A surge in the cost of fuel pushed up us Consumer Prices by 0. 6 , but if you strip out the volatile cost of food and fuel, the underlying rate was half that, coming in at 0. 3 . It could give Americas Central Bank some breathing room, encouraging the Federal Reserve to keep Interest Rates on hold next wednesday. Lets speak live to our north America Business correspondent, erin delmore. What do these figures tell us about the state of the us economy . Weill. The state of the us economy . Well, we are seeing the state of the us economy . Well, we are seeing the the state of the us economy . Well, we are seeing the second the state of the us economy . Vii we are seeing the second straight monthly rise in the Consumer Price index here, and that matters because the fed is meeting next week. This is in fact the last day dump they are going to get before they get together and everybody is holding their breath to see whether the fed will continue its campaign of Interest Rate rises or whether it will take the opportunity to take a pause. I will take the opportunity to take a ause. ,. ,. ,. ,. ,. , pause. I mention volatile food and fuel prices pause. I mention volatile food and fuel prices. That pause. I mention volatile food and fuel prices. That has pause. I mention volatile food and fuel prices. That has been pause. I mention volatile food and fuel prices. That has been one pause. I mention volatile food and fuel prices. That has been one of i fuel prices. That has been one of the things that has driven up this number. Took us through these numbers and how we have got to where we are today . We are today . When the fed looks at inflation, the we are today . When the fed looks at inflation, the number we are today . When the fed looks at inflation, the number they we are today . When the fed looks at inflation, the number they are inflation, the number they are looking at precisely is core inflation. As you mentioned, it strips out the volatile food and Energy Prices and it helps get a sense of the underlying momentum or trends we are seeing an inflation. But if you ask any american who has gone to the pump and taken out their credit card to pay for a tank of gas, their eyes are on gas prices, which help lift and accelerate the price increase we saw betweenjuly and august. You know how Household Budgets work if gas is taking a larger chunk out of your monthly spending, that leaves less to spend on other items, and that matters because Consumer Spending accounts for more than 70 of the us economy, a major driver here. And he says something all people are feeling as they go to purchase daily goods and fill up at the pump. I they go to purchase daily goods and fill up at the pump. Fill up at the pump. I suppose The Big Question fill up at the pump. I suppose The Big Question is fill up at the pump. I suppose The Big Question is what fill up at the pump. I suppose The Big Question is what happens fill up at the pump. I suppose the | big question is what happens next. As you said, that last set of data before the fed meets, they will have to make some Big Decisions about what to do about the cost of borrowing . What to do about the cost of borrowin . �. ,. , , borrowing . And there are other costs as well that borrowing . And there are other costs as well that consumers borrowing . And there are other costs as well that consumers are as well that consumers are experiencing changes in. If we look at the fact that goods and Services Account for so much of our spending, prices of goods have fallen. We are seeing that in the data released today. You could see how supply chain stars have eased since the height of the pandemic. But the cost of services are up, whether that is repairing your car or going out to dinner or recreation. All of that is taking a bite out of consumers wallets. So the fed is trying to work out whether to hike or pause Interest Rates in its campaign to cool the economy, to slow inflation without tipping the us into a recession. Its a delicate line. It is something all eyes are on and that we are looking through with the data released today. Erin. That we are looking through with the data released today. Data released today. Erin, thank ou. Erin data released today. Erin, thank you erin will data released today. Erin, thank you. Erin will be data released today. Erin, thank you. Erin will be keeping data released today. Erin, thank you. Erin will be keeping a data released today. Erin, thank you. Erin will be keeping a close eye on what response we get from the fed as far as Interest Rates are concerned. Here in the uk, figures published today revealed that the economy shrank by half of i injuly. Thats the largest contraction since december 2022. Economists had expected the output of the economy to drop by around 0. 2 making todays figures far worse than projected. July saw an overall decline in all major sectors of the economy including services, manufacturing and construction. But the finance minister, chancellorjeremy hunt, said there are many reasons to be confident about the future. But some economists are less convinced. Melanie bakerfrom Royal Asset Management explains. I think in coming quarters, we are going to see a mild recession in the uk. I think you can see some signs of deterioration in the data already. For example, in Business Survey figures. But i think this will largely reflect the lagged effects of Bank Of England rate hikes, higher Interest Rates and tighter bank lending conditions. I think the figures continue to paint a picture of the uk economy that just isnt particularly healthy. This is an economy, really, which seems to be going nowhere very fast. And ideally, you want an