this is business briefing. i'm sally bundock. showdown in barcelona — can today's catalonia election see off an independence challenge that threatens one of europe's biggest economies? plus, inside silicon oasis. how the emirates are cultivating high—technology to support a post—oil economy. and on the markets, a bit of an anticlimax — congress finally approves president trump's tax overhaul, but wall street takes a breather from its month—long rally. we start in the spanish region of catalonia where voters are going to the polls today to pick a new parliament. the elections were called after october's referendum which saw a vote in favour of independence — plunging the country into a constitutional crisis. and with the separatist and pro—unity sides neck—and—neck,

that crisis looks set to continue. catalonia is barely more than 6% of spain's territory. but it accounts for around a fifth of the spanish economy, and almost a quarter of exports, as well as 16% of the population. last week the bank of spain cut its national economic growth forecast for next year from 2.5% to 2.4%, citing the uncertainty around catalonia as one of the main reasons. businesses aren't waiting to find out the impact. many are moving their legal headquarters out of catalonia. some reports suggest 3,000 have done so since the referendum, although politicians have been arguing over the numbers. take a look at the spanish stock market. it was rising strongly in the first half of the year. since 0ctober‘s referendum it's been on a downward trajectory. let's get more on this story.

0ur correspondent guy hedgecoe is in barcelona. hejoins me via webcam. you have been living in spain for some time. do you think that what we see today will be the end of the independence question? (inaudible). u nfortu nately we independence question? (inaudible). unfortunately we seem to have guy on mute. we will try again later in the programme. let's go to asia now, and china, which is the world's biggest market for beer. japanese brewer asahi tried to cash in by buying into chinese beer brand tsingtao, but it's given them a bit of a hangover. let's go to our asia business hub where rico hizon is following the story. tell us more? don't worry, i am not

on mute. you know what, we are seeing ina on mute. you know what, we are seeing in a major beer investment in the mainland, as you mentioned, one of the biggest markets in the world. you have sing tao —— tsingtao brewery company, the second—largest ruhr in china, now wholly owned by mainland investors. why? it is asahi, japan's biggest relate and one of the biggest in asia, is offloading its entire stake to be chinese conglomerates fusan international. asahi held an almost 20% stake in tsingtao and it is selling it for almost i billion 20% stake in tsingtao and it is selling it for almosti billion us dollars. this deal gives fusan access to wealthy chinese consumers. fusan has been centring its investment portfolio around what it calls wealth, health and happiness

industries, which provide goods and services for chinese middle class families. what is important as well for fusan international is that it wa nts to for fusan international is that it wants to buy back a time—honoured chinese rand, back from the japanese. —— brand. so there will definitely be more investment from fusan into tsingtao, and being the second biggest brewer in china, they may just try to become the second biggest brewer in china, they mayjust try to become the largest brewing company on the mainland. thank you. i had no idea it was such a big market. we will go back to guy, hopefully we have sorted out oui’ guy, hopefully we have sorted out our technical problems. we were trying to talk to you about whether oi’ trying to talk to you about whether or not today's outcome will have any real bearing on the big question of independence or whether this is just another chapter in an ongoing saga? that will all depend on the results, i think. if the unionist parties can somehow get a victory today and form

a government, then i think certainly there is a feeling that would mark there is a feeling that would mark the end of this half decade drive towards independence that we have seenin towards independence that we have seen in catalonia, if not want central, then for quite a long time. it will be difficult for them to form government, certainly. the pro—independence parties are slightly ahead in the polls. what we could see as a paralysis, with neither side able to form government over the next few weeks. there is a possibility of a repeat of the selection if that is the case. guy, thank you. —— repeat of this election. we are also in dubai, where the high—tech cityscape could soon become home to the world's first driverless flying taxi service. it's part of an ambitious plan by the united arab emirates to establish itself as a centre for advanced technology, and secure its economic future in a post—oil world. so will silicon valley have a new rival, silicon 0asis? recently, dubai has unveiled to the

world cutting—edge technological marvels like the pilotless flying taxi and robotic policeman, to control its shopping malls. —— patrol. the latest addition are these robots in the neighbouring emirate of khaja, encouraging people to ta ke emirate of khaja, encouraging people to take part in censuses. children are the biggest fans so far. ai gadgets like these robots are supposed to improve government services, but they also have another purpose in mind, which is to show that the emirates is a ready market for all types of high technology. tech firms from around the world are being encouraged to get involved by basing themselves here, divide's cilic on 0asis, to work on projects ordained by the government. ——

dubai's silicon 0asis. ordained by the government. —— dubai's silicon oasis. there is a lot of opportunities here for people to start their businesses and grow. technology will be at the forefront because of the drive of the government to be ten times faster than what is happening now. you can get an alert, on the intersection we are about to arrive at, when somebody is about to violate, a couple of seconds before the violation. one man who has chosen the emirates for his high—tech start—up is this doctor, formerly from mit. he has created an in car computer system to warn you of impending road collisions. this technology could help event up to 40% of car crashes, he says. technology could help event up to 4096 of car crashes, he says. this country is pushing for technology, for a for driverless vehicles. it was a great launching platform for us, from divide to the world. we are developing this technology notjust for divide and this region, but for the world itself. and for the rulers

of the emirates, trialling eye—catching gadgets like the drone taxi is also a launchpad, for creating a new technology driven economy. putting paid to the country's traditional reliance on oil wealth. gosh, what amazing pictures. now let's brief you some other business stories. president trump has hailed sweeping tax reforms after they were given final approval by congress, despite fierce criticism by democrats. the bill slashes taxes for corporations and the wealthy, while offering more temporary benefits for middle and lower income people. telecoms giant at&t has said it will pay a $1,000 bonus to more than 200,000 workers because of the tax reform bill being cleared. the firm, which still needs government approval to allow it to take over time—warner, also said it would invest an additional $ibn in the us in 2018. the us commerce department has ruled that canadian aerospace firm bombardier received government subsidies and sold c—series jets below cost in the us.

