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00:00:13Live from London. This is BBC
00:00:15News. King Charles urges Silicon Silicon Valley bosses to develop
00:00:19develop sufficient controls for AI
00:00:21AI amid fresh calls for safeguards
00:00:24safeguards from another senior tech
00:00:25tech figure. Those in our world who
00:00:29who value deeply our humanity and
00:00:32and its vital moral component are
00:00:34are anxiously seeking your reassurance
00:00:37reassurance that we will not lose lose control of our destiny or our
00:00:41our souls. We're essentially seeding
00:00:44seeding a new silicon species which which will no doubt compete with
00:00:48with us for resources. Buckingham Buckingham Palace is in a war of
00:00:51of words with Princess Diana's brother brother over his controversial memoir
00:00:55memoir about her life and death. death. More excerpts from the book
00:00:57book are expected to be released
00:00:59released shortly. South African police police say they found a ninth woman
00:01:03woman killed near Johannesburg in in a spate of murders, causing fear
00:01:07fear and outrage across the country. country. The Bank of England holds
00:01:11holds interest rates at 3.75%. We'll
00:01:13We'll look at the state of the global
00:01:15global economy as the Iran war continues
00:01:18continues to push up energy costs
00:01:20costs and the boss of the social social media company Snapchat tells
00:01:24tells the BBC the firm would be willing
00:01:26willing to implement time limits
00:01:28limits for teenagers. Hello and welcome
00:01:39welcome to BBC News. King Charles Charles has urged tech bosses to
00:01:43to develop a sufficient means of of controlling artificial intelligence
00:01:47intelligence before, in his words, words, it all becomes too late. His
00:01:50His warning while hosting a gathering gathering of AI executives in Scotland,
00:01:53Scotland, follows the latest alert alert about the rapidly developing
00:01:56developing technology. Microsoft's Microsoft's AI chief has told the
00:02:00the BBC today he believes the world world is seeing the development of
00:02:03of a new silicon species that could could compete with humans. We'll
00:02:07We'll bring you more of that interview interview a little later. Well in
00:02:10in attendance today were representatives representatives from some of the the world's biggest AI developers,
00:02:14developers, including Nvidia, Google Google DeepMind, OpenAI, Anthropic
00:02:18Anthropic and others. The main discussions discussions will. They are taking taking place privately, but here's
00:02:21here's some of what the King said
00:02:23said as he opened today's meeting.
00:02:26meeting. AI is already showing its
00:02:28its immense capacity to improve and
00:02:31and save life. For example, in the
00:02:34the field of life sciences and medicine.
00:02:37medicine. Yet those who have created
00:02:41created these technologies are now now increasingly warning that AI
00:02:44AI risks developing darker capacities,
00:02:48capacities, perhaps even to take
00:02:50take life. And in this regard, if
00:02:52if I may say so, there seems urgency
00:02:56urgency in adequately considering considering the existential dangers
00:03:00dangers of such technologies falling
00:03:02falling into the wrong hands. Well,
00:03:05Well, our AI correspondent Marc Cieslak Cieslak explained to me a little
00:03:08little earlier some of the bad press press I have been getting from those
00:03:12those right at the top of the industry industry itself. AI agents going
00:03:15going rogue and breaking out of their their training environments. And
00:03:18And just days before the King's Summit,
00:03:21Summit, Anthropic's own CEO Dario Dario Amodei, alongside Sam Altman
00:03:24Altman of OpenAI and Elon Musk, called called for a slowdown in the development
00:03:27development of AI. We've had safety safety researchers at these companies
00:03:30companies posting publicly that they they believe there's more than a
00:03:33a 10% chance AI could kill all humans
00:03:36humans within a decade. Some industry industry observers, though, say that
00:03:40that this apocalyptic AI talk is is actually marketing intended to
00:03:44to increase the valuation of these these companies as they prepare for
00:03:48for mega IPOs. Hype or not? These These warnings seem to have struck
00:03:52struck a real chord across the globe,
00:03:54globe, and. Massive questions now
00:03:57now about how you can slow progress. progress. Can you slow progress,
00:04:01progress, how you regulate? Yeah. Yeah. Regulation now regulation is
00:04:04is an incredibly controversial subject
00:04:07subject in AI circles. President President Trump recently said the
00:04:10the US already has enough regulatory regulatory and criminal powers to
00:04:14to hold AI companies accountable, accountable, and that more guardrails
00:04:16guardrails would undermine American American competitiveness. The reality
00:04:19reality is that the US doesn't have
00:04:22have one comprehensive rule or law law like the EU does. Regulations
00:04:26Regulations spread across existing existing laws, different federal federal agencies and different states.
