this is business live from bbc news with alice baxter and ben bland. the weed killer conundrum — eu health experts are due to vote on whether or not to extend the licence for glyphosate over concerns it may cause cancer. live from london, that's our top story on wednesday the 25th of october. the industry say it's harmless and necessary for farmers but opponents claim it's carcinogenic. also in the programme, china's communist party unveils its new top leadership with no obvious successor among them to president xi. we'll find out what it means for the economy. of course, we will bring you up to date with the latest from the

markets. following a healthy run in asia overnight, european markets have opened. once the leader in smartphone technology, blackberry left the handset game last year to focus on software. we'll be speaking to the chief executive about the move. and a handwritten note containing albert einstein's formula for happiness has fetched $1.3 million at auction. so, we want to know — what's your secret to happiness? apart from watching bbc business life, of course! just use the hashtag #bbcbizlive. hello and welcome to business live. let us know what makes you happy. a two—year row over whether to ban the use of a common weed killer in europe reaches its climax later. eu health experts are due to vote on whether to extend the licence for glyphosate. it's a chemical used by farmers and gardeners across the world in the herbicide known as roundup. to give you an idea,

residue of the chemical has been found on 45% of europe's topsoil. and it was discovered in the urine of three—quarters of germans tested, at five times the legal limit. the reason this is worrying for some are the links between glyphosate and cancer. a study in 2015 by the world health organisation's cancer agency found that it was probably carcinogenic to humans. monsanto — which discovered the chemical and owns the roundup brand — insists it is safe. the other issue is what could replace it. severalfarmers unions have threatened lawsuits if the licence is not extended because they would have to completely change how they farm. with me is our economics correspondent andrew walker. as alice was mentioning, there is a

lot riding on this decision? yes, glyphosate is the most widely used pesticide and it is very important forfarmers as it pesticide and it is very important for farmers as it is currently practised, particularly in the european union. there have been a number of estimates about potential economic costs if they were unable to use it. one study suggested £1 billion per year would be the cost to british farmers. other studies in france suggested even larger costs for french vine growers and cereal farmers. so, yes, a lot at stake, quite apart from the potential losses for the suppliers. monsanto is one you mentioned. but there are other businesses that use the glyphosate in pesticides. it is also worth mentioning that the ability to use glyphosate is one of the key selling points of certain types of genetically modified crops, because they are resistant to glyphosate, which means that the soil around

them can be sprayed with this pesticide, with this herbicide, and they survive intact and don't have to deal with competition from weeds. the politics behind this are interesting. the european commission seems to be in favour of renewing the license, but the european parliament sits on the other side of the fence? the european parliament yesterday passed a resolution calling for glyphosate to be phased out over five years. the european commission originally proposed a ten year renewal. they are now accepting it is likely to be shorter than that. in a meeting happening today they are looking for something between five and seven years. it is striking, they could come in principle, go ahead and simply do this if they wanted to. but they wa nt to this if they wanted to. but they want to ensure that the member states are onside, because it is so politically sensitive. we had a

petition signed by more than i million europeans presented to the eu this week calling for no extension. i was speaking to somebody from the european crop protection agency earlier who said there is very little evidence that it is carcinogenic. that is one of the big issues that has made this so controversial? indeed. there are a couple of european agencies, one looking at food and one that chemicals, that have concluded glyphosate is probably ok. the main report against it is from, as alice mentioned at the beginning, from the who's mentioned at the beginning, from the who's cancer research agency, which thought it was probably carcinogenic to humans. that is based to a large extent to humans. that is based to a large exte nt o n to humans. that is based to a large extent on evidence from animal experiments and evidence looking at dna damage in human cells. at the very least, it is fair to say that the scientific community does not regard it as established fact that it is dangerous. 0k, regard it as established fact that it is dangerous. ok, thanks very much. let's take a look at some of

the other stories making the news. french carmaker psa group says it's seen its revenue rise strongly after it added opel—vauxhall sales numbers for the first time and increased deliveries in europe and latin america. the maker of peugeot and citroen cars saw a revenue rise of 31 percent to $17.6 billion in the third quarter from $11.1; billion a year earlier. shares of chipotle slumped more than 8% in late us trading after the mexican food chain missed earnings expectations. the company has struggled to win back customers after at least two food safety scares and a hacking attack. the last pack of uk—made cigarettes has rolled off the production line at the jti plant in county antrim. the japanese firm jti which took over gallaher in 2007 announced the closure of its ballymena plant in 2014. more than 800 people

were employed at the factory. china has revealed its new senior leadership committee but broke with tradition by not including a clear successor to president xijinping. what does it mean for the future of the chinese economy? first, robin brant is in beijing. just bring us up—to—date with what has been happening, and what does this all mean for the economy? five new faces. what we now have is the upper echelons of power, the seven person body, filled now with people who are loyal to president xi and what he wants to do with the

