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20260917 150000 UTC
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[00:00:13] Live from London. This is BBC
[00:00:15] News. King Charles urges Silicon Silicon Valley bosses to develop
[00:00:19] develop sufficient controls for AI
[00:00:21] AI amid fresh calls for safeguards
[00:00:24] safeguards from another senior tech
[00:00:25] tech figure. Those in our world who
[00:00:29] who value deeply our humanity and
[00:00:32] and its vital moral component are
[00:00:34] are anxiously seeking your reassurance
[00:00:37] reassurance that we will not lose lose control of our destiny or our
[00:00:41] our souls. We're essentially seeding
[00:00:44] seeding a new silicon species which which will no doubt compete with
[00:00:48] with us for resources. Buckingham Buckingham Palace is in a war of
[00:00:51] of words with Princess Diana's brother brother over his controversial memoir
[00:00:55] memoir about her life and death. death. More excerpts from the book
[00:00:57] book are expected to be released
[00:00:59] released shortly. South African police police say they found a ninth woman
[00:01:03] woman killed near Johannesburg in in a spate of murders, causing fear
[00:01:07] fear and outrage across the country. country. The Bank of England holds
[00:01:11] holds interest rates at 3.75%. We'll
[00:01:13] We'll look at the state of the global
[00:01:15] global economy as the Iran war continues
[00:01:18] continues to push up energy costs
[00:01:20] costs and the boss of the social social media company Snapchat tells
[00:01:24] tells the BBC the firm would be willing
[00:01:26] willing to implement time limits
[00:01:28] limits for teenagers. Hello and welcome
[00:01:39] welcome to BBC News. King Charles Charles has urged tech bosses to
[00:01:43] to develop a sufficient means of of controlling artificial intelligence
[00:01:47] intelligence before, in his words, words, it all becomes too late. His
[00:01:50] His warning while hosting a gathering gathering of AI executives in Scotland,
[00:01:53] Scotland, follows the latest alert alert about the rapidly developing
[00:01:56] developing technology. Microsoft's Microsoft's AI chief has told the
[00:02:00] the BBC today he believes the world world is seeing the development of
[00:02:03] of a new silicon species that could could compete with humans. We'll
[00:02:07] We'll bring you more of that interview interview a little later. Well in
[00:02:10] in attendance today were representatives representatives from some of the the world's biggest AI developers,
[00:02:14] developers, including Nvidia, Google Google DeepMind, OpenAI, Anthropic
[00:02:18] Anthropic and others. The main discussions discussions will. They are taking taking place privately, but here's
[00:02:21] here's some of what the King said
[00:02:23] said as he opened today's meeting.
[00:02:26] meeting. AI is already showing its
[00:02:28] its immense capacity to improve and
[00:02:31] and save life. For example, in the
[00:02:34] the field of life sciences and medicine.
[00:02:37] medicine. Yet those who have created
[00:02:41] created these technologies are now now increasingly warning that AI
[00:02:44] AI risks developing darker capacities,
[00:02:48] capacities, perhaps even to take
[00:02:50] take life. And in this regard, if
[00:02:52] if I may say so, there seems urgency
[00:02:56] urgency in adequately considering considering the existential dangers
[00:03:00] dangers of such technologies falling
[00:03:02] falling into the wrong hands. Well,
[00:03:05] Well, our AI correspondent Marc Cieslak Cieslak explained to me a little
[00:03:08] little earlier some of the bad press press I have been getting from those
[00:03:12] those right at the top of the industry industry itself. AI agents going
[00:03:15] going rogue and breaking out of their their training environments. And
[00:03:18] And just days before the King's Summit,
[00:03:21] Summit, Anthropic's own CEO Dario Dario Amodei, alongside Sam Altman
[00:03:24] Altman of OpenAI and Elon Musk, called called for a slowdown in the development
[00:03:27] development of AI. We've had safety safety researchers at these companies
[00:03:30] companies posting publicly that they they believe there's more than a
[00:03:33] a 10% chance AI could kill all humans
[00:03:36] humans within a decade. Some industry industry observers, though, say that
[00:03:40] that this apocalyptic AI talk is is actually marketing intended to
[00:03:44] to increase the valuation of these these companies as they prepare for
[00:03:48] for mega IPOs. Hype or not? These These warnings seem to have struck
[00:03:52] struck a real chord across the globe,
[00:03:54] globe, and. Massive questions now
[00:03:57] now about how you can slow progress. progress. Can you slow progress,
[00:04:01] progress, how you regulate? Yeah. Yeah. Regulation now regulation is
[00:04:04] is an incredibly controversial subject
[00:04:07] subject in AI circles. President President Trump recently said the
[00:04:10] the US already has enough regulatory regulatory and criminal powers to
[00:04:14] to hold AI companies accountable, accountable, and that more guardrails
[00:04:16] guardrails would undermine American American competitiveness. The reality
[00:04:19] reality is that the US doesn't have
[00:04:22] have one comprehensive rule or law law like the EU does. Regulations
[00:04:26] Regulations spread across existing existing laws, different federal federal agencies and different states.
