us, you are in time for the top business stories. we start in the us where, as you ve been hearing in the last few hours, meta, the owner of facebook, instagram and whatsapp, has launched its widely anticipated new conversation app, threads. it allows users to create posts of up to 500 characters and is being seen as a clear rival to twitter. threads is available to download in more than 100 countries around the world, including here in the uk, but not as yet in the european union because of concerns over privacy regulations. meta boss mark zuckerberg says 5 million users have already signed up to threads in the first four hours. and many tech industry watchers say it poses a very real threat to twitter. i think threads will pose a huge threat to twitter because it is coming from the matter and instagram family of apps. instagram has 2 million users compared to around 250 million of twitter so about ten times bigger already. of twitter so about ten times biggeralready. if of
coming out of a very weak covid year, that is weak. gdp is much lower at 3.6%. china is really entering a structural slowdown. old growth drivers of property completely gone. a massive drag on the economy. now shifting to a new growth model, something leaning more into exports, evs. evs. .. also covid lockdowns lasted much longer evs. .. also covid lockdowns lasted much longer than evs. .. also covid lockdowns lasted much longer than other evs. .. also covid lockdowns lasted much longer than other parts - evs. .. also covid lockdowns lasted much longer than other parts of. evs. .. also covid lockdowns lasted | much longer than other parts of the world and we are in a situation now where there is deflation in china. i wonder, in this mix, one of the other things we have been reporting todayis other things we have been reporting today is that the chinese population is in decline. it felt last year for the second year in a row. does not play a role in these figures, do you
if you have joined if you havejoined us, you are welcome and we are looking at the top business stories. we start here in the uk, where there is some relief for millions of people facing soaring housing costs. lenders have started the new year by slashing the cost of mortgages as financial markets bet the bank of england will soon begin to cut interest rates from their 15 year high. from today banking giant hsbc becomes the first major lender to bring back mortgages below 4% since last march. it comes as rival halifax slashed almost a percentage point off some of its mortgage rates this week. and it s raised hopes of a price war between banks. hsbc is offering a five year fixed rate mortgage at 3.94%. it s only available to people remortgaging their home not to first time buyers. but it s far below rates of almost 6.5% that borrowers were facing just a few months ago. and it will be a welcome development for many uk households as our cost of living correspondent kevin peach
months of this year. these are the first set of quarterly gdp figures since the end of the country s strict covid poilcy in december. this boosted retail sales, which were up over 10% on this time last year. also a huge expansion in travel, with some 45 million air passengers taking trips last month. all of this has helped spark positivity from investors, with groups like citi upgrading their china growth forecast to 6.1% that s well over china s own targets. joining me now is rory green, chief china economist at consultants ts lombard. these numbers look strong. is it a short term bounce or was it more sustainable. it short-term bounce or was it more sustainable- sustainable. it is generally fairly sustainable sustainable. it is generally fairly sustainable for sustainable. it is generally fairly sustainable for the sustainable. it is generally fairly sustainable for the remainder i sustainable. it is generally fairly sustainable for the remainder of 2024. what sust
Is why on their day of conviction, i ordered an independent inquiry into the events at the countess of chester hospital, making sure the families that have answers. I asked the Police Liaison officers to meet these families at the earliest possible opportunity for options as to the form the inquiry should take. It was clear their wishes were for a statutory inquiry, with the power to compel witnesses to give evidence under oath. That is why i am confirming this to the house today. This inquiry will in quiet the cases wider circumstances, including the trusts response to clinicians who raised the alarm and the conduct of the wider nhs and its regulators. And i can confirm to the house that lady justice regulators. And i can confirm to the house that Ladyjustice Thirlwall will lead this inquiry. She is one of the countrys most seniorjudges, currently sitting in the Court Of Appeal and with many years of experience as a seniorjudge and a senior barrister before that. Before making this st