saying an improved pay offer could be enough to stop strikes, scheduled for monday and tuesday. you re watching bbc news. now it s time for how to heal the nhs. we ve been almost 12 hours in an ambulance. there were people sitting on the floor, people on trolleys everywhere. it was just horrendous. record waits in a&e, trolleys stacked up along busy corridors, ambulance crews forced to queue outside for hours with their patients. it does get tricky when you see a time come on the call and it s hours ago and you are thinking, oh, gosh, what are you going to turn up to? and they are in a bad state. the health service in every corner of the uk has been battling through its worst winter in a generation. we are running two and three times above our capacity continually, and often more than that. we ve had crises in the nhs before, but doctors say nothing like this. this is undoubtedly a crisis, and it s undoubtedly a national scandal. we simply haven t seen the action that was nec
germany s public transport network will be at a near stand still today as two of the country s largest unions strike in an ongoing dispute over pay. workers walked out shortly after midnight for 2h hours. two of the country s largest unions which are demanding significant pay rises for their workers want to increase the pressure on employers ahead of another round of negotiations. there ll be all but no trains, planes or ferries in operation after workers walked out, and motorists have been warned that staff who maintain motorways and repair road damage after accidents are also on strike. damage after accidents let s are also on strike. talk about the impact of all let s talk about the impact of all of this. joining me now is christian schulz, deputy chief european economist at citi. they seem huge. what sort of impact will the strikes today across germany? impact will the strikes today across germany? well, good morning- across germany? well, good morning. everything
which are demanding significant pay rises for their workers, want to increase the pressure on employers ahead of another round of negotiations. let s get more on that. with me now is michael field, european market strategist at morningstar. thanks forjoining us. this is a battle that we are seeing play out in many countries dealing with cost of living crises. zoning in on germany, talk to us about what circumstances the transport workers are fighting. i circumstances the transport workers are fiaahtin. ~ , ., , circumstances the transport workers are fighting- are fighting. i think in germany you have not are fighting. i think in germany you have got two are fighting. i think in germany you have got two specific are fighting. i think in germany you have got two specific things - are fighting. i think in germany you have got two specific things going l have got two specific things going on, one is that inflation, like in other parts of the eurozone is still persistently h
with incidents in the weeks leading up to her death. and one month since the devastating earthquakes killed more than 50,000 people in turkey and syria conditions are still desperate. we begin with the war in ukraine. the country s president, volodymyr zelensky, says military commanders support digging in further, and continuing to defend the eastern city of bakhmut. it follows reports ukrainian troops may have been preparing to withdraw from the city, which russia has been trying to capture for months. fierce fighting is seeing battles happening from street to street. this is where bakhmut is located. the all out assault here by russia has led to the loss of many thousands of men, that s despite the us pentagon saying victory is of little strategic importance. lets dive deeper, here s a detailed picture of the current situation from the think tank, the institute for the study of war. you can see bakhmut in the large circle in the top right of the screen. the red shaded a
and extreme poverty. hello and welcome to bbc news. us defence chiefs have identified what they say is a second chinese surveillance balloon, this time over latin america. the first balloon is floating across the us mid west. antony blinken, the us secretary of state, has cancelled a trip to beijing, and accused the chinese authorities of being irresponsible. china insists the balloon is a weather monitoring device which has blown off course amd has called for tensions between the washington and beijing to be handled in a cool headed and prudent manner. our north america correspondent peter bowes reports. a surreal but increasingly serious international row. this speck in the sky could be spying on the us the chinese balloon that s been hovering over the country for several days. china insists it s a platform to conduct weather related research that s deviated from its route. beijing has apologised but the us state department says it stands by its assessment that the ball