[00:04:30] states. That's why we're seeing a a bit of a split at the moment. Some
[00:04:33] Some of the biggest AI companies companies are calling for more safety safety measures for a variety of
[00:04:37] of reasons. Some of them no doubt doubt commercial, but also we've
[00:04:41] we've got the White House saying saying that this there's a bigger
[00:04:43] bigger risk that if they have greater, greater, greater regulation, that
[00:04:47] that they'll fall behind China. And And exactly on that point, you have
[00:04:50] have an American President who says, says, basically we just have to win
[00:04:54] win AI. And where are the Chinese, Chinese, the massive competitor in
[00:04:57] in this race in all of this
[00:05:02] conversation? Well, China has a massive massive amount of capability that that perhaps the West doesn't have
[00:05:05] have in certain arenas. And when when it comes to AI for a very, very
[00:05:08] very long time, it was thought that that the Chinese was a considerable
[00:05:11] considerable distance behind in terms terms of technology. That now isn't
[00:05:14] isn't the case. A lot of industry industry observers say that there's
[00:05:16] there's more or less parity between between Western technology and Chinese
[00:05:19] Chinese technology. They've caught caught up very, very fast and they
[00:05:22] they are incredibly capable. And
[00:05:24] And it's being framed in Western Western circles as a new Cold War,
[00:05:27] War, if you like, or a new arms race,
[00:05:29] race, the country that controls AI AI will have a leading position in
[00:05:33] in the world moving forward. That
[00:05:36] That Marc Cieslak let's speak to to Tony Han, who's journalist at
[00:05:39] at the BBC's Global China Unit now.
[00:05:41] now. AI is expected to be on the the agenda when President Xi visits
[00:05:45] visits Donald Trump in Washington Washington next week. Tony, welcome welcome to the programme. Let me
[00:05:48] me ask you the same question I asked asked there to Mark where is China
[00:05:52] China in all of this? Whether it
[00:05:53] it comes to concerns or
[00:05:58] controls. So China certainly doesn't doesn't ignore the risk of AI going
[00:06:01] going rogue or AI developing at such
[00:06:03] such a pace that it escapes human human control. President Xi Jinping
[00:06:07] Jinping of China has said in an address
[00:06:11] address to a forum which China set set up to promote international AI
[00:06:15] AI governance that AI must always
[00:06:17] always remain within human control
[00:06:19] control and a framework, a regulatory regulatory framework published by
[00:06:23] by the Chinese cyberspace Regulator
[00:06:26] Regulator this week stressed that that proactive measures have to be
[00:06:30] be taken so that AI doesn't threaten
[00:06:32] threaten human flourishing or human
[00:06:34] human existence. That said, the risk
[00:06:37] risk of AI going rogue is only one
[00:06:40] one of a number of priorities or or threats that China believes it
[00:06:43] it has to manage. It isn't the predominant
[00:06:45] predominant one. I mentioned there
[00:06:47] there that President Xi and President President Trump will talk about this
[00:06:51] this when they meet in Washington. Washington. But we've heard this
[00:06:55] this week what Donald Trump's view
[00:06:57] view on regulation is. So when you
[00:07:01] you mentioned international governance, governance, there seems to be, as
[00:07:03] as we're talking now, very little
[00:07:06] little prospect of that. Yes. The
[00:07:08] The difficulty of this is that both
[00:07:10] both China and the US now see this
[00:07:13] this as a geopolitical competition. competition. Part of their broader
[00:07:17] broader rivalry on the world stage.