00:04:30states. That's why we're seeing a a bit of a split at the moment. Some
00:04:33Some of the biggest AI companies companies are calling for more safety safety measures for a variety of
00:04:37of reasons. Some of them no doubt doubt commercial, but also we've
00:04:41we've got the White House saying saying that this there's a bigger
00:04:43bigger risk that if they have greater, greater, greater regulation, that
00:04:47that they'll fall behind China. And And exactly on that point, you have
00:04:50have an American President who says, says, basically we just have to win
00:04:54win AI. And where are the Chinese, Chinese, the massive competitor in
00:04:57in this race in all of this
00:05:02conversation? Well, China has a massive massive amount of capability that that perhaps the West doesn't have
00:05:05have in certain arenas. And when when it comes to AI for a very, very
00:05:08very long time, it was thought that that the Chinese was a considerable
00:05:11considerable distance behind in terms terms of technology. That now isn't
00:05:14isn't the case. A lot of industry industry observers say that there's
00:05:16there's more or less parity between between Western technology and Chinese
00:05:19Chinese technology. They've caught caught up very, very fast and they
00:05:22they are incredibly capable. And
00:05:24And it's being framed in Western Western circles as a new Cold War,
00:05:27War, if you like, or a new arms race,
00:05:29race, the country that controls AI AI will have a leading position in
00:05:33in the world moving forward. That
00:05:36That Marc Cieslak let's speak to to Tony Han, who's journalist at
00:05:39at the BBC's Global China Unit now.
00:05:41now. AI is expected to be on the the agenda when President Xi visits
00:05:45visits Donald Trump in Washington Washington next week. Tony, welcome welcome to the programme. Let me
00:05:48me ask you the same question I asked asked there to Mark where is China
00:05:52China in all of this? Whether it
00:05:53it comes to concerns or
00:05:58controls. So China certainly doesn't doesn't ignore the risk of AI going
00:06:01going rogue or AI developing at such
00:06:03such a pace that it escapes human human control. President Xi Jinping
00:06:07Jinping of China has said in an address
00:06:11address to a forum which China set set up to promote international AI
00:06:15AI governance that AI must always
00:06:17always remain within human control
00:06:19control and a framework, a regulatory regulatory framework published by
00:06:23by the Chinese cyberspace Regulator
00:06:26Regulator this week stressed that that proactive measures have to be
00:06:30be taken so that AI doesn't threaten
00:06:32threaten human flourishing or human
00:06:34human existence. That said, the risk
00:06:37risk of AI going rogue is only one
00:06:40one of a number of priorities or or threats that China believes it
00:06:43it has to manage. It isn't the predominant
00:06:45predominant one. I mentioned there
00:06:47there that President Xi and President President Trump will talk about this
00:06:51this when they meet in Washington. Washington. But we've heard this
00:06:55this week what Donald Trump's view
00:06:57view on regulation is. So when you
00:07:01you mentioned international governance, governance, there seems to be, as
00:07:03as we're talking now, very little
00:07:06little prospect of that. Yes. The
00:07:08The difficulty of this is that both
00:07:10both China and the US now see this
00:07:13this as a geopolitical competition. competition. Part of their broader
00:07:17broader rivalry on the world stage.
00:07:19stage. We heard how President Trump Trump said that essentially whoever
00:07:23whoever wins, AI wins on the Chinese
00:07:24Chinese side. We heard a few days
00:07:28days ago actually from China's top
00:07:31top spy official, top intelligence
00:07:35intelligence official, I should say, say, describing AI now as a new arena arena for geopolitical competition.
