and china charging ahead in the electric vehicle race. we get the latest from the beijing autoshow. hello. i'm tadhg enright with all the latest business news. we start in the us where it's a big day for the central bank, the federal reserve, as it makes its latest call on the cost of borrowing. markets around the world will be watching because where america goes others can follow. but it's widely predicted to be very much a holding call today as the rate of price rises has been heading in the wrong direction of late — making it too early for the fed to take the brakes off the economy. the current key us interest rate is sitting at a 23 year high of

between 5.25% and 5.5%. months ago, many had forecast that this rate would be ready to cut around now but the latest inflation figures have dampened expectations as prices rose at 3.5% in the year to march, which was higher than the february figure of 3.2%. the feds target for inflation, like most central banks, is for 2%. so still some way to go. and those price rises are feeding into some wider negative sentiment. the latest report from the economic think tank the conference board shows that consumer confidence is falling — with people more downbeat about future business conditions, jobs and income. to delve into that report joining me now is sara murray — global managing director at the conference board international.

thank you forjoining us today. take us in to the mind of american consumers right now. how are they feeling? as you said, confidence has deteriorated to the conference board run the consumer confidence index and have been doing it for over 50 years and it has gone down for the third consecutive month. how we measure confidence is we ask consumers about their present and their expectations for the future. and while they are optimistic about the present they are pessimistic about the future. and although employment remains low they notice a cooling in the labour market so they feel the pinch and although most of the current inflation is in services consumers notice it at the tills. the cost of eggs is now a dollars in new york. they are feeling that so we will see

consumers making more savings in discretionary spending. haw in discretionary spending. how much are they _ in discretionary spending. how much are they looking at the fact that inflation has not been falling at the pace that they have been guided? i been falling at the pace that they have been guided? i think they have been guided? i think the fed will — they have been guided? i think the fed will be _ they have been guided? i think the fed will be happy - they have been guided? i think the fed will be happy with - they have been guided? i think the fed will be happy with the | the fed will be happy with the cooling down of the economy. as we know from data it came in at 1.6% versus the consensus of 2.5. so the fed will be happy that it 2.5. so the fed will be happy thatitis 2.5. so the fed will be happy that it is cooling but not happy enough and that is because there is high employment, stubborn inflation, particularly in the service sector so that target of 2% is going to be very bumpy and this is why we expect much more caution and why we expect that the rate cuts will be delayed until the end of 2024 if not early 2025. until the end of 2024 if not early 2025— until the end of 2024 if not earl 2025. ., ., early 2025. you mentioned there the fact that _ early 2025. you mentioned there the fact that employment - early 2025. you mentioned there the fact that employment has - the fact that employment has been pretty resilient. many question why americans do not

actually feel better than they do because, of course, the us economy has weathered this inflationary storm much better than others have.— than others have. indeed. the labour market _ than others have. indeed. the labour market is _ than others have. indeed. the labour market is still - than others have. indeed. the labour market is still very - labour market is still very tight but it is not as red—hot as it was one year ago and i think it is that that the us consumer can feel. 0ne think it is that that the us consumer can feel. one factor we need to keep in mind is that the baby boomer generation are retiring and there will still be chronic labour shortages and thatis be chronic labour shortages and that is not going to go away overnight. that is a long—term issue. we do not think they should be as worried as there. 3% unemployment is not bad. pretty good indeed. thank you very much forjoining us. ok, so that's the feeling in the us right now. but what about that call from the federal reserve — if not today then when are we to expect the cost of borrowing to come down? joining me now is fiona

cincotta from city index. this fiona, what are the expectations now among investors about when the fed is going to move? that investors about when the fed is going to move?— going to move? at the moment the market _ going to move? at the moment the market is _ going to move? at the moment the market is pricing _ going to move? at the moment the market is pricing the - going to move? at the moment the market is pricing the first i the market is pricing the first rate cut to be in november. this has been pushed back quite a long way. if you think of where we were at the start of the year, the market was thinking we could get a rate cut from the fed is sooner june. and when we think about the scale of the rate cut that we expect, the market is now expecting a i/4% rate cut basically this year and that has been pushed down from six rate cuts which was priced at the beginning of the year. so we can see that as this data is coming through showing inflation in the us has been hotter than expected, as the