[00:07:19] stage. We heard how President Trump Trump said that essentially whoever
[00:07:23] whoever wins, AI wins on the Chinese
[00:07:24] Chinese side. We heard a few days
[00:07:28] days ago actually from China's top
[00:07:31] top spy official, top intelligence
[00:07:35] intelligence official, I should say, say, describing AI now as a new arena arena for geopolitical competition.
[00:07:39] competition. So on both sides, it's it's seen as this very high stakes
[00:07:42] stakes race. Tony, just a brief thought
[00:07:44] thought because you heard what Mark Mark was saying about that race,
[00:07:48] race, how China had been behind. behind. What is the current thinking
[00:07:51] thinking of where China is with AI
[00:07:54] AI compared to those companies in
[00:07:55] in the states? They are at parity.
[00:07:59] parity. So the top Chinese models
[00:08:02] models in benchmarking tests perform perform very, very close to, if not
[00:08:05] not at the same level as their American American rivals. Tony, we will leave
[00:08:09] leave it there. But thanks very much much for that perspective. And joining joining us on today's programme.
[00:08:13] programme. Thanks for your time. time. Let's turn away to our other
[00:08:17] other main headline story because because Buckingham Palace is in a a war of words with Earl Spencer,
[00:08:20] Spencer, the brother of the late late Diana, Princess of Wales, over
[00:08:24] over his controversial memoir about about her life and death. In the
[00:08:28] the book, Earl Spencer claims that that soon after Diana died, Charles
[00:08:31] Charles told him that she would soon
[00:08:33] soon be forgotten. Well, in an unusually unusually strong response, the palace palace has hit back, saying that
[00:08:37] that the pain of fraternal grief grief can cloud reason and colour
[00:08:41] colour memory. Here's our senior senior royal correspondent Daniela
[00:08:44] Daniela Relph. It is the content
[00:08:46] content of Earl Spencer's book about about his sister that has driven
[00:08:50] driven Buckingham Palace to issue
[00:08:51] issue an unusually robust response. response. Earl Spencer writes of
[00:08:55] of a row with the King back in 1997,
[00:08:58] 1997, when the King was Prince of of Wales after he challenged him
[00:09:01] him on the decision to allow Princes Princes William and Harry to walk
[00:09:04] walk behind their mother's coffin coffin at her funeral, something
[00:09:07] something he said his sister would would not have wanted. Earl Spencer
[00:09:10] Spencer claims the King replied angrily
[00:09:13] angrily saying that Diana would be
[00:09:14] be forgotten soon enough. The response response from Buckingham Palace,
[00:09:18] Palace, a sign of the fury behind
[00:09:20] behind palace walls. An official
[00:09:23] official spokesman said while we we do not comment on books as a matter
[00:09:27] matter of principle, His Majesty Majesty is mindful that the pain
[00:09:31] pain of fraternal grief can cloud
[00:09:33] cloud reason, affect judgement and
[00:09:35] and colour memory in ways others
[00:09:37] others do not recognise. Even many
[00:09:39] many years after such a loss. Not
[00:09:42] Not since the late Queen's statement statement that recollections may
[00:09:45] may vary after the Duke and Duchess Duchess of Sussex's interview with
[00:09:49] with Oprah Winfrey has a royal statement
[00:09:51] statement packed so much punch. With With King Charles, we are seeing
[00:09:54] seeing a monarch doing things differently. differently. I think we are seeing
[00:09:58] seeing an age of greater transparency transparency with the monarchy in in many ways, with a King who has
[00:10:01] has disclosed that he has cancer cancer and is undergoing treatment
[00:10:05] treatment and a King who we know
[00:10:08] know feels things. He has great empathy, empathy, great compassion. And I
