interest rates up again. tonight with the context long time capitol hill correspondent, and now washington post live anchor leigh ann caldwell, and tom peck, political sketch writer at the independent. welcome to the programme. initial results for its self styled referendums, in four areas it occupies in ukraine, show people have voted overwhelmingly in favour ofjoining the russian federation. the process has been denounced as a sham by ukraine and its allies, who view the referendums as a stage managed forerunner to russian annexation which the ministry of defence here in the uk says president putin is likely to do within days. nearly four million people from the eastern regions of donetsk and luhansk, and the southern regions of kherson and zaporizhzhia, were asked to attend polling stations there s been allegations of intimidation, as election officials went house to house accompanied by armed guards. the votes serve a deadly serious purpose as they will be used by the
who will win a second term in the white house, or might someone else get the chance of a first? and can china survive a third term for president xi? in the studio are: jeff mcallister, time magazine s white house correspondent during the clinton years, and then chief of the magazine s london bureau. he and his wife now run their own international law firm. eunice goes, a portuguese writer and academic, lectures on comparative government which, i guess, is how countries learn from each other s mistakes; and steve richards, who arrived at westminster just as the conservative party was evicting margaret thatcher from downing street. the latest episode of rock and roll politics, his podcast, is entitled the next labour government and the power of markets. have events of the last few hours, perhaps certainly the last few weeks, steve, provided you with an insight into those two thoughts, the power of the market and the prospects for a change of government? prospects for a change
royal family. the bbc s special correspondent katty kay went to meet her. how many years for the new yorker? seven. from her new york apartment tina brown keeps a close eye on events in buckingham palace. those 3000 miles give this british american author are different, more global perspective on the royal family. for her new best selling book the palace paper, she interviewed over 320 people to tell the story of the women of the house of windsor. brown herself has met the queen several times and was awarded the commander of the british empire for contribution to journalism. she has edited both tatler magazine and the new yorker. she knows the clintons well. she has metjustin trudeau, theresa may. suffice to say you don t get a lot better connected than tina brown in politics or in all things royal, which is why we went to visit her in manhattan. congratulations on the book, it is great. i passed a very delightful plane ride from london reading it. when you look as we celebra
major news outlet breathlessly reports that donald trump is on the verge of a big endorsement. we don t expect him to say he is running for president, but politico and others are saying he is ready to back newt gingrich. hours later the donald backs romney. how did the press get it so wrong? plus, facebook files for a monster public offering. is sharing information with your friends now more powerful than the mega corporations of the media? i m howard kurtz, and this is reliable sources. at a time the votes were counted in florida this week, the pundits have decided that mitt romney had all but wrapped up the republican nomination. newt gingrich might keep the race interesting, or so they hope, but have no real chance to win. romney hit the television circuit for what was supposed to be a victory lap, and the man who once said i enjoy being able to fire people, did it again. or did he? here is the exchange on cnn. by the way, i m in this race because i care about am