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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.
Fed is in the firing line, so how have markets reacted?
It's World Business Express from the BBC World Service.
I'm Leanna Byrne.
In Iran, protests sparked by collapsing currency are in their third week and regulators in Malaysia and Indonesia restricts access to X's AI tool.
Markets are on edge after the Trump administration stepped up its pressure on the boss of the Federal Reserve, the US'.
's central bank.
Prosecutors have launched an investigation into Jay Powell over a 25 billion renovation of the Fed's headquarters.
Powell responded in a rare video message.
The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the president.
This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions, or whether instead, monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation.
President Trump has denied he had advanced knowledge of the Justice Department's case.
Kwe Unwen is Chief Investment Officer of Equity Strategies for Research Affiliates based in New York.
Kwe, this is quite unusual, isn't it?
A chair of the Federal Reserve coming out in this way.
Absolutely.
I mean, up until this point, I think Powell has really tried to keep this calm.
But I think the gloves are coming off.
Could this erode investors' belief in the Fed's stability?
Absolutely.
Fed independence is a pillar of the U.S. economy and the financial system.
And so this continuing pressure tactic, this very transparent pressure, is going to cause investors and other economic actors to question whether or not the Fed truly is independent.
And how do markets react to this today? markets are not reacting well today.
People are worried.
I think a lot of this is going to feed into through the bond market, honestly.
Yeah.
And interestingly enough, we just heard about the bond market and Business Daily before this show.
But, you know, could that actually have a blowback on mortgage markets and banks in the US, if possibly investors from outside the US are looking and saying actually I don't really want to invest in US bonds, also known as treasuries.
Yeah, absolutely.
This brings back the de-dollarization trade, right?
I mean, the US was really the reserve currency to the world.
And now people are questioning whether or not that is going to continue to be the case.
In terms of mortgage rates, I don't think that Fed rates and mortgage rates are linked at the hip.
But I do think that higher interest rates in general across the curve will cause mortgage rates to stay stickier at a higher place.
What about for American banks?
Because American banks they look to the Federal Reserve, don't they?
To set interest rates, to do business.
American banks are actually American, but they're also quite global these days.
I do think that what the banks really look to the Fed for is as a lender of last resort.
I don't think that the Fed will stop doing that.
But also they look to the Fed for governance.
And the governance has been quite tight.
So banks in general, right now in the US at least, are in a very good place with great capital management.
A lot of people think they want, you know, this is pressure to make Jay Powell step down, right?
But he can actually stay on until 2028.
Could this make Jay Powell less likely to actually want to step down, do you think?
I'm not really sure.
I think he always wanted to stay on until 2028.
But I think that whether or not he stays or whether or not he goes will be an indication of of how obvious or how vitriolic this is internecine war.
The government really is okay quay, stay right there.
We're going to go to iran now, where anti-government protests are now in their third week, sparked by collapsing currency and inflation nearing 50 percent.
All of that, in large part, has been fueled by ongoing international sanctions.
Our world news correspondent, joe inwood, has been speaking to people inside the country.
Their voices have been revoiced for their safety.
For many families, this is now the sound of these protests.
In a temporary morgue in the south of Tehran, row upon row of black body bags lie on floors and tables.
Getting accounts from inside the country is difficult and dangerous for anyone who speaks.
Most people are now too scared to speak publicly for fear of regime reprisals.
But this started around the bazaars of Tehran as a strike by traders angered by the collapse in the value of the currency.
With a shock of white hair and a fulsome, distinguished moustache, this man does not look the revolutionary.
He spoke openly about the desperation that led him to protest.
Look at this market.
None of the shops have customers.
Why?
Because people don't have money now.
How can anyone buy anything now?
I'm ashamed in front of my wife and children.
We are barely surviving.
Even as the crowds grew, Iran's comparatively reform-minded president, Massoud Pazeskian, said the government was to blame for the economic crisis.
As the protests entered their second week, their sound changed.
Poverty, corruption, injustice, they chant.
Death to the dictator.
They are no longer calling for economic reform, but for the end of the Islamic Republic itself.
At the heart of it all, the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
He has denounced the protesters as vandals, working to please the US and Israel.
On the outskirts of Tehran, a government building is burning to the ground.
It is a fate the protesters want for the regime itself.
After the last few days, they have more reason than ever.
Here's a story that keeps rumbling on, the battle for Warner Brothers.
Now Paramount Skydance says it's going to nominate directors to Warner's board and it's filed a lawsuit to force the company to disclose the details of its 83 billion deal with Netflix.
Last week, Warner rejected Paramount's amended offer.
Now, this was first reported back in November, but it's now been confirmed.
Apple says it will power Siri using artificial intelligence from its rival Google, under a multi-year deal built on Google's Gemini models.
I'm coming back to you on this.
This seems like a really big moment for Alphabet and it's paid off on the stock market, hasn't it?
Well, today, absolutely.
It's done really well in the stock market today.
And it's also looking like Alphabet is going to be an AI winner.
From a market's point of view.
What is the saying about Apple?
That it's decided to ask Google essentially to power its AI?
You know, one of the things people have criticized Apple for is that they have not had an obvious AI strategy.
Now, what this is really saying about Apple is that they're looking at this and saying We know we're not the best player out there in terms of AI software.
So why would we want to compete when we can't compete?
It's easier for us, and probably more capital efficient for us, to partner up with somebody who is a leader.
And the leader they've picked is Alphabet.
All right, Kwe Onwen, thank you so much for joining us.
Now regulators in Malaysia and Indonesia have temporarily restricted access to X's AI tool Grok over its ability to generate and distribute non-consensual deepfake explicit images of women and children.
Here's the BBC's Neil Morrow.
Malaysian officials say the country warned X about repeated misuse of the Grok tool to generate harmful content.
But the X had focused on making it easier to report the misuse rather than fix risks in the platform's design.
The platform will now be banned until safeguards are in place.
BBC's Neil Morrow reporting there.
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.
