citizens party, the independence movement has kept an overall majority. it also says the results have rendered the prime minister's popular party "irrelevant". the front page of the daily mail is about borisjohnson‘s moscow visit, where the first secretary said britain is prepared and able to launch massive retaliatory attacks if russian—backed hackers target the uk. a top story in the straits times singapore looks at how the us corporate tax cut will prove a boon for singapore firms operating there. finally, the new york times international edition reflects on the tone of pop music in 2017, which, it says, has been too mournful and morbid. the article suggests that pressures on millennials and younger listeners are behind this rather bleak trend. let's begin. with me isjustin urquhart stewart, director of seven investment management. the catalonia elections are all over the papers. the whole aim of these elections was the tragic clear up

the issues, but it has just confused things even more? fascinating. the separatists got a small overall majority, but not with one party. the largest party was the unionist party. but not the party of the prime minister. they've ended up with a tiny number of seats, almost as one of the paper says and releva nt as one of the paper says and relevant number. so you've got the prime minister losing, the unionists are the largest, but overall the largest portion for separation. it's not going to be independence, but it will be more to make sure that those regional supporters in power will mean we end up with something like the basque powers. frankly if they done this before they wouldn't have had to go through this process. let's talk about business and the economy because catalan is crucial to the spanish economy and responsible for about 19% of gdp. what damage is this doing? already we've seen a pullout in terms of

people considering investing there. spanish companies have been moving some operations out of the area and going elsewhere, and also other companies are looking to invest in the country. actually saying, hang on, wait. this isn't unknown to us. ifi on, wait. this isn't unknown to us. if i reckon. it will say, until we know what you are doing with a hold. some companies are moving their legal headquarters out of catalonia and a lot of that is just paperwork at the moment. are we seeing companies moving out of spain as a whole? that's what good really hit their gdp. and the answer is not yet. it is unlikely overall. it will just shake confidence. inward investors want to see a stable country. they won't necessarily separate all of the areas. they will just look at spain and if it isn't seen as stable people go somewhere else. so spain has to get a grip on this and say, is perfectly fine, we

will get regional autonomy, however the country as a whole remains the same. we've been talking already about stock markets globally. what about stock markets globally. what about the ibex? they've lost value. we've seen this particularly with the spanish banks, how badly they we re the spanish banks, how badly they were hit by this, and that's just a reflection of confidence. if you look at the eurozone overall, the economy has picked up. the spanish economy has picked up. the spanish economy has picked up. the spanish economy has picked up will stop the real danger or the problem caused by the euro was youth unemployment, running at 50%. that's a long—term issue they've got to manage. leaving that aside, it's a big thing to leave aside, the rest of the economy has picked up. even the property market, which was so badly hit before. let's talk about one of the cata la n before. let's talk about one of the catalan papers which has really said that these elections have turned mariano rajoy‘s party into an

irreleva nt mariano rajoy‘s party into an irrelevant party. that's dangerous place for the spanish leader to be in. absolutely. he is the one who has been leading this and had an aggressive attitude. you will remember the action of some of the forces last time. he has been the one to be forcing this through and the reaction is very clear, his party has barely got any seats. three seats. barely any force at all, so frankly a humiliation for him. now is the time for proper leadership, to say, right, we will come this down and have a local organisation. briefly, the impact on the euro, it fell slightly overnight. i we expecting any more? this is maybe a surprise in terms of the result. compared to the overall economy it is relatively small. let's look at the daily mail. we are talking about rs johnson. let's look at the daily mail. we are talking about rsjohnson. the british foreign secretary. the first

timea uk british foreign secretary. the first time a uk foreign secretary has visited russia for some time. —— borisjohnson. visited russia for some time. —— boris johnson. this has been booked for some time. this isn'tjust on going off to make noises, at least i hope not! really the issue is this question of cyber control, cause of theissues question of cyber control, cause of the issues of hacking. we know already this been going on, but luckily we have something called gchq, largely seen as were the major centres to beat this back. boris johnson is highlighting that we will be prepared to that and we will react to that. i think that the right sort of message, that we have the ability to push back. if you try to interfere with us we understand how the system works. what does the uk want? a obviously looking for cooperation on some joint concerns, we are talking about north korea and also looking ahead to the world cup. accommodation of issues. first of all or asjohnson has accommodation of issues. first of all or as johnson has one accommodation of issues. first of all or asjohnson has one issue which is britain outside the eu.

