brand-new numbers this morning show 276,000 migrants crossing illegally in december. the highest monthly total ever. border patrol sources report more than 760,000 migrant encounters since october 1st. that s another record. the highest first quarter of any fiscal year. more on this breaking story throughout the hour. but first. former president donald trump is off the 2024 ballot in the state of maine. potentially big factor in what is expected to be a close race for the white house. good morning, i m mike emanuel in for bill hemmer. good morning, molly. molly: i m molly line in for dana perino. maine s democratic secretary of state following colorado s lead disqualifying trump based on the insurrection clause of the 14th amendment. a crime for which he was never charged. mike: colorado s ban is on home after the state gop appealed it to the supreme court. the former president faces challenges in many states including wisconsin and november. bellows is the first election
price of these items. greetings, j thank you for having me. as you mentioned, the food prices index, the climb compared to it, the decline was modest, around 2% but what is important is that the decline which we observed last march in march 2022 was over 22%. so what is behind it? let s remember that the food price index includes quotations of bulk commodities so on this international level bulk commodities, the markets depending on the specific commodity, remain relatively balanced supply and they are often quite stable. we have noticed a decline in the cereal prices when the maize and wheat prices when the maize and wheat prices decline while on the other hand rice prices increase. so it means the supply generally is quite steady while the demand remains steady. i would like to mention the case of sugar which has been, unlike other commodities, increasing recently. this is because of relatively tight conditions on the global markets and concerns about la nina on production.
trade and political tensions with china. the move sparked a warning from beijing, which considers taiwan part of chinese territory. samira hussain has more. trade between the united states and taiwan amounts to about $75 billion a year. that number is dwarfed by china s trade with taiwan, which stands at a massive $120 billion a year. by signing this trade deal, the us is looking to build its presence in asia and rival china. taiwan for its part is looking to reduce its economic dependence on china, especially in light of the geopolitical tensions between it and beijing. unsurprisingly, china did not react well, saying the united states should stop any form of official exchanges with taiwan under the guise of trade. beijing has stepped up threats and rhetoric against taiwan in recent years, increasing military drills in the seas around the island, and working to cut off its official ties with countries around the world. discussions between washington and taipei began in augus
the annual rate at which prices have been going up. inflation peaked at more than 10% last year, forcing the bank to raise interest rates aggressively to try and bring it under control. but it has since fallen sharply. and on wednesday, official figures showed it was down to 3.9% in november, the lowest rate in 2 years, and far lower than expected. that s raised hopes the bank of england will be soon able to start cutting the cost of borrowing, easing pressure on businesses and households. here s our economics editor, faisal islam. arp and now sharply down. over the past year, inflation in britain seemed like a runaway train. but it s now coming into land faster than expected. here and beyond. it has been a hard year or two for her with hundreds closing and some say prices are now stabilising. inflation is definitely killing us. the rise has gone up 15%. and behind you? us. the rise has gone up 1596. and behind you? up-and-down, i remember and behind you? up-and-down, i re
against taiwan in recent years, increasing military drills in the seas around the island, and working to cut off its official ties with countries around the world. discussions between washington and taipei began in august of last year. this current agreement covers issues like customs with regard to trade, anti corruption measures, and investment opportunities for small and medium sized enterprises. let s stay on the topic of tensions between the us and china asia s biggest annual security summit gets under way later in singapore. defence leaders from more than a0 countries will meet at the shangri la hotel. as tensions continue to grow between the two countries, their defence spending is following a similar trend. monica miller reports. the escalating tension between the two countries is turning out to be costly for the us and china. beijing has increased its military spending by more than 7% this year as they try to modernise their military. however, the americans have ro