live from london this is business today, i'm sally bundock. a former employee of boeing's biggest supplier has claimed that sections of 737 max aircraft regularly left its factory with serious defects. spirit aerosystems builds fuselages for the 737 max, which are then shipped to boeing's own plant for final assembly. speaking publicly for the first time, former quality inspector santiago paredes told the bbc that some managers actively tried to discourage him from flagging up flaws in half—finished planes. our reporter theo leggett asked him just how many problems he would typically find on aircraft reaching the end of the production line: anywhere from 50 to 100, 200. you were regularly finding more than 100 faults on a plane

that was being shipped? oh, yeah. and that's because ijust inspect certain areas. so in totality, with all the inspectors, if you total them out, yeah, you'd be over the hundreds. now, you were picking up on these faults, you were highlighting them, you were flagging them up to be repaired. what kind of response did you get from your managers? did they support you? my managers weren't always there. the production managers always made a fuss about why i was finding it, why i was looking at it, and they made a big fuss about everything that i ever found. and it was because of the stage of where the plane was. if i'm looking at a plane that's supposed to be getting shaped and i'm the last person to see it, i shouldn't be finding missing fasteners, missing parts and things like that. so why were they not thanking you for picking up on these things? they just wanted the product out. they weren't focused on the consequences of shipping bad fuselages. they were just focused on meeting the quotas, meeting the schedule,

meeting the budget, meeting the numbers. if the numbers looked good, the state of the fuselages didn't really matter. and that's how i think the culture was driven in spirit. throughout all this, you're picking up problems on fuselages that are being sent to boeing. are fuselages getting through to boeing that still have flaws that have not been fixed? the whole time we were there, boeing knowingly knew that spirit was sending fuselages with many defects — many, many, many of them bad. they knew that, they were aware of it. and spirit was wrong for sending defective fuselages, but at the same time, boeing was also wrong for accepting them. and boeing has been criticised a lot for allegedly having a culture of putting profits and speed of production over passenger safety. would you say that the same mentality, then, applied at spirit, which is boeing's number one contractor? well, spirit was part of boeing at one point.

and i think the culture wasn't something that, just they became a new factory and the culture over time became bad. i think, when they deviated from boeing, a lot of the leadership was still there and a lot of the culture was still prolonged after they became their own company. and it wasn't something that the culture all of a sudden just became bad. i think the culture was bad already — that over time just became worse. the latest on boeing. more on that on our website. about $300 billion of russian assets were frozen by the g7 following russia's full—scale invasion of ukraine in 2022. now most of the profits from those assets, 90%, are to be driven into a special military fund for ukraine. the rest will be used to support kyiv in other ways. that's a decision taken by eu ambassadors. the united states had been pushing for a more aggressive stance to use those seized assets and not just the profits.

live now to swetha ramachandran, fund manager at artemis investment management. good to see you again. it is an interesting scenario, where the profits are going to be used to fund the war against russia? yes, it dates back to when the g7 froze those assets that belonged to russia but held in a western institution is primarily at euro claire in belgium and now the decision has been made although it needs a sign of to use the profits from those frozen assets to fund the military operation in ukraine, as well as to help kyiv in other ways.- ukraine, as well as to help kyiv in other ways. from the oint of kyiv in other ways. from the point of view _ kyiv in other ways. from the point of view of _ kyiv in other ways. from the point of view of the - kyiv in other ways. from the point of view of the us - kyiv in other ways. from the point of view of the us they | point of view of the us they are saying let's just use the assets as well, thoughts on that? , ., ,

that? there is an interesting read, that? there is an interesting read. the — that? there is an interesting read, the us _ that? there is an interesting read, the us pushing - that? there is an interesting read, the us pushing for - that? there is an interesting l read, the us pushing for more aggressive action including the —— using the assets as collateral to fund loans that could help ukraine, the eu stance is legally that opens them up to a lot of potential challenges and scrutiny in a cleaner way to go about this is to use the frozen profits alone. �* , u, to use the frozen profits alone. �* , _, ., to use the frozen profits alone. �* , ., ,, ., alone. any comment from russia on an of alone. any comment from russia on any of this? — alone. any comment from russia on any of this? i _ alone. any comment from russia on any of this? i believe - alone. any comment from russia on any of this? i believe they - on any of this? i believe they have said _ on any of this? i believe they have said it _ on any of this? i believe they have said it should _ on any of this? i believe they have said it should be - on any of this? i believe they have said it should be assets| have said it should be assets themselves, they should be seized, they will definitely launch legal challenges as far as the profits go, they have not yet commented on what their response might be to the use of that. , ,, ., that. interesting. swetha ramachandran, - that. interesting. swetha ramachandran, thank- that. interesting. swetha i ramachandran, thank you. that. interesting. swetha - ramachandran, thank you. we will speak to you again soon. fund manager at artemis investment management. here in the uk, there is good news expected about the cost of living. inflation is forecast to fall below the bank of england's 2% target as early as next month.

