i'm maryam moshiri. 33: fl??? ffiéé §h§§§| f? ggfié‘iltfi w”? "7 ”ww 7 asjlnameshossesrm plus, the system is working, despite trump's trade war. and on the markets, investors cautious in asia despite a positive close on wall street, after strong earnings from ibm. concerns about that political deadlock in the us still weighing we start in paris where in a few hours time the future leadership of car giant renault will be decided. in japan, fer alleged;

the french government is renault‘s top saying ""renault needs sustainable governance". carlos ghosn is accused of failing to disclose some $80 million he was paid when he was also boss of nissan between 2010 and 2018— which he denies. the japanese firm has already sacked him, but renault‘s own investigation has cleared him. (mix screen 2) and this is where the big problem lies. renault has controlled nissan since it rescued it from bankruptcy back in 1999 — despite these days being a far smaller company. some have suggested the allegations against ghosn are part of a wider

japanese push to take back control from the french. these are likely to be the new bosses of renault. jean—dominique senard — who runs tyre giant michelin. and thierry bollore — who was carlos ghosn‘s deputy. japan's nikkei newspaper says france will now try and merge renault, nissan and its other partner mitsubishi into one company. something nissan's newjapanese boss was asked about this week. soms i 1ing nissan's newjapanese boss was asked about ti i week. soms i 1ing nissan's newjapanese boss was asked abou‘ for week. soms i 1ing nissan's newjapanese boss was asked abou‘ for boys ek. members of companies to move things nissan “lt come up members of companies to move things nissan mi come up with forward, nissan must come up with new leadership. with both companies can talk on an equal basis, that will be a step in the right action. anna—marie baisden is head of autos research at fitch solutions it feels to some degree that renault has had its hand forced it to some

degree. to some extent because nissan had already moved in getting new leadership. i think it was reported that even some of renault‘s new employees said that carlos ghosn's position was not tenable, so i think that renault had to move. renault are tasked with try to soothe relations between renault and nissan. renault used to be the junior partner but it sells more cars. yes, i think it has been difficult in the way the ownership has been set up. they bring different models to the partnership and geographic exposure. that's been behind the success with the alliance. it is difficult but they also now they need to keep going. there is talk of the alliance becoming a merger. where is the

truth lie? we think this company is going to go next? we believe the alliance, if they can keep it together, should stay together because of the success they've had in keeping the business going. if anything, with the challenges facing the industry, particularly this year, it would help to have the alliance. we are going to see more partnerships of anything industry. if they can keep it together, that would be stronger than them. i want to ask about that because now seems the time the car companies to look at alliances and allegiances. times are tough out there. talking through what the car industry is going through. absolutely, you have a lot of uncertainty around trade relationships. the us the eu and china. you might be a european company but if you are producing in the us, the trade war will affect you. they've got those challenges, wea ker sales, you. they've got those challenges, weaker sales, increased regulation

coming up, semi— challenges. a lot of costly challenges as well which is alliances and partnerships help. it's definitely a timely want some strong leadership. good to talk to you. thank you bring much indeed. let's go to the swiss ski resort of davos now — which is hosting the global elite for the annual world economic forum. our own sally bundock is there— she's been talking to the head of the world trade organisation— roberto azevedo. he has defended his organisation from criticism by president trump — and others — that it just isn't working. we have a mandate now from the 620 leaders to reform the system, including the united states, he was a very vocal promoter of proposing this reform. this is an opportunity to address the shortcomings. you say the us is vocal, president trump has

threatened to withdraw. saying it treats the us unfairly. the us will try to achieve more balance in the disciplines, that is a conversation that has to be acceptable to everyone. all the members will have to be onboard. important group of members who would like to be onboard the changes the us would to see. many say it is evidence that it's not working and one of the issues is that it takes time to solve disputes. that criticism comes to people who have no idea what the wto does. a lot of what's happened since 2008, we have a financial crisis, what has not happened since then, a very significant depression, a com plete very significant depression, a complete turn to unilateral measures, protectionism, know that happen. another happened precisely

because the system functions. is it the perfect system, is a system that everybody would like to see? maybe not. i would say that without the system, the situation of the global economy would be much, much worse thanit economy would be much, much worse than it is today. let's talk about brexit. what you think is the best route for the uk? a soft brexit or ha rd route for the uk? a soft brexit or hard brexit. whatever is best for the uk economy, whatever brings the uk citizen a better quality of living, better quality of life, that is what is best for the country. as far as the organisation is concerned, looking from a global perspective, the less disruption and disturbance and ripples to the global economy, the better. that was sally talking to the head of the world trade organisation. sally has a lot more coming in the next day or so. a lot more coming in the next day or