[00:10:11] I would imagine this is incredibly incredibly upsetting for him. And
[00:10:14] And he has decided that he wants wants to respond. We are hearing
[00:10:17] hearing more from the palace, I think, think, than we ever have done. The
[00:10:21] The relationship between the Royal Royal family and the Spencers has has never really recovered since
[00:10:25] since the funeral of Princess Diana. Diana. In his eulogy to his sister,
[00:10:29] sister, Earl Spencer was openly critical critical of the royals. It caused
[00:10:33] caused lasting damage. It's been
[00:10:38] been a challenging few weeks for for the royal family, many of whom
[00:10:41] whom will be out on official duty
[00:10:44] duty today. As will Prince Harry,
[00:10:47] Harry, he'll be in London for an an awards dinner for the Invictus
[00:10:50] Invictus Games for wounded military
[00:10:52] military personnel. His first public
[00:10:54] public charity engagement since moving moving back to the UK with his wife
[00:10:58] wife and children. Come on you come
[00:11:01] come on. The return of Harry and and Meghan has brought with it a
[00:11:04] a degree of drama over their security, security, the safety of their children
[00:11:08] children on the school run and speculation
[00:11:11] speculation over why they have come
[00:11:12] come back to the UK. The return of
[00:11:16] of Sussexes really is shows just
[00:11:19] just how much they run out of road
[00:11:22] road in Montecito. And they had run run out of road, do you think? Totally
[00:11:24] Totally run out of road? They seem
[00:11:27] seem to be unable to just simply
[00:11:31] simply quietly and with composure composure examine their options and
[00:11:34] and follow a route. You know, they
[00:11:36] they they crash into things, you you know, all the time. How much
[00:11:40] much my husband loves bagpipes. All
[00:11:43] All of these engagements have been been planned well in advance. But
[00:11:46] But with Harry and Meghan now back back in the UK, the days where we
[00:11:49] we see the working royals out on on the same day as the non-working
[00:11:53] non-working ones will become more
[00:11:55] more common. Daniela Relph, BBC News.
[00:12:00] News. Well, doctor Tessa Dunlop is is a historian and broadcaster. She
[00:12:03] She gave me her thoughts on the row
[00:12:05] row and Diana's legacy. It is pitiful
[00:12:09] pitiful that a woman beloved by so
[00:12:13] so many, somebody ephemeral, volatile,
[00:12:15] volatile, a seeker of pain, someone someone who personified love and
[00:12:19] and loss and above all was a woman.
[00:12:22] woman. A woman's woman is being fought
[00:12:26] fought over her legacy, which will will be 30 years her death next year.
[00:12:29] year. Of course, the anniversary
[00:12:32] anniversary by two establishment establishment men, both of whom I
[00:12:35] I think should carry their burden
[00:12:37] burden of guilt for much of the or or latterly in the latter days of
[00:12:41] of Diana. The pain in her life and and in fact, you could add to that
[00:12:44] that list of men who are sort of of besmirching or fighting over her
[00:12:48] her legacy. Even Piers Morgan to to throw in a third one who was recently
[00:12:52] recently talking about how his Diana's Diana's mother used to ring him up
[00:12:55] up when she was drunk and then, of of course, her two sons. Well, William
[00:12:58] William doesn't say anything because because of his position within the
[00:13:02] the Constitution, but I'm sure we we will hear more from Harry over
[00:13:05] over the next year. And it. There There is something grimly predictable
[00:13:09] predictable about it, I'm afraid. What did you make of the
[00:13:13] the wording of the response? In effect,
[00:13:16] effect, regulations may vary. I mean,
[00:13:17] mean, Earl Spencer is an assiduous assiduous writer and note taker.