what sort of relationship will it have with russia? russia has to deal with the larger party, the eu, and written. so he has to make sure it is an important partner to deal with. korea will be an issue but i imaginejohnson won't have much to say on that. gas will also be issue. and also the concern that's been overfoot and also the concern that's been over foot all and also the concern that's been overfoot all in and also the concern that's been over foot all in terms of how the arrangements are sorted out. always slightly suspect. but also how that will be operated and what the human rights issues will be. so there's a lot to talk about. i just hope rights issues will be. so there's a lot to talk about. ijust hope he will do with properly. he is not just meeting putin, he is also meeting some russian dissidents and activists. city isn'tjust trying to please putin —— so he isn'tjust. putin wants to make sure it is his

election and no one else gets involved. he doesn't need an overseas politician coming in staring him up. the one thing you can guarantee is he probably won't get much coverage from the local russian press. the government—controlled stations. so it will be news for us but i suspect not much over there. moving on to the singapore paper. us tax cluster boost forcing —— tax cut is a boost for singapore companies operating in the us. it is through before christmas and did anybody notice this angle coming? is this an unintended consequence that will benefit singapore companies?” unintended consequence that will benefit singapore companies? i love how the straits times always takes a positive view on anything to do with singapore and it's always a great paperfor talking singapore and it's always a great paper for talking up singapore business. quite rightly! . singapore isa business. quite rightly! . singapore is a small island. the size of the

isle of wight. and yet its ability to grow its economy has been very significant. so investing in america, you cut corporate rates, that's fine by us, because it won't affect our economy, it will benefit all of our companies in the us. so that's what the world should really look act. corporate tax rates going down will be beneficial to any subsidiaries and companies you've got in the use —— us. the trump is looking for people to invest in america and the singaporeans will say, we will do a bit of it. very positive. the new york times. they have got a story about pop music in 2017. glum and glamour. they are suggesting we'd had this morbid, traumatised sounds and they are blaming it on millennials and millennials having a tough time. blaming it on millennials and millennials having a tough timelj have to be the last person to ask about this. i am a leftover hippie.

the whole idea, i have to say, you listen to some of the music and it does sound rather morbid, but i quite understand the issues of millennials. they are in a position where buying a home is getting really difficult. in terms of what happened to your career, where that will go. so it could be very depressing. is that reflecting music? think so, i think it'sjust fashion. what's your favourite song of this year? i don't know! have a look and let me know later. thank you for your time. thanks for watching the briefing. from me and the rest of the team, goodbye. hi there. 0ur weather's going to stay pretty cloudy and mild between now and christmas day. looking back at yesterday's weather, it didn't really matter where you came from in england,

whether it was herefordshire, or north yorkshire or indeed surrey, the skies all looked pretty much the same. extensive low cloud and we've got more of the same to come not just across england, but across wales, a good part of northern ireland and much of scotland too. the mild air continues to feed in off the atlantic, we've got these weather fronts wiggling across the uk bringing pulses of thicker cloud at times and this will bring some outbreaks of light rain and drizzle. for some of us, it will be a damp start to the day. but look at these temperatures. 10 degrees across wales and southwest england. very mild here. a bit colder in scotland, where there will be patches of frost and there could be some dense patches of fog around as well. temperatures here could be slow to rise, as cloudier weather tends to build in over that cold air as we go on through the first of the morning.

weatherwise, little overall change, the damp weather tending to move away from england and wales. left with extensive cloud. still quite murky in the west into the afternoon and those temperatures mild for the time of year. similar to what we had on thursday, highs around 11, 12, even 13 degrees. through friday night we do it all over again. the cloud will thicken further, perhaps a few spots of drizzle and generally turning a bit murkier, so some fog forming again around the coast and the hills around the west. these are minimum temperatures and they're actually above the temperatures we would normally expect during the daytime at this time of the year. now, looking ahead to the weekend's weather prospects, we've got more of the same, really. quite mild and breezy, it will stay on the cloudy side, some rain into the north—west of the uk and that is one small change that we will see during the weekend. saturday, then, looks something like this. a lot of cloud around, misty and foggy across western areas, a few breaks in the cloud across eastern england to the eastern high ground of eastern scotland. at the same time it will turn wet in western scotland, thanks to the slow—moving weather front that will be around

through christmas eve, even into christmas day, bringing the threat of some localised flooding across these western areas of scotland. christmas eve, though, another mild one and another breezy one. temperatures again into double figures fairly widely across the uk, and for christmas day, if you want a white christmas, you can have one. head up into the scottish mountains above around 500 metres elevation, you will find some snow. those levels dropping a little bit later on christmas night, with southerly winds for the vast majority of us, christmas day is not going to be a white christmas day, it will be mild again with ten or 11 degrees with a lot of cloud across the sky. that's your weather. hello — this is breakfast, with charlie stayt and naga munchetty. an early christmas present for motorists as hundred of roadworks are temporarily lifted. but there's a warning that there'll still be severe delays as millions of drivers take to the roads on one of the busiest days of the year.

iam here i am here at the rac control centre in birmingham are expecting a busy day as the christmas getaway begins. good morning — it's friday 22nd december. also this morning: the woman who accused the former deputy prime minister damian green of inappropriate behaviour, says a downing street official knew of claims against him before he was promoted. back to blue — the colour of the british passport will change