Good afternoon, and welcome to bbc news. The business secretary s been holding crisis talks with energy firms this morning, amid worries of big rises to energy bills in the coming weeks. Five smaller energy suppliers have already gone bust, unable to cope with a 70% hike in the cost of wholesale gas since august. It s understood the government is considering offering emergency state backed loans to companies. 0fgem has confirmed british gas has agreed to take on an extra 350,000 customers from the collapsed firm people s energy. And the uk s sixth largest energy company, bulb, is seeking new funds to try to stay afloat. Downing street says it wants to fix the issues as fast as it can. Our business correspondent emma simpson reports. Gas, the cornerstone of our energy supply and the cost of it is rocketing. There has been a surge in global demand and not enough supply. Energy firms here are now battling to stay afloat. In the current market as it is we are not going to see it through th
without a final goodbye. good evening. nearly 1.5 million customers have been hit in just two weeks by energy firms collapsing due to rising gas prices. two firms avro energy and green ceased trading yesterday, and their combined customers of 830,000 will now be switched to other, potentially more expensive providers. it s not yet clear who their new suppliers will be that s to be decided by the energy watchdog, 0fgem but all customers who are affected will still receive energy while an alternative provider is found. here s our consumer affairs correspondent, coletta smith. as the wholesale gas price goes up, suppliers are going under, and customers have been caught in the middle. 1.5 million people are now in the process of being transferred to a new energy company. jamie s supplier went bust at the weekend and he tried to switch himself so he didn t end up paying too much, but it s backfired. i should be able to take advantage of any offer that s out there on the ma
that s raised hopes that after 11 hikes in the cost of borrowing, the federal reserve may have won the battle against soaring inflation. steven blitz is chief us economist at t5 lombard. let s start with those numbers. 0n the surface of it, it appears that the surface of it, it appears that the usjobs market continues on the surface of it, it appears that the us jobs market continues on and hot streak. i the us jobs market continues on and hot streak. , , ,., , ., hot streak. i guess so, but more important hot streak. i guess so, but more important and hot streak. i guess so, but more important and critically - hot streak. i guess so, but more important and critically for - hot streak. i guess so, but more important and critically for the l hot streak. i guess so, but more l important and critically for the fed is that hiring is really settling in to the kind of monthly growth numbers that will soar from 2017 to 2019, so i think that the heat of the rehiring is clearly of
that s slightly higher than expected and driven mainly by higher costs for gasoline and rents. in the 12 months up to february, the cpi rate increased by 3.2%, compared to 3.1% injanuary. the core rate, stripping out those volatile elements such as fuel and rents, fell to 3.8% from 3.9% injanuary, but that was still higher than the 3.7% expected. this latest data suggests there is still some stickiness with inflation that will be scrutinised by the federal reserve as it weighs up a highly anticipated interest rate cut injune. let s head over to new york and speak to our north america business correspondent michelle fleury. as far as the fed is concerned, it is about how they respond to this number. it is not going in the direction they wanted it to. the tricky word direction they wanted it to. the tricky word that direction they wanted it to. tue: tricky word that you direction they wanted it to. tte: tricky word that you were stumbling over, sticky, and a lot of this is
zealand beat norway, also 1 0, the first time new zealand have ever won a game in a world cup. the goal was scored by hannah wilkinson. new zealand lost their previous 15 games they have played at previous world cups. the women s world cup is gaining in popularity of the tournament began in 1991 with 12 teams competing in china. the usa won the first of their four titles back then. they are favourites to win again this time it with european teams also highly rated. australia are expected to perform well and the total prize money is $110 million, three times bigger than last time, but short of the $1140 million in the men s world cup. the organisers are hoping to billion people will see the tournament on tv or on digital and streaming services 2 billion. the trophy is made of gold and brass and was first awarded in 1999 and it is very much like the men s one, in one key respect, the original was also stolen. irish fans came out in force as they made their women s world cup