Woman architect. Bee keeper. Mentor. A Raymond JamesFinancial Advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. Life well planned. Narrator funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. And by judy and Peter Blum Kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs. Announcer and now, bbc news. You are watching t on bbc news. The plan i put in place is working. We are not there yet but the plan is working, trust me. And i will be able to get inflation down. Inflation has been at record levels and people are paying significantly for their daily living costs. Whilst the inflation rate may have slowed down, the cost of living is going up but at a slower rate. The cost of milk has gone down. Things like these that are made from milk has not gone down, they have gone up. The biggest concern for us is high Interest Rates. That will slow down the general industry and approach to investments. Good evening and welcome to the context. Official figures show the rate of inflation and the u. K. Has fallen to its lowest level in 15 months but high food prices and rents means costofliving pressures are not going away anytime soon. Former ukrainian prisoners of war sell the bbc captives were tortured and left under nourished in southern russia. England beats australia to book a place in the womens World Cup Final against spain on sunday. We will have all the goals for you later in the program and with the rise of the womens game means for young girls around the world. First, a development in the u. K. Inflation fell sharply to 6. 8 in july from 7. 9 in june, but it still means prices continue to rise. Prime minister sunak says it shows his governments plan is working. Core inflation, which looks at price rises excluding food and energy, remain unchanged. According to the office of national statistics, the rising costs of hotels, air travel and rents are keeping inflation high, and economists are expecting Interest Rates to be raised further. The bbcs economics editor has more. The heat might be coming out of rising prices at supermarkets and convenience shops. That can be seen in milk prices on the shelves. Overall, they are still rising, just by less than they were. All of this area was originally about two months ago, a pound zone. Every bag was a pound. They went up to 1. 25. Now we see a further increase. It will definitely not go to a pound. Some things have gone down . Like the cost of milk has gone down. We have noticed that, but things like these that are made from milk has not gone down. Here and in shops across the country, they are still updating prices on a weekly basis. Gas and electric bills are offering a glimpse of a more normal economy. Todays figures were driven by those first falls in average Household Energy bills which are stored amid the russiaukraine war. July saw the first fall back to about 2000 pounds for an average bill. That has drive down the inflation rate from a high of 11 to under 7 , though that is still higher than other similar countries and well above the target of 2 . Elsewhere, the key Service Sector inflation measure which includes restaurants and hotels actually rose to a joint 32 year high. At this robotics and automation business, they have the technology to help boost the economy. They say they are riding the rise in business costs but worried about rising Interest Rates. Automation and robotics,he u. K. Lacks woefully. Impacts on access to finance and the cost of borrowing could further have a negative effect. What are you most worried about now . From our own perspective, the biggest concern is high Interest Rates. That will actually slow down general industry and the general approach to investments. Back at the shop, the owner says his customers are still facing a costofliving crisis. He subsidized hot Water Bottles to help and may need to again. I wish we didnt have to. Inflation seems to be falling now quite rapidly. Does it feel like the crisis point is over . No, i think we are still in it. But some prices falling back, theres a path out of this long period of Economic Uncertainty but todays evidence is it will remain bumpy. Lets talk about these numbers with my guests tonight. The head of uk2 Equity Research at waiver 10 Investment Managers and chris irvin. Welcome to you both. How do you assess these Inflation Numbers falling . Well, they are moving in the right direction. The main thing that i think we should look at is what is actually changing for us in our purses . Month on month, inflation went down like 0. 