[00:13:21] taker. Your assessment of the basic basic defence put out by the Palace?
[00:13:25] Palace? Well, as an oral historian,
[00:13:26] historian, I spend most of my time
[00:13:29] time talking to individuals and their their recollections predominantly predominantly but not only of World
[00:13:33] World War II. And I can assure you you that recollections always vary.
[00:13:37] vary. Often people contradict themselves.
[00:13:40] themselves. So I heard this morning morning a correspondent from the
[00:13:43] the times saying only the two charleses charleses know who's telling the
[00:13:45] the truth. Actually, no. Both will will be firmly entrenched in his
[00:13:49] his idea that his truth is the correct
[00:13:51] correct one. So I'm not questioning questioning their integrity in that
[00:13:55] that respect, but I did find it unprecedented
[00:13:58] unprecedented and surprising the the lengths to which the King went
[00:14:01] went to. He didn't just say recollections
[00:14:03] recollections may vary. He cited cited fraternal grief. He could have have been talking, of course, about
[00:14:07] about his own two sons. Forgive me me for spotting the irony there.
[00:14:10] there. He also referred to clouding
[00:14:12] clouding reason, affecting judgement,
[00:14:14] judgement, colouring memory. So this
[00:14:17] this is a monarchy in the brace position position for more to come because because of course the serialisation
[00:14:21] serialisation will go over a few few days and the book's going to
[00:14:25] to land next week. But for what?
[00:14:27] what? Cause what? What is the end end game of this? And of course there's
[00:14:31] there's a long, very long history. history. Arguably the Spencers are
[00:14:34] are a far finer English aristocratic aristocratic family way back when
[00:14:38] when the Tudor Times making their their fortune in wool, have often
[00:14:41] often crossed swords with the royal royal family. Of course, what makes
[00:14:43] makes our royal family so anomalous
[00:14:46] anomalous today is we have consistently consistently since the end of the
[00:14:50] the Second World War, removed the the edifice of aristocracy taken
[00:14:53] taken from them their privileges privileges basically forced them them to open up their homes, which
[00:14:57] which of course Charles Spencer has has done, etc so the level there
[00:15:01] there is no level playing field. field. You've got this extraordinary, extraordinary, well protected, very
[00:15:04] very rich royal family and you've you've got the likes bizarrely of
[00:15:07] of Charles Spencer feeling like the the underprivileged one weaponising
[00:15:10] weaponising and monetising his sister's sister's legacy and casting himself
[00:15:13] himself very much against the House
[00:15:16] House of Windsor. Just a final thought thought because as you said, the
[00:15:19] the book is being serialised. We
[00:15:21] We are probably going to have days
[00:15:23] days of stories that the Palace may may or may not respond to, but what
[00:15:27] what do you make of the timing of of this? More broadly, you have Harry
[00:15:30] Harry and Meghan back in the UK that
[00:15:33] that controversy around the letter letter that was circulated. I mean, mean, the Palace is having to navigate
[00:15:37] navigate on, on several fronts, isn't isn't it? Yeah. Again, much of this
[00:15:41] this I think was unavoidable. Some Some people I think would be fair
[00:15:44] fair to point out that, well, Charles
[00:15:47] Charles remained or retained his his never complain, never explain
[00:15:51] explain line when it came to Harry Harry and his explosions, but has
[00:15:54] has rewritten the rules for his one one time brother in law. But yeah,
[00:15:57] yeah, Harry is out and about. He's He's a loose cannon. I think much
[00:16:00] much of that could have been cleared cleared up if there'd been some kind
[00:16:04] kind of olive branch offered, but but there hasn't been, and I suspect
[00:16:08] suspect word on the ground suggests suggests and even from Meghan's photo
[00:16:11] photo dump suggests that Harry, while while perhaps not closely aligned
[00:16:15] aligned to his uncle, I'm sure he he won't relish the fact that the the serialisation has taken place
[00:16:19] place in the Daily Mail. I think think they are perhaps working more
[00:16:22] more closely together than the Palace Palace would like. Perhaps the publication
[00:16:26] publication this year, one year ahead ahead of Diana's anniversary, is
[00:16:30] is because there is talk of a Harry Harry documentary or something a
[00:16:33] a larger form of memorialisation memorialisation from her youngest
[00:16:37] youngest son this time next year. year. Tessa Dunlop talking to me
[00:16:40] me a little earlier. Now around the
[00:17:42] high for Republicans and Democrats Democrats and for the American people. people. For the latest, follow us
[00:17:45] us on The President's Path here.
