this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. pension deadlock: france braces for another day of protests over president macron‘s reforms as the cost of the strikes spirals into billions of dollars. plus, snack—sized streaming could quibi be the future of entertainment? we hear from the hollywood mogul and the tech tycoon who are betting on it. and on the markets, a relief rally: stocks rebound as the us and iran step back from the brink of a wider conflict. safehaven assets such as gold and us treasury bonds retreat.

more now on france. another huge day of protests is expected to bring more chaos to the transport system, schools and law courts. labour unions are battling president macron over his plans to overhaul the country's pension system with strikes now entering a record—breaking 36th day. the most controversial change is to raise the age for a full pension to 64. it's currently 62 and that's one of the lowest in europe. 42 different pension schemes would also be merged into one with early retirementjust one of the benefits that is at risk. with an ageing population, generous public sector pensions are becoming increasingly unaffordable. pension spending accounts for almost 14% of the french economy, which is one of the highest figures anywhere in the world.

the strikes are costing france an estimated $450 million a day, with transport, oil refineries, schools and the legal system all affected. let's get more on this story. tomasz michalski is associate professor at the hec business school in paris. good to see you again. how do you see this playing out? well, first of all, the strike that is ongoing is currently a measure to pressurise the government to offer concessions during the negotiation process. so it is typically a very low intensive affair. on the everyday basis it is only typically the railways that are striking. today we have a stronger day of industrial action where also the teachers weigh in. so the

negotiations are taking place, they are free pillars of the reform and the pillow that is actually endangered is the age that you mentioned of 64, where most people that would be working in the public sector after finishing that would be working in the public sector afterfinishing a that would be working in the public sector after finishing a high school degree from 44 years, given the reform, they would have to work two yea rs reform, they would have to work two years longer to take a full pension home. sykes back this point —— so i expect this point is going to be heavily negotiated and some exchange rates for people affected by this measure will be affected —— held by the government. this measure is supposed to bring the system to equilibrium in the long—term. supposed to bring the system to equilibrium in the long-term. who will blink first do you think?” think that nobody will blink, so what is going to happen is that negotiations are going to pursue for the next month or even could be two, three more months. at the end, everybody is going to declare the very. the strike is getting weaker

and weaker every day, and at some point there is going to be an agreement. all right. we are going to have to leave it there because we have run out of time, but i had no i have run out of time, but i had no i have talked to you for years about this issue, haven't i, under various governments in france. we will see how it plays out and we will keep you informed as well. now let's talk about the world bank. the world bank has warned the global economy will barely improve this year after 2019 saw the weakest growth since the financial crisis a decade ago. it says global trade and investment are still vulnerable to us china tensions, as well as a flare—up of hostilities in the middle east. our economics correspondent andrew walker has been speaking to one of the report's authors, fra nziska ohnsorge. recently in the last few months there have been signs of civilisation, in business service, explore indicators. maybe these trade tensions are finally in the long run. that is the basis of our

forecast of stabilisation in 2020. we expect global growth to go up on 2.4to 2.5%, we expect global growth to go up on 2.4 to 2.5%, but that is a very fragile recovery. how much damage has already done to global canonic performance by the trade tensions? it is very difficult to put anama to that for the one thing is clear. global trade growth hit low in 2019. by global trade growth hit low in 2019. by our measure, by our estimate, global trade growth in 2019 was 1.4% we expect it to pick up a little bit, less than 2% in 2020. these are very very —— week trade growth numbers. how much more damage trade tensions do looking ahead? the risk of trade tensions is real escalating __ re— of trade tensions is real escalating —— re— escalating. it would set back right ina —— re— escalating. it would set back right in a lot of emerging markets. there are also geopolitical risks.

simply the risk that growth is slower than expected in china, the us, any of the big countries driving the global economy. so that is the view of the world bank on the year ahead for us. let's talk tech now, because smartphone users will soon be offered a new streaming service designed specifically for hand—held devices. quibi limits its shows to bite—sized chunks of up to 10 minutes, which work whichever way you hold your phone. as well as exclusive entertainment, quibi will also show specially made news bulletins from the bbc, nbc and telemundo. its founder is a hollywood mogul and its ceo one of america's best known tech bosses. but will audiences buy it? bbc click‘s spencer kelly has more.

we knew we had to go seamlessly portrait to landscape. we wa nted we wanted it to be full screen video. a lot is not full—screen because it has not been shot for the right aspect ratio. it's intimate, it's immersive and it's captivating and i think people are going to be surprised that it's actuallyjust different. are you aiming at the younger market? our market is 18—24. the bull's—eye is 25—35. yes, it is a millennial audience. who do you consider your rivals to be? because you've got the long form streaming services like netflix and amazon, do you think of them as competitors or do you hope people will also

subscribe to a second service to provide this short—form content? we're not competing with anybody. we're going to new place, new white space. we don't imagine that anybody is going to watch less tv, that they are going to have less streaming services because of what we're doing. if anything, we accelerate the experience of watching short form on your mobile device today, youtube, facebook, instagram, tik—tok. snapchat. we are probably more playing in their world than in the others and we think really, the more we accelerate growth in that world, as opposd to taking market share away from anybody. but they are free and you are charging. that is going to be a tough sell. not when you see the quality. the shows and the immersive experience. yeah, and you've seen the technology and therefore the way it

