some damp weather for northern ireland and the far north of england in the afternoon. further south you might see the cloud thinning and breaking, and again, we could see some pretty high temperatures for the time of year. friday, a cold front pushing south across england and wales, and with that, cloud and rain, followed by sunshine and showers. the showers across scotland, northern ireland, the north—west of england and wales could be heavy, with some hail mixed in.

temperatures near average for the time of year, 10—12, but feeling quite a bit cooler than it has. on into the weekend, low pressure stays in charge, a day of sunny spells and showers on saturday, the showers having some hail mixed in with them, and we could have a bit of sleet over the hills in the north of the uk. there will be a chilly wind knocking the edge off these temperatures, feeling cool. further showers are in the forecast on sunday, but probably with bigger gaps between them. there will be some places that stay dry. on monday, with colder air moving in across the north of the uk, we might actually see a spell of hill snow in parts of scotland.

live from london. this is bbc news. the second of our special report on the sudan crisis described as a war the sudan crisis described as a war the world has forgotten. the bbc describes the violence against women during the conflict stop with this is because rape pleads an impact on society. they usedit pleads an impact on society. they used it as a weapon of revenge.

the irish prime minister — leo varadkar — announces he's going to step down before the next generl election. politicians are human beings and we have our limitations, we give it everything until we can't any more. and then we have to move on. the uk's largest delivery of aid arrives in gaza — as america's top diplomat visits saudi arabia — amid a renewed diplomatic push. we'll speak live to unicef in gaza. and — who will be picked in the draft — for cricket's newest brashest competition — the hundred. we have the latest. hello, i m matthew amroliwala, welcome to verified live, now to a special bbc report — on what's being described, as a �*war the world forgot�*. this has spilt over into neighbouring countries. those

affected have spoken how rape is