the investigation came after a complaint from us rival boeing. it is recommending import tariffs of almost 300%, but they'll only take effect if the us international trade commission rules in boeing's favour early next year. the global cost of disasters jumped 63% to $306 billion this year, according to insurance giant swiss re, well above the average of the past decade. the americas were hardest hit — hurricanes harvey, irma and maria caused insured losses of about $93 billion. and now, what's trending in the business news this morning. on twitter, apple admit they deliberately slow down old iphones. the tech giant has confirmed that updates in i0s intentionally reduce speed in older phones in order to preserve the life of batteries as they degrade. lots of responses that apple is basically forcing people to upgrade. from cnbc, dozens of companies are using facebook to exclude older workers from job ads.

this is a big story. want to know what you think of this. get in touch with us on twitter. the hashtag is #bbcthebriefing. lots of people are pretty angry about this. quite a big story. this is of course notjust happening in the united states. this story is doing very well on social media at the moment. i think what we will do now is pull out and have a quick look at the markets. we are seeing a little bit of, well, you know what? all those tax cuts were priced into the markets, so there was a bit of disappointment. it was already priced in. people are closing up their positions before

the end of the year, people are thinking about christmas of course, only a few days to go. a mixed session happening over in asia. don't figured that the bank of japan decided to keep its monetary policy unchanged. —— don't forget that the bank of japan. very unchanged. —— don't forget that the bank ofjapan. very interesting unchanged. —— don't forget that the bank of japan. very interesting that they pointed to european debt as one of the key concerns. that is one of the things which has fallen off the radarfor most the things which has fallen off the radar for most investors. interesting that they are bringing it to the agenda. plenty more is coming up later on, and i will have lots more news for you, including the papers. see you then. thousands of mothers and babies in england have been harmed by problems in their maternity care over the past two years. records seen by the bbc show worried hospital staff reported more

than a quarter of a million incidents to the health regulator nhs improvement, the equivalent of one mistake for every five births. 0ur health correspondent adina campbell reports. wendy and 0rion from east sussex lost their baby daughter three years ago. —— ryan. she was stillborn. nhs investigations found that some maternity guidelines were not followed. leaving the tall with a box of things, instead of your baby, was just... box of things, instead of your baby, wasjust. .. having box of things, instead of your baby, wasjust... having to box of things, instead of your baby, wasjust. .. having to leave box of things, instead of your baby, wasjust... having to leave her there, going home and leaving your baby there. you can't comprehend it. it was here at this hospital where wendy was cared for. despite telling staff that she had concerns about her baby's movements, she was sent home on two different occasions. figures seen by the bbc show that

there were more than 207 5000 maternity care incidents reported voluntarily by concerned staff in england over the last two years. the problems included women being told to stay at home, babies being left brain damaged, and potentially avoidable deaths. just over three quarters of the incidents reported did not cause any harm to mother or baby, but more than 60,000 dead. something the government says it is hoping to rid jews under new plans announced last month. —— 60,000 did. we wa nt announced last month. —— 60,000 did. we want to be the safest health system in the world. the vast majority of the site completely safe. at what is going wrong at the moment is that when we have a tragedy, we are not learning from it has effectively as we should. east sussex healthcare trust says they have apologised to wendy and 0rion, and admitted some aspects of this service did not meet usual standards. —— ryan. this is the breathing, from bbc

news. a latest headlines. cattle lines will go to the polls in a couple of hours to vote in regional elections amid the worst political crisis in decades. —— catalans. uk prime minister theresa may sacks her close ally damian green. he is the third cabinet minister to leave within two months. abb has been born from an embryo frozen for 25 years. it may be the longest gap tween conception and birth since ivf began. silicon 0asis — how the emirates are cultivating high—technology to support a post—oil economy. now it is time look at the stories that are making the headlines in media across the world. we begin with the independent who are calling the sacking of first secretary of state, damien green, prime minster theresa may's "nightmare before christmas" — saying this will plunge the prime minister into a new cabinet crisis. meanwhile the telegraph

took a softer tone but it recognised that green is the third cabinet minister to be forced from office in the past two months, reversing the fortunes mrs may's appeared to have gained with success in brexit talks the front page of arab news includes the story of saudi king salman‘s reassurance to palestinian president mahmoud abbas that the kingdom continues to support palestinian claims tojerusalem. the un general assembly today is holding a rare emergency session to vote on the trump administration's jerusalem announcement. the japan times looks at facebook‘s new facial recognition feature that tells people on the social network when others