4 . There are some prices falling, it is a start but we had a long way to go. We mentioned the core inflation is still high. Can you explain what that is and how it impacts us . Yes, so core inflation have not changed month on month had not changed month on month. What they are trying to do is take out some ofhose paths that are quite volatile in prices out to get some kind of sustainable level. They take out a lot of things we buy every day. Food, energy, but also tobacco and alcohol. That is the core cpi. If you take out the daily goods, you tend to be more biased towards the services sector. As was mentioned beforehand, this was up 1 month on month. It is a bit difficult to assess what this means because there is seasonality in this because we are in the Summer Holiday season. Weve probably all heard airfares were up 25 month on month. Hotels were up 3 . That is quite common in july. What we really need to see, what happens in september. See how those numbers develop. Chris, you have done Research Showing the u. K. s Financial Wellbeing gap is widening. What does that mean . That its right. Thats right. We have looked at the Financial Resilience across the u. K. And compared the changing financial behaviors of adults over the past five years. A number of people are unable to save, it has doubled since 2019. It has risen from one in 10 to one in five today. It raises concerns about Financial Resilience and it is increasing costofliving. Who was most impacted by this inability to save . Typically, that would usually be the younger generation. But interestingly, the Research Today shows that is not the case this time. What we have also seen is the average person who can save is saving more, almost 100 pounds more a month versus 2019. Young adults in particular, 13 to 34, show even more resilience. 250 increase in their average monthly savings, rising from 127 pounds a month to 321 pounds a month. I want to take a look at how the u. K. Stacks up against other countries. Comparing inflation to other major economies. The u. K. At 6. 8 . The u. S. Is a bit lower at 3. 2 . Germany is at 6. 2 and france at 4. 3 . Why is u. K. Inflation still higher than other comparable countries . Well, every country has their slight quirks, if you would like. Think a little bit about energy, for example. The u. K. As a country is very reliant on gas from europe. So, that is where we get most of our power from. Whereas france, for example, is very much nuclear energy. That means inflation is different. Then, there are slight tweaks in terms of how much we grow our own food. This is how much we import. The currency also plays a role. If we have a weak pound, we have to buy tomatoes from italy, it will cost us more. Chris, we did see some positive wage numbers out yesterday. How does that actually play into how much people are able to save . So, as i mentioned earlier, we have seen increasing savings from those that are able to save. I think that is proven by the wage figures that are coming through. There are people that are able to save, i would encourage them to think about where are they sang. Are they getting the best percentage of their money . Are they considering the Tax Implications of what they are doing . Just to make sure they are making the most of the money theyve got. What does all of this mean for mortgages . So, this is all about what the bank of england will do next. We will hear on september 21. I dont expect wage growth. The bank of england was watching closely. And service inflation. We think both of those combined probably means it is likely we will get another 25 basis point increase to 5. 5 at the end of september. And maybe more. Generally, the expectations we moved to 6 and that will be so tough for mortgages, particularly those that are coming off twoyear fixes. Really interesting perspectives. Thanks so much for joining us. Ok, we just have some breaking news from the state of georgia, and the Fulton CountyDistrict Attorney willis has proposed a trial, a commitment commencement date of march 4. This is related to the charges brought ainst the former u. S. President earlier this week. He was charged with attempting to overturn his 2020 election defeat in the state of georgia. The former president is accused of 13 felony counts, including racketeering. He denies all 13 charges against him which include racketeering and election meddling. He has said these charges are politically motivated. If march ends up being theate decided by the court, it would fall around the same time as one of his many other trials. New yorks criminal case against trump for falsifying Business Records as part of the hushmoney payments to Stormy Daniels is set to begin in march of next year. Keep in mind, if this trial is supposed to move forward in march, the d. A. Has said she would like to make sure all 19 codefendants are tried together. We will see probably a response from the former president s team. We will bring that to you as soon as we get that. Around the world and across the u. K. , this is bbc news. Lets take a look at some other stories making news. The British Museum in london has sacked a member of staff after treasures were reported missing, stolen or damaged. Items and cooling items including gold and precious stones were among those missing, stolen or damaged. The Museum Director says the organization had brought an end to this. Detectives investigating the data leak at the Police Service of Northern Ireland have made an arrest. They dictated 39yearold man on suspicion of collecting information likely to be useful to terrorists. It has apologized for mistakenly revealing details of all of its 10,000 staff last week. And Junior Doctors in scotland have excepted a pay offer from the government, ending the threat of further strike action. They were receive a pay rise of 12. 