does this put pressure on the central bank to now start cutting interest rates to give the uk economy a much—needed boost? the bank of england meets today. it has kept the cost of borrowing at 5.25% for 9 months in a bid to tackle inflation which is currently at 3.2%. let's discuss this with dr roger barker, director of policy at the institute of directors. good morning to you, roger. are you with the majority believe in rates will stay on hold today? in rates will stay on hold toda ? , ~ , today? yes i think they probably _ today? yes i think they probably will _ today? yes i think they probably will i - today? yes i think they probably will i don't - probably will i don't necessarily think it would be the right choice for the bank of england in a recent survey more than two—thirds of institute direct as members think the bank should start cutting rates today. we have a pretty fragile economy, the oecd pretty fragile economy, the 0ecd last week forecast we would be the slowest growing economy in the g7 this year. our members are still on balance pessimistic about the economic outlook for this year.

inflation as you say is likely to really come down within a matter of weeks, below the bank's 2% inflation target. so now is the time to think about getting ahead of the curve, and starting to cut interest rates. today the bank of england will also release its report on its outlook for the uk economy and inflation, we will get more of an insight into thinking of andrew bailey his team. why do you think they are not heeding your comments and pressure coming from elsewhere like for example the government, they would love to see rates cut, as soon as possible with an election coming up soon? they are concerned _ election coming up soon? they are concerned about _ election coming up soon? they are concerned about wage - are concerned about wage growth, they see that as an inflationary pressure and there are some components of inflation like services inflation, which are still running at high rates. however there is a real risk to doing nothing, and if you wait and delay rate cuts, until all components of inflation have fallen to low levels, by then

it is too late because there are timelines in terms of interest rates having the impact on the economy, so that is why we think the bank of england needs to get ahead of the curve and actually start cutting rates, the swedish central bank did yesterday stop the swiss central bank already started cutting rates, and it is likely the european central bank will start cutting rates early next month, the same pace really applies to the uk, given our weak economy, given inflation is coming down. we see where — inflation is coming down. we see where you _ inflation is coming down. we see where you are coming from annual push for the bank to its move now, what about the united states, do you think that is impacting the view in london, and the united kingdom as well wherejerome powell and his team being very, very cautious. i know the economic picture in the us is different to ours but they've all got together recently at the world bank and imf meetings and on the

sidelines of that central bankers to me, your thoughts? the us is influencing thinking about the uk. everyone was expecting the federal reserve to start cutting rates first, to start cutting rates first, to lead us into a rate cutting situation. it is clear the federal reserve will not do that, the economy is running stronger than expected, they have had strong jobs growth, inflation is rather sticky. as you said, the situation of the us economy is different to that of the uk economy. 0ur us economy is different to that of the uk economy. our economy is weaker, our economic outlook is weaker, our economic outlook is much more fragile, so i do think the bank of england needs to act before the federal reserve now, just to match other european countries. doctor roger barker from the institute of directors thank you for your time. on bbc news we will bring you the latest from the bank of england when it does announce its decision at midday today. let's move on

now. us presidentjoe biden has taken a shot at donald trump's economic record over a failed foxconn plant in wisconsin. this came as he announced a big investment from microsoft in the midwestern state. from new york, here's more from michelle fleury. president biden made his pitch to american voters unhappy with the overall economy on wednesday, chiding his 2024 election rival while he was at it during a visit to the swing state of wisconsin he highlighted how he is helping to create jobs with the private sector championing a major microsoft investment at the same site donald trump ausmat deal with foxconn fizzle. raises hundreds of million dollars_ raises hundreds of million dollars for state and local tax dollars. — dollars for state and local tax dollars. it _ dollars for state and local tax dollars, it never happened. foxconn _ dollars, it never happened. foxconn turned out to be just that — foxconn turned out to be just that a— foxconn turned out to be just that. a con. 0n foxconn turned out to be just that. a con. on my watch, we have — that. a con. on my watch, we have made _ that. a con. on my watch, we have made promises and we keep promises! — have made promises and we keep promises! the have made promises and we keep romises! , ., . ., , promises! the new pro'ect aims to create 2300 h

