among them, an outperforming tech sector and a resilient labour market. the federal reserve has a role too. so far it s been able to cool inflation without tipping the economy into a recession. that s called a soft landing and it s buoying wall street. stocks are rallying in anticipation of interest rate cuts that the fed has signalled this year, which would let interest rates fall from a 22 year high. when interest rates go down, it makes it cheaper for businesses and individuals to borrow money. so spending increases and usually that makes stock prices go up. meanwhile, it s a different story for the chinese stock markets, which have been struggling in the new year. chinese premier li qiang pledged to take forceful and effective action to support market confidence. shares in mainland china and in hong kong have been hovering at their lowest points in as many years. this comes despite somewhat upbeat signals at the end of last year. for more on what we can expect from china,
it, with a republican primary dominated by an ex-president who has centered his candidacy around his legal woes, look no further. this morning donald trump, fresh off a decisive win in the iowa caucuses, was at a federal courthouse in manhattan as the defendant in a second defamation trial brought by the writer e. jean carroll. this time there s no question of whether trump defamed her. judge kaplan has ruled trump is liable for remarks he made in 2019 mocking carroll s claim that he sexually assaulted her in a chance encounter at a department store dressing room in the 1990s. and trump is not allowed to dispute carroll s account. the question now is how much a jury should award e. jean carroll in damage for those comments. opening statements are currently under way. we ll have a live report from the courthouse when the trial wraps from the day. so far, donald trump was in the courtroom. alongside his lawyer, alina habba, as well as e. jean carroll and her attorneys. the firs
the german shipping line hapag lloyd has said in the last couple of hours that it will continue to avoid the area for at least another week. it made the decision after another ship belonging to its rival maersk was attacked over the weekend. in that attack, houthi rebels based in yemen hit the ship with a missile and tried to climb aboard before the us navy intervened and sank the rebels four boats killing the crew in the process. the us military says there have been at least 23 attacks since mid november on a route that acconts for about 12% of global trade and which is now being avoided by several of the world s biggest shipping companies. let s unpack the latest on this with peter sand, chief analyst at the shipping analytics platform xeneta. thanks forjoining us. does this latest development suggests tha things are getting worse rather than better? you are hitting the nail on the head. we can see that from the direct developments on the platform where an essential
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
of arts, in the city s old town, a major tourist attraction. authorities evacuated staff and students, who were told to stay put and lock themselves inside classrooms. some climbed on to rooftops and window ledges to escape the gunfire. the shooting is the deadliest in the czech republic s history in a country where gun crime is relatively rare. sarah rainsford reports from prague. the centre of prague was suddenly transformed today into a major crime scene. armed police rushed towards a university building as a gunman stalked the corridors there. at that point, he was still on the loose. and these were the scenes at charles university desperate students clinging for their lives to a ledge. their fear of falling overtaken by their fear of the gunman, metres away on the roof. as the shooting began, students had to barricade themselves into classrooms, told to hide with the lights off. down below, crowds scattered in fear, ordered to clear the area and take cover. although ma