tough new sanctions against north korea. he said the move showed the world's desire for peace, not war. under the new sanctions oil imports to north korea will be severely limited. in the first visit by a british foreign minister to moscow for five years, borisjohnson has acknowledged that there are "difficulties" in relations with russia, but said he wants the situation to improve. his russian counterpart sergei lavrov said it was no secret that bilateral relations were at a "low point". two former south american football officials have been convicted by a us court of taking millions of dollars in bribes. paraguay‘sjuan angel napout and jose maria marin of brazil are likely to be jailed for at least ten years for taking bribes to grant broadcasting contracts. now on bbc news, rachel horne looks back at the big business stories this year, and asks what we can expect in the coming twelve months in review 2017: the business year. it was a year of crucial

negotiations. no deal from it was a year of crucial negotiations. no dealfrom britain is better than a bad dealfrom britain. we would love to have europe a la cart... and a year of bold promises in the worlds largest economy. and i can think of no better christmas present for the american people then giving you a massive tax cuts. it was a year where some of the world ‘s most influential companies hit a bump in the road. the taxi at uber will not have its licence renewed by transport for london. it says the firm is not fit and proper to operate. but others defied the critics to post record—breaking results. welcome to review 2017, a year in

business. we have all about to come but we are starting here in westminster, the home of the british government, where big ben isn't the only thing under construction. what about that brexit deal? back in march the uk prime minister theresa may triggered article 50, and negotiations began. shoulder to shoulder, not isaiah. just toonie is to negotiate ——. i do i. just two yea rs to negotiate ——. i do i. just two years to negotiate written‘s departure from the eu but rich —— brussels would not even start negotiations before sorting out three key issues, the irish border, the divorce bill and the right of eu citizens living in the uk. this woman is the chief lobbyist at the economy group which represents businesses here in britain. there

are serious questions about... it has been challenging for business, and led to confusion, we have not had clear leadership across the cabinet. and in a sense i think it was helpful to have the florence speech whether prime minister set out what the government was hoping to achieve, but sometimes we have seen the cabinet not always united behind that position. with no clarity on the uk's future trading relationship with the european union, some is started to trigger their contingency plans. the big service sector that was unaffected or thought it might be affected by this article 50 process was of course financial services, britain has a big trade surplus with the rest of the european union on financial services, so banking the example, a huge amount of trade in the european union, a lot of trade from the european union into london, london is the financial capital of europe. those set is that our most

intertwined with europe were those that were most concerned. uncertainty was rife, but there were further complications to come. uncertainty was rife, but there were further complications to comeli have just further complications to comelj have just chaired a meeting with the cabinet, where we have agreed that the government should call a general election to be held on the eighth of june. the conservative party fought this would give them a bigger majority in parliament, and a stronger hand going into negotiations with the eu. the gamble didn't pay off. bong. what we are saying is the conservatives are the largest party, they don't have an overall majority at this stage. last half— hour, overall majority at this stage. last half—hour, the overall majority at this stage. last half— hour, the prime overall majority at this stage. last half—hour, the prime minister has apologised to colleagues for losing apologised to colleagues for losing a parliamentary majority and having to rely on support from the democratic unionist. i wanted a different result last night and i am sorry for all those colleagues who lost their seats, didn't deserve to

lose, and of course i reflect on what happened. it is a hung parliament. so the conservatives have 309 seats, labour 258, there is no way the conservatives can go to 320... no way the conservatives can go to 320. .. stirling was significantly down against the dollar following the brexit vote already, and injune it took another hit after theresa may's government lost its majority. the fall in sterling raise the cost of imports and led to a steep rise in prices. with inflation above target, the uk's central bank was forced to take an unprecedented step. first time in a decade, the bank of england raised rates. the really extraordinary period we had of cheap money started with the financial crisis was coming to an end. raising rates after ten years for a whole generation of borrowers was quite significant, when you think about the implications