economy to be sustainably growing, you want more money available for public spending and you want an economy that can create more jobs as the population grows. The Chief Executive of energy giant bp, bernard looney, has resigned following an investigation into his alleged relationships with colleagues. Mr looney had set out a plan to make the Company Net Zero by 2050, but had recently come under fire from environmental groups for watering down his initial targets. Our Business Editor simonjack reports. This is a Bombshell Announcement at the very top of one of britains biggest businesses and most globally recognised businesses. Bernard looney has been at bp all of his professional life since the early � 90s. He spentjust under four in the top Corner Office behind me at bps global headquarters. Whats emerged is that, in may of last year, an anonymous source informed the board about allegations about his personal conduct with colleagues. Now, the board looked into that at the time. Mr looney admitted hed had a small number of personal relationships. They looked into that and found there had been no breach of their compa ny� s conduct. However, in the last couple of days, its emerged that very recent allegations of a similar nature have emerged, and mr looney has admitted that he wasnt fully transparent with the board at the time of that first review, and so he has resigned with immediate effect. Now, he has been credited with putting bp on a course to a greener future, although criticised in some quarters for dialling down those ambitions at the same time as making enormous profits here. But of course, its not the first high profile dismissal weve seen at a time where there has been increased, and some would say overdue, scrutiny of Senior Executives relationships in the workplace. More from the us now as the dust settles after apples unveiling of its latest iphone. You may have heard about it the new iphone 15 will come with a usb c port for the first time thats what the charger plugs into. Falling in line with upcoming eu rules to standardise cables a move that some Industry Experts have warned could cause mountains of e waste. Joining me now is the tech journalist stuart miles who was at the launch yesterday. We talked about that speculation yesterday that the big thing would be this charger. Its hard to get too excited about a charger, but its an important moment, isnt it . Yeah, for the last 12 years, apple have used their own cable called the lightning cable. There are a lot of cables in the world based on the fact that apple have sold a lot of phones over the last 15 years. From now, that switch is to usb c port, which does bring some benefits. You will get better Transfer Speeds and one of the features i like is that you can charge your apple watch or your air pod from your phone. But it does mean all your cables and accessories will need to be changed. I mentioned warnings about the mountain of e waste in my intro. It sounds like that is a short term problem to solve a longer term issue and eventually, when everyone moves over to usb c, that is a lot easier because everyone will have the same cable and you are not having to find the right one for the right device . Yeah, usb c has been adopted by Android Devices from samsung to lots of other people for quite some time. Apple is not necessarily lead to the game, but it had to conform with eu regulations and it is therefore trying to make the most of it and leverage that through. Talking to apple yesterday, i asked them, what you do about the cables you have, and one of the responses was, you can either take them to an apple store to give them back and get them recycled, or they acknowledged that there are still a lot of iphones out there are still a lot of iphones out there with lightning cables, so maybe while you are upgrading, you could give your old cables to a friend. � ,. , ~ could give your old cables to a friend. � ,. , ~. ,. , could give your old cables to a friend. � ,. , ~. ,. , friend. Lets talk about the phone itself. No huge friend. Lets talk about the phone itself. No huge leap friend. Lets talk about the phone itself. No huge leap or friend. Lets talk about the phone itself. No huge leap or advance. Friend. Lets talk about the phone j itself. No huge leap or advance in technology, this isjust an incremental upgrade, isnt it . But it underlines the point we have talked about before whereby this is apple saying, we need to make money from our services, subscriptions and software, not necessarily, as in the past, it being all about the hardware. Past, it being all about the hardware past, it being all about the hardware. ,. ,. , hardware. Yeah, a lot of the announcements hardware. Yeah, a lot of the announcements yesterday. Hardware. Yeah, a lot of the i announcements yesterday saw, hardware. Yeah, a lot of the announcements yesterday saw, as you said, incremental updates. The beginning of the Smartphone Cycle was a long time ago, when you would have huge advancements each year. We are now seeing that slow down as people hold onto their devices a lot longer, and the incremental updates they need are slightly harder to achieve. Slight updates to the camera having played with yesterday, the move to titanium makes it a lot lighter than last year. And we have seen that with other phones over the years. As we are packing more features in, they have got heavier and heavier and it is clear that apple are now trying to rewind the bloat that has been put on over the last few years. Bloat that has been put on over the last few years last few years. Interesting times. Thank ou last few years. Interesting times. Thank you for last few years. Interesting times. Thank you for your last few years. Interesting times. Thank you for your analysis. Last few years. Interesting times. | thank you for your analysis. Stuart miles, the tech journalist with details of the iphone launch. In other news. Staying with iphone, but an older version. Apple has defended its iphone 12 after a french watchdog ordered a halt to its sales citing breaches of european radiation exposure limits. Apple said in a statement that the iphone 12, launched in 2020, was certified by multiple International Bodies as compliant with global radiation standards. In the last few minutes, the the range has agreed to buy the wilko brand. It will own wilkos website and could choose to sell some of its products. But the deal will not prevent wilko shops from disappearing from britains high streets. 