suspected of being used for spying which was brought down by an american fighter jet yesterday. the former president of pakistan, general pervez musharraf, has died at the age of 79 following a long illness. hello, welcome to bbc news. iran s supreme leader is pardoning a large number of prisoners, including some of those arrested during the past months of protests. the pardon by ayatollah khamenei comes on the eve of the anniversary of the islamic revolution in 1979 a date on which he regularly offers an amnesty to some prisoners. but the iranian state media says it excludes those facing charges of spying for foreign agencies, murder and bodily harm, as well as the destruction or arson of state property. taraneh stone, from the bbc s persian service, has been giving us more details. the supreme leader has agreed to pardon and commute sentences of tens of people who are imprisoned or who are waiting for sentences. the letter from the judiciary said that a considerable n
suffer the most. also coming up: called to account. hundreds of uk post office managers were falsely accused of fraud because of faulty software. we look at role of the tech giant fujitsu in a massive miscarriage ofjustice. and the rugby league world cup kicks off today after a covid delay with the biggest sponsorship deal in the tournament s history. absolutely, 100%, iam not going anywhere. a defiant uk chancellor on whether he and the british prime minister will still be in theirjobs at this time next month. as you have been hearing, he has flown back early from iff meetings in washington for meetings with the pm. imf. washington for meetings with the pm. imf. they are expected to pause plans after weeks of economic crisis. people are panicked about the impact of billions of pounds of tax cuts funded by more borrowing on the u.k. s debt and on inflation and that sent government borrowing costs and mortgage rates are soaring and force the bank of england to come to the
we start with the latest market action and as the trading day began in asia the pound started to slide down nearly 5% at one point against the us dollar that s on top of the 3.6% dive on friday. investors are running for the exits as fears mount the new government s shock and awe tax plans for the uk economy are too big a gamble. on friday the chancellor, kwasi kwarteng, announced historic tax cuts, and the biggest increase in borrowing since 1972 to pay for them. there is now calls for the bank of england to take emergency action to calm rattled markets and bolster sterling. so let s look at how the pound is trading now. it has been hovering around just over $1.05 but one hour ago we were looking at the pound buying $1.03 so it has recovered a tiny bit but not much and you can see that the markets in asia are fairly mixed and we have the price of oil edging lower as well. joining me now is simon french, chief economist at panmure gordon. is at panmure gordon. this what