Ministers questions. It is always a little different, the pmqs ahead of the budget. He has vacated the chair for the Deputy Speaker. She will be going through some of the notices ahead ofjeremy hunt, the chancellor, delivering his Budget Statement. He will take to his feet shortly and will probably speak for about an hour shortly and will probably speak for Aboutan Hourand shortly and will probably speak for about an hour and then it will be the turn of the leader of the opposition, keir starmer to respond. We will take both of those live and uninterrupted and we will then have reaction from the Chief Secretary to the treasury, laura trott, part of the treasury, laura trott, part of the Treasury Team and her shadow for labour. Here isjeremy hunt. Madam Deputy Speaker, as we mourn the loss of life in israel and gaza, the loss of life in israel and gaza, the Prime Minister reminded us of the Prime Minister reminded us of the need the Fight Extremism and heal divisions. I start today by r
the us says there will be more attacks against houthi forces in yemen after overnight american and uk airstrikes which hit more than thirty positions. the houthis, who are backed by iran, have been targetting vessels in the red sea since november they say this is in support of the palestinians in gaza. they are one of several militias in the middle east with iranian backing. the us targeted others in syria and iraq earlier this weekend and there ve been funerals today in baghdad after 17 people were killed. our international editor jeremy bowen considers whether there is any chance of a cessation of the conflict at the heart of all this between israel and hamas in gaza. rafjets took off from the british base in cyprus for the long flight to hit houthi targets in yemen. other western allies also affected by houthi attacks on shipping decided not to join the american air strikes. britain said these raids do not escalate a widening war in the middle east. others in the mid
our top story this hour the us says there will be more attacks against houthi forces in yemen after overnight american and uk airstrikes, which hit more than thirty positions. the houthis, who are backed by iran, have been targetting vessels in the red sea since november they say this is in support of the palestinians in gaza. they are one of several militias in the middle east with iranian backing. the us targeted others in syria and iraq earlier this weekend and there have been funerals today in iraq s capital baghdad after 17 people were killed. our international editorjeremy bowen considers whether there is any chance of a cessation of the conflict at the heart of all this between israel and hamas in gaza. rfjust took off rf just took off from cyprus for the long flight to hit houthi targets in yemen. other western allies also affected by who the attacks on shipping decided not tojoin affected by who the attacks on shipping decided not to join the american air str
and his supporters. we start with the troubled global banking sector. european markets have closed down more than three percent, spooked by a major sell off of shares in the swiss banking giant, credit suisse. coming days after the collapse of us based silicon valley bank, it s prompted fears of a full blown crisis in the sector. let s take a look at the damage at the close in europe today. shares in credit suisse plunged to a record low, falling 24%. that came after its biggest investor said it could not give the bank any more financial help. here in the uk, the insurer prudential tumbled 10%, and the high street bank barclays, 8%. the plunge by banking stocks left london s ftse 100 down almost 4% at its lowest level this year. it was the index s worst one day performance since the start of the covid 19 pandemic. taking a closer look at credit suisse today was the second day of sharp falls for its shares after the swiss bank yesterday disclosed that its auditor had identif