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BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaUkraine lowers combat call-up age to boost numbersPublished33 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated TopicsWar in UkraineImage source, EPAImage caption, Danish instructors training Ukrainian recruits in an area of eastern England last monthUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed into law a bill lowering the military mobilisation age by two years from 27 to 25. Kyiv has faced heavy losses on the battlefield after two years of war, whereas Russia has benefited from a sizeable advantage in manpower.The move will allow Ukraine to call up more people to replenish its reserves, after volunteer numbers dropped.Mr Zelensky said in December that 500,000 more soldiers were needed.Although the bill was voted through by MPs in May 2023, it did not come into force because Mr Zelensky did not sign it. It was not immediately clear what prompted the president to sign the bill on Tuesday, however he has previously warned of plans Russia may have to launch a spring or summer offensive this year.Mr Zelensky’s signing of the bill could signify Ukraine’s effort to build up strong defensive fortifications in preparation for a Russian offensive. Ukrainian forces had hoped to take back swathes of territory gained by Russia as well as cutting off Russian supply lines to Crimea.But lacking air superiority and faced with formidable Russian defences, Kyiv’s counter-offensive ground to a halt at the start of winter and there are fears that Russian forces could outgun Ukraine. Ukraine seeks extra 500,000 soldiers – ZelenskyUkraine war in maps: Russia makes limited advancesLast year, Ukrainian Gen Oleksandr Tarnavskyi warned troops had already been forced to downsize some military operations because of a drop-off in foreign aid.Ukraine has relied heavily on Western supplies, particularly on deliveries of long-range missiles and air defence systems. However, billions of pounds of US and EU aid have been held up amid political wrangles.Russian President Vladimir Putin has said more than 600,000 of his troops are fighting in Ukraine, but has not revealed how many have lost their lives there. A classified US intelligence report released in December estimated that 315,000 Russian soldiers had been either killed or wounded since the war began – which it said was almost 90% of Russia’s military personnel at the start of the invasion.In February, Mr Zelensky said 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed since the start of the war, but US officials have put the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed as at least 70,000 and as many as 120,000 injured.Related TopicsWar in UkraineVolodymyr ZelenskyRussiaUkraineMore on this storyUkraine calls on male citizens abroad to join armyPublished21 December 2023Ukrainian soldiers film dangerous front-line missionPublished25 MarchTop StoriesThree British aid workers killed in Gaza namedPublished1 hour agoWhat we know about the aid convoy strikePublished2 hours agoStrongest earthquake in 25 years hits TaiwanPublished34 minutes agoFeaturesWho were the seven aid workers killed in Gaza?The Papers: Israel’s ‘tragic’ error and Labour ‘pro-building’ bidWill Truth Social post a financial bailout for Trump?France’s unique orphanage for police children’I never thought I’d have to bury my dad twice”I couldn’t really speak about it’ – a decision dividing the WSLAttributionSportThe sailors still stranded on ship that crashed into bridgeBrain injury: ‘How digger accident left me with depression’When is it going to stop raining?AttributionWeatherElsewhere on the BBCOne of the most talented bands to never make it…Why did trailblazers Microdisney fail to achieve the commercial success they deserved?AttributioniPlayer’He’s confused popularity with respect’Another chance to listen to Ricky Gervais on Desert Island Discs in 2007AttributionSoundsBruce Lee as you’ve never seen him beforeTen defining pictures throw a unique lens onto an extraordinary lifeAttributioniPlayerTime to learn and laughPaul Sinha improves your general knowledge with fascinating facts and hilarious storiesAttributionSoundsMost Read1Three accused of TV presenter attack have left UK2Katie Price low calorie diet advert banned3Three British aid workers killed in Gaza named4Israel’s ‘tragic’ error and Labour ‘pro-building’ bid5Botswana wants to send 20,000 elephants to Germany6Clothes found near toddler’s remains in French Alps7JK Rowling hate law posts not criminal, police say8Jailed bankers appeal ‘must’ go to top court9Japan’s royals were once considered gods. 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[ad_1] The move will allow Ukraine to call up more people after facing a reduction in volunteer fighters.
![BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountLiveNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaFani Willis can stay on Donald Trump Georgia election case if ex-lover quitsPublished12 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated TopicsIndictments of Donald TrumpImage source, PoolImage caption, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who has charged Trump and others with conspiring to overturn the 2020 election results in the state of Georgia.By Madeline Halpert & Brandon Drenon BBC NewsThe prosecutor in Donald Trump’s election fraud case in Georgia can stay on the trial, if the lawyer she had an affair with quits, a judge has ruled.Mr Trump and his co-defendants had tried to get Fani Willis disqualified, saying her relationship with Nathan Wade – whom she hired – had compromised the integrity of the case.The judge disagreed – but said it did create an “appearance of impropriety”. He said either Ms Willis or Mr Wade should leave the case to resolve that.In his ruling, Judge McAfee said Ms Willis had committed a “tremendous lapse in judgement” by engaging in an affair with Mr Wade, and also called her testimony last month “unprofessional”. Mr Trump and his 18 co-defendants claimed the relationship created a conflict of interest, saying Ms Willis benefited financially from the relationship. But Ms Willis and Mr Wade denied this – saying there was no financial benefits, for example they split the cost of their holidays together.Judge Scott McAfee ruled there was not sufficient evidence that there had been an actual conflict of interest.But he found there had been an “appearance of impropriety” – and there was a “need to make proportional efforts to cure it” before the case can continue.Mr Trump and the 18 others are being prosecuted in Georgia for conspiracy to overturn the state’s 2020 election results – which they deny. The Georgia election interference case is one of four criminal cases Mr Trump faces, that both sides of the political aisle are watching closely ahead of November’s presidential election.But some of the cases have faced delays. His New York case over alleged hush money payments to a porn star was due to begin in March, but it may now be pushed back after prosecutors agreed to a request from Mr Trump’s lawyers to delay it. In Florida, where Mr Trump is facing charges for his alleged handling of classified documents, both sides also say the trial will need to be postponed – although a judge denied Mr Trump’s motion to dismiss the case outright.Who is Fani Willis? Trump’s Georgia trial hinges on this rookie judgeWho are Trump’s 18 co-accused in the Georgia case?In his 23-page ruling on Friday, Mr McAfee presented Ms Willis with two options: to step down, along with her team, and have the Prosecuting Attorney’s Council take the case over, or have Mr Wade step down and allow “the public to move forward without his presence or remuneration distracting from and potentially compromising the merits of this case”.”[A]n outsider could reasonably think that the district attorney is not exercising her independent professional judgment totally free of any compromising influences,” Mr McAfee wrote. “As long as Wade remains on the case, this unnecessary perception will persist.”Mr McAfee added: “[A]n odor of mendacity remains”. Mr Trump’s lead lawyer on the Georgia case released a statement on Friday, saying: “While respecting the court’s decision, we believe that the court did not afford appropriate significance to the prosecutorial misconduct of Willis and Wade.”We will use all legal options available as we continue to fight to end this case, which should never have been brought in the first place.”Mr Trump and his co-defendants could appeal the judge’s ruling and further delay the proceedings. ‘A win-win’According to Adrienne Jones, an assistant professor of political science at Morehouse College in Atlanta, delaying the case was exactly what Mr Trump and his co-defendants had hoped for.”They will ride that out as long as possible,” she said. Ms Jones characterised the judge’s decision as effectively a win-win for both Ms Willis and Mr Trump. The district attorney has the option to stay on the career-defining case, she said, and Mr Trump might not face trial before he is possibly elected president where he could then have more sway over the proceedings. However, Ms Jones said the judge’s “gratuitous comments” about Ms Willis’s behaviour could harm the case by undercutting her credibility. “The judge is commenting on the quality of her professionalism, and that is an erosion of reputation,” Ms Jones said.To the question of whether this could have an effect on a potential jury, Ms Jones said: “Absolutely.” “Everybody here is likely to be influenced by the news coverage of the judge’s decision. It’s not like people are ignorant of what’s happening.” The case has not yet been scheduled for a trial.Image source, ReutersImage caption, Special prosecutor Nathan Wade also testified in the hearing last monthEarlier this year, Fulton County District Attorney Ms Willis – who brought the case – admitted she had a romantic relationship with Mr Wade, but said it had no bearing on the case.Mr Trump and his co-defendants alleged that this relationship created a