promises! the new project aims to create 2300 construction - to create 2300 construction jobs in 2000 permanentjobs, microsoft has said it would use the new centre to train 100,000 workers across the state on generative ai workers across the state on generative a! by 2030. this is joe biden�*s fourth visit to wisconsin, a state part of the blue wall that donald trump one in 2016 and whichjoe biden flipped in 2020. the president and his cabinet had been visiting swing states to convince voters that mr biden�*s three signature piece of legislation, his infrastructure, clean energy and ship bills are creating plenty of good paying jobs. —— chip bills. now to argentina where president milei is under continued pressure from unions. a second national strike has been called in protest over the government's new fiscal policies. this follows on from protests by workers in the transport and grain sectors. the public is blaming mr milei's so called "chainsaw

economics" for soaring levels of inflation. that's nowjust under 290%, meaning prices have risen by a factor of nearly four in 12 months. poverty affects almost half of argentina's population. to look at the national and international impact of these strikes, i am joined by dr elena lazarou, associate fellow in the us and the americas programme at chatham house. good morning to you. it is called chainsaw economics, partly to do with his campaigning, priorto being campaigning, prior to being elected campaigning, priorto being elected as president of argentina we did talk about very radical measures to cut through the economy and bring change. talk us through what he has achieved so far because there is no gain without pain as they say?— there is no gain without pain asthe sa ? , ., ,, as they say? exactly, thank you for having _ as they say? exactly, thank you for having me. _ as they say? exactly, thank you for having me. what _ as they say? exactly, thank you for having me. what we - as they say? exactly, thank you for having me. what we are - for having me. what we are seeing at the moment is according to the president

milei government short—term pain for the long—term gain but it is not necessarily the way union workers see it and the argentinian population will continue to see it. as you said this is the second major strike, generalstrike, strike, general strike, argentina has strike, generalstrike, argentina has seen in the past few months, the first was on january 24, the earliest ever strike after the election and inauguration of a president, and today we are seeing the second one. this is really the impact and the cost of the school adjustment and economic reforms on the population. as you said, the legislator package brought by the president into congress which was voted on by the lower house last week, is likely to affect workers in many ways, it includes labour law reforms, income tax reforms which will lower the threshold for

taxation, pension reforms, union activity reforms, which i definitely seen by the unions and workers is detrimental to their well being. at the same time it's important to say this is a watered—down version of an earlier package rejected by the senate earlier in the year. and it is all part of the government's approach which sees this economic shock therapy in the short term as a way to remedy the economy, attract foreign investment, reduce inflation in the long—term, and also remedy public spending issues. the . uestion public spending issues. the question is _ public spending issues. the question is - _ public spending issues. the question is - how— public spending issues. the question is — how will this continue, if there are national strikes occurring, fairly regularly he has not got the unions on board, can he push through with his economic plans? he is saying and insisting his programme is helping the most vulnerable, increasing welfare benefits, supporting those out of work,

but economic indicators like inflation are improving. has he got the political backing to see through what could be very long—term change that will become difficult for people to stomach? , , stomach? this is the million-dollar - stomach? this is the million-dollar for. stomach? this is the | million-dollar for any million—dollarfor any president who does not have a congressional majority. what president milei is banking on it as public support, his approval are surprisingly high we see them slightly beginning to decline from around the % they were. the real issue here will be public support and congressional support. as his party is new, he does not have congressional majorities, and the lower house or senate, it is 10% in the senate and 15% in the lower house, that will be one aspect of not getting it through, and as the population becomes more frustrated it is very likely the centrist parties now on board with some of his policies will begin to see the public frustration as a

reason not to be. it's important to say interviews with argentinians, middle—class and workers show that some of them are willing to bear the brunt of the short—term cost because they are still hope that president milei will bring some change, the reason why he was elected unlikely as he was was elected unlikely as he was was long—term frustration with previous governments, with the hyperinflation, with corruption. and an economic recession. corruption. and an economic recession-— corruption. and an economic recession. thank you for your time, recession. thank you for your time. we _ recession. thank you for your time, we appreciate - recession. thank you for your time, we appreciate your - time, we appreciate your expertise on this. we will keep a close eye on what unfolds in argentina. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

you are with business today. now we've all been wondering about the impact of artificial intelligence and how it will change our lives. some worry it may putjobs