00:07:39competition. So on both sides, it's it's seen as this very high stakes
00:07:42stakes race. Tony, just a brief thought
00:07:44thought because you heard what Mark Mark was saying about that race,
00:07:48race, how China had been behind. behind. What is the current thinking
00:07:51thinking of where China is with AI
00:07:54AI compared to those companies in
00:07:55in the states? They are at parity.
00:07:59parity. So the top Chinese models
00:08:02models in benchmarking tests perform perform very, very close to, if not
00:08:05not at the same level as their American American rivals. Tony, we will leave
00:08:09leave it there. But thanks very much much for that perspective. And joining joining us on today's programme.
00:08:13programme. Thanks for your time. time. Let's turn away to our other
00:08:17other main headline story because because Buckingham Palace is in a a war of words with Earl Spencer,
00:08:20Spencer, the brother of the late late Diana, Princess of Wales, over
00:08:24over his controversial memoir about about her life and death. In the
00:08:28the book, Earl Spencer claims that that soon after Diana died, Charles
00:08:31Charles told him that she would soon
00:08:33soon be forgotten. Well, in an unusually unusually strong response, the palace palace has hit back, saying that
00:08:37that the pain of fraternal grief grief can cloud reason and colour
00:08:41colour memory. Here's our senior senior royal correspondent Daniela
00:08:44Daniela Relph. It is the content
00:08:46content of Earl Spencer's book about about his sister that has driven
00:08:50driven Buckingham Palace to issue
00:08:51issue an unusually robust response. response. Earl Spencer writes of
00:08:55of a row with the King back in 1997,
00:08:581997, when the King was Prince of of Wales after he challenged him
00:09:01him on the decision to allow Princes Princes William and Harry to walk
00:09:04walk behind their mother's coffin coffin at her funeral, something
00:09:07something he said his sister would would not have wanted. Earl Spencer
00:09:10Spencer claims the King replied angrily
00:09:13angrily saying that Diana would be
00:09:14be forgotten soon enough. The response response from Buckingham Palace,
00:09:18Palace, a sign of the fury behind
00:09:20behind palace walls. An official
00:09:23official spokesman said while we we do not comment on books as a matter
00:09:27matter of principle, His Majesty Majesty is mindful that the pain
00:09:31pain of fraternal grief can cloud
00:09:33cloud reason, affect judgement and
00:09:35and colour memory in ways others
00:09:37others do not recognise. Even many
00:09:39many years after such a loss. Not
00:09:42Not since the late Queen's statement statement that recollections may
00:09:45may vary after the Duke and Duchess Duchess of Sussex's interview with
00:09:49with Oprah Winfrey has a royal statement
00:09:51statement packed so much punch. With With King Charles, we are seeing
00:09:54seeing a monarch doing things differently. differently. I think we are seeing
00:09:58seeing an age of greater transparency transparency with the monarchy in in many ways, with a King who has
00:10:01has disclosed that he has cancer cancer and is undergoing treatment
00:10:05treatment and a King who we know
00:10:08know feels things. He has great empathy, empathy, great compassion. And I
00:10:11I would imagine this is incredibly incredibly upsetting for him. And
00:10:14And he has decided that he wants wants to respond. We are hearing
00:10:17hearing more from the palace, I think, think, than we ever have done. The
00:10:21The relationship between the Royal Royal family and the Spencers has has never really recovered since
00:10:25since the funeral of Princess Diana. Diana. In his eulogy to his sister,
00:10:29sister, Earl Spencer was openly critical critical of the royals. It caused
00:10:33caused lasting damage. It's been
00:10:38been a challenging few weeks for for the royal family, many of whom
00:10:41whom will be out on official duty
00:10:44duty today. As will Prince Harry,
00:10:47Harry, he'll be in London for an an awards dinner for the Invictus
00:10:50Invictus Games for wounded military
00:10:52military personnel. His first public
00:10:54public charity engagement since moving moving back to the UK with his wife
00:10:58wife and children. Come on you come
00:11:01come on. The return of Harry and and Meghan has brought with it a
00:11:04a degree of drama over their security, security, the safety of their children
00:11:08children on the school run and speculation
00:11:11speculation over why they have come
00:11:12come back to the UK. The return of
00:11:16of Sussexes really is shows just
00:11:19just how much they run out of road
00:11:22road in Montecito. And they had run run out of road, do you think? Totally
00:11:24Totally run out of road? They seem
00:11:27seem to be unable to just simply
00:11:31simply quietly and with composure composure examine their options and
00:11:34and follow a route. You know, they
00:11:36they they crash into things, you you know, all the time. How much
00:11:40much my husband loves bagpipes. All
00:11:43All of these engagements have been been planned well in advance. But
00:11:46But with Harry and Meghan now back back in the UK, the days where we
00:11:49we see the working royals out on on the same day as the non-working
00:11:53non-working ones will become more
00:11:55more common. Daniela Relph, BBC News.