4 with nearly negotiations yearly negotiations. In england, Junior Doctors remained in disputeith the westminster government. You are watching bbc news. A bbc investigation has heard from ukrainian prisoners of war who say they were subjected to torture, including frequent beatings and electric shock, while held in russia. A dozen former captives describe extreme violence, in violation of International Humanitarian law. They were taken to a detention facility in the southern russian city before being released in exchanges. For weeks, our correspondent tracked down some of the ukrainians who were held to hear their stories. The scariest part was when they called you up r interrogation. How can you describe a place where you are stripped of everything human . These ukrainians were captured by the enemy. They can do anything they want with you physically. And taken to this russian prison, a place they now associate with torture. In may last year, the city of mariupol was under siege. A sniper with the regiment wanted to keep fighting, but ukraine ordered the troops to surrender. Hen i heard about captivity for the first time, i had the worst images in my head about what could happen. Artem was held in the prison for seven months. He says he was frequently beaten and given electric shocks. He often witnessed other captives suffering, too. After the beatings one day, i was brought to a room. I saw young men holding his hands up. His fingers were bleeding. Certain needles under your fingernails, i asked. He said, yes. For weeks, i tracked down ukrainians who had been taken to the prison and came back. People like irina who is now a conscript officer in the military. She was a combat medic when she surrendered. She says not even the women were spared the brutality from the guards. They drag us by our hair. They beat us in the kidneys, the ribs with hammers and batons. How would you describe it . Only devils live and work there. This is a military surgeon. He tells me people were beaten as soon as they arrived in rooms, hallways, and even in the shower. He was left with three broken ribs and can barely breathe. They threw me on the floor, ordered me not to lift my head up and gave me electric shocks until they discharged the entire taser battery on me. Youre convulsing. If you lift your head up off the floor, they start beating you, and the cycle never ends. Up to 10,000 ukrainian prisoners of war are believed to remain in russian connectivity, captivity. Many are being held in prisons across the country. A violation of the rules of war. Here, campaigns like this one are fighting for their freedom, and for russia to protect their rights. Ukraine says nine in every 10 prisoners returned alleged they have been tortured. This is the biggest challenge for meow, how to protect our people on the russian side. I dont know how and nobody knows how we can do it. The Russian Defense ministry has not replied to our request for comment. But, prisoner swaps like this one give hope to families still waiting to see their loved ones again. How do you recover from all of this . Im currently undergoing treatment and my priority is to take care of my health so i can put on my uniform, picked up my weapons, and defend my country. The battles in this war continue, not only on the front lines, but also in the lives of ukrainians trying to overcome so much cruelty. Bbc news, kyiv. As you just heard, hes with us now to tell us more about the story. Incredible reporting, ugo. How difficult was it to gain access to these people, stories . We spent weeks in ukraine tracking down people who have been taken to this facility. Obviously, not Everyone Wants to give interviews. They are going through the rehabilitation process after returning to ukraine. It took us a lot of time to get to these people. I think the idea was to talk to as many people as possible because dont forget, nobody has been allowed to visit this facility inside russia. The u. N. Has been trying, the redrest red cross had been trying and no one has been able to get to this facility. I think these accounts give us a picture of what is happening there. I think what really struck me was that everybody talked about abuse, physical abuse, psychological abuse. What they say is this is not something being done by a handful of bad guys or by a guard who had an argument at home and decided to torture somebody. They say this is routine. This is the modus operandi. Dozens, if not hundreds of ukrainians are still there. I think it is safe to assume they are going through something very similar. That would mean this is a widespread practice . Yeah. We have heard allegations, similar allegations from different locations as well. Dozens of places in russia have been used by authorities to hold prisoners of war, up to 10,000 ukrainians are believed to be in russian captivity. A few weeks ago, the u. N. Special Alice Edwards said there are signs that this is organize is well orchestrated. She said this amounts to a pattern of state endorsed