just about everything nowadays has silicon chips in it, from phones and computers to kitchen appliances and cars. but the world has been facing a chip shortage, which has exposed just how dependent we all are on semiconductor manufacturers in asia, with the vast majority of chips produced by the taiwanese company tsmc. among those who want to wrestle back some of that market share is the us. today, president biden will sign into law a bipartisan bill to boost microchip manufacturing in the us. the $280 billion package is aimed at addressing supply chain problems exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic. supporters call it a win for the nation s economy and security. here s our north america correspondent michelle fleury in new york. microchips, the digital brains of every piece of technology around us. but a global shortage has disrupted everything from the production of cars to household appliances.- of cars to household appliances. of cars to household a- liances. ., appli
of cheer on wall street: amazon shares soar as it racks up sales of $121 billion in the last three months. hello there. we start in the us, with fears of a recession in the world s biggest economy. in the world s biggest economy are rattling people. official figures out on thursday show it shrinking for the second quarter in a row. two quarters of negative growth are what many countries around the world would define as a recession. not so in the us, as we ll show you why in a minute. us gross domestic product declined at an annual rate ofjust under 1% between april and june. that comes after a steeper 1.6% decline in the first three months of the year. but that hasn t hit the labour market yet. us treasury secretary janet yellen said the economy is now at full employment with the unemployment ratejust 3.6%. meanwhile, prices for groceries, petrol and other basics are rising at the fastest pace since 1981. he s what president biden had to say. both chairman powell and many
we start with the soaring cost of living because prices here in the uk are now rising at the fastest rate in a0 years. the annual rate of inflation hit 9% in april up from 7% in march, driven bya bigjump in energy bills. britain s finance minister, chancellor of the exchequer, rishi sunak is warning of tougher times ahead as pressure grows on him to take action. our economics editor faisal islam has more. when prices rise this fast it hits everyone, the fracture seen on every street, office and household in the country, including in lancashire. she recently ran her business, after the pandemic she finds money running out as bills get more expensive and even essential things become too expensive. essential things become too “pensive- expensive. gas and electric because i expensive. gas and electric because i got expensive. gas and electric because i got in expensive. gas and electric because i got in arrears - because i got in arrears because i got in arrears beca
we begin with uber, as uk drivers today will have paid holidays, pensions, and a minimum wage a change that could be replicated in other countries around the world. and this comes one month after the us firm lost a legal long battle in the uk which began in 2016 over drivers status. in last month s supreme court hearing, uber had argued it was a third party booking agent, and its drivers were self employed. our transport correspondent caroline davis spoke with uber s european boss in an exclusive interview. today is an important day for all the drivers in the uk, and the reason for that is because, from today, any driver who earns on the uber platform, and that s over 70,000 drivers in total, will be able to be paid for holiday time, they ll be enrolled in a pension and they ll be able to earn at least the national living wage as a floor and not a ceiling. for years politicians and unions have said that you have been playing fast and loose with employment rights. does this
Suffragettes one hundred years on a look at how women in twenty eighteen are still fighting for equal rights in the workplace. Plus a surge in u. S. Oil production and why thats making life more difficult for opec. Now theyve been an eerie sense of calm where the markets had been concerned all of last year but this week everything changed and we saw a brutal sell off in global stocks which accelerated as the week got underway on monday and tuesday stocks fell dramatically around the world to raising all of twenty eight thousand gains in a matter of hours and then they recovered and have been pretty volatile since so what just happened while the prospect of higher Interest Rates across the globe was the main reason given by analysts for the market rout the World Economy is just emerging from a period of record low lending rates and in some cases negative Interest Rates all designed to kickstart the economy nearly a decade of easy Monetary Policy has sent asset. Prices sky high now thats