00:12:00News. Well, doctor Tessa Dunlop is is a historian and broadcaster. She
00:12:03She gave me her thoughts on the row
00:12:05row and Diana's legacy. It is pitiful
00:12:09pitiful that a woman beloved by so
00:12:13so many, somebody ephemeral, volatile,
00:12:15volatile, a seeker of pain, someone someone who personified love and
00:12:19and loss and above all was a woman.
00:12:22woman. A woman's woman is being fought
00:12:26fought over her legacy, which will will be 30 years her death next year.
00:12:29year. Of course, the anniversary
00:12:32anniversary by two establishment establishment men, both of whom I
00:12:35I think should carry their burden
00:12:37burden of guilt for much of the or or latterly in the latter days of
00:12:41of Diana. The pain in her life and and in fact, you could add to that
00:12:44that list of men who are sort of of besmirching or fighting over her
00:12:48her legacy. Even Piers Morgan to to throw in a third one who was recently
00:12:52recently talking about how his Diana's Diana's mother used to ring him up
00:12:55up when she was drunk and then, of of course, her two sons. Well, William
00:12:58William doesn't say anything because because of his position within the
00:13:02the Constitution, but I'm sure we we will hear more from Harry over
00:13:05over the next year. And it. There There is something grimly predictable
00:13:09predictable about it, I'm afraid. What did you make of the
00:13:13the wording of the response? In effect,
00:13:16effect, regulations may vary. I mean,
00:13:17mean, Earl Spencer is an assiduous assiduous writer and note taker.
00:13:21taker. Your assessment of the basic basic defence put out by the Palace?
00:13:25Palace? Well, as an oral historian,
00:13:26historian, I spend most of my time
00:13:29time talking to individuals and their their recollections predominantly predominantly but not only of World
00:13:33World War II. And I can assure you you that recollections always vary.
00:13:37vary. Often people contradict themselves.
00:13:40themselves. So I heard this morning morning a correspondent from the
00:13:43the times saying only the two charleses charleses know who's telling the
00:13:45the truth. Actually, no. Both will will be firmly entrenched in his
00:13:49his idea that his truth is the correct
00:13:51correct one. So I'm not questioning questioning their integrity in that
00:13:55that respect, but I did find it unprecedented
00:13:58unprecedented and surprising the the lengths to which the King went
00:14:01went to. He didn't just say recollections
00:14:03recollections may vary. He cited cited fraternal grief. He could have have been talking, of course, about
00:14:07about his own two sons. Forgive me me for spotting the irony there.
00:14:10there. He also referred to clouding
00:14:12clouding reason, affecting judgement,
00:14:14judgement, colouring memory. So this
00:14:17this is a monarchy in the brace position position for more to come because because of course the serialisation
00:14:21serialisation will go over a few few days and the book's going to
00:14:25to land next week. But for what?