at risk — it will certainly change the way we work. well, new research suggests that developing ai skills could give professionals a leg up in thejobs market, with some bosses saying they would rather hire a less experienced candidate with al skills than a more experienced candidate without. but only 4 in 10 workers who use a! say they've received dedicated training, according to the findings of microsoft's work trend index, published in collaboration with linkedin. joining me now from san francisco is linkedin's chief economist, karin kimbro. good morning. many of us are worried about al and our lack of skill set as far as this is concerned, and this is reaffirming all of this? actually what is really interesting a lot of us are already using generative ai tools at work, what the study shows as there is a real hankering if you well by people to explore this new technology, we found 75% of knowledge workers around the world have

already used generative ai tools work, that's pretty high. what was even more surprising was that most of them are used it had bought their own a! tilt with, not one provided by the organisation. what it is suggesting is two things, employees are leading the trend, head of employers, and two, employees are probably already starting to see some real productivity gains by using this tool. i real productivity gains by using this tool.— real productivity gains by using this tool. i was going to ask about _ using this tool. i was going to ask about that _ using this tool. i was going to ask about that it _ using this tool. i was going to ask about that it does - using this tool. i was going to ask about that it does enable | ask about that it does enable you to do yourjob faster? is it more accurate? does it help with how well you do yourjob? i think it is a little bit of all of those things. what we found is that there are a range of different types of folks out there, no surprise, some are sceptics, on the other end of the spectrum, there are explorers and power users, the power users are where we are

starting to see them paving the way for what a! can look like in the workplace. they tell us nine out of ten, it is saving them time, allowing them to focus on work they find more fulfilling or more important, it is allowing them to shed some of the digital debt you get when you have a wall of e—mails in your inbox you need to read. it is helping them be more productive in terms of saving time and most say it saves about 30 minutes a day, which if you add that up over a month is ten hours. that is a whole extra day you have found of free time to do whatever it is you want to do.— of free time to do whatever it is you want to do. what are the risks, if is you want to do. what are the risks. if you _ is you want to do. what are the risks, if you just _ is you want to do. what are the risks, if you just put _ risks, if you just put everything into a robot to get it to do stuff for you to assume it is correct, it is right, often called me a cynicaljournalist but right, often called me a cynical journalist but we right, often called me a cynicaljournalist but we think these things are not necessarily spot—on? these things are not necessarily spot-on? these things are not necessaril sot-on? �* , . necessarily spot-on? it's a new technology _ necessarily spot-on? it's a new technology we _ necessarily spot-on? it's a new technology we are _ necessarily spot-on? it's a new technology we are on _ necessarily spot-on? it's a new technology we are on a - necessarily spot-on? it's a new technology we are on a journey| technology we are on a journey here, i think the reason we use

copilot is because it is exactly that, not autopilot is not pilot copilot, something to help you cut through a lot of the tasks that maybe you don't want to spend a lot of time on. 0bviously with anything you do whether using a generative ai whether using a generative a! tool or not you want to have a healthy dose of your own expertise, your own insights, and i personally have used it and i personally have used it and you obviously want to review the answer you get, or the suggestion you get, and if you don't like it you can re— prompt to try for a different answer. , ., , , ., answer. get the answer you want. karen, _ answer. get the answer you want. karen, thank- answer. get the answer you want. karen, thank you - answer. get the answer you | want. karen, thank you very much for that. linkedin's chief economist, karin kimbro. so much to talk about when it comes to ai. south korea's k—pop is a multibillion—dollar industry. but elsewhere in asia, the philippines is hoping its own music, p—pop, can reach the same heights. p—pop stands for pinoy pop or philippine pop and it draws on filipino

culture, history and language. hannah gelbart from the bbc�*s what in the world podcast has been to manila to meet one of the country's top p—pop groups, alamat. you've probably heard of k—pop orj—pop, but what about p—pop? it's short for philippine — or pinoy — pop, and it's flourishing. alamat is one of the biggest p—pop bands in the country. it has six members, each coming from a different region and singing in a local language, from tagalog to waray waray, bisaya and sambal. p—pop is definitely getting big. we are going to push filipino talent to our limits. like k—pop, p—pop bands are known for their rigorous training, edgy outfits and adoring fans. p—pop sounds completely different. we aim to promote our culture through everything that we do, and that includes fashion, music and, of course, our dances. alamat's music is full

of national symbols, myths and legends. they use lyrics and costumes to criticise the country's colonial past, and they address contemporary issues like the two million overseas filipino workers sending money home to theirfamilies from abroad. when i was a kid and my dad passed away, my mom had to flew overseas so she can provide for us. i grew up with my grandma, with my grandparents and my cousins, so i grew up full of love. while alamat has loads of filipino fans here and abroad, some p—pop bands like sb19 have already made an impact on the international music scene. we are definitely not rivals, but more of, "we are brothers in the p—pop community." and that community isn't new. p—pop builds on original