economy. it continues to grow at a rate that many in the west would envy, but the rate is slowing and the government needs to deal with changes to big state—owned entities that employ millions of people but are struck down by terrible inefficiencies. xijinping made it clear that he wants market reforms to remain in place, but he wants few of them but more of them,, the state—owned entities. we are not good to see sudden reforms that mean big bankruptcies and more privatisation. that is not going to happen. asian shares outside ofjapan edged higher on wednesday, while us treasury yields and the dollar got a lift following a report that republican senators were leaning towardsjohn taylor to be the next federal reserve chief. that is a name you might hear a lot more than the future.

but, tokyo's nikkei share average dropped for the first time in 17 days in choppy trade on wednesday — it looks like there's been some investor profit taking following the recent record run of consecutive daily gains helped this week by prime minister shinzo abe's coalition winning sunday's election. meanwhile, here in europe, stocks have opened wednesday. fairly mixed, but it is only really the london ftse 100 fairly mixed, but it is only really the london ftse100 that is slightly down. and samira hussain has the details about what's ahead on wall street today. earnings continue on wednesday with coca—cola reporting third—quarter results. now, while it is best known for soft drinks it seems bottled iced coffee was a big winner for the company. its rival, pepsico, reported a drop in soda sales in north america. that could be an indication that coke have gained some market share in the soda business. boeing will also be reporting.

now, the world's biggest playmaker saw an increase in total deliveries during the quarter. that was really led by more single—aisle 737 jets. but fewer higher valued widebody deliveries. finally visa, the world's largest payments processor will be reporting. now, with consumer spending rising, people were using the payment services of these are a lot more. that means this past quarter will likely have been a good one for the company. richard dunbar is investment director at aberdeen standard investments. good to see you, nice to have you on the programme. some healthy earnings reports from the us, helping to push the wall street stocks to a new record high? indeed, probably a good job. we are seeing reasonably good

results from the likes of caterpillar, gm, it is a reasonable result. next, the generally good results from banks in the us. tell us results from banks in the us. tell us what is happening with uk earnings? more mixed. there has been a well—publicised drop in the pound and the pressure that puts on the consumer. we have the likes of whitbread yesterday, companies finding it more difficult to make progress in the uk and more broadly in europe. things are a little bit more difficult and that is what we are seeing in the results coming through. i mentioned earlier that finally that slight dip we have seen in tokyo, after the huge consecutive run of daily gains? week now have a strong government, a weaker yen, positive for exporters. now the focus is back on what prime minister

abe is going to do. the tax policy, interest policy and trying to restore or improve some of the governance around the japanese corporate sector. we are going to focus on that. that is why the market has weakened back to real life, if you like. that is where the real challenge lies, the big structural reforms that seem to be quite slow to actually come into practice? cutting interest rates, reducing tax is quite straightforward. the whole restructuring, the changing governance, the change in the wake japanese companies do business, it isa japanese companies do business, it is a very positive change. what we have seen so far has been taken very well by markets. it is much more difficult than the first two that he helpfully fired. we're going to talk about the albert einstein note that fetched more than $1 million at auction about happiness. have a think about what your secret to happiness is. i have been told the secret to happiness is champagne, champagne and more champagne. that

is one of the market guests. that is ronjeremy, good is one of the market guests. that is ron jeremy, good to is one of the market guests. that is ronjeremy, good to know that is one of the market guests. that is ron jeremy, good to know that you are watching even when you are not doing the markets. still to come, blackberry‘s comeback — but without the iconic handset. we'll be speaking to the chief executive about how the company's doing now it's left the hardware market. you're with business live from bbc news. lloyds banking group profits soared 9% to £2 billion in it's third quarter results. an upbeat trading update from the bank called the uk economy resilient. theo leggett has been going through the numbers. is it all good news for the bank? it does generally seem to be good news. what's interesting is the reaction from shareholders. as you can see, the lloyds share price did

dip1.5% on opening. can see, the lloyds share price did dip 1.5% on opening. this is largely because the results are slightly lower than expectations. that is because expectations were so high. lloyds had a very good first half of the year. the last quarter has also been very good. figures massaged edit by the fact that we have a big allocation for payment protection insurance. even so, if you look at the figures over the past nine months, pre—tax profit of £45 months, pre—tax profit of £4.5 billion, up 38% on last year. it is generating profits. the government has sold the final tranche of shares. things are looking up for this bank, i think. what is behind the profit growth? if you listen to the profit growth? if you listen to the chief executive, simply that they have a prudent approach to investing. that the uk economy has remained largely resilient. also worth noting that these results don't contain any new provisions for ppi, payment protection insurance compensation. in july,

