At the emirates. Good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. Downing street has described as unacceptable remarks alleged to have been made by one of the conservative partys biggest donors about the mp, diane abbott, during a Business Meeting in 2019. The guardian claims that frank hester said ms abbott made him want to hate All Black Women and that she should be shot. This morning diane abbott has called the alleged comments frightening. Mr hester has admitted making comments about her which he described as rude, but his spokesperson has said this is not a confirmation of the quotes in the guardian. Henry zeffman has the story. Some people who give millions to Political Parties have high public profile is. Frank hester didnt. Until now. This is what the guardian says mr hester told staff at the Health Care Software company he built from scratch at a meeting back in 2019. Its like trying not to be racist, but you see diane abbott on the tv and you just want to hate All Black Wom
Begins, cheltenham roar, is the festival begins, kicking off four days of racing. Begins, kicking off four days of racing, culminating in the gold cup on friday on friday. Good morning. A fairly on friday. Good morning. A fairly cloudy day for most of us today. Patchy light rain in the north. Heavy rain in the south. The temperature continues to climb in the next few days. Details later in the programme. Good morning. Its tuesday, 12th march. A long awaited report into Veterinary Services will be published this morning, after concerns pet owners are facing expensive bills when paying for treatments. The Competition And Markets Authority launched the review last year, and has previously said that fees were rising faster than other goods and services during the cost of living crisis. Nina has the details. Good morning. Are you paying too much to care for your furry friend . Why have vet costs been rising faster than general inflation . Are you getting a fair deal when it comes to costing
Thats slightly higher than expected and driven mainly by higher costs for gasoline and rents. In the 12 months up to february, the cpi rate increased by 3. 2 , compared to 3. 1 injanuary. The core rate, stripping out those volatile elements such as fuel and rents, fell to 3. 8 from 3. 9 injanuary, but that was still higher than the 3. 7 expected. This latest data suggests there is still some stickiness with inflation that will be scrutinised by the Federal Reserve as it weighs up a highly anticipated Interest Rate cut injune. Lets head over to new york and speak to our north America Business correspondent michelle fleury. As far as the fed is concerned, it is about how they respond to this number. It is not going in the direction they wanted it to. The tricky word direction they wanted it to. The tricky word that direction they wanted it to. Tue tricky word that you direction they wanted it to. Tte tricky word that you were stumbling over, sticky, and a lot of this is to do with housin
Know, not to have a player who can link the game. I think today hes doing well, hes doing fantastic, getting more mature every day. Of course, i think he still needs to improve, but hes doing a good job. Arsenal manager mikel arteta has called for the emirites crowd to play their part in the Clubs Champions League match later against porto. They go into the game 1 0 down after the first leg away. Arsenal are looking to reach the quarterfinals of the compeition for the first time in m years. Arteta says a good atmosphere can help the team massively. We will bring you him a little later, possibly, but he was looking for some home support at the emirates. In the other match later, barcelona take on napoli. Barcelona are back in action for the biggest and most important game at the montjuic Olympic Stadium this season as the catalans welcome napoli for the second leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie. Barca come into this one looking to book a spot in the quarterfinals of europes t