labour market is continuing to show resilience and hold up, there is nothing screaming at there is nothing screaming at the fed to cut rates right now. what a difference a few months can make. what does that mean for the rest of us? what does the picture look like close at home was to much here in the uk are the likelihood of a rate cut has been kicked into the long grass of leader in summer. in europe other expectations it may happen sooner? it is expected to be one of the first major central banks to start cutting interest rates and that could be as soon asjune. we saw inflation in the eurozone cool quickly in comparison to other countries around the world and other regions and it is down at 2.4% at the moment, just above the ecb's 2% target. they have signalled that should inflation continue to trend lower thanjune inflation continue to trend lower than june could inflation continue to trend lower thanjune could be the month where they start to cut interest rates.—

month where they start to cut interest rates. thank you very much. amazon — the world's largest retailer has posted a surge in sales in its latest numbers. but it's not the cardboard boxes landing on your doorstep that's driving the boom — it's amazon's web services division which provides technology such as data centres to other businesses. the ai boom has boosted demand for amazon's cloud computing, helping to deliver a 13% rise in revenue to reach an all—time high in the january to march period of over $143 billion. to get more of the details i'm joined now by sootchareeta kadarli — principal analyst at research firm forrester. thank you very much forjoining us today. how well would you say amazon is writing this wave like many technology companies, amazon is doing this very well but they are not the only

winners in this space. you have microsoft which is also riding the wave, google is riding the wave stop so they are absolutely succeeding clearly based on these numbers. the us numbers which are quite off the charts. it is extraordinarily that make extraordinary how well aws has been growing but they are not the only player. anyone who has a data centre in cloud computing is writing this wave. let's talk about the amazon that most consumers know and some of them love. how is it performing, those cardboard officers on our doorstep and what do they tell us about consumer spending and confidence overall? == confidence overall? -- cardboard _ confidence overall? -- cardboard boxes. - confidence overall? » cardboard boxes. amazon is a beneficiary of consumer spending that is happening. they are outpacing the rest of the retail industry but when you look at their overall numbers, aws and even their advertising business is our paying their store business. ——

outpacing. the online business is growing in the low double digits and certainly nowhere near amazon web services but it is still outpacing other retailers globally. the us and the north american division were outpacing international and that has been the story for and that has been the story for a number of years as well. so people are certainly purchasing their physical goods but a large part of the success in amazon physical goods is the marketplace which is third party sellers who make their products available on amazon .com. ., ., .com. you mention there the difficulties _ .com. you mention there the difficulties with _ .com. you mention there the difficulties with actual - difficulties with actual physical shops and in the us they own whole foods and in the rest of the world, some parts of the rest of the world they have been trying to open small convenience stores, for example, but that is not been going well. is that reflected on the results today and where are they going wrong? hat

are they going wrong? not really the _ are they going wrong? not really the not _ are they going wrong? iirrt really the not reflected because the stores are such a small part of the overall amazon business. from everything that we can gather, a large part of this store business, the whole foods business, the whole foods business was purchased as an attempt to try and penetrate the grocery, the physical grocery world. but some of these other experiments are more inroads in experimentation around ai investments, for instance, some convenience stores, the amazon go stores for instance of which there are some in the uk, a large part of it is to test things like autonomous checkouts, calculus checkout, camera vision technology that they hope to sell to other retailers in which they actually are selling to other retailers through the amazon web store division. it is often an incubator for other parts of the business and that is really what we are seeing. thank you very much forjoining us. to crypto currencies now

as the founder of binance — that's the world's biggest crypto exchange — has been sentenced to four months in prison in the us. changpeng zhao pleaded guilty to money laundering charges last november. us districtjudge richard jones faulted the crypto kingpin for putting growth and profits before complying with the law. 0ur north america business correspondent michelle fleury has more from new york. sam backman fried is not the only poster boy for crypto wrongdoing facing a reckoning. his rival, the former ceo of finance was ordered to spend four months in prison for failures that allowed cyber criminals and terrorists groups to trade on the world's largest crypto currency exchange. back in november, mr zhao pleaded guilty to one count of violating the bank secrecy act resolving a multiyear investigation by the us government into the world's largest crypto currency exchange, finance. as part of that agreement he also stepped

down as ceo. founder apologised to the court in seattle saying his company had now put in place anti— money laundering controls. he was watched by his mother and sister who were in court as he learned his fate. the sentence was considerably shorter than the three years prosecutors were demanding and less than the 12—18 months recommended underfederal recommended under federal guidelines. 0nce recommended underfederal guidelines. 0nce considered the most powerful person in the crypto industry, zhao is the second major crypto boss to be sentenced to prison. in march, sandbank men fried received time behind bars for stealing from his customers. but unlike ftx, binance is still the biggest crypto currency exchange in the world and cz has his eye on the future. recently he announced plans to launch a online nonprofit educational academy. around the world

and across the uk. this is bbc news.