400 stores are set to close by early october, leaving thousands of staff out of work. Latest figures from the European Union show Industrial Production dropped by 1. 1 month on month injuly, making a 2. 2 drop across the eurozone compared to july last year. The numbers were weaker than expected. The European Commission is launching an investigation into Chinese State subsidies for electric cars. Officials in brussels say they want to protect eu producers from the unfair competition of cheaper chinese electric vehicle imports. Around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. It was the picture of a lifetime. A creature once classed as extinct in england, Hunting Rabbits at the end of yorkshires peninsula. It england, Hunting Rabbits at the end of yorkshires peninsula. Of yorkshires peninsula. It was amazing of yorkshires peninsula. It was amazing. There of yorkshires peninsula. It was amazing. There were of yorkshires peninsula. It was amazing. There were a of yorkshires peninsula. It was amazing. There were a lot of yorkshires peninsula. It was amazing. There were a lot of. Amazing. There were a lot of emotions all at once. The beauty of seeing the animal, the terror of knowing you have found something rare and if you dont get a photograph, nobody will believe you. This belief, how can there possibly be a pine marten here where we are miles from any woodland . find be a pine marten here where we are miles from any woodland . Miles from any woodland . And the answer to that miles from any woodland . And the answer to that was miles from any woodland . And the answer to that was found miles from any woodland . And the answer to that was found in miles from any woodland . And the answer to that was found in this i answer to that was found in this footage, recorded a full 70 miles away in yorkshires dolby forest. What is unique about this incident is that what is unique about this incident is that we what is unique about this incident is that we have been able to identify is that we have been able to identify the pine marten at two ends of this identify the pine marten at two ends of this adventure. It� s identify the pine marten at two ends of this adventure. Of this adventure. Its unclear why two dots decided of this adventure. Its unclear why two dots decided to of this adventure. Its unclear why two dots decided to go of this adventure. Its unclear why two dots decided to go on of this adventure. Its unclear why two dots decided to go on his of this adventure. Its unclear why two dots decided to go on his epic adventure, but experts say its a positive sign of an animal attempting to expand his territory. For more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. Youre live with bbc news. Lets get more now on our top story. More than 5,000, 300 people are known to have died in destructive floods that the east of libya. Earlier, we heard from mohamed dayri, former libya Foreign Minister former unhcr 0fficial. He gave me his reaction to the disaster. I know derna because my wife is from that town in eastern libya. Town in eastern libya. My wifes family has suffered a great deal. We have lost a number of people more than ten people have died yesterday. But others have been decimated by these fresh floods that have swept across derna and sent people into the sea, as you mentioned earlier. I know derna, but i also know the people who have prevailed so far in derna itself. While i agree with the National Federation of the red cross representative consideration that indeed there has been a great deal of solidarity inside libya, but there has also been some anger and some desperate people, because of the lack of preparedness before the start of the emergency and the start of the daniel hurricane. And the slowness of the response so far. Unfortunately, the local, the national and the International Assistance has been slow. And we are witnessing a new wave of assistance that is coming through from europe, from arab countries. You reference there the fact that we have split authorities in libya. When you hear the tripoli based government talk about International Aid, saying foreign aid will be evaluated before being accepted, is that the right approach . The interNational Federation representative has mentioned the need to carry out an assessment. So, indeed, thats a prerequisite to any International Aid. But you have reported that the Norwegian Refugee Council has said rightly that everything is badly needed in derna. Food, medicalassistance, body bags, equipment to take out the rubble, the survivors if any and the deceased people from under the rubble. Do you think the scale of what the country is dealing with will actually bring these two sides together, the rival authorities, the internationally recognised government . Are they likely to be able to Work Together to respond to all of this . Is that realist