ppi, payment protection insurance compensation. injuly, £700 million was put aside for compensation, but this time there is nothing put aside, even though it is still getting a lot of applications. getting out of the way is a significant moment for the bank, as well as the fact that earlier this year the government back are out. it is putting crisis in previous good —— bad management behind it. lovely stuff, thank you. plenty of stories updated throughout the day on the website. on there at the moment, the fashion retailerjigsaw, talking about their marketing campaign, with the chief executive saying it is not political, just about basic humanity and values for us, saying we are about basic humanity and values for us, saying we are a about basic humanity and values for us, saying we are a brand that relies on a multitude of diversity, fabric from italy, people from germany, people from japan. we are

showing that very few of us are 100% british. more details of that on our website. you're watching business live. our top story, the weed killer conundrum. eu health experts will vote on whether or not to extend the licence for glyphosate. industry says it's harmless and necessary, but opponents claim it can cause cancer. now, let's talk about something a little bit different, shall we? a full qwerty keyboard, blackberry messenger and access to your email on—the—move. at the start of the decade, the blackberry smartphone was as ubiquitous as the iphone is today. but following the rise of both apple and other android—based rivals the company's share price has since plummeted over 80%. last year, blackberry took the landmark decision to stop manufacturing the handsets which the company had become famous for. instead, the business is now

focusing on online services such as cyber—security and driverless car technology. john chen ceo of blackberry is here . welcome. good to see you. john, when he took over at blackberry, charged with turning the company around, what did you pinpoint as the main problems that led to its demise from the dominant position it once held? well, we obviously were losing money and market share. you pointed out a little bit earlier that we have some strong rivals that came kind of out of nowhere, so with that, we were missing the then trend. that was the issue we had to face. as i was saying earlier, you took the decision about a year ago now to stop producing the formerly ubiquitous blackberry handset. do you look back now at the decision

with regret, do you think it was the right thing to do? well, first of all, we didn't really leave the bones behind. we licensed to others to build all these iconic things you mentioned. it is regret for only that we used to do everything, from putting it together, but now we have other people doing it. we licensed it and we manage the brand. i think the good days of the phone could yet come back but blackberry will get a royalty payment however broadly they sell the phone. so your focus is now very much on software and interestingly moving into the d riverless interestingly moving into the driverless car technology said. it strikes me that almost every day another company says they are going into d riverless another company says they are going into driverless car technology. i enter such a competitive field rather than focus on what you are known for, cyber security, and just do that thing really well without

getting distracted? wonderful questions. first of all, a car also needs cyber security. especially an autonomous driven car. it is very packable. —— it is very easy to hack. so we are applying that technology to cars. secondly, we happen to own a company which is the largest car software com pa ny, delivering 60 million cars software. when i came into the company, i looked at all the assets, what do you do well? so i said i will look at what we do well rather than what you don't do well and cars happen to be one of the areas where we were dominant. although we embed software and sell through others, providing

it to the car manufacturer, you will see us it to the car manufacturer, you will see us getting a bigger and bigger footprint. but are we right in thinking that you are perhaps not as bullish as others in the market in thinking it may be longer than we thinking it may be longer than we think before we see the driverless ca rs think before we see the driverless cars on our roads in a mainstream way? yes, i think there are a lot of problems to be solved and most of them are not technological. some of them are not technological. some of them are not technological. some of them are cost structure but a lot of them are cost structure but a lot of them are cost structure but a lot of them are at government level. we need to define how safe car must be before it is allowed on the road. there are a lot of different things. you can have a car driving along by itself as well as cars being driven by people like us. mistakes be made. a decision needs to be taken in a split—second, so i think the public policy, the whole insurance market, who is liable, everything has got to change, so it is not as simple as me

giving you a car. i could build you a car by 2021. i'd like to get back to your question earlier. i think the car market is heat so huge that it requires many players. so it is farfrom exaggerated. john, just very quickly, do you think blackberry has had its glory days because it can never reproduce the dominant it had in that sector? it was king, wasn't it? it was, but asi it was king, wasn't it? it was, but as i say, every car has security and we manage that every day, so i think thatis we manage that every day, so i think that is a dominance. john, thank you very much indeed. john chen, chief executive at blackberry. yes, that is very interesting. thank you. in a moment we'll take a look through the business pages but first here's a quick reminder of how to get in touch with us. the businesslike pages where you can