the boss of whatsapp says that tens of millions of people are using technical workarounds to secretly use the messaging platform in countries where it is banned. iran, north korea and syria don't allow whatsapp. last month china ordered apple to ban it from being downloaded to iphones. the head of whatsapp, will cathcart, has told the bbc that governments banning or blocking apps that they don't like is threatening the open internet. he spoke to our cyber correspondentjoe tidy about internet freedom from a tech giant's perspective. huge increases from northern italy especially for calling... . forthe italy especially for calling... . for the boss of what's things are looking great on paper. his app are looking great on paper. his app is used by around 2 million people and are starting to make money from its business users. it was always mind—boggling and

humbling. but it was always mind-boggling and humblinu. �* ., , humbling. but globally the threats are _ humbling. but globally the threats are growing. - threats are growing. governments including in the west are putting pressure on him to change the security of the app. elsewhere his platform is caught up in geopolitical tensions. we speak in los angelesjust days tensions. we speak in los angeles just days after china has banned whatsapp from being downloaded on an iphone. is a big loss for you? it downloaded on an iphone. is a big loss for you?— big loss for you? it sends a message — big loss for you? it sends a message doesn't _ big loss for you? it sends a message doesn't it? - big loss for you? it sends a message doesn't it? it - big loss for you? it sends a . message doesn't it? it doesn't evenif message doesn't it? it doesn't even if we are not massively popular, to communities in china that benefit from secures communications, minorities and other communities on a particular threat to human rights. that situation is particularly unfortunate particularly u nfortu nate because while particularly unfortunate because while in many circumstances people can still find creative ways to access whatsapp, the only way to get an app on an iphone is through theice an app on an iphone is through the ice door —— apple store. that's a choice that apple have made. �* , , that's a choice that apple have made. m, that's a choice that apple have made. apple says it was obliged to remove _ made. apple says it was obliged to remove the _ made. apple says it was obliged to remove the app _ made. apple says it was obliged to remove the app along - made. apple says it was obliged to remove the app along with i made. apple says it was obliged to remove the app along with al to remove the app along with a handful of others mainly from

western companies because of chinese laws to that that bands are now a regular part of our fracturing internet and people are finding ways around the problem. forthe are finding ways around the problem. for the first time, whatsapp is putting a rough number on just how many. you would be surprised how many people still manage to get through. it is a much higher fraction than you might think. what we can most do is look at some of those countries where we are locked and still see worldwide tens of millions of people connecting to whatsapp via proxies or vpns. there is attention here where i do not want to point to a specific country and say oh, look, their block has been ineffective because you do not want to tell the country that they should be doing different things, you do not want to draw attention to it. i not want to draw attention to it. ., ., , ., , , it. i would rather people 'ust be able to i it. i would rather people 'ust be able to access * it. i would rather peoplejust be able to access whatsappl it. i would rather people just . be able to access whatsapp and other services around the world. �* ., ., , world. another front being fou . ht world. another front being fought is _ world. another front being fought is on _ world. another front being fought is on enter - world. another front being fought is on enter and - fought is on enter and encryption, a super secure system that the app and others

used to keep messages private between uses. governments including in the uk want police to be to read the messages to catch criminals.— catch criminals. sadly i don't think the _ catch criminals. sadly i don't think the debate _ catch criminals. sadly i don't think the debate is _ catch criminals. sadly i don't think the debate is over. - catch criminals. sadly i don't think the debate is over. i i think the debate is over. i think the debate is over. i think people have broadly spoken. if you look at people and the people use whatsapp and customers asked whether they want a company to have access to everything they say, it is a pretty clear that they do not. ijust pretty clear that they do not. i just wonder if you truly believe that people in the street care about encryption the same way the privacy and experts and you do.— experts and you do. whether the are experts and you do. whether they are aware _ experts and you do. whether they are aware of _ experts and you do. whether they are aware of it - they are aware of it corrections, they think it is important. it is why we need to communicate on it. it is clear what is at stake. turning to the car industry — the us and europe have been going after china for unfairly propping up its electric car market. in fact, the european commission's anti—subsidy investigation is wrapping up in the coming weeks and some sort of response from brussels is expected.