critically on mortgage rates and borrowers and things like that. a small step in absolute terms, but very much the first of a journey. this year the big story has been around two numbers, firstly that inflation number which is 3.1%, and the other important number for how people experience the economy is the increase in incomes, and they have only been increasing at 2.3%. that has created this living standards qui is, real incomes are actually falling. inflation affects us all, that means higher prices and our wages go less far. —— living standards squeeze. growth forecasts we re standards squeeze. growth forecasts were revised down by several organisations, including the international monetary fund and the government ‘s own independent economist. but in december, a breakthrough. there would be no hard board of the northern ireland, britain and the eu had come to

sufficient agreement on the three separation issues, and talks could move on to trade. i think the agreements that we came to in december has increased confidence, that at least progress is being made, and it is probably giving business a better understanding of how we are going to leave the european union. at least there is now a deal on the money that britain will pay to the european union on citizens rights, i think the one big area where there is still concern is over the irish border. the only land border between the united kingdom and northern ireland and the republic of ireland. and the fact is, the british government has said they want that border to remain open. how will we do that, if we are going to leave the customs union and the single market? that is the big challenge now, what type of relationship will we have with the re st of relationship will we have with the rest of the european union? in order to be able to keep that frictionless trade going, which is what theresa

may has said she wants. what businesses want to see as soon as the bowling 2018 is a time—limited —— as soon as the bowling 2018 is a time—limited —— as soon as possible in 2018 is a time—limited transition agreement, and clarity around what our final relationship will be with the eu, getting a good agreement on our trading relationship with works across all sectors and all regions of the uk, and it is certainly about the people and having clear guarantees for eu citizens who are here and contribute into our economy, but also to uk citizens who are working abroad, we have made good progress on that in 2017 but we need to go a lot further on that. brexit and a general election made a pretty eventful byzantine here in the uk, and in the us they have been dealing with their own are expect that political results. at the beginning of the year donald trump took control of the white house and he had somebody bold ideas about the

future of the world's largest economy. 2017 started off with a major political shift in washington. the election of us president donald trump took many by surprise, including us markets. jitters were felt across the board, at the prospect of a president with very little political experience. but the day after his election, stocks were trading heide, —— higher, because of mr trump's trading heide, —— higher, because of mrtrump's campaign trading heide, —— higher, because of mr trump's campaign promises. the market has stormed base on tax reform and infrastructure, so if we can get those in place, maybe the market can finally settle and justify some of the valuations. market can finally settle and justify some of the valuationsm was the legislative promises of this administration that brought some of the euphoria on us markets. breaking records 70 times this year alone. but in terms of actual laws on the

books, tax reform has onlyjust made it to the president ‘s desk, squeaking in at the tail end of 2017. we have created 2.2 million jobs since the election, unemployment is at a 17 year low, the unemployment rate in a manufacturing business is the lowest in recorded history. consumer confidence is a 17 point hi, pensions and retirement accounts are soaring, as the stock market hits 85 new record highs since the election, how are we doing, are we doing 0k? not bad, right? the us economy has also had consecutive quarters of 3% growth. but how much credit can the president take for what has happened this year? some would argue, not very much. the current administration has inherited a rather strong economy. the economy has been chugging along through 2017

and even 2016, and we think president trump is very lucky in that he has been able to inherit such a relatively nice economy. how does the president plan on keeping the us economy on this path of growth? 0ne assumption is that given corporations are big tax cut will create jobs. but earlier this year atan create jobs. but earlier this year at an event with white house chief economic adviser gary cohn, ceos in the audience were asked what they would do with the money they would no longer be putting towards taxes? if the tax reform bill goes through, do you plan to increase investment, your company's do you plan to increase investment, your compa ny‘s capital investment do you plan to increase investment, your company's capital investment if the tax reform goes through? why aren't the other hand is up? well, so aren't the other hand is up? well, so much for the theory. and the tax bill comes with other problems. this tax package is not that neutral. you are looking at maybe $400 billion in