[00:17:48] here. On BBC News. Now the Bank of
[00:17:54] of England has held interest rates
[00:17:57] rates at 3.75%. Despite this week's week's announcement of rising inflation,
[00:18:01] inflation, six members of the bank's bank's Monetary policy committee committee voted to hold rates, while
[00:18:05] while the other three voted to increase
[00:18:08] increase to 4%. Now that comes after after yesterday's increase to US
[00:18:12] US interest rates as rising fuel fuel costs continue. That's a result,
[00:18:16] result, of course, of the renewed renewed hostilities in Iran and now
[00:18:19] now Saudi Arabia pushing up rates rates of inflation right around the
[00:18:23] the world. Well, those rising energy
[00:18:25] energy costs are fuelling anger and and fears of shortages globally,
[00:18:28] globally, putting strain on transport
[00:18:30] transport systems, haulage companies, companies, shipping and everyday
[00:18:33] everyday people facing rocketing
[00:18:35] rocketing energy costs from Syria Syria to Guatemala, Portugal to France.
[00:18:39] France. You see the pictures here? here? People have in the last week
[00:18:42] week taken to the streets to protest
[00:18:45] protest against rising fuel costs.
[00:18:48] costs. Well, that is the backdrop backdrop to some of the economic
[00:18:51] economic conditions faced by so many many different governments. Nick Nick Butler is the former head of
[00:18:55] of strategy at BP, a former political political adviser to Gordon Brown,
[00:18:58] Brown, now a visiting professor at at King's College London. He gave
[00:19:01] gave me his analysis on whether we
[00:19:03] we can expect increase in prices
[00:19:06] prices right across the board. These These costs have been increasing
[00:19:10] increasing already through the last
[00:19:10] last month or so. Now they've gone
[00:19:14] gone up a level more. I think that
[00:19:17] that will just push on inflation. inflation. And I was surprised by
[00:19:21] by the bank decision on interest interest rates. I think it's noticeable
[00:19:24] noticeable that nobody on the MPC
[00:19:26] MPC has a background in the energy energy industry or actually know
[00:19:30] know what's happening. This is both
[00:19:32] both oil and gas and then oil products, products, which are short because
[00:19:36] because the refineries in, in the the Gulf are blocked in, can't produce
[00:19:40] produce or have been damaged. And And that feeds through to fertilisers
[00:19:43] fertilisers and food supply and through
[00:19:46] through naphtha and petrochemicals. petrochemicals. Yes, we're in for
[00:19:49] for a surge of inflation. And I think
[00:19:51] think we unfortunately have to be be ready for that. You've described
[00:19:55] described what is happening now as as an oil shock. We're seeing it
[00:19:58] it now. But this conflict has been
[00:20:01] been going on since February. Why Why haven't we felt all of this a
[00:20:04] a little earlier in the cycles? I I think it's very clear that the
[00:20:08] the reason is there have been cushions.
[00:20:10] cushions. The cushion is that the the International Energy Agency released
[00:20:14] released a very large amount of stocks stocks onto the market over the last
[00:20:17] last six months, and the Chinese,
[00:20:20] Chinese, who had heavy stocks, high
[00:20:22] high stocks built up over the previous
[00:20:25] previous year, decided to cut their
[00:20:26] their imports. So demand was new.