pilipino music, or 0pm, which has been around since the �*705. but this newer version is resonating with gen z filipinos. whereas k—pop has become one of korea's main exports and is a multimillion—dollar global business, p—pop doesn't yet have the same level of government support. alamat's name means "legend", and with or without that backing, this is a band that's determined to make it big. hannah gelbart, bbc news, manila. interesting. p—pop, keep an eye open for that as it takes the global market by storm. let's take a look at the markets. ensing has been on a roll lately, the price of oil up half a percent to $84, to look at wall street, to see how things went the night before, the event to keep an eye on for

the event to keep an eye on for the pound sterling and for london markets as the bank of england but it is expected rates will remain unchanged, it will be really surprising if we saw a mood on the cost of borrowing in the uk. i'll see you soon. hello. we've got a long—awaited spell of dry and sunny weather for many of us over the next few days. not quite dry everywhere. a bit of rain around across the far north of scotland. and we'll also see some misty, murky patches during the mornings. they could be a little bit slow to clear. so, not wall—to—wall blue skies for the next few days, but high pressure is bringing a lot of dry, settled weather, with light winds, too. now, we're likely to start thursday morning with that patchy rain in the far northwest, but further south, i think some mist and some fog patches around here and there, particularly so for parts of the southwest of england and wales. could be some mistiness creeping in to east anglia. around some of these irish sea coasts, the isle of man, towards cumbria, some of that fog could be quite slow to clear.

for scotland, there'll be some brighter spells across eastern areas — like aberdeenshire, for instance — but there'll be more cloud and outbreaks of rain moving in across the western isles, parts of highland too. that rain looks like it eases away, pushes a little bit further northward. so for much of the uk, dry with sunny spells, and that's going to lift those temperatures to somewhere between around 19—22 degrees for many of us. just a little bit cooler across the north of scotland. now, through thursday evening, overnight into friday, we've got some more rain that'll push across parts of highland. elsewhere, dry once again, relatively mild temperatures — in double figures for many of us. but, again, i think friday morning could see a few misty patches that will gradually clear away. so, friday itself, i think longer spells of sunshine on offer, light winds and those temperatures probably up a degree or so. so, more widely, we're looking at temperatures in the low 20s, possibly the mid—20s in the south. still a little cooler than that for stornoway and lerwick, for instance. into the weekend, high pressure still close, but it slips away towards the east, and that will just open the doors for areas of low pressure to try and move in from the west. but i think saturday itself, a good deal of dry weather. cloud will tend to bubble up through the day, and that could just spark off one or two showers,

perhaps northern england, southern scotland, but they'll be hit and miss. temperatures are again up in the mid 20s — could see 24 in one or two places. similar start to the day on sunday, but you'll notice these showers trying to push in towards the west. they could be quite slow—moving, potentially heavy and thundery in places. where it does stay dry, probably towards the south and southeast, we could well see temperatures again in the mid—20s, but then it looks like the showers will dominate as we head into next week. so, more unsettled weather on the cards for the start of next week. still a little bit warmer than average, but not as warm as the next few days.

good morning, welcome to breakfast with charlie stayt and naga munchetty. 0ur headlines today. new analysis shows more than 1,700 people in the uk could be living with undiagnosed hepatitis c after receiving contaminated blood transfusions decades ago. there are people still out there that have the virus that haven't been picked up, up until now. and that's really quite shocking. sir keir starmer faces a backlash from some of his mps for allowing former conservative natalie elphicke to join the labour party. efforts to clean up england's rivers, lakes and seas have been

criticised as "poor" by an environmental watchdog. it's a decision that'll be closely watched by people with mortgages. will the bank of england cut interest rates today? i'll take a look. in sport, pain for kane, butjoy forjude as bellingham helps real madrid beat harry kane's bayern munich to reach the champions league final and so is heading to wembley. it and so is heading to wembley. might be a bit dam scotla nd it might be a bit damp in parts of scotland this morning but there is more sunshine and more warmth over the course of the country in the coming days, i will have the forecast. former paralympian and amputeejohn mcfall is taking part in the world's first study to see if someone with a disability can become an astronaut. it's thursday 9th may. more than 1,700 people in the uk could be living with undiagnosed hepatitis c after receiving contaminated blood transfusions decades ago according to analysis by the bbc.

official documents also show government and nhs efforts to trace