has been delivered. but, listen, there is no question, no—one has done this before. in the words of captain kirk, we're going where no—one's gone before! that is spencer kelly talking to two very well—known faces in the industry. very well known in hollywood. now, let's brief you on some other business stories. uk retail sales fell for the first time in 25 years last year according to the leading industry body. the british retail consortium said total sales fell 0.1%, marking the first annual sales decline since 1995, with sales in november and december particularly weak. the brc doesn't include figures from fast growing online retailers such as amazon. several uk banks have stopped customers ordering foreign currency following a ra nsomwa re cyber attack on travelex. problems at lloyds, barclays and royal bank of scotland follow disruption at supermarkets sainsbury‘s and tesco. all get theirforeign notes from travelex,

whose computer system is down after hackers demanded $6 million in return for customer data. former nissan boss carlos ghosn has been speaking publicly for the first time since he escaped house arrest injapan and fled to lebanon on december 29. he told a news conference the decision to flee was the most difficult of his life. but he refused to give any more detail of his escape. mr ghosn is accused of financial misconduct, which he denies. japanese prosecutors have said he "only has himself to blame for being arrested and detained." we will discuss that store in a moment in our we will discuss that store in a moment in oui’ news we will discuss that store in a moment in our news briefing. and now, what's trending in the business news this morning. on business insider, apple hits all—time high after announcing record holiday app store sales.

the tech giant had its best year in a decade thanks also to wearable devices like airpods and the apple watch. bloomberg is talking about ‘musk‘s moonshot pay package doesn't seem that crazy anymore.‘ tesla's stock market value has hit a record $88 billion, more than ford and gm put together. it's closing in on the 100 billion mark that would trigger a huge payout to ceo elon musk, worth almost $350 million. and wired is among those talking about streaming start—up ouibi. ‘hollywood bets on a future of quick clips and tiny screens.‘ and don‘t forget — let is know what you are spotting online. use the hashtag #bbcthebriefing.

the recall of more than 500,000 potentially dangerous whirlpool washing machines begins today. if you‘re affected, you‘ll be offered either a repair or a replacement. but the consumer rights group which? says that‘s not enough and is urging the manufacturer to offer refunds instead. our personal finance correspondent, simon gompertz has the details. dealing with the backdrop built up because your mum can‘t use her washing machine. it was ok at first stop it was a couple of loads but 110w stop it was a couple of loads but now it is constant. alex from west sussex has had to take in all her mother‘s dirty clothes. to blame, a whirlpool washer, one of the winds at risk of catching fire because of at risk of catching fire because of a multi— electronic door lock. at risk of catching fire because of a multi- electronic door lock. all of her washing is here, everything in my house. it is not even about the washing. this cost us in so much money in electric, it has cost as much money in petrol. the first customers heard was on the 17th of

december. they were told them to unplug affected machines or use them only on the cold cycle. only today, more than three weeks later, is well offering a solution. owners will get an e—mailto offering a solution. owners will get an e—mail to choose a repair or replacement. there are no refunds on offer. they can then click on a link to book a date for the workforce of 60,000 affected machines have been located so far. the plan is these will be dealt with in a matter of weeks. whirlpool told us last month whatever they were putting into the recall. this is a complex situation andi recall. this is a complex situation and i wish it could be done overnight, i truly do, that we are working flat out to make sure that we have all of our people trained, we have all of our people trained, we doubled staff, we are adding service engineers. whirlpool is already having to replace dryers with a fire danger. now it has got more than half a million risky washing machines to find. to date, only a fraction of the washers have been located so that so recall process could take months.

for more on that story, breakfast will be coming up at 6:00 with naga munchetty and charlie stayt. this is the briefing from bbc news. the latest headlines: the royal family are disappointed the royalfamily are disappointed by the announcement that prince harry and his wife meghan will step back from their current roles and work to become financially independent. us says its citizens are now safer following the killing of the reigning and general qasem soleimani. washington told the union the assassination was self defence. —— told the un. let‘s look at what the global media is discussing today. the us and iran backed away from the precipice of war as president from indicated he would not respond militarily after no—one was harmed in by that missile onto iraqi bases housing us troops.

meanwhile the telegraph says iran is facing mounting pressure to explain the destruction of a civilian airliner near tehran hours after iranian forces launched missile strikes against us bases in iraq. iran‘s aviation authority has said it will not hand over flight recorders from the ukraine international airlines boeing 737—800 either to the aircraft‘s manufacturer or us aviation authorities. the times leads with the duke and duchess of sussex who the paper says haveopened a rift in the royal family after announcing they were stepping down as senior members, without consulting either the queen or prince of wales. and in the times business section, pictures of carlos ghosn gesturing during his one—hour press conference in beirut. the former renault—nissan chief vowed to clear his name and explained his reasons for fleeing from his upcoming trial