00:14:27what? Cause what? What is the end end game of this? And of course there's
00:14:31there's a long, very long history. history. Arguably the Spencers are
00:14:34are a far finer English aristocratic aristocratic family way back when
00:14:38when the Tudor Times making their their fortune in wool, have often
00:14:41often crossed swords with the royal royal family. Of course, what makes
00:14:43makes our royal family so anomalous
00:14:46anomalous today is we have consistently consistently since the end of the
00:14:50the Second World War, removed the the edifice of aristocracy taken
00:14:53taken from them their privileges privileges basically forced them them to open up their homes, which
00:14:57which of course Charles Spencer has has done, etc so the level there
00:15:01there is no level playing field. field. You've got this extraordinary, extraordinary, well protected, very
00:15:04very rich royal family and you've you've got the likes bizarrely of
00:15:07of Charles Spencer feeling like the the underprivileged one weaponising
00:15:10weaponising and monetising his sister's sister's legacy and casting himself
00:15:13himself very much against the House
00:15:16House of Windsor. Just a final thought thought because as you said, the
00:15:19the book is being serialised. We
00:15:21We are probably going to have days
00:15:23days of stories that the Palace may may or may not respond to, but what
00:15:27what do you make of the timing of of this? More broadly, you have Harry
00:15:30Harry and Meghan back in the UK that
00:15:33that controversy around the letter letter that was circulated. I mean, mean, the Palace is having to navigate
00:15:37navigate on, on several fronts, isn't isn't it? Yeah. Again, much of this
00:15:41this I think was unavoidable. Some Some people I think would be fair
00:15:44fair to point out that, well, Charles
00:15:47Charles remained or retained his his never complain, never explain
00:15:51explain line when it came to Harry Harry and his explosions, but has
00:15:54has rewritten the rules for his one one time brother in law. But yeah,
00:15:57yeah, Harry is out and about. He's He's a loose cannon. I think much
00:16:00much of that could have been cleared cleared up if there'd been some kind
00:16:04kind of olive branch offered, but but there hasn't been, and I suspect
00:16:08suspect word on the ground suggests suggests and even from Meghan's photo
00:16:11photo dump suggests that Harry, while while perhaps not closely aligned
00:16:15aligned to his uncle, I'm sure he he won't relish the fact that the the serialisation has taken place
00:16:19place in the Daily Mail. I think think they are perhaps working more
00:16:22more closely together than the Palace Palace would like. Perhaps the publication
00:16:26publication this year, one year ahead ahead of Diana's anniversary, is
00:16:30is because there is talk of a Harry Harry documentary or something a
00:16:33a larger form of memorialisation memorialisation from her youngest
00:16:37youngest son this time next year. year. Tessa Dunlop talking to me
00:16:40me a little earlier. Now around the
00:17:42high for Republicans and Democrats Democrats and for the American people. people. For the latest, follow us
00:17:45us on The President's Path here.
00:17:48here. On BBC News. Now the Bank of
00:17:54of England has held interest rates
00:17:57rates at 3.75%. Despite this week's week's announcement of rising inflation,
00:18:01inflation, six members of the bank's bank's Monetary policy committee committee voted to hold rates, while
00:18:05while the other three voted to increase
00:18:08increase to 4%. Now that comes after after yesterday's increase to US
00:18:12US interest rates as rising fuel fuel costs continue. That's a result,
00:18:16result, of course, of the renewed renewed hostilities in Iran and now
00:18:19now Saudi Arabia pushing up rates rates of inflation right around the
00:18:23the world. Well, those rising energy
00:18:25energy costs are fuelling anger and and fears of shortages globally,
00:18:28globally, putting strain on transport
00:18:30transport systems, haulage companies, companies, shipping and everyday
00:18:33everyday people facing rocketing
00:18:35rocketing energy costs from Syria Syria to Guatemala, Portugal to France.
00:18:39France. You see the pictures here? here? People have in the last week
00:18:42week taken to the streets to protest
00:18:45protest against rising fuel costs.
00:18:48costs. Well, that is the backdrop backdrop to some of the economic
00:18:51economic conditions faced by so many many different governments. Nick Nick Butler is the former head of
00:18:55of strategy at BP, a former political political adviser to Gordon Brown,
00:18:58Brown, now a visiting professor at at King's College London. He gave
00:19:01gave me his analysis on whether we
00:19:03we can expect increase in prices
00:19:06prices right across the board. These These costs have been increasing
00:19:10increasing already through the last
00:19:10last month or so. Now they've gone
00:19:14gone up a level more. I think that
00:19:17that will just push on inflation. inflation. And I was surprised by
00:19:21by the bank decision on interest interest rates. I think it's noticeable
00:19:24noticeable that nobody on the MPC
00:19:26MPC has a background in the energy energy industry or actually know
00:19:30know what's happening. This is both
00:19:32both oil and gas and then oil products, products, which are short because
00:19:36because the refineries in, in the the Gulf are blocked in, can't produce
00:19:40produce or have been damaged. And And that feeds through to fertilisers
00:19:43fertilisers and food supply and through
00:19:46through naphtha and petrochemicals. petrochemicals. Yes, we're in for
00:19:49for a surge of inflation. And I think
00:19:51think we unfortunately have to be be ready for that. You've described
00:19:55described what is happening now as as an oil shock. We're seeing it
00:19:58it now. But this conflict has been
00:20:01been going on since February. Why Why haven't we felt all of this a
00:20:04a little earlier in the cycles? I I think it's very clear that the
00:20:08the reason is there have been cushions.