economic activity generated from the package, but it will cost close to 1.5 billion. that means for every dollar spent by the us government, we are only getting 30 cents back. if you are counting a column —— competence, the president has inherited a healthy economy and has just been now able to pass a tax bill. but the president can take credit for deregulation. within our first 11 months, we cancelled or delayed over 1500 planned regular tory actions, —— regular tory actions, more than any previous president by far. under the trump administration, the environment protection agency has rolled back more than 60 rules. the us it's due —— us security and exchange commission has been enforcing rules less, and incoming chair of the federal reserve has said some of the banking rules in place after the financial crisis should be pulled

back. one, two, three. all of this has helped the economy in the short term, but the long—term impact could be unpleasant. the pendulum swings every eight years or so, and that is a common thing. this wing is more radical than it has been at any time back to reagan. there is more than the traditional pendulum swing. now the traditional pendulum swing. now the question is, what can we expect from the economy going forward? the financial markets seem like they will say stronger now.|j financial markets seem like they will say stronger now. i would think the first half of 2018 should be pretty positive, this has room to go. is it going to be up 20% again in 2018? probably not. strong markets mean mr trump will still have one of his favourite economic indicators to boast about. if however some of his other economic aspirations don't pan out, that could pose problems for what could already be a tricky mid—term election. still to come, will 2018 be the year

of the electric revolution? 0ur gadget guru gets a sneak peek at the new nissan leaf as he gives us his top tech predictions for the year ahead. but first, it is the poster child for the gig economy, the world ‘s biggest taxi provider, although technically it doesn't actually implore you any drivers. ute has transformed the way we move around our cities. but in a year when the chief executive was forced out, three uk cities extended —— suspended licences, and a huge data breach was revealed, i decided to ask a driverfor breach was revealed, i decided to ask a driver for his story, and guess who i found in my and uber? simonjack, what guess who i found in my and uber? simon jack, what are guess who i found in my and uber? simonjack, what are you doing in my uber car? james couldn't turn down my application for his programme, so here we are. gareth, you are in the

driver, thank you for picking us up. how long have you been driving for? the first journey are made how long have you been driving for? the firstjourney are made in either, i picked some kids up from school, and i got chatting to the drivers, i wanted to find something i could fit in contracts and start pursuing my passion, which was more creative field, i want to do a bit of acting. is uber venue waiting tables in hollywood? of acting. is uber venue waiting tables in hollywood ?|j of acting. is uber venue waiting tables in hollywood? i think it is. i tell people that. it beats waiting ta bles i tell people that. it beats waiting tables because i don't have to go to the bar manager and say, my grandmother, she is ill, that type of stuff. the flex ability of uber of stuff. the flex ability of uber of italy which were you, but not all the drivers agree, we had that tribunal in the uk where it was recently upheld that uber drivers should be classified as workers, not as self—employed. let's listen to one of the guys who brought that. the gig economy model like uber

relies on workers they can exploit, in the case of uber, i was working due to desperation. finance, insurance, licence fees and the list goes on. workers feel exploited on the streets of london and the uk. gareth, do you see yourself as self—employed or as a worker?” gareth, do you see yourself as self-employed or as a worker? i view myself as self—employed because that is what i signed up to. that is what you are told. it is kind of extreme that... that drivers are being exploited. i mean, you could say, we are all exploited when we do a job. what thing i don't feel exploited about is working 9—to—5. what thing i don't feel exploited about is working 9-to-5. it is that desire for flex ability that runs this gig economy, and uber is the embodiment of gig economy? uber is

the poster child for the gig economy. it is the biggest company by far, last time someone bought a share in it it was worth $68 billion. i think there is a wider question here, which is, what does the buberl question here, which is, what does the buber i seshan of the economy mean? the chancellor tried to future proof the economy, against the growth —— growth of the gig economy. he tried to increase the national insurance on self employed workers, there was a massive revolt, he had to climb down, it was embarrassing, but it is a massive problem for governments around the world, how do they deal with changing nature of work? do you pick up any of the kind ofangerand fear work? do you pick up any of the kind of anger and fear that they have been disrupted by black cab drivers here in london? i talk to cab drivers about uber, they give a very different opinion, what do you make of that?