keep up—to—date with all the gay‘s breaking business news. we will keep you up—to—date with insight and analysis from people worldwide. get involved on the bbc‘s web page and on social media. richard is back to look at papers. first, let's read through some of the tweets you have been sending in because of the back of one of the paper stories we have been looking at today about einstein having written this note about the secret to happiness and it being sold for $1.5 million, we asked you what your secret to happiness was. one from barlow, finding another of einstein's handwritten secrets. that would make him happy. from back then, good company, good sleep and

good wine. derek says not caring what others think about you. ray says family, food and football. and jerome says sunset over the thames. remember to appreciate the little things in life. very good points. richard, your million—dollar secret to happiness. a free putt on the golf course. i think shopping for handbags and shoes and never feeling bad about yourself. how about you ? bad about yourself. how about you? i think focus on what you have rather than what you haven't got. it's so cheesy, isn't it? so much nicer than my response though. getting back to the article, what did you make of it?|j suppose we are going to focus

instead on the situation in dubai, we have clients in dubai, i have friends who do business in dubai and i have spent there myself. it is a place we can do business but it is a different way of doing business, a different way of doing business, a different culture and a different way of running a country, both in dubai and in the broader middle east. because this particular article in the independent follows the arrest and subsequent release of 27—year—old electrician jamie the arrest and subsequent release of 27—year—old electricianjamie haran who was arrested in dubai for public indecency and then this article was written by the former managing director of leeds united following his experience of working in dubai. yes, he was trying to transact in the football market, trying to buy assets into dubai and ended up in jail rather like jamie haran. there are obviously different experiences people have of doing business in

dubai and the broader middle east and experiences are mixed but the culture, governance, the way of running the country's, it is all difference. i was reading the article on my way into work this morning and it goes into a lot of detail about the experience of trying to get help and how difficult it was. there are sensitivities, aren't there, as people don't want to risk offending local customs and cultures but equally with this example of, what was his name again, the leeds united chap who was there, he was just there to take a case to court and it went rather sour. a really interesting article. well worth a read. richard, really good to see you. we will see you again soon. that's it from business live today. thank you again for all of your tweets. we have so many this morning. we will see you again soon. but by finau. —— goodbye for now. it

is another mild start to the day across the south—east of england but here we have got a bit of cloud and one or two spots of rain. that should clear away and for most of us todayit should clear away and for most of us today it should be dry with good spells of sunshine as well. the cloud of the south is associated with this weather front. it is quite a week weather front which is why there is not much rain on it either. it will generally clear away with good spells of rain developing in southern areas during this afternoon. elsewhere, we start off ona dry afternoon. elsewhere, we start off on a dry and bright note and we continue without sunshine into the afternoon. there could be a few showers into western scotland but they will be few and far between. a blustery winds and temperatures of 12 or 13 celsius. good spells of sunshine from northern ireland, northern england, wales, the midlands, eastern england and after this morning's cloud, and bit more

sunshine in the south. in the south—west, we may notice the cloud increasing as we go into the afternoon. that cloud will move its way northward again as we go through this evening into thursday and could see patchy fog develop and outbreaks of light rain across wales and into the midlands. temperatures overnight generally about 12 or 13 celsius but julia further north across scotland. for thursday, the best of the sunshine will be across northern england and scotland. for england and wales, it will be a cloudy day compared to today and with that, some spots of rain affecting northern areas of the scotland. —— northern areas of the scotland. —— northern areas of england. going into friday, that whetherfund northern areas of england. going into friday, that whether fund will move southward again, so taking the cloud and any rain with it. first thing friday morning, just like this morning, really, cloudy skies, a bit of rain first think, that should clear and then like today, most of

us on clear and then like today, most of us on friday, a dry day with some sunshine. temperatures coming down bya sunshine. temperatures coming down by a degree or two though. 13 degrees in the north, 15 in the south. that cooling trend continues into the weekend. high pressure to the west, low to the east, trapping isobars coming in from the north, so cooler as starts to come in as well. by cooler as starts to come in as well. by sunday, many of us will notice a much chillierfeel to our by sunday, many of us will notice a much chillier feel to our weather. state with us on the website over the next few days to stay up—to—date. that's it from me. hello it's wednesday, it's 9 o'clock, i'm tina daheley in for victoria, welcome to the programme. cyber stalking — which can be anything from sending repeated unwanted texts, to leaving nasty messages on social media — is a growing problem, but victims and experts complain it's not always taken seriously by police, and conviction rates are low. could a new approach and app being trialled by bedfordshire police change that? the royal bank of scotland has already been slammed

by the financial conduct authority over it handled of thousands of its business customers. now a group of small business owners tell this programme they have instructed lawyers to bring criminal proceedings against rbs — alleging the bank defrauded them and caused their businesses to fail. and should we treat women who kill their violent partners differently to other killers? we speak to the campaigners who are calling for a review of how women who murder after suffering domestic abuse are judged.