torture. These are not isolated events. This is widespread and it is happening across the country. Do these victims have any recourse . So, every single individual goes through a very long rehabilitation process. Physical process, but also psychological because theres a lot to digest. We have talked to people who have been in captivity for almo a year, so theres a long Journey Towards recovery. But, many say they want to go back to the front lines because they want to defend the country. Thank you for sharing your reporting with us. Lets speak now to stephen, former International Prosecutor at former ambassador at large for war crimes in the office of global criminal justice. Thank you for joining us. I want to get your reaction to the reporting we heard there. This is shocking but not unexpected. We have heard before of how the russians are treating prisoners from those that have been fortunate to be exchanged. But without question, this is a pattern. As your correspondent said, it is systematic and widespread and appears to be part of the modus operandi. All of these acts are war crimes and could the individuals involved, the commanders, and the leadership right up to the top, they notice what is going on and are not doing anything to prevent or punish it. They could be held criminally responsible if one could bring them into custody. We heard from our correspondent that the u. N. Has tried and has not been granted access to this particular site, so how can these reports be verified . Well, there are ways to verify that. We have the istanbul protocol in which torture victims are examined, physical signs of torture. Determined medically to be consistent with their stories. Other ways in which observations and techniques can corroborate whats being done there. Frankly, what one finds eventually, even in the syrian context, people that are insiders and come out and describe what occurred, it is possible to build real criminal cases. Having dealt a lot with syria, immazed there are comparisons. In syria, a lot of them are civilians, relatively few combatants. As your correspondent described, there was always this sort of welcome party, an initiation. That is so common. When the people arrive, they are immediately beaten. Sometimes even limbs broken at that time in order to basically show them whos boss. If often does not have anything do with gaining any useful information. Even if you could get useful information from torture, it is always wrong. It seems largely to terrorize and to punish these individuals who dared to have been part of a force that resisted russia. I was talking to her correspondent about possible reek our correspondent for possible recourse. What about recourse for ukraine if russia will not cooperate . There are recourses in the sense that there is a convention against torture. Recently, as you may know, there was canada and the netherlands that took syria to the International Court of justice for basically the violation of torture. Ukraine can do the same with russia. That is a very long proceeding. You can get a judgment in several years. The difficulty is it is not really enforceable unless you get an order from the Security Council and russia has a veto there. Theres a lot that needs to be done. Im disappointed the icrc is not speaking up more strongly about it because this is a violation of the Geneva Convention. Russia is an initiator of the Geneva Convention process. They are obligated to provide access, which generally does not disclose information, but is involved in trying to improve the humanitarian situation. They are not even allowing that which is a complete outrage. They usually dont want to speak up against a party, but they need to use every leverage they can to have access. It is a little different than inquiry commissions bringing out all kidns of heaven kinds of evidence. They should provide access but the russians do not want to show what they areoing. They will deny that and theres no real way to enforce it. Just to jump in, last question, are you confident there will be some form of justice if these acts are then verified . Yes, there will be i am sure the icc, they have already put out two arrest warrants for putin. This is additionally a crime in which the commanders of these camps, the people in the military chain of command that run them, even up to Political Leadership can be prosecuted. Getting them to custody will be difficult. The ukrainians have jurisdiction. One of the challenges 2500 people have been exchanged and brought back to ukraine. We want that to occur. That sometimes requires the ukrainians to give up some highlevel suspects who could otherwise be prosecuted. You can understand families and others wanting people back. Thank you so much for joining us. Good to be with you. Narrator funding for this presentation of this program is provided by. Narrator Financial Services firm, Raymond James. Narrator funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. And by judy and Peter Blum Kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs. Narrator funding for this presentaon of this program is provided by