[00:20:29] new. Demand was much lower than it it could have been. But that's come
[00:20:33] come to an end now because you can't
[00:20:36] can't use stocks twice. The stock stock levels around the world are
[00:20:39] are now at pretty low levels, and
[00:20:42] and the Chinese have started importing
[00:20:45] importing again. And so it's just
[00:20:47] just a simple balance of supply and
[00:20:50] and demand. Demand is is now going going up. The stocks are not there
[00:20:54] there to cover it. And the supply
[00:20:57] supply particularly because of this this attack on the pipeline across
[00:21:00] across Saudi Arabia, it looks to to be down for at least the next
[00:21:04] next few weeks. So we're seeing the
[00:21:07] the impacts on inflation that translating
[00:21:09] translating into interest rates for for everyone sitting at home when
[00:21:13] when it comes to energy prices through
[00:21:16] through the winter. If there's no no sort of resolution pause in this
[00:21:20] this Middle East conflict, what is is the likely impact given already
[00:21:23] already what we've seen with oil
[00:21:24] oil prices, gas prices? Well, there
[00:21:27] there was one fairly authoritative
[00:21:29] authoritative forecast put out, I
[00:21:31] I think yesterday of the energy price
[00:21:33] price cap going up by £400. That
[00:21:37] That would be in January. And that that was, I think, prepared before
[00:21:40] before these latest events. So I
[00:21:42] I think that that is a minimum of of what the price increase will be.
[00:21:46] be. And I imagine now the government government is having to look very
[00:21:49] very carefully at how they're going going to protect particular sectors
[00:21:52] sectors health service, food supply
[00:21:55] supply and also how they're going going to protect businesses that
[00:21:58] that are heavily dependent on, on
[00:22:00] on energy costs. So it you can see
[00:22:05] see these price increases coming coming and it's not going to be very
[00:22:08] very comfortable, I'm afraid. You've You've got all the pressures of the
[00:22:10] the bond markets and debt to throw
[00:22:14] throw into a growing equation. What What are we talking about in terms
[00:22:18] terms of the timeline here? When When does this crunch really kick
[00:22:22] kick in for global economies unless unless there's progress in stopping
[00:22:26] stopping what we're seeing in the the Middle East? Well, it is kicking
[00:22:29] kicking in already. As you mentioned, mentioned, the people around the
[00:22:32] the world noticing the sudden increase
[00:22:34] increase in prices that have in their
[00:22:37] their in countries where it is really
[00:22:41] really very difficult to cover those
[00:22:43] those costs. These are not rich people
[00:22:45] people at all. And now we've got
[00:22:48] got petrol up over 170. We've got
[00:22:51] got diesel up over 190. We've got
[00:22:53] got the oil price well over 100 now
[00:22:56] now for several days. It will feed
[00:22:58] feed through gradually over the next
[00:23:01] next few weeks, but each time people people go to the garage they will
[00:23:05] will find prices are higher than
[00:23:07] than they were last week. That was
[00:23:09] was Nick Butler, a oil expert, former former political adviser to Gordon
[00:23:13] Gordon Brown. Let's turn to Russia Russia because tomorrow is the start
[00:23:16] start of three days of voting in in the country's parliamentary elections,
[00:23:19] elections, the first since Russia's Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
[00:23:23] Ukraine. Critics dismissed the vote vote as neither free nor transparent.
[00:23:26] transparent. But the Kremlin is expected expected to use it to claim that
[00:23:29] that the country is united behind behind the policies of Vladimir Putin
[00:23:33] Putin from Moscow. Here's our Russia
[00:23:35] Russia editor, Steve Rosenberg. Ultimate
[00:23:37] Ultimate power in Russia lies right.
