a new agreement called the washington declaration aimed at deterring an attack on seoul. the bbc s seoul correspondent jean mackenzie explained what this agreement involves. so this deal is the us stepping up so this deal is the us stepping up its commitment to use nuclear weapons to defend south korea from north korea. you know, the us is responsible for south korea s event and are always up implied it would use nuclear weapons if necessary but recently people here in seoul have questioned that commitment and they needed part of this deal is the us is going to send one of its armed with nuclear weapons to the peninsular. it will be stationed here continually but it will come periodically. they will form the joint nuclear planning group and this allows south korea to be more involved in understanding how and when the us would use its nuclear weapons. politicians here essentially have been kept in the dark with little understanding of what would actually trigger the us pre
yesterday s scathing report on inflation as well. dana: that number coming in much hotter than predicted. data suggesting the president s inflation problem is here to stay. the markets reacted accordingly. bill: the dow plunged almost 1300 points, the worst day since nearly the height of the pandemic in june of 2020. the sell-off fueling predictions of an even larger federal rate increase. dana: the rate hikes designed to drive down the inflation hurting your wallet. americans are paying more for everything this year, food is up more than 11%, that s the largest increase in 43 years. bill: wages are rising but can t keep up with inflation. that s leading to a 3% pay cut across the board. dana: despite all of that, president biden chose yesterday, of all days, to celebrate the so-called inflation reduction act. democrats touted the benefits of the $430 billion bill while brushing off the bloodbath on wall street. the stock market doesn t reflect the state of the ec
dumpster fire. but we begin with the age of illiberalism, a movement proclaimed by hungarian prime minister viktor orban. they have elections of a sort but so hamper voters abilities to make informed choices and heavily control the outcome that the elections are essentially a show. these are the autocratic dreams of a far light leader obsessed with solidifying a christian mono culture and who in 2014 declared his intention to build a illiberal new state citing china, russia an turkey as role models. flash forward to today where cpac, the once conservative gathering that is a cesspool of the far right running amock in holding its conference it in budapest. speakers include tucker carlson and mark meddo and the hungarian prime minister who recently won a fourth term. orban made it clear he s an ally to the american right selling cpac that the u.s. must align troops for 2024 votes, to fight together and reconquer institutions in washington and brussels from liberals who threate
more than 4.5 million people were waiting to begin hospital treatment in england at the end january, that s the highest number since records began in 2007. the royal college of surgeons has called the situation to turn things around. here s our health editor, hugh pym. hospital wards devoted to covid. the surge in numbers over the last two months led to widespread cancellations of less urgent types of care, and there s still a backlog from last year s first covid peak. today s figures highlight again the scale of the problem. charmaine has severe arthritis, and last year was hoping to have a knee replacement. she was told in november she d have to wait another 12 months. she s currently out of work and the task of finding a newjob keeps getting harder. i hate not being able to work. how do i say to a new employer, thanks for thejob, but maybe in a couple of months, i might need three months off for a knee replacement. patient waits for non urgent care have increased around t
the nhs test and trace system, which is likely to cost the taxpayer £37 billion failed to prevent lockdowns and there is no evidence that cut the number of coronavirus infections. those other findings in the house of commons public accounts committee, publishing a highly critical report of the scheme. it said the cost was staggering and the taxpayers were being treated like a cash machine. hugh pym reports. a testing site, today, now part of everyday life, but it has cost a lot of money to get where we are and a highly critical report by mps has fuelled a new debate on what test and trace has achieved. it was raised at prime minister s questions. the government is throwing a staggering £37 billion at a test and trace system that we know has made barely any difference. the prime minister defended its performance. it is thanks to nhs test and trace that we re able to send kids back to school and begin cautiously and irreversibly to reopen our economy and restart our lives. t