financial conflict of interest, saying the couple used the money paid to Mr Wade to fund luxury trips together.Ms Willis fiercely denied those allegations from the witness stand during a days-long evidentiary hearing before Judge McAfee. Visibly upset, she held up papers presented to her by the defence and shouted: “It’s a lie!” Her fiery testimony drew scrutiny from legal experts and also from judge McAfee who, in his decision released on Friday, described her testimony as “unprofessional”. This video can not be playedTo play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.Media caption, Watch: Fani Willis’ surprise testimony in 75 secondsThe hearing laid bare multiple intimate details about Ms Willis’s private life, including that she kept large sums of cash in her home, some of which she said she used to pay for trips she took with Mr Wade on trips overseas.She said their romantic relationship began in early 2022, after she hired Mr Wade in 2021. They stopped dating in August 2023, she said, after a “tough conversation”, although they are now “very good friends”.But testimony from Ms Willis’s former friend Robin Yearte disputed that timeline. Ms Yearte said she believed the two lawyers began dating in 2019, when she saw them hugging and kissing. The details of the romance came forth after one of Mr Trump’s co-defendants, Michael Roman, filed a motion accusing Ms Willis of engaging in an “improper, clandestine personal relationship” with Mr Wade.Separately earlier this week, Judge McAfee threw out some of the criminal charges against Mr Trump and the other defendants. He found six counts in the 41-count indictment lacked detail – although said they could be refiled at a later date.Related TopicsGeorgiaIndictments of Donald TrumpDonald TrumpMore on this storyHow Georgia prosecutor’s affair affects a Trump trialPublished6 MarchFiery exchanges as prosecutor fights to stay on Trump casePublished16 FebruaryWho are Trump’s 18 co-accused in the Georgia case?Published15 August 2023Top StoriesRussian arrests as ballot boxes targeted in Putin votePublished1 hour agoDriver in school bus crash died of natural causesPublished37 minutes agoMcDonald’s blames global outage on third partyPublished26 minutes agoFeaturesTrying to stay alive in a town tormented by drugs, alcohol and suicideWeekly quiz: Which exclusive Oscars club did Emma Stone join?Battle between West Bank farmers divides Israel and US Getting dressed is one of the most joyful things, says Vogue’s new editorGran lifted by shop shutter immortalised in muralWatch: Iconic Concorde jet taken across Hudson River to museum. 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![BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountLiveNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityBusinessMarket DataEconomyYour MoneyCompaniesTechnology of BusinessCEO SecretsArtificial IntelligenceIs Ireland’s productivity boom real or ‘artificial’?Published2 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, DiageoImage caption, Guinness produces 3.5 million pints of beer a day in DublinBy Naomi RaineyBusiness ReporterBehind the traffic of Dublin’s Liberties, lies the sprawling factory site of one Ireland’s most famous brands.Guinness has brewed beer at its city factory since its founder, Arthur Guinness, took over a derelict building in 1759. Now, the “black stuff” is produced on a huge campus of buildings, connected up with metal piping, and accompanied by the clanging of metal kegs being transported by forklift trucks. The operation, owned by global drinks giant Diageo, may appear far removed from Guinness’ beginnings, but Aidan Crowe, operations director for beer, says the basics of brewing beer have not changed that much. “Our core process is actually very recognisable to the processes that Arthur Guinness would have used.”The Brew House at St James’s Gate opened in 2013 and was the most efficient in the world at the time, Mr Crowe says. Currently, the Dublin brewery produces 3.5 million pints a day – that’s 1.3 billion pints a year. “Technology has allowed us to be dramatically more efficient, by making changes to how we manage things like cold water, steam usage, electricity usage, and so on,” he says. Mr Crowe says there are more improvements to go after.Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, A worker at the Guinness brewery in Dublin clearing hops from a chute in 1953″You set goals, maybe five-year, 10-year goals. But when you get to those milestones, you suddenly discover that the horizon has moved on.”With substantial resources, giant companies like Diageo can aim for that horizon. And it’s not just Diageo – Ireland’s economy has benefited from being the base for many multinational firms.According to the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development rankings, Ireland is the most productive country in the world. In economics, productivity is how much value a worker adds to the things they make or do, and some workers are in a position to add much more value than others.For