but with annual sales of electric vehicles already above 30% of all cars in china, the mood remains optimistic as our correspondent stephen mcdonell saw at the beijing auto show. until recently the idea that electric vehicles would make up a significant portion of all cars on our streets was something for the future. and then china came along and thrust the future upon us now. it has achieved this with great —— breakneck growth in the industry fuelled by government subsidy. the problem with this is that the europeans and americans are saying that that has given chinese brands an unfair advantage on price, that they have been able to flood markets in other countries at rates that local brands cannot compete with. and they are threatening to put tariffs on chinese cars to level the playing field. the counter argument to that, however, is

that at the beginning you needed to have such subsidies to have enough charging stations, to give electric vehicles a significant enough portion of the market to survive into the future. and the biggest change that has happened in sin terms of the attitudes of ordinary people. to speak to the would—be customers at this huge auto show to see that. translation: in china's big cities, more are choosing electric cars because they are good value for money and good for the environment. translation:— and good for the environment. translation: new energy cars have become — translation: new energy cars have become totally _ translation: new energy cars have become totally normal- translation: new energy cars have become totally normal and accepted. have become totally normal and acceted. �* ,, �* have become totally normal and accepted-_ their i accepted. translation: they have the technology _ accepted. translation: they have the technology and - accepted. translation: they have the technology and they. have the technology and they are good to drive. translation: from voice _ are good to drive. translation: from voice triggered _ from voice triggered instructions to the latest flashy on—screen displays. china's electric vehicle industry is showing off what it can do. for example, these

charging stations boast 500 kilometres, or310 charging stations boast 500 kilometres, or 310 miles of driving afterjust 12 minutes plugged in. and the established european and american brands are also taking on this country's many new players here. chinese companies have invested heavily in the development of electric vehicles, loading huge factories and the like and they are going to need export revenue to make their money back. many will not survive because the competition is just so fierce. and yet the upside is that we can always fall back on the massive domestic market and it looks like it willjust keep growing as more and more people make the switch away from traditional vehicles. is have a look at some of the days of the business news now. britain's daily ends sunday telegraph newspapers are back up telegraph newspapers are back up for sale after a bid to take them over collapse. the ownership of the paper is said to be transferred to the

redbird imi consortium before the uk government intervened in january. legislation since was put forward to ban foreign states from owning uk newspapers and magazines. they said they would call the takeover and put it up for sale. starbucks reported a surprise drop in sales as it faces we demand for products in the us and china. its two biggest markets. the coffee chainsaw chainstore sales fall for the first time in nearly three years. it sent shares down 12% in extended trading. to artificial intelligence now and more fears about it's impact, this time on the music industry. a parliamentary committee in the uk is calling on the government to stop ai firms damaging the business, citing examples of musicians not being credited for their work and deep—faking of artists, such as dua lipa and taylor swift. concerns echoed by the industry body, uk music, who contributed to the report. joining me now is uk music's interim chief executive,

tom kiehl. thank you forjoining us. tell us, what is your top concern about how ai could undermine the music business? technology all development _ the music business? technology all development is _ the music business? technology all development is important - all development is important for the music industry and we have seen the way that it can provide incredible benefit around helping artists create but our big concern is around generating of artificial intelligence, the ability to make a new piece of work based on other people's work which we consider to be amounting to theft and it also rips off fans, potentially. their ability to navigate what is a genuine piece of work and curated or something created by artificial intelligence. what artificial intelligence. what are we talking _ artificial intelligence. what are we talking about - artificial intelligence. whatj are we talking about here? artificial intelligence. what i are we talking about here? ai coming up with a new taylor swift song that sounds like taylor swift and is put out there? surely she would immediately come out and say that has nothing to do with me.

certainly, yes. that is the case. artificial intelligence systems are being trained and developed and in a sophisticated way without permission from artists. the problem is that we have no transparency about the type of work being generated into the systems and again they expect financial compensation. is not happening at the moment and so there is a basic concern that this intervention today is very important because it shows why, in particular, the eight uk is lagging behind other areas. 1th lagging behind other areas. ai is being used legitimately for this very purpose. i am thinking of the recent case where a beatles fan was treated to the release of a so—called lost song which was partly generated by aia. so it has some benefits, i would expect. example is very much the case of this system. ai technology in the way it can enhance and