[00:23:40] right. Here in the Kremlin. But just
[00:23:41] just across the road there is a parliament,
[00:23:44] parliament, the Duma, and it's election election time. So what is a parliamentary
[00:23:48] parliamentary election like now in
[00:23:50] in Russia? Well, on TV we've seen
[00:23:54] seen election debates sort of none none of the candidates turned up
[00:23:57] up for this one. And there has been
[00:24:01] been some campaigning. We caught caught up with the Communist Party
[00:24:04] Party chief at a bakery. At times, times, though, it's been hard to
[00:24:08] to tell the difference between the the ten parties that have been allowed
[00:24:12] allowed onto the ballot. None of of them criticise President Putin
[00:24:14] Putin or the war in Ukraine. And
[00:24:17] And if the political process feels
[00:24:19] feels rather orchestrated, keep in in mind that the political system system in Russia is often referred
[00:24:24] referred to as managed democracy, democracy, where the Kremlin does
[00:24:27] does the managing and I think the the Kremlin will try to use this
[00:24:30] this election to claim that the country
[00:24:32] country is united behind the President
[00:24:35] President and behind the war. There
[00:24:38] There are some individual candidates candidates in some seats calling
[00:24:41] calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine. Ukraine. But their party, which is
[00:24:44] is called Yabloko and which is anti-war, anti-war, isn't allowed to take part
[00:24:48] part in this election as a party party in its own right. It was struck
[00:24:51] struck off the ballot by the Supreme
[00:24:55] Supreme Court, 50 miles from Moscow. Moscow. We didn't see much sign of
[00:24:58] of an election. There were a few few banners, few election posters,
[00:25:02] posters, but from chatting to people, people, there was every sign that
[00:25:05] that the war is front and centre
[00:25:06] centre of people's minds. I want
[00:25:10] want a peaceful life, Yulia told.
[00:25:13] told. Me. I'd like to live in a peaceful
[00:25:17] peaceful country, says Polina, so so that you don't have to worry that
[00:25:20] that a drone will fall down in front
[00:25:22] front of you. But expectations are
[00:25:24] are low that this election will bring
[00:25:27] bring peace any closer. Steve Rosenberg Rosenberg now before we take a break,
[00:25:31] break, let me take you to South Africa, Africa, where another body has been
[00:25:35] been discovered following a spate spate of killings of women near Johannesburg,
[00:25:38] Johannesburg, nine women have been been killed over the last two months. months. Police say they're trying
[00:25:42] trying to work out any connections. connections. Most of the bodies have
[00:25:45] have been found either partially partially or fully naked. Let me
[00:25:49] me take you to the website because
[00:25:51] because that story and much more more detail is available there. And
[00:25:55] And that story is going to be what what we focus on, on today's big
[00:25:58] big story here in about an hour's hour's time. So do stay with us for
[00:26:02] for that. I'll be back in 15 minutes. minutes. Next up here
[00:27:35] temperatures peaking into the mid mid 40s. Take care.
[00:29:39] Yorkshire Dales to the Scottish Highlands Highlands meeting people proving
[00:29:42] proving adventure is far from offline.
[00:29:43] offline. The Travel Show on BBC iPlayer.
[00:29:52] iPlayer. MUSIC
[00:30:05] Now on BBC News, the latest
[00:30:06] business news from across the globe.
[00:30:09] globe. Business Today. On hold but
[00:30:19] but for how long? The Bank of England England leaves interest rates unchanged
[00:30:22] unchanged but warns they may rise rise if the Middle East war drags
[00:30:25] drags on. Stronger together Canada's
[00:30:28] Canada's Mark Carney takes aim at
[00:30:29] at US tariffs and big tech as he
[00:30:32] he addresses the European Parliament. Parliament. Throwing down a gauntlet
[00:30:35] gauntlet to President Trump and smart
[00:30:38] smart spec Snap says its new eyewear eyewear will augment your reality.
[00:30:42] reality. We will take a closer look.
[00:30:46] look. Hello. Welcome along. This This is Business Today. I'm Ben Thompson
[00:30:49] Thompson and we start here in the the UK where the Bank of England
[00:30:52] England has left interest rates unchanged
[00:30:55] unchanged at three and three quarters quarters of a percent. Deciding not
[00:30:57] not to follow the US Fed and