see, raising interest rates is the fed's best tool to combat persistently high inflation, which consumers have seen reflected in higher prices for nearly everything. and while inflation has fallen by half from itsjune 2022 high of 7%, it's still higher than the fed's target of 2%. earlier this year, federal reserve policymakers hinted that they may hike interest rates once more before the year is out. they'll have a chance this week, or at their last meeting in december, or they could not do it at all. investors and economists are predicting that policymakers will skip a rate hike this week and, instead, hold rates steady, giving everything more time to work its way through the economy. we'll know the fed's next step on wednesday. one of the many things that have become more expensive for consumers is energy. oil prices have swung wildly over the last few years, due to the pandemic and the war in eastern europe. at one point, after russia invaded ukraine, prices rose to about $120 per barrel, but have since dropped to $90. but the world bank has a new warning — the war between israel and hamas could send prices into "uncharted waters". its latest report forecasts a surge over $150 per barrel could also be possible if the middle east sees what they called a "large disruption", according to the world bank's deputy chief economist, ayhan kose, whom i spoke to earlier. there are a multitude of reasons we might see the eight conflict escalating. might i speculate as to those reasons? if it escalates, we might see oil declining by 68% at a global level. you look at what happened in the past, that type of decline translated into a very sharp increase in oil price. having said all of this, the important point is that the most likely scenario and the scenario we are hoping for is that the conflict is contained and the baseline forecast is that the prices will go down this year as well as next year. various governments around the world have been tackling inflation. finally, prices are easing, but if oil prices were to go higher, what can governments do to cushion against this impact? if prices go up for a protracted period of time, you will see inflationary pressures coming back, and that would put the central banks in a corner. beyond that, the big challenge is that if oil prices go up, food prices will go up. we already have a very serious food insecurity problem around the world, which becomes even more challenging. in other news. washington has, for the first time, directly targeted the main source of foreign revenue for myanmar�*s ruling junta. the us will impose sanctions on the state—owned myanma oil and gas enterprise, banning americans from providing it some financial services, starting 15th december. it previously aimed sanctions at myanmar�*s leadership following the military coup in 2021 which displaced the country's elected government. the un and other rights groups have accused the military of violence against civilians, in an effort to crush resistance. butjunta leaders insists they are fighting "terrorists" and have refused to cease hostilities. wework will reportedly file for bankruptcy protection as early as next week, the wall streetjournal has reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. a spokesperson told the bbc that it doesn't comment on speculation. the flexible workplace provider has been grappling with losses and debt since 2019, when its plan to go public failed, worrying investors. earlier on tuesday, wework said creditors had agreed to allow a payment delay for some of its debt. shares in the softbank—backed company — once valued at $47 billion — have plunged as much as 32% in late trading. now onto some tech news. apple has found itself in the middle of a political storm in india — one of its biggest emerging markets. several politicians on tuesday said they received notifications from apple on their phones that they were being targeted by state—sponsored hackers. arunoday mukharji has more. leaders of india's opposition have demanded an explanation from the government, asking why a majority of the leaders who've received these notifications from apple happen to be the voices which have been critical of the government. leaders shared screenshots of notifications they received from apple on their phones, which said state—sponsored attackers were targeting their devices remotely. they said their microphones and cameras could also be compromised. india's it minister responded, saying the government was committed to protecting the privacy and security of all citizens and that they will be investigating the matter. in fact, they also said that one of their own ministers had also received a similar notification from apple. they said they have asked the company to also join the investigations. now, forapple, india is a growing and emerging market where they are focusing, especially as they look to diversify beyond china. they have issued a statement, interestingly, not denying having sent these notifications, but also added some context. the statement said that they did not attribute these threat notifications to any specific state—sponsored attacker, but that such attackers were very well—funded and also sophisticated, and their attacks evolve over time. the statement also cautioned that detecting such attacks rely on threat intelligence signals that are often imperfect and also incomplete. now, india's opposition parties have long alleged and accused the government of misusing state agencies to intimidate those voices which are critical of the government. now this incident will also add to that narrative, especially as india heads to elections next year. artificial intelligence, or ai, has been the talk of the town this week. us presidentjoe bidenjust yesterday signed an executive order to regulate technoloy. many tech leaders, and some world leaders, are also gathering in the uk for a global ai summit. 