US jobs growth way better than expected

**Leanna Byrne** (0:01)
Almost a year on, Air India crash families are pushing back on the payouts. It's World Business Express from the BBC World Service. I'm Leanna Byrne. As Vladimir Putin addresses Russia's economic forum, we look at the country's growth, and how much does it cost to go to the Monaco Grand Prix?
It's a year since Air India flight 171 from Ahmedabad to London crashed, killing 260 people and injuring 67 The crash investigation is still ongoing, but many families have already received settlement offers from Air India. The BBC's Archana Shukla has been speaking to some of them.

**Archana Shukla** (0:40)
Air India is offering a final settlement offer to several of the victim families, giving them additional sums of money over and above the interim payout they had made. But in return, they're asking them to sign up rights to sue anyone or any party or any company in future in lieu of that financial sum. And we've seen those settlement documents, these amounts vary widely. Some are as low as a few thousand dollars, others are a little bit more, some even go up to half a million. But they all come with the same condition. And the problem that most of the families say, which is raising concerns, is that it's not asking them to give up future legal rights and settle only with the airline, but they are asking them to give up future claims against the plane maker, parts supplier, even the regulator and the government, all of who could potentially be liable for what happened. And the difference in the offers that Indian families and UK families are getting are also different. We've spoken to a lawyer representing 25 UK families who say that the offers that they are negotiating are for higher amounts, and there is no ask for a sweeping waiver like what the Indian families are getting. And we've been speaking with multiple families over the last several weeks, and they really say they are faced with this painful choice, whether they want to settle now or they want to pursue accountability. I've been speaking with Abbas Padaria, whose mother, Mariam, was on the plane and she was killed.

**Abbas Padaria** (2:01)
Here is what he told me. They have put a number on my mother's life, and the compensation offered to us is way lower than other families. Was her life less valuable? They're offering a few thousand dollars in addition to the entry amount and say, we can't hold anyone responsible for the crash later. We give up all future claims, we haven't signed yet.

**Leanna Byrne** (2:23)
So Archana, what has Air India said about this? Has it explained why the big discrepancies between Indian and UK victims?

**Archana Shukla** (2:31)
Air India did respond to our detailed queries. They did not give very specific answers, but they did say that they believe their offers are fair and it's within the law. But lawyers, you know, we've been speaking with them and they say that it's a little unfair because they're asking families to make permanent irreversible decisions before the crash investigation has actually established what caused the accident. And this may leave families with no legal cover or no legal recourse to seek accountability in the future. So asking for these large waivers could be damning for the families later on as far as their legal recourse is concerned.

**Leanna Byrne** (3:05)
Archana Shukla there. President Vladimir Putin is speaking at Russia's flagship economic forum in St. Petersburg today. Last month, Moscow cut its 2026 growth forecast by nearly a percentage point. Our Russia editor Steve Rosenberg has been speaking to President Putin's special envoy Kirill Dmitriev and asked him about Russia's slowing growth rate.

**Kirill Dmitriev** (3:26)
It's not as much growth as last year, but it's not as bad as UK and European media says. It's definitely better than European economy, better than UK economy. Why? Because Russia has diversified quite a bit, but also benefits from higher prices on oil.
Yes, interest rates are a bit too high. We believe they should be lower for more investments. But Russia economy has proven resilience over the last five years. Somebody that many Western analysts believe is impossible.
And many people forecast the collapse of Russian economy five years ago, four years ago, three years ago, two years ago. So Russian economy is resilient, is doing well. Actually, it's Europe who needs Russia to provide gas. It's Europe who needs Russia to survive.

**Steve Rosenberg** (4:09)
Big budget deficit, though, that's growing.

**Sam Fenwick** (4:11)
And a fuel crisis now in Russia, isn't it?

**Kirill Dmitriev** (4:14)
But let me put this in perspective. So debt to GDP in Russia is around 14% versus over 100% in Europe, 114% in the US. So Russia macroeconomically is much more stable than Europe, UK, or the US. Budget deficit can be much, much higher. So once again, if you look at realistic numbers, you see that Russia economy is faring very well, and it's very important that this is really, that decisions by Europe and UK are based on the real numbers, on the real situation, and not on their wishful thinking, because we feel that warmongers in UK and EU, people who don't want the conflict to finish, sometimes put wrong assumptions, wrong numbers in media, and become victim of their own narratives.