when people had tractors, they talk to people who were pulling ploughs and they were saying that people we re and they were saying that people were stealing theirjobs. i'd be worried about self driving cars then? i was about to say that, i have to accept that. hopefully we will rise against the machines and people will say no, i need a human person to speak to. luckily the gareth, driverless taxis are still some way off but what other developments can we look forward to in 2018? who better to ask than our tech are, richard dylanjones? a commissary, turn on the christmas tree. —— siri. alexei, pleasant christmas carols. hey, google, what are your tech predictions the 2018? sorry, i don't understand. luckily i

have invited to top pundits to look into our technology future. men! gracey, go straight on through. rhiannon, where is social media going in 2018? is snapchat finally going in 2018? is snapchat finally going to reach or people like me? that is a good question. what are you wearing? snap spec eccles, rory, so you wearing? snap spec eccles, rory, soi you wearing? snap spec eccles, rory, so i can snapchat on the go, take my pictures and up to. but proved pretty unsuccessful. far as we know they didn't sell half as many as they didn't sell half as many as they were too, so i think they are still making a really big play for a more general audience, at the moment it is still very much weighted towards teenagers and the under 24th of using snapchat but on the reverse side, facebook‘s is a ship is going up side, facebook‘s is a ship is going up and up, one third of the world is now on them. now, how good is it animating us? i am sure this will

but maybe not with my demographic. stuart, how are we going to entertain ourselves in 2018? stuart, how are we going to entertain ourselves in 201mm stuart, how are we going to entertain ourselves in 2018? it is an exciting time, lots of money is being thrown into traditional and future sensors, traditionally this year with netflix and amazon crime and even apple are getting into the string of things, putting billions of pounds into creating amazing shows and trying to convince us of that, and we have had a huge explosions in the games market, fresh release from xbox and playstation, the switch from nintendo has pretty much turned the company around, there is mario and zelda and evolution is happening now of this sort of, the creation of the art mixed reality and a art, so virtual reality, mixed reality, augmented reality. so one application of augmented reality i can put furniture in my kitchen? let's have a go. i will buy the stall. would it look bad? yeah, i

think that will work. i have bought myself a new stall. rhiannon, a kind of noticed you brought a little robot with you, but that say something about your big seemed to next year? i seem to 2018 is going to be robots and artificial intelligence. so what is an example of this? kosovo have a little front facing camera at the bottom of his face which enables him to see everybody and also have a his path. path. —— cosmo. you can programme him to remember you so have programmed him to remember my name so programmed him to remember my name so he can say rhiannon and look at you and several reasons look at you and say stuart would you can teach him to recognise the family dog and when he sees the dog he will go off.

amazon eco is already been a key example of this sort of early stages of ai example of this sort of early stages of a! that people are playing into etihad google home, google assistant as well, apple will do it, with siri which we have seen in their phones are they will work it into a home at pod. help me to speak russian. good morning my fellow technology pundits. good to have you here. speaks russian. you speak good russian, don't you? but seriously, amazing technology, these things. we are not very impressed with them yet, though, are we, this kind of device? it is incredible that 30 yea rs device? it is incredible that 30 years ago, we dreamt of something like the apple fish which could do insta nt like the apple fish which could do instant translation and it did. or the universal translator from star trek. —— babelfish. ithink it the universal translator from star trek. —— babelfish. i think it is the double guessing, people don't