00:20:10cushions. The cushion is that the the International Energy Agency released
00:20:14released a very large amount of stocks stocks onto the market over the last
00:20:17last six months, and the Chinese,
00:20:20Chinese, who had heavy stocks, high
00:20:22high stocks built up over the previous
00:20:25previous year, decided to cut their
00:20:26their imports. So demand was new.
00:20:29new. Demand was much lower than it it could have been. But that's come
00:20:33come to an end now because you can't
00:20:36can't use stocks twice. The stock stock levels around the world are
00:20:39are now at pretty low levels, and
00:20:42and the Chinese have started importing
00:20:45importing again. And so it's just
00:20:47just a simple balance of supply and
00:20:50and demand. Demand is is now going going up. The stocks are not there
00:20:54there to cover it. And the supply
00:20:57supply particularly because of this this attack on the pipeline across
00:21:00across Saudi Arabia, it looks to to be down for at least the next
00:21:04next few weeks. So we're seeing the
00:21:07the impacts on inflation that translating
00:21:09translating into interest rates for for everyone sitting at home when
00:21:13when it comes to energy prices through
00:21:16through the winter. If there's no no sort of resolution pause in this
00:21:20this Middle East conflict, what is is the likely impact given already
00:21:23already what we've seen with oil
00:21:24oil prices, gas prices? Well, there
00:21:27there was one fairly authoritative
00:21:29authoritative forecast put out, I
00:21:31I think yesterday of the energy price
00:21:33price cap going up by £400. That
00:21:37That would be in January. And that that was, I think, prepared before
00:21:40before these latest events. So I
00:21:42I think that that is a minimum of of what the price increase will be.
00:21:46be. And I imagine now the government government is having to look very
00:21:49very carefully at how they're going going to protect particular sectors
00:21:52sectors health service, food supply
00:21:55supply and also how they're going going to protect businesses that
00:21:58that are heavily dependent on, on
00:22:00on energy costs. So it you can see
00:22:05see these price increases coming coming and it's not going to be very
00:22:08very comfortable, I'm afraid. You've You've got all the pressures of the
00:22:10the bond markets and debt to throw
00:22:14throw into a growing equation. What What are we talking about in terms
00:22:18terms of the timeline here? When When does this crunch really kick
00:22:22kick in for global economies unless unless there's progress in stopping
00:22:26stopping what we're seeing in the the Middle East? Well, it is kicking
00:22:29kicking in already. As you mentioned, mentioned, the people around the
00:22:32the world noticing the sudden increase
00:22:34increase in prices that have in their
00:22:37their in countries where it is really
00:22:41really very difficult to cover those
00:22:43those costs. These are not rich people
00:22:45people at all. And now we've got
00:22:48got petrol up over 170. We've got
00:22:51got diesel up over 190. We've got
00:22:53got the oil price well over 100 now
00:22:56now for several days. It will feed
00:22:58feed through gradually over the next
00:23:01next few weeks, but each time people people go to the garage they will
00:23:05will find prices are higher than
00:23:07than they were last week. That was
00:23:09was Nick Butler, a oil expert, former former political adviser to Gordon
00:23:13Gordon Brown. Let's turn to Russia Russia because tomorrow is the start
00:23:16start of three days of voting in in the country's parliamentary elections,
00:23:19elections, the first since Russia's Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
00:23:23Ukraine. Critics dismissed the vote vote as neither free nor transparent.
