this whole thing has been one of the great blessings of my life. and back in belfast a standing ovation for an emotional bill clinton 25 years after he helped negotiate the good friday agreement. and coming up on bbc news: a champions league semifinal is within reach of manchester city. they beat bayern munich first time around, can they do the same again in germany later? good evening. the cost of living rose more than expected last month thanks largely to the soaring price of food. inflation, that s the rate at which prices are increasing, was 10.1% in march. down from 10.4% in february. but analysts had expected it drop more than that. the rising cost of food and drink takes a lot of the blame it has gone up by almost 20% in a year. our cost of living correspondent colletta smith reports. here come the sausages. it s hot dinner day in this little community kitchen in halifax. started off with about ten potions. in eight weeks it s grown to almost 150 portions. demand
deputy foreign minister. the chancellor has brought forward by three weeks a fiscal statement he was to deliver in november, in a bid to reassure the financial markets. tonight with the context, the former labour mp and cabinet minister caroline flint and the republican strategist rina shah. welcome to the programme. the french president, emmanuel macron who has tried to maintain an open channel with moscow said today s strikes on ukraine signalled a profound change in the conduct of the war. in a televised address, vladimir putin said he personally had ordered the strikes as revenge for the weekend s attack on the kerch bridge. the targets, he said, were ukraine s energy, command and communication, structures. but as so often is the case, the missiles landed on busy intersections, in parks and tourist areas of kyiv, with an intensity not seen since the early days of the war. there were strikes across the country from the east to the west. ukraine s major cities were
instruments to give us our best ever view of the moons and to assess whether they could be habitable. now on bbc news, global questions. welcome to global questions from sri lanka s capital, colombo. i am on one of the beautiful waterfront along the indian ocean stop sri lanka s stunning coastline makes it popular with visitors, this country, like many others in the region, suffers from extreme weather conditions. heat waves followed by torrential rain and rising sea levels. so, we are asking, is sri lanka something of a test case of what and what not to do in combating environment challenges? and will the historic cop27 agreement to help developing nations be enough to avert climate catastrophe? that is global question sri lanka, surviving climate change. applause welcome to the magnificent national museum here in colombo, which charts the history of this beautiful tropical island as it marks 75 years of independence from britain. i have got a panel from here enteral anchor
the value of the pound has dropped again today by nearly a percent against the dollar as investors digest the warning from the international monetary fund about the uk government s fiscal plans. the imf has openly criticised the plan for widespread tax cuts, warning the measures are likely to fuel the cost of living crisis and increase inequality. here s michelle fleury with more details in new york. one of the roles of the international monetary fund is to act as an early economic warning system, and it has just sounded the alarm over the uk s new tax and spending plans. in a statement, the fund warned, given elevated inflation pressures in many countries, including the uk, we do not recommend large and untargeted fiscal packages. even more pointedly, it suggested that the november 23rd budget presented an opportunity for the government to re evaluate tax measures, especially those that benefit high income earners. remember, as part of the uk treasury s policy to boost