100% cost it and it is more of a social thing that you don't want to be in that situation and say something and then start some new global war kind of thing because you have that something wrong. my big scene have that something wrong. my big scene is about the way more and more of us will get around next year. i think you will like it. i have a surprise. what is it? this is the latest in electric motoring. it is the new nissan leaf, it is going to be out next year, so tesla, look out. argue fans of electric motoring? definitely. absolutely. here it is, parked in front of my front lawn. while i run an extension cord across the? a lot of people have driveways to park on. cord across the? a lot of people have driveways to park onlj cord across the? a lot of people have driveways to park on. i would need lamppost with charging point, streets, where do? it is a part of the budget proposal last month that they wanted to create a nation of charging point is that people will get rid of the fear of electric cars which is running out of gas when you

are which is running out of gas when you a re halfway which is running out of gas when you are halfway down the motorway and you cannot charge it anyway so once people are reassured that there will be able to charge it at regular intervals, it probably will be what it needs for electric cars to truly ta ke it needs for electric cars to truly take off. i think we will start to see over the next 3—5 years a push on electric and once you get a charging system working either through this amazing lamppost system that we have almost streets or in this sort of long—term future charging pads within the tarmac of the road, then it is the future, we are getting there, it isjust in the final stage of mass adoption. your chariot awaits. happy christmas and enjoy the ride. cheers, thanks. alexei, stop. that is all we have time for in the year 2017 but we will be sure to bring me all the latest breaking news on brexit, trump, who have and electric cars in the new year. but for now, things

are watching. hi, there. it has been cloudy for the past few days, very mild as well. more of the same to come over the next few days in the run—up to the big day itself. staying mild, turning a bit windier, and a bit of rain across the north—west the uk. particularly for western scotland. for the time being we've got a lot of cloud and high pressure to the south of the uk. these westerly winds bringing cloud off the atlantic. the weather front approaching scotland, bringing outbreaks of rain and wet weather to start the day across the northern isles. for many of us it's a dry, a cloudy and mild start. misty and murky around western coasts and hills, but probably not as murky as it has been over the past few days on account of the stronger winds. the winds pick up on saturday in the northern half of the uk and they will encourage a few breaks in the cloud every now and then. not many breaks for most of england and wales.

it stays pretty dull and cloudy for most of the day. still murky over high ground of the moors in the south—west, across the hills of wales and pennines too. temperature wise, 10—12 celsius, similar to the last few days. the rain working in through the afternoon in northern ireland. turning wet in scotland. in eastern areas, prospects of a few bright and sunny spells on account of the strong winds blowing holes in the cloud sheet. through saturday night, there will still be some pulses of rain coming and going across scotland. if anything it turns heavier in western areas and it will be persistent. another mild night. temperatures 9—10 celsius widely. for christmas eve and christmas day, this weather front becomes very slow—moving, often targeting western scotland, with pulses of heavy rain. those rainfall totals mounting up. we could see some localised surface flooding across western scotland in the run—up to the big day. so the potential for localised transport disruption here. christmas eve will be a breezier day. 0ften cloudy, still with spots of rain and drizzle in western areas.

the stronger winds again encouraging a couple of cloud breaks every now and then. temperatures, as you were —10—12 celsius. christmas day, we continue the theme of mild and cloudy weather. a bit windier. the band of rain moves in across northern ireland and scotland and into the far north—west of england and wales. if you go into the high mountains, above 500 metres elevation, you might see a bit of snow, but for the vast majority it is going to be a mild christmas day. but after christmas, keep in touch with the weather forecast because it turns colder and the chance of seeing heavy snow perhaps affecting parts of the pennines, which could cause disruption after christmas. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm gavin grey. our top stories: the un security council unanimously backs tough new sanctions against north korea, severely restricting its ability to import oil. today this council stands united against a north korean regime that

rejects the pursuit of peace. a man's been charged in the united states with planning a terrorist attack in san francisco over christmas. two former fifa bosses are found guilty by a court in new york of accepting millions of dollars in bribes. also in the programme: thousands gather at the imperial palace injapan to wish emperor akihito a happy birthday.