00:23:26transparent. But the Kremlin is expected expected to use it to claim that
00:23:29that the country is united behind behind the policies of Vladimir Putin
00:23:33Putin from Moscow. Here's our Russia
00:23:35Russia editor, Steve Rosenberg. Ultimate
00:23:37Ultimate power in Russia lies right.
00:23:40right. Here in the Kremlin. But just
00:23:41just across the road there is a parliament,
00:23:44parliament, the Duma, and it's election election time. So what is a parliamentary
00:23:48parliamentary election like now in
00:23:50in Russia? Well, on TV we've seen
00:23:54seen election debates sort of none none of the candidates turned up
00:23:57up for this one. And there has been
00:24:01been some campaigning. We caught caught up with the Communist Party
00:24:04Party chief at a bakery. At times, times, though, it's been hard to
00:24:08to tell the difference between the the ten parties that have been allowed
00:24:12allowed onto the ballot. None of of them criticise President Putin
00:24:14Putin or the war in Ukraine. And
00:24:17And if the political process feels
00:24:19feels rather orchestrated, keep in in mind that the political system system in Russia is often referred
00:24:24referred to as managed democracy, democracy, where the Kremlin does
00:24:27does the managing and I think the the Kremlin will try to use this
00:24:30this election to claim that the country
00:24:32country is united behind the President
00:24:35President and behind the war. There
00:24:38There are some individual candidates candidates in some seats calling
00:24:41calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine. Ukraine. But their party, which is
00:24:44is called Yabloko and which is anti-war, anti-war, isn't allowed to take part
00:24:48part in this election as a party party in its own right. It was struck
00:24:51struck off the ballot by the Supreme
00:24:55Supreme Court, 50 miles from Moscow. Moscow. We didn't see much sign of
00:24:58of an election. There were a few few banners, few election posters,
00:25:02posters, but from chatting to people, people, there was every sign that
00:25:05that the war is front and centre
00:25:06centre of people's minds. I want
00:25:10want a peaceful life, Yulia told.
00:25:13told. Me. I'd like to live in a peaceful
00:25:17peaceful country, says Polina, so so that you don't have to worry that
00:25:20that a drone will fall down in front
00:25:22front of you. But expectations are
00:25:24are low that this election will bring
00:25:27bring peace any closer. Steve Rosenberg Rosenberg now before we take a break,
00:25:31break, let me take you to South Africa, Africa, where another body has been
00:25:35been discovered following a spate spate of killings of women near Johannesburg,
00:25:38Johannesburg, nine women have been been killed over the last two months. months. Police say they're trying
00:25:42trying to work out any connections. connections. Most of the bodies have
00:25:45have been found either partially partially or fully naked. Let me
00:25:49me take you to the website because
00:25:51because that story and much more more detail is available there. And
00:25:55And that story is going to be what what we focus on, on today's big
00:25:58big story here in about an hour's hour's time. So do stay with us for
00:26:02for that. I'll be back in 15 minutes. minutes. Next up here
00:27:35temperatures peaking into the mid mid 40s. Take care.
00:29:39Yorkshire Dales to the Scottish Highlands Highlands meeting people proving
00:29:42proving adventure is far from offline.
00:29:43offline. The Travel Show on BBC iPlayer.
00:29:52iPlayer. MUSIC
00:30:05Now on BBC News, the latest
00:30:06business news from across the globe.
00:30:09globe. Business Today. On hold but
00:30:19but for how long? The Bank of England England leaves interest rates unchanged
00:30:22unchanged but warns they may rise rise if the Middle East war drags
00:30:25drags on. Stronger together Canada's
00:30:28Canada's Mark Carney takes aim at
00:30:29at US tariffs and big tech as he
00:30:32he addresses the European Parliament. Parliament. Throwing down a gauntlet
00:30:35gauntlet to President Trump and smart
00:30:38smart spec Snap says its new eyewear eyewear will augment your reality.
00:30:42reality. We will take a closer look.
00:30:46look. Hello. Welcome along. This This is Business Today. I'm Ben Thompson
00:30:49Thompson and we start here in the the UK where the Bank of England
00:30:52England has left interest rates unchanged
00:30:55unchanged at three and three quarters quarters of a percent. Deciding not
00:30:57not to follow the US Fed and