Big Boss Interview

One of the world's biggest tech companies Microsoft joined a list of others who have announced plans to shed part of its total work force.

It is also a tricky time for workers over 45 who no longer find it easy to get jobs.

In France, a widespread disruption is expected today as nationwide strikes take place in response to the government’s planned major reform to France’s pension system.

(Microsoft boss says layoffs were a response to macroeconomic conditions and changing customer priorities. Picture Credit: Getty Images.)

On today's programme, China sees a historic fall in birth rate with consequences for its economy and the world.

The Bank of Japan will decide on its latest course of monetary policy, we discuss what it might mean.

Rahul Tandon is joined throughout the programme by Betsey Stevenson, professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan and Isin Elicin, a freelance journalist based in Istanbul in Turkey. (Picture: A nurse takes care of a newborn baby in a maternity hospital in Fuyang in central China's Anhui province. Credit; Getty Images)

We discuss chips and tariffs as well, and ask whether China will overtake the US economically in the next 50 years.

Rahul Tandon talks to Stephen Roach, former Chief Economist at Morgan Stanley, Dr Henry Huiyao Wang is Founder and President of the Centre for China and Globalisation in Beijing and Lulu Chen, Bloomberg's Asia Investing Team Leader in Hong Kong. (Picture: Flags of China and the USA. Isolated on a white background. Credit; Getty Images)

US institutions appear to perform - but is it enough to get them through a recession?

We hear about a 'new direction' for Saudi Arabia's ruling regime, in the form of entertainment investment.

Also, detectorists are causing headaches for the Dutch police in a new hunt for buried Nazi gold.

(Picture: US dollars at a bank. Credit: Getty Images.)

New figures show that inflation in the US – the world’s largest economy – is on the way down. The latest figures showed a slight fall to 6.5%, down from 7.5% the previous month. But will it be enough to stave off further interest rate hikes?

Also on the programme, how to love where you work: new figures show an interesting shift in employee satisfaction at some of the world's best-known firms.

(Picture: A customer in a supermarket in New York City. Credit: Getty Images.)

Last week Japan's prime minister called on firms to put up wages to help people struggling with rising prices. It comes as salaries in the country remain flat even as inflation is going up at its fastest rate in decades. In response, the Japanese clothes retailer, Uniqlo, has announced it will give its employees a huge pay rise.

Meanwhile, a lawyer for the failed cryptocurrency firm, FTX, says his team has salvaged more than five billion dollars in assets following the company’s spectacular collapse in November. Andrew Dietderich told a US bankruptcy court (in Delaware) that efforts to sell other assets with a book value of more than four billion dollars were in hand -- but warned the final hit to nine million investors remained unclear.

(Picture: Businessmen meeting and working in a big city. Picture Credit: Getty Images)

The global economy is "perilously close to falling into recession", according to the latest forecast from the World Bank, as the impacts of the Ukraine war and Covid pandemic continue to be felt across the world.

In fact, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are already struggling to keep their heads above water. Leaders in politics and economics share their thoughts with us on the economic challenges facing those countries.

Meanwhile Publisher Transworld has said Prince Harry’s memoir Spare has sold 400,000 copies in the UK across hardback, e-book and audio formats on its first day of publication. It means the very well-played promotional campaign around the book did work.

(Picture: The World Bank logo seen displayed on a smartphone. Picture Credit: Getty Images)

About 1,500 people have been held in Brazil after supporters of ex-President Jair Bolsonaro stormed Congress, the presidential palace and the Supreme Court in the capital Brasília. The rioting came a week after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was sworn in.

Pakistan is hosting an event in Geneva on Monday with the United Nations as it seeks international assistance to cover around half of a total $16.3bn recovery bill. It has been a busy day for the economy as Pakistan has also asked the International Monetary Fund to temporarily ease its loan conditions to enable the country to recover from the costs of last year's floods.

Flood and high wind warnings are in place across much of California; a hundred and twenty thousand homes are without power.

(Picture: Independence Day. Picture Credit: Getty Images)

With China easing its restrictions but facing surging Covid cases, we find out what the economy’s reopening mean for the country in 2023. We also hear how it will impact tourism in the region, with other countries looking forward to welcoming Chinese tourists.

Elsewhere, one of the biggest technology shows in the world is underway in Las Vegas. Learn about what this year's biggest trends are.

(Picture: A couple wearing face masks walk along a shopping district in Beijing, China, 06 January 2023. Credit: Photo by MARK R CRISTINO/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

After 11 rounds of voting, there is still no result in sight to appoint a new leader for the US House of Representatives. Republicans took over the lower chamber of Congress in November's midterm elections, but an internal row is withholding the election of their candidate, Kevin McCarthy, as House Speaker. The impasse has caused a paralysis of US government not seen since the pre-Civil War era. We get the latest from Washington.

(Picture: Staff members from the clerk's office of the U.S. House of Representatives count votes on tally sheets. Picture credit: Reuters)