0ur economics editor faisal islam has the details. although this week's ai safety summit is about catastrophic risks to lives even, the uk's economic strategy here has a more open attitude, with less regulation of more immediate risks around bias, discrimination and jobs. welcome to a place where unicorns thrive. that's because rishi sunak wants those cutting—edge ai innovations to happen here in the uk, with the creation of billion—dollar tech businesses that are referred to as "unicorns". this is quantexa, one of those british unicorns, an ai company which scans billions of bank transactions to find strange patterns typical of fraud. what the algorithm, the ai here, is determining, it's spotting those suspicious patterns. for founder vishal, it's a record year — the only unicorn born in britain in 2023. what we've seen in the last 12—18 months, faisal, is a huge increase in scale, being able to interpret data at a volume that's been unprecedented. so there's huge opportunity here for the united kingdom to be the frontier when it comes down to embracing ai and machine learning. the uk has a long history of innovation, famously so here at bletchley park, but has not always been the best at forging business success and growth out of it. it was the codebreaking mathematical geniuses on this site who, 80 years ago, cracked the enigma code and then formed the foundation of modern computing and artificial intelligence. and could it be that those same technologies are the key to unlocking britain's long—standing productivity puzzle? ai is the biggest transformation of the economy since the internet. this government adviser says british strategy is to offer freedoms for al companies to experiment. what the uk government has decided to do is take what they call this light—touch approach, right? they're saying that we are really obviously very keen to look at how we ought to make ai safe across the board for consumers, right, for the british public, but what we have to do is do that on a case—by—case basis. europe and the us could put in more controls over actual new ai technologies. and so here at bletchley, the americans want to talk about that, notjust what rishi sunak referred to as a "nuclear—war—style human—extinction risk". everyone, notjust britain, wants to win the economic battle over ai. faisal islam, bbc news. tourists from india and taiwan will be able to enter thailand without a visa, starting from the 10th of november. this waiving of visa requirements is the latest attempt by thailand to attract more tourists and prop up its economy. thailand scrapped visa requirements for tourists from china in september. it has welcomed more than 20 million tourists this year, but that is still a long way off from pre—pandemic levels. the japanese market is up by more than 2% after the country's central bank tweaked its ultra—loose monetary policy, investors really welcoming the move. that is it for the programme, thank you for the programme, thank you for watching. bbc news, bringing| you different stories from across the uk. zach is one of 50 meals on wheels volunteers known as delivery angels by harrogate neighbours, delivering 150 hot meals a day into the community. and with or without a tractor delivery, they say the service is more important than ever. it gives you a couple days, or three days, where i don't have to cook, and it's a big help, great help. and the meals are absolutely fantastic. well, i was tickled to death. ithought, well, this is an usual thing. the food angels are always so happy if you want the kettle filling with water, or a stiff top taking off your jam pot, they're always a help. how are you doing? are you all right? as the population ages, demand for services like this is growing. if they're living longer, but it's a cut, so the service is really, really important. people who've been isolated. so meals on wheels, as a service, is actually vital in preventing more people going into hospital. last year, we did it in a horse and carriage. this year, we thought, what can we come up with that's a little bit different? and we know a member of ourteam, a mother, that owns a tractor, so she said, "yeah, you can borrow it for the morning." so that's why we're going on a tractor this morning. now the team just has to decide on the form of transport to choose for next year's national meals on wheels week. hey, i'm steven, with the catch—up. we're starting with the inquiry into what went wrong with the government's handling of covid. now, this isn't about finding anyone guilty or innocent. it's all about learning lessons. today, we've been hearing from two of the top advisers to borisjohnson, who was prime minister when the pandemic started. dominic cummings, who was his right—hand man, said the government didn't work properly to deal with the outbreak. let's get an update now on the war in the middle east. there's been a big explosion at a refugee camp in gaza, with reports dozens of people have been killed. israel says it was behind the attack, and claims it killed a top commander of hamas — which the uk and other governments class as a terrorist group. some other stories now, and it's going to be illegal to own an american xl bully in england and wales from february next year. the government is bringing in new rules, after a number of people died in xl bully attacks. dog charities are against a ban, and say owners and breeders are the real problem. and in football, it looks like saudi arabia are going to host the world cup in 203a. they're the only bidder, after australia decided to pull out. there's been lots of criticism of the country, as women's rights are restricted, and it's illegal to be gay there. and time to leave you with ten seconds of celebrity hallowe�*en costumes. take a look at some of these. megan thee stallion has been rocking a rose look. kim kardashian and north went as cher and dionne from clueless. and adele pulled off an amazing morticia addams at a show in las vegas. i have neverfelt more underdressed right now! you're all caught up now. have a good one. hello and welcome to sportsday. this is what is coming up. another controversial world cup host, but saudi arabia is the only option that fifa have for 203a. a shellacking for switzerland, as spain score seven in the women's nations league. and while it's bye—bye, bangladesh, pakistan keep their hopes alive of a world cup semi—finals. hello and thanks for joining us on sportsday. saudi arabia is set to host the men's 2034 world cup, after australia opted against mounting a rival bid. the decision was confirmed only hours before fifa's deadline for declarations of interest on tuesday, in their accelerated bidding process.