with permission of the original creators of that work to make the best of the sound. what we are concerned with is whether permission has not taken place and generating completely new pieces of work. so there are definite benefits to artificial intelligence and you don't want to stop technological advancement but in that case where it is a new piece of work thatis where it is a new piece of work that is where a fundamental concern remains. so that is where a fundamental concern remains.— that is where a fundamental concern remains. so how should the misuse. _ concern remains. so how should the misuse, the _ concern remains. so how should the misuse, the abuse - concern remains. so how should the misuse, the abuse of- concern remains. so how should the misuse, the abuse of a13 i the misuse, the abuse of aib stop? i the misuse, the abuse of aib sto - ? . . , ~ stop? i certainly think there should be — stop? i certainly think there should be some _ stop? i certainly think there should be some legislationl stop? i certainly think there l should be some legislation in parliament, in the uk, an area where we are particularly keen to look at is round personality rights and deep fakes and we feel that the uk is not as strong as in some other jurisdictions, particularly in the us countries and states where there was recently in tennessee there was something called the elvis act was passed, so likeness and artist. we saw this and political arena as well, politicians are being targeted by deep fakes. so

there is a societal harm issue there. ~ ., ., ., there. we will have to leave it there. we will have to leave it there. thank _ there. we will have to leave it there. thank you _ there. we will have to leave it there. thank you very - there. we will have to leave it there. thank you very much. i there. thank you very much. let's have a quick look at the markets before i go. it must be said that many of the asian indices are closed today for a public holiday but the japanese market is trading, down by .1% for some good timing for that closure as many investors are holding their breath for the federate decision. a quick look at well at wall street and a sell—off there on the tuesday session with higher—than—expected wage data dashing hopes and crushing costs of borrowing. that is it from me. stay with us on bbc news. hello. well, it has been gradually warming up over the last

couple of days, at least for most of us. the weather, on the other hand, a little hit and miss. and in fact, that is the outlook for the next few days. some warm sunshine, yes, but also, a chance of catching some rain. now, weatherfronts are close by — you can see it here on the satellite picture — and that also means some damp weather through the early hours and into wednesday morning, particularly around the irish sea coasts and also around the north sea coasts. but for most of us, it's a dry start to the day, a little misty and murky in places. here are the temperatures first thing — around 9 in london, 8 in belfast, maybe the glens of scotland around 4 or 5 degrees. now, many of us will wake up to some sunshine, maybe hazy skies in places. and i think it should stay generally dry through the day, although a few showers are possible inland, in central parts of the uk, and also damp conditions at times are possible along the north sea coast where it'll be coolest. temperatures in newcastle, only 14 degrees. deeper inland, it'll be closer to 18, perhaps 20. and then wednesday night, we're expecting some heavy rain to come in from the south. this could be thundery rain and downpours are likely almost anywhere across southern england, perhaps into the midlands and also southern parts of wales, and flashes of lightning

certainly a possibility. so that's how we start thursday. then here's that weather front, which could bring the thundery weather for a time across some southern parts of the uk. now, the air�*s relatively warm — it's actually coming in out of the east—southeast. but because the north sea is quite cold, see that wind blowing off the north sea? it will actually drag in that cooler air to the north sea coasts. so that does mean that places like newcastle and hull could only be around, say, 13, 14, 15, whereas out towards the west, it could be as high as 20 degrees celsius. so that was thursday. this is friday, still a possibility of some showers brought in by that easterly breeze, maybe the odd crack of thunder as well. the best of the weather probably in western parts of scotland on friday. and in one or two spots, we could even see highs reaching 20 degrees celsius. the north sea coast, once again, will be fairly chilly. so that outlook then, yes, it is going to be

a bit of a mixed bag. it's not going to be particularly cold — temperatures, in fact, closer to the average for the time of the year. that's it for me. bye—bye.

good morning, welcome to breakfast with sally nugent and jon kay. 0ur headlines today. shouting. emergency services praised for their response after a man fatally stabbed a 14—year—old boy with a sword and injured four others during an attack in east london. new york police raid columbia university campus to disperse pro—palestinian demonstrators, who've taken over an academic building. a long—awaited opening, delayed several times, but the uk's biggest indoor arena will finally open tonight. i'll be looking back at what went wrong with the launch of coop live in manchester. the best of british. stars harry kane and jude bellingham take centre stage. the england striker scoring for bayern against bellingham's real madrid as the pair met in the champions league semi finals. ryan gosling and emily blunt on sarcasm, stunts and why their children are less than impressed with their world —famous parents.

my kids have seen mary poppins once, they've seenjungle cruise once,