because the eurozone s largest economy is now officially in recession. germany has had two consecutive quarters of negative growth. the country s economy contracted by 0.3% between january and march. this follows a contraction of 0.5% in the final three months of 2022. a drop in consumer spending was main cause of germany s disappointing performance in the first quarter, with household consumption falling by 1.2%, as the cost of living crisis continued to cause headaches for millions of people. joining me now is christian schulz deputy chief european economist at citi bank. thank you for being with us. perhaps no great surprise for those who watch those numbers, but it is symbolically important that what was once was a powerhouse economy is now technically in recession. technically in recession. indeed. germany s - technically in recession. indeed. germany s. .. they ve technically in recession. indeed. germany s. .. they ve had - technically in recession. indeed. germ
england s euro 2024 qualifying campaign begins this week but without in form striker marcus rashford. he s one of three players to have withdrawn from the squad for the qualifiers against italy and ukraine. the 25 year old is having the best goal scoring season of his career for manchester united, with 30 goals in all competitions so far. but he s withdrawn from gareth southgate s squad after picking up a knock during the 3 1 fa cup quarterfinal win against fulham. mason mount and nick pope will also miss the start of england s qualiying campaign. fraser forster has been added as goalkeeping cover. meanwhilejonny evans has withdrawn from northern ireland s qualifiers against san marino and finland. the leicester centre back has 100 caps for his country but misses out due to a hamstring injury. the new wales captain aaron ramsey is urging his young team mates to make their own history . they begin their qualifying campaign against croatia on saturday. wales then take on l
called the russian president a criminal returning to the crime scene. it was the first time mr putin had been to a newly occupied ukranian territory. now on bbc news, the travel show. this week on the travel show. ..mont saint michel marks its millennium. that view is pretty amazing. there s the shadow of mont saint michel on the sand. the parps and toots that make this port one of a kind. horns blaring. one, two, three, four, five. and saving these bundles of fluff from extinction. twittering and squawking. yeah, he s thinking about it. all right. we ll give him some time. there he comes. i m beginning this week in northern france, on a journey that 2.5 million people take each year. you re kind of getting an idea of how popular this place must be, because it s off season, it s super cold, but this bus is packed. you can see it. i ve just got a glimpse of the abbey. it does look pretty special. this is mont saint michel, one of france s most visited sites. it s an island off
business reporter this morning is katie silver has been looking into the story for is and joins us on the programme. always going to get you on the show. what is your sense of the key things to look out for today? key things to look out for toda ? ,, ~ ., ., ., today? sure. we have heard from the a-rou today? sure. we have heard from the grow) and today? sure. we have heard from the group and the today? sure. we have heard from the group and the key today? sure. we have heard from the group and the key things - the group and the key things are the war in ukraine and then china, particularly when it comes to china is its relationship and how is it how it plays our going forward when it comes to taiwan. the meeting began at the end of last night, a working dinner between the foreign ministers. we also saw the eu s top foreign policy chief, josep borrell, addressed the group by video link. is said basically when it comes to china they have the decision was the relations
let s start in the us, where there is growing footsteps. 0k. let s get started, shall we? the cameras do not want to play ball but i can walk back to this position. let s start in the us, where there is growing nervousness in financial markets over the possibility the us could default on its debt. a stand off in congress over plans to lift the federal debt ceiling which is currently at an eye watering $31.4 trillion has led to the cost of buying insurance against a us government default has moved to its highest level in more than a decade this month. so, later today, the republican speaker of the house kevin mccarthy will give a speech at the new york stock exchange, where he s expected to lay out the conditions republicans want democrats to agree to in exchange for movement on the debt ceiling. it sounds like a stand off. scott anderson is chief economist at bank of the west in san francisco. welcome to the programme. what will kevin mccarthy say? what is he going to p