the food and drinks giant nestle faces a shareholder vote which may impose tougher targets on healthy foods. also coming up — rein in the debt! the imf warns the uk it's borrowing too much. but chancellor of the exchequer jeremy hunt tells the bbc the uk economy is in good shape. the imf are saying this week that over the next six years we will grow faster than any major european economy and faster than japan. welcome to world business report. we start in washington dc where boeing has been facing more questions about its safety culture and manufacturing quality as three whistleblowers gave evidence to congress as part of its investigation into the aviation giant. boeing engineer sam salehpour —

a company veteran of 17 years — told a senate hearing that he was harassed and threatened after he raised concerns about the safety of the firm's planes. and former engineer ed pierson accused the aircraft giant of a cover—up after a door panel blew out of a 737 max 9 jet, shortly after take—off. michelle fleury was watching the hearings. this was damaging testimony for the plane maker boeing. engineer turned whistle—blower sam salehpour claimed boeing used short cuts to reduce bottlenecks during the assembly of its 787 dreamliner planes. he said he faced retaliation for raising safety issues. and after the threats, and after this, you know, it's like, you know, it really scares me, believe me. but i am at peace. you know, if something happens to me, i am at peace because i feel like, by coming forward, i will be saving a lot of lives and i'm at peace.

another boeing engineer, ed pierson, accused the plane—maker of a criminal cover—up after a door blew out of a 737 max plane shortly after take—off and a preliminary investigation revealed the door was missing four bolts. the ntsb chair reiterated to congress last week that boeing has said there are no records documenting the removal of the alaska airlines door. i'm not going to sugar—coat this. this is a criminal cover—up. records do, in fact, exist. i know this because i've personally passed them to the fbi. boeing, which is one of the world's two major producers of commercial planes, insists its jets are safe. as for its culture, in a statement to the bbc, boeing said it was taking steps to foster a safety culture that empowers and encourages all employees to raise their voices. it said retaliation was strictly prohibited. the plane—maker ceo, david calhoun, didn't appear today, but lawmakers said they expect him to testify in the future.

the world's biggest public food company, the swiss multi—national nestle, is facing a shareholder vote at its agm later on whether to increase its range of healthy food products. several uk advocates for public health have called upon shareholders to support a special resolution. in a pre—filmed address to shareholders, the company's chairman called upon them to vote down the motion and said nestle has always been committed to providing nutritious food and drinks. we have always been helping consumers make informed choices as part of a balanced diet. of course, this also includes enjoying moments of indulgence. our good chocolate, for example, from time to time and in a responsible way. however, a small group of shareholders led by the ngo, shareaction, wants us to disengage from indulgent products.

they even want us to include this in our articles of association. this is wrong. it would restrict nestle�*s strategic freedom and limit management's ability to make decisions. mr bulcke mentioned shareaction, which describes itself as a "responsible investment charity". it's coordinating this resolution at the agm and its deputy ceo, simon rawson, joins me now live from lausanne where the meeting is taking place. hello. he says if this goes through, the resolution is not passed, it

will hinder the company, what do you make of that?— make of that? investors across the world are increasingly _ make of that? investors across the world are increasingly realising - world are increasingly realising that the health of the population is critically important for our economy, productivity and for investment. poor diets are contributing to poor population health. that is why they have been engaging with all food manufacturers, including nestle, to shift away from reliance on unhealthy products towards selling more healthier products. unfortunately nestle have existed that and that is why we are here today to put up to vote. this that and that is why we are here today to put up to vote.- that and that is why we are here today to put up to vote. this is a coalition of— today to put up to vote. this is a coalition of five _ today to put up to vote. this is a coalition of five shareholders - today to put up to vote. this is a | coalition of five shareholders that have put this resolution forward. one of them is legal and general investment management, why does this matter to them? surely its profits they want. i matter to them? surely its profits the want. ., �* ,, .,~ matter to them? surely its profits the want. ., �* , , ., ~ .,

matter to them? surely its profits the want. ., �* ,, .,~ ., , ., they want. i don't speak on behalf of then, they want. i don't speak on behalf of then. but _ they want. i don't speak on behalf of then, but what _ they want. i don't speak on behalf of then, but what i _ they want. i don't speak on behalf of then, but what i can _ they want. i don't speak on behalf of then, but what i can say - they want. i don't speak on behalf of then, but what i can say is - they want. i don't speak on behalf of then, but what i can say is that| of then, but what i can say is that those investors who have filed this resolution are part of a much wider group that we are working with, a0 investors, more than 5 trillion in assets under management, and all of them recognise that poor population health is bad for investment returns, it leads to absence, sickness, liver productivity, and we here in the new solid time that we have any recently sick workforce. and we need to have a healthy workforce and with better diets that will help people live happier and longer lives. will help people live happier and longer lives-_ will help people live happier and lonaerlives. , ., ., , ., longer lives. there is no doubt that the world a — longer lives. there is no doubt that the world a farmer— longer lives. there is no doubt that the world a farmer were _ longer lives. there is no doubt that the world a farmer were of - longer lives. there is no doubt that the world a farmer were of hills, i the world a farmer were of hills, but what i would like to get a sense of visual leading the resolution, you have to convince all be shareholders to pass this resolution, so in a business sense, how do you convince those shareholders to pass it, their current business model is value

