this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. the former titan in the global car industry, carlos ghosn, has been indicted following allegations of financial misconduct. on the eve of the uk parliament's vote on theresa may's brexit deal, on the eve of the uk parliament's vote on theresa may's brexit deal, we look at the economic impact of the different outcomes. and on the markets... they begin the week on a shaky note. heavy declines at the end of the week on wall street has seen losses in asia. former nissan chairman, carlos ghosn, has been formally indicted by japanese prosecutors for under—reporting his compensation in company records. mr ghosn has been held in custody injapan without charge for the last 22 days. today japanese prosecutors must

either charge him or release him. sources close to the tokyo prosecutor's office say they intend to charge mr ghosn and then immediately re—arrest him on fresh allegations. he denies all charges. let's go to rupert wingfield—hayes in tokyo who has been following the story. what is the latest? the latest is we now have a statement from the prosecutors office saying that carlos ghosn has been formally indicted on charges of making miss state m e nts indicted on charges of making miss statements in security reports. this is exactly what we had been expecting but, on the last day that they could hold in— as you say, he has been held 22 days without charge is- has been held 22 days without charge is— today they either had to release him or charge him, and that is

exactly what they have done. what we do not know is that what they are going to do now. there have been reports they are preparing to read arrest him immediately on separate allegations. —— arrest him again. that would take him to the 30th of december, at keeping him in detention and being questioned. as we say, we do not know whether they will do that but he has been charged as expected. in terms of the company itself, listen, the car giant, will what does that mean? —— nissan. itself, listen, the car giant, will what does that mean? -- nissan. at renault or is an internal discussion about who should replace carlos ghosn. it is being held behind

closed doors. from an official lea ks, closed doors. from an official leaks, it closed doors. from an official lea ks, it sounds closed doors. from an official leaks, it sounds as though there is no agreement between the french company and nissan. this is a fraught time for both nissan and renault. the french side is extremely upset about what is happening to carlos ghosn. the british prime minister has resisted pressure to delay a vote on the withdrawal deal, despite the political mathematics indicating mps will not support it on tuesday. and later today the european court ofjustice is due to rule on whether or not the uk government can pull out of brexit without the say so of the other 27 eu countries. but, why would it want to? two weeks ago the uk government published it's own forecasts which showed the economy

continuing to grow but not by as much as if brexit didn't happen. the smallest hit was 2.5% of gdp over 15 years under the so—called chequers deal but the biggest reduction would be 9.3% if there was a no—deal brexit. the value of the pound against the us dollar has been something of a barometer of investor sentiment about brexit. this steep fall was when the leave vote happened in 2016 and it's been a downward trend in recent weeks as theresa may struggles to get parliamentary backing for the deal she's agreed with the eu. a lot of the concern in parliament surrounds the northern ireland border and what would regarding goods traded over the border if the uk and eu can't reach a deal. trade over that border was worth more than $3.4bn in 2016.

dr sam fowles, a fellow at the foreign policy centre joins me now. good morning. good morning. it cannot be underestimated how important this week is for parliament, the government, theresa may and our country. a report was released yesterday talking about the report being rife with uncertainty. the report goes through essentially every bit of important part of the negotiations included in the withdrawal agreement, on citizens rights it says there is a lack of clarity about what will happen to uk citizens living in the eu but also

whether the uk has the capability to fulfil its promises with regards to eu citizens living in the uk. on the financial settlement, the final number is still up in the air. on trade, it is not clear whether the trade, it is not clear whether the trade agreement will in fact be rolled over and applied to the uk during the the period. the prime minister, ever since she agreed to this withdrawal deal, has been saying this is the best deal on offer and we will not negotiate a better deal and it is the best for delivering racks at which is what people wanted. —— brexit. delivering racks at which is what people wanted. -- brexit. it has been the party line but it is not clear whether that is actually going to be the case. this is why the wilson case which will be decided

either today or tomorrow... wilson case which will be decided either today or tomorrow. .. what is that for people who do not know? this is... there are two cases. the wilson in the uk is a challenge to the court. and one in the eu as to whether the uk could go back on article 50. if it decides it can, that means the theresa may deal is not the only deal. we heard last week the recommendation that actually the uk could back out of article 50. we will get confirmation about whether they follow through with that advice. that is correct. the advocate general, a senior lawyer, a seniorjudge in this country makes a recommendation and the rest of the court, 27 judges will vote. what about the wilson case? this is the second case, in