example, despite being busy all day, the productivity of someone behind the counter of a cafe is limited to how much people are willing to pay for the food and drinks they sell. Whereas someone at a technology or pharmaceuticals multinational is more likely to be working on high-value products and services – making them more productive in official figures.Dr Emma Howard, economist at the Technological University of Dublin, says Ireland is a “unique” example globally, as the high concentration of multinational firms helps to boost productivity figures.”If you look at our total labour productivity, it’s two and a half times the EU average,” she says. “But if you break that down into the domestic labour productivity, and the foreign sector productivity, there’s big differences.”Image source, GoogleImage caption, Dublin serves as a European base for several big tech firms including GoogleIreland’s Central Statistics Office, measures productivity using gross value added (GVA) per worker, per hour. GVA is the total output of goods and services, minus input costs. If you look at that figure it suggests that overseas firms are driving Ireland’s productivity. In the second quarter of last year the GVA of foreign firms in Ireland was €414 per worker, per hour. For domestic firms the figure was just €55.The data also shows that in 2022 foreign firms made up 56% of the gross value added in the Irish economy. Ireland is attractive to multinationals for a number of reasons including its low corporation tax rate, Dr Howard says. “If you look at the types of firms that are here – Google, Microsoft, Pfizer, Meta – they’re producing lots of very high value goods,” she says.”Some of those goods may be intellectual property, they’re not physical goods. So some of those may be funnelled through Ireland to avail of those lower taxes.”More technology of businessWhy Orkney’s wild seas host advanced energy projectsGovernments make big bets on the computer chip industryWhere will all the electric cars be charged?Can Denmark’s world beating drugs maker stay ahead?Will hotter heat pumps win over homeowners?But other economists argue that all those multinational firms are skewing Ireland’s economic data. “It looks like it generates a lot of economic activity, but the draw from that isn’t that large. It’s all artificial in a sense,” says Stefan Gerlach, chief economist at Swiss bank EFG International and formerly a deputy governor of the Central Bank of Ireland.He says it “cannot be the case” that the gulf in productivity between international and domestic companies is as wide as the figures show. “It’s a measurement problem,” he adds.Mr Gerlach says using gross national income (GNI) may be a more accurate way to discuss productivity for Ireland.That measurement better accounts for the way multinational companies direct the flow of income through their business.In 2023, a paper from the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council said that using GNI as a measure may put Ireland’s productivity more in line with its European peers.Mr Gerlach says using a misleading measure of productivity could send governments in the wrong direction. “There is a risk that policy makers over-estimate the benefits and under-estimate the potential risks of having a large international cohort within the economy.”Dr Howard and Mr Gerlach say Ireland’s attractiveness as a country to do business isn’t all down to tax. Its position as an English-speaking member of the European Union is also a benefit. Plus, Ireland has a well-educated workforce.”Across all age cohorts, we have a higher proportion of workers with a third level education than the EU average. We also have a much higher proportion of STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] graduates than our EU counterparts,” says Dr Howard.”So we’ve got these very skilled workers, in a highly educated workforce, and that’s impacting our labour productivity.”Image caption, Robin Blandford’s firm is based in a former 19th century lighthouseWhatever the data shows, productivity can often come down to the daily interaction of staff and management.That’s particularly the case since the pandemic, when many more workers started working from home. These days staff are less likely to be in the office, or might not even be in the same country.This is a daily challenge for Robin Blandford.His company, D4H, provides support to emergency response teams globally. It is based in a 19th century lighthouse at Howth head, overlooking Dublin Bay.The goal for Mr Blandford is to motivate staff across seven countries. “Productivity to me is when we’re all pulling in the same direction,” Mr Blandford says.”So really good communication, everybody understanding and over-communicating to people, understanding which way we’re going, how to make a decision.””As we’ve become distributed, what we’ve asked people to do is become part of their communities. Stop letting your workplace pick your friends,” Mr Blandford adds. 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