creation, but that is not meeting the needs of governments who are having to deal with increasingly expensive health care bills, etc, so how do you convince them that this makes business sense?— how do you convince them that this makes business sense? rethink their arr ument is makes business sense? rethink their argument is that _ makes business sense? rethink their argument is that both _ makes business sense? rethink their argument is that both levels, - makes business sense? rethink their argument is that both levels, both i argument is that both levels, both at the company level and the economy level. at the company level there are more sugar taxes in the world than carbon taxes, more than 50 countries in the world have sugar taxes, and the trend towards regulating towards encouraging healthier diets will only increase. the impact of the sugar tax we have seenin the impact of the sugar tax we have seen in the uk for example has been significant. it has led company to drive their companies away from the sugary drinks that we used to see, said that trend towards regulation is an impact on companies' profits gt. on the upside are also a real trend towards increasing consumer preference for healthier choices. we

know consumers want healthier diets, they want healthier options, and allardyce they want healthier options, and alla rdyce are they want healthier options, and allardyce are influenced by what is available, what is marketed to us and what is affordable. food companies can capitalise on that. that is at the company level. at the economy level, port diets lead to poor population health which leads to lower productivity which harms our economy, and most pension savers are highly diversified in their holdings, it is a health of the economy that matters, not the health of one individual company. thank ou. in other news... the former deputy governor of china's central bank has been charged with illegally accepting more than $50 million of property either directly or via his relatives. according to state media, fan yifei has appeared in court and a verdict is set to be announced at a later date. he's one of the highest—ranking officials at the bank to be caught up

in president xi's anti—corruption drive. the world's biggest computer chip maker tsmc says demand for chips to power artiifcal intellgegence is "insatiable". the taiwanese company is planning to spend as much as $32 billion on new factories as it tries to meet that demand. profits for the first three months of this year rose 9% to almost $7 billion as customers including apple and nvidia drove demand for its chips. the uk's been warned by the international monetary fund to rein in government borrowing. it's named the country as one of four — along with the us, china and italy — that "critically need to take policy action to address fundamental imbalances between spending and revenues". the report comes as global finance chiefs gather in washington for the spring meetings of the imf and world bank. the bbc�*s economics editor, faisal islam, is there — he's been speaking to the uk's finance minister, chancellor jeremy hunt. i think that the statistics we have had this week demonstrate that inflation is coming down, it is now lower than

in the united states. but the bigger picture is that the fundamentals for the uk economy are actually very strong. we have had more greenfield foreign direct investment than anywhere in the world apart from united states and china since 2010. i was at a dinner in new york last night with big investors in the uk, every single one of them increasing their investment in the uk. the imf are saying this week that over the next six years, we will grow faster than any major european economy and faster than japan. there is some doubt now that the bank of england may not cut interest rates before the summer, may not cut interest rates before an election. they think that's the right thing to do — do you back them? of course i do, because i think it's right that we have an independent bank of england. they have to make a judgment. but what is interesting is at the budget, the obr said that we would hit our inflation target a year earlier than they thought. many commentators think we may still hit the bank of england's

target in the next couple of months. and what that said is that the very difficult decisions that we took when inflation was over 11% have borne fruit, and we now need to stick with that approach which is clearly working. but mobile, broadband prices are going up, living costs, housing, that's going up as well. it's still quite tough for people. it is very tough. and we have been through a very tough period. but when it comes to living standards, 18 months ago, the obr said we would have the biggest decline in living standards for half a century, actually, they have gone up and they are now saying we will return to pre—pandemic living standards two years earlier than they thought. so what we see is overall a picture that is much more positive than before, but we need to be sensible, cautious, prudent on the approach we take going forward. sensible, cautious and prudent. we have been hearing a lot from the person who appointed you chancellor, liz truss,

over the past couple of days. she says that andrew bailey should have been fired, should have disbanded the obr. what do you say to that message, and her message? well, i think she is the first to say that mistakes were made in that period. i do support an independent bank of england, i do support an independent office for budget responsibility. and all i would say is that some very difficult decisions were taken in that period and they are now bearing fruit. and i think when it comes to the thing that she talks about most, which is the need to grow the economy, what the imf are saying this week, namely that the uk will grow faster than in france, italy, germany, japan, that our strengths in artificial intelligence and our tech industry if the uk particular advantages, those are reasons why we can be very confident about the future.

hello from the bbc sport centre. let's start with the news in the last half hour that fa cup replays will be scrapped from the first round onwards from next season. all rounds of the competition

will also be played on weekends, including the fifth round which has been played in midweek for the last five seasons. the changes come as part of a new six—year agreement between the football association and the premier league. both say that it will "strengthen" the fa cup format. the semifinal line—ups for the champions league are complete after real madrid and bayern munich overcame defending champions manchester city and arsenal respectively. the spanish and german giants will face each other in the last four. borussia dortmund and paris saint germain will contest the other semifinal. attention turns tonight to the europa league quarterfinals. last week's matches produced first—leg leads for roma, benfica, bayer leverkusen and atalanta. liverpool are in bergamo, looking to overturn a 3—0 deficit. the odds are stacked against them butjurgen klopp hasn't ruled out his liverpool side. butjurgen klopp hasn't ruled

everybody butjurgen klopp hasn't ruled thinks it has