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If journalism is the first draft of history, what happens if that draft is flawed?
In 1999, four Russian apartment buildings were bombed.
Hundreds killed, but even now we still don't know for sure who did it.
It's a mystery that sparked chilling theories.
I'm Helena Merriman and in a new BBC series I'm talking to the reporters who first covered this story.
What did they miss the first time?
The History Bureau, Putin and the apartment bombs.
Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
What could more tariffs do to Iran's already struggling economy?
It's World Business Express from the BBC World Service.
I'm Leanna Byrne.
We look at the latest US consumer prices and the World Bank says the global economy is doing better than expected.
We'll start in Iran where hundreds of people are protesting on the streets.
Witnesses are suggesting the number of people killed since the demonstrations began may be in the thousands.
US President Donald Trump recently posted on Truth Social that help is on its way.
He also says that any country doing business with Iran will face a 25 tariff on trade with the United States.
Hashair Jonidi is a BBC Persian reporter currently in Washington and he told me more.
President Trump has frequently used trade tariffs as a tool to advance US foreign policy.
And this latest move, which is a 25 tariff on countries trading with Iran, puts more pressure on Iran's economy as well as Tehran's trade partners.
Iran is already under severe US sanctions.
Rial, the national currency, is collapsing, high inflation is reported, food prices are up to 70 percent, and this is mainly because of the severe sanctions the us has imposed on iran selling oil, so the country cannot generate revenues from oil and other exports.
Now about 30 percent of iran's imports is related to food.
With these tariffs, that means that many countries will limit their exports to Iran, meaning that price of food staples in Iran is going to increase again.
And the US is hopeful that by doing this it will add to the pressure already imposed on the regime.
So the regime would somehow compromise if there's future diplomatic talks between Iran and the US.
If the average citizen can't get food though, is that not quite serious?
Is this not a really extreme measure?
The official inflation rate is about 40%.
If you go to grocery stores, prices have risen up to 60 to 70%.
So it's already very expensive for Iranians to purchase food staples.
What they're seeing is already is people out on the streets because they're unhappy with the economic situation.
And this will add to people's anger and will put more pressure on the regime.
How have businesses been able to operate in Iran, if at all?
Well, it's been really hard for small shopkeepers to operate.
And that's why, on the 28th of December, when this whole protest started, it first started with the shopkeepers in Tehran coming out in protest because people can't afford to buy things that are not necessary.
So they have to consider what is necessary first to buy that.
When they already purchase these necessary staples, they're out of money.
So the shopkeepers don't have a revenue because they're not selling anything.
And at the same time, they can't buy stuff for their stores.
The protest shows how angry people are with the economic situation, which is getting worse day by day.
In December alone, the value of Real collapsed 25%.
If you are like a normal person, an average person, that means you are losing a lot of money.
You're losing a lot of money. buying power.
So it's already putting pressure both on the businesses and the people.
That was BBC Persian reporter Hashir Jonadi.
Now, can talking about doing a trade deal actually drive it forward?
Well, India and the US continue to actively engage in trade talks.
This is what Sergio Gore, the new US ambassador to New Delhi, had to say yesterday.
I've traveled all over the world with President Trump and I can attest that his friendship with Prime Minister Modi is real.
The United States and India are bound not just by shared interest but by a relationship anchored at the highest levels.
Real friends can disagree, but always resolve their differences in the end.
While the tariff from United States applied to India starting in April and then increased in August, around mid-November, along with many other foodstuff, the tariffs were removed.
So we got a reprieve from tariffs from mid-November.
Lakshmi exports these significantly to the US, including using our own brand name, and we sell through Amazon and through our website.
So it certainly eliminated the margins for a few months.
But thankfully, we've got a reprieve with other food commodities into the US.
What would you be hoping from these trade talks today that would help your business?
Well, I think the most important thing is to have level of certainty which has unfortunately been completely missing in 2025.
Every day the newspapers report different tariffs, different rates.
But the important thing in business is, you know when we make investments, to have stability, which is completely missing.
And now we are even hearing that there might be additional tariffs due to Iran.
There's no clarity regarding that.
So that is certainly makes doing business extremely hard.
Do you think that India should stop trading with Iran because of that?
I think India has a very small trading relationship with Iran, one and a half billion dollars.
But tea is one of the products that do go to Iran.
My point is, whatever businesses are being done by India, it is very difficult if it keeps changing.
And it's important for Indian businesses to know what the future holds.
That was Rudra Chatterjee, chairman at OBT.
In a legal setback for the Trump administration, a US court has given permission for a Danish firm to resume work on a wind farm project off the coast of Rhode Island.
President Trump halted work on the nearly finished Revolution Wind and similar projects, citing national security concerns.
Now, US consumer prices got a bump according to the latest data.
US inflation held firm at 2.7% in December compared to the same time last year.
Fiona Sincotta, a senior market analyst at Citi Index.
Hello, Fiona.
How are you?
Hello.
I'm good, thank you.
Well listen Fiona, some analysts.
They're already sounding alarms that this recent government shutdown may have skewed the data.
So are you taking this data with a pinch of salt?
Yeah, I think there have been some concerns about the quality of recent data amid that US government shutdown.
But I think these figures should be getting back to being on track.
And I think what's good about these is they do give the Federal Reserve the luxury of time.
So it does mean we can wait for confirmation with January's inflation figures and even February's, before the Fed will be really making a tough decision.
So the Fed, essentially the US central bank, it can take this data and make a decision or make something of it, can they?
Yeah, that's right.
So what they'll be looking for is they're looking at inflation figures to decide whether they should be cutting interest rates or not.
And inflation, as you mentioned, is at 2.7%.
We saw core inflation, which excludes more volatile items such as food and fuel, actually cooled it to 26.
So This does support that broad trend, that longer-term trend of cooling inflation, but it is still above the Federal Reserve's 2 target.
So therefore, we're not expecting the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates in January, but it does support the view that the Fed could be cutting rates later in the year.
Now, the chair of the Fed, Jay Powell, he's under an enormous amount of pressure to cut rates.
And then on Truth Social, President Trump has said he's cutting them too late.
It's too late to cut interest rates.
What do you think?
Yeah, I mean, I think the data does suggest that the Fed is right not to move to aggressively cutting rates because, as I pointed out, you know, inflation still is considerably above target.
Now the Fed also do look at the US unemployment rates, which has also fallen as well to 44 percent.
We saw data on Friday.
But I think what's really important is that the Fed maintains its independence from the US president and Trump government so that he doesn't feel pressurized to take decisions.
And just before we go Fiona, the World Bank's global economics prospects is out saying the global economy is proving more resilient than expected.
Is that something we can be happy about, Fiona?
Oh, I think so.
You know, I think that the economy has faced so many challenges.
Last year, we obviously had those Trump trade tariffs, and that's still going on this year.
But at least this is positive news.
Well, thanks very much, Fiona.
We always need a little bit of good news sometimes.
Fiona Sincotta, thank you so much.
And that's it from World Business Express from the BBC World Service.
I'm Leanna Byrne.
Have a great day and thanks so much for listening.
If journalism is the first draft of history, what happens if that draft is flawed?
In 1999, four Russian apartment buildings were bombed, hundreds killed.
But even now, we still don't know for sure who did it.
It's a mystery that sparked chilling theories.
I'm Helena Merriman and in a new BBC series I'm talking to the reporters who first covered this story.
What did they miss the first time?
The History Bureau, Putin and the apartment bombs.
Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