so. do stay with us here on bbc world news. let's go to asia now — and chinese telecoms giant huawei has said sales at its consumer business hit a new record last year on strong demand for its premium smartphones. rico hizon is following the story. a different tie today. yesterday you are wearing a tie with doughnuts on it. today, it's more of a paisley pattern. you are absolutely right and i'm sure you love it. i have a thing about tyres, and you know it. let us talk about huawei. consumer business hit by a new record last year. good news, at least, for the chinese helicopter giant. smiling from ear to ear, $52 billion in consumer sales. that is a lot of smartphone sales. that is a lot of smartphone sales. a record, despite those revenues. huawei continues to face

heightened global security concerns over its relationship with china's government and us— that allegation devices could be used by beijing. the company could never do anything to harm customers. its allies, including australia and new zealand, have restricted while a's message. at the request of the us. the bottom line, huawei is making money. as we know, that's all that matters. now let's brief you on some other business stories. ford says it lost money in every global region except the us in the last three months of 2018. asia—pacific was hardest hit after sales slumped in china. ford is restructuring its operations this year with thousands ofjob

cuts, an alliance with volkswagen and possibe plant closures in europe tesco's former finance director has told the bbc he was made a scapegoat for the 2014 accounting scandal that wiped more than a billion dollars off the compa ny‘s value. carl rogberg was cleared on wednesday of fraud and false accounting. a second trial involving the retail giant's former uk boss and commercial director collapsed last month after a judge ruled the evidence was too weak to put before the jury. real madrid has topped the table of the world's 20 richest football clubs by revenue, displacing manchester united — according to consultants deloitte. united slipped to third in the money league behind barcelona — but a record six english premier league clubs made the top 10. —— and now — what's trending in the business news this morning. from business insider — the $60 million privatejets that fly business leaders to davos for the world economic forum. it claims some 1,500 private jets will travel to the forum this year — up from 1,300 last year. wef disputes the figures.

0n the wall street journal, digital publisher buzzfeed to cut 15% of its workforce. and on bloomberg — video game revenue is headed for the first decline since 1995. a top analyst sees the industry slumping this year. and don't forget — let us know what you are spotting online — use the hashtag #bbcthebriefing. papers coming up. antibiotic resistance is as big a threat as climate change, the health secretary will say today, as he unveils a new 5e—year plan to tackle the problem. matt hancock will say the overuse of antibiotics is making infections harder to treat and leading to thousands of deaths a year through drug—resistant superbugs.

the government is planning to change the way it funds drug companies to encourage them develop new medicines. our health correspondent dominic hughes has more details. antimicrobial resistance, in other words, the ability of drugs to stop drugs like antibiotics from working, isa drugs like antibiotics from working, is a serious threat. experts say if unchecked within three decades drug—resistant unchecked within three decades drug—resista nt bugs could unchecked within three decades drug—resistant bugs could kill 10 million people every year. if antibiotics stopped working, even minor infections from a simple cut could prove fatal. unless we get a grip on resistance to antibiotics, people will die from these things and antibiotics won't be able to save them. so the uk government is renewing efforts to reduce our current use of antibiotics, which has already fallen, down by 7% since 2014. at the number of drug—resistant 2014. at the number of drug—resista nt infections has increased by more than a third. now the government wants to cut human

use by 15% in the next five years. reducing the number of people picking up infections. drug companies will also be encouraged to reduce new antibiotics. they will be paid on the basis of how valuable the drugs are to the nhs rather than the drugs are to the nhs rather than the sheer quantity that are sold. this is a great plan, this is a world first, it looks to address, but globally, and if we get this quite right, we could save millions of lives worldwide in the future. the threat posed by the use of antibiotics in humans and livestock is very weird —— very real. dominic hughes, bbc news. just in a few minutes' time, do stay with us. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: the venezuelan president, nicolas maduro, has responded with defiance to the us, the european union and several latin american countries who have recognised the opposition leader,

juan 6uaido, as interim president. he has declared himself acting leader. a british man convicted of killing his date in a speedboat crash on the river thames has handed himself in to police in georgia after months on the run. he had been in the capital, tbilisi, since march. president trump says he is looking into giving his annual state of the union address somewhere other than the house of representatives. the house speaker, nancy pelosi, who is a democrat, has insisted he cannot speak there. now it is time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. we begin with the daily telegraph, and the prospect of a delayed brexit and in the 6uardian's financial pages spanish bank santander plans

to close nearly one in five of its bank branches in the uk, putting thousands ofjobs at risk. as reported on our own bbc website, prince william told the davos world economic forum that celebrities shunned his mental health charity three years ago because they didn't want to be associated with mental illness. and finally, staying with the bbc website, should women lick ice cream? the "how to be a lady" course in istabul shares tips on women's etiquette, including the correct way to dress, walk, speak, and even eat ice cream.