the uk, that argues the result of the uk, that argues the result of the referendum is fundamentally tainted by what the claimants say is illegality on the part of the leave campaign. who put this case together? their uk eu challenge, a group of uk citizens living in the eu and what they say is the prime minister should have reconsidered what her course of action was in the light of these allegations against the leave campaign. the prime minister has said whatever illegality, it does not make any difference to me. the claimants say, fine, but is it actually the will of the british people and how can you be sure? that is what the court will be sure? that is what the court will be deciding today or tomorrow. another element to add it to the

layers of complications. thank you for joining layers of complications. thank you forjoining us. we will be keeping up forjoining us. we will be keeping up with all the twists and turns. we have plenty of analysis on our website and also we make sense of a lot of the detail and jargon on brexit. now let's brief you on some other business stories: huawei chief financial officer meng wanzhou is fighting to be released on bail after she was arrested on dec. i in vancouver at the request of the united states. she is also fighting the extradition request, and china has lodged a "strong protest"over her arrest to us. and canadian officials. ride—sharing firm uber has reportedly filed paperwork confidentially for its initialy public offering. it's racing with smaller rival lyft to be the first to market. both planned ipos are shaping up to be among the biggest of 2019. the french finance minister has said that the so—called "yellow vest" protests have been "a catastrophe" for the country's economy.

that comes after four consecutive weekends of demonstrations against fuel tax rises, high living costs and other issues. about 125,000 protesters took to the streets on saturday, with more than 1,200 ta ken into custody. a quick look at the markets... serious declines in asia following a drop on wall street on friday. now, how do you give fossils a future?

well, you put them online, and that's exactly what london's natural history museum and washington's smithsonian institution in the us have set out to do. our science correspondent victoria gill has the story. so, we're in our brachiopod collection. tucked into thousands of drawers, the entire history of life on earth. and there's dozens of things in every box, in every drawer. wow! yes, yes. there are a0 million fossils stored here at the smithsonian museum, and a team is carrying out the mammoth task of digitally recording every single one. we have drawers here in the collection that haven't been opened in decades. the data held within the museum drawers is trapped, and we are bringing that trapped data out into the light. we're mobilising it for research. photographing and logging the details of each specimen in this collection alone will take an estimated 50 years. but it is part of an effort

by institutions around the world to create a global digital museum, where every piece of the fossil record can be studied online. the devastating fire at brazil's national museum this year destroyed knowledge that was amassed over two centuries, and was a stark reminder of the need to protect and log such scientifically valuable collections. this goes way beyond insuring this huge collection. it means that this triceratops skull, for example, could be in dozens of places at once, anywhere in the world, for any scientist to study. museums have gathered vast amounts of evidence of hundreds of millions of years of evolution. now, the challenge is to make sure it is shared and studied, not hidden away in the dark. victoria gill, bbc news in washington, dc. coming up at 6am on breakfast, dan walker and steph mcgovern will have all the day's news, business

and sport. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: the british government is continuing to insist that a parliamentary vote on its brexit deal will go ahead as planned on tuesday, despite significant opposition to it from mps and warnings that it may fail. a 26—year—old man has been remanded in custody in new zealand, charged with murdering a british backpacker. grace millane went missing more than a week ago. on sunday, police found a body they believe to be hers. politicians from 150 countries will gather in morocco later for a conference to endorse a united nations agreement on migration. however, several european governments and the united states have pulled out. the agreement will not be legally binding. let's look at the stories that

are making the headlines in the global media. we begin with the times, and teresa may is facing the prospect of a leadership battle because of her brexit deal. the financial times now. it says deloitte has fired 20 uk partners over the past four years in a bullying and sexism purge. deloitte is the first nig four accounting firm to disclose the extent of dismissals for inappropriate behaviour in its senior ranks. —— big four. the back page of the mirror. its main story is about manchester city player raheem sterling, who is blaming the media for stocking up racial hatred after he was the victim of alleged racism at stamford bridge on saturday.

onto the business pages of the times, and a call to scrap interest on student loans in britain to help ease crippling graduate debts. and then finally, the new york times looks at the new finnish library that's notjust for bookworms. the library includes electronic equipment and event spaces, so culture vultures and technology lovers should feel equally at home in helsinki. with me is fiona cincotta, senior market analyst at city index. let's get stuck in. the times has got theresa may to face leadership battle over