countries have gathered to negotiate a global treaty to curb plastic pollution. the key agenda — putting a cap on plastic production. but it's a measure that has faced strong opposition from petrochemical—producing countries like saudi arabia and china. as a result, negotiations have stalled in the previous rounds that first began in 2022. the summit, in busan, is scheduled to wrap up on saturday and is meant to be the last round of discussions. environmentaljournalist robin hicks laid out what he expects from this year's summit. it's been slow. there's been opposition to plastic production cuts, caps from — rather from the production cuts, caps from — ratherfrom the big production cuts, caps from — rather from the big petrostates such as saudi arabia. there's also been disagreement on who will finance the treaty. developing countries are pushing for developed countries whose multinationals, whose companies created a lot of this

pollution to pay to fit the bill —— foot the bill but there has been a lot of pushback also on that, on who should pay for it. ,,, ., ~ ., , on that, on who should pay for it. speaking of these global owers, it. speaking of these global powers. us _ it. speaking of these global powers, us pledged - it. speaking of these global powers, us pledged a - it. speaking of these global- powers, us pledged a commitment to this back in august but now we have donald trump coming into how much is this waiting on the summit is now in busan? there's been a lot of confusion actually over what the us�*s position is on plastic and plastic production caps. back in august, it was reported widely that the biden administration supported lassig production caps. that's not actually what its position is now. it supports a reduction in plastic polymer production but not caps, and that's a big difference. obviously, trump has said that he is a wide supporter of the fossil fuel industry so there are doubts hanging over whether or not the us will support plastic production cuts but at the moment, it seems like it won't. earlier in this treaty as well,

the us has said it will support the us has said it will support the elimination of problematic products and chemicals that, again, they haven't gone far enough to say that they want to complete ban so it hangs in the moment at the moment. find complete ban so it hangs in the moment at the moment. and from a lay person _ moment at the moment. and from a lay person perspective, - moment at the moment. and from a lay person perspective, it - a lay person perspective, it seems like plastic is in everything. you can try to reduce it but it seems impossible. how do you replace plastic? what can be done? there are alternatives. you can make alternatives from biodegradable products such as seaweed and there is a huge industry in that. but the fact remains plastic is a wonder material, right? it is super light and by the way the plastic lobby will argue we do need a certain amount of plastic to help the world to decarbonise. it is very light and durable and strong and can be used in aeroplanes to help make them lighter so yes, very difficult material to eliminate altogether. difficult material to eliminate altogether-—

—— robin hicks. australia has become the first country in the world to ban social media for under 16s after a pioneering new bill was passed in the country's senate. it will cover platforms such as x, tiktok, facebook and instagram, but not messaging services or online gaming. prime minister anthony albanese said the legislation was needed to protect young people from the "harms" of social media. the ban, which will not take effect for at least 12 months, could see tech companies face fines of up to us$32 million if they don't comply. canada's competition watchdog is suing google for alleged anti—competitive conduct in its online advertising. in a statement, the country's antitrust body alleged google had illegally linked two advertising tools to maintain market supremacy and used this dominant position to distort ad auctions. google has said they will defend themselves in court, adding that the complaint "ignores the intense "competition where ad buyers and sellers have plenty "of choice". authorities caught a stowaway who made it onto a delta air lines flight without a boarding pass on tuesday. the woman was caught mid—air

after she boarded a flight from new york city to paris. she made it through security by evading the id portion of the checkpoint. a flight attendant discovered the woman after she made frequent and lengthy visits to the lavatories. the largest shopping event in the us, black friday, is about to kick off and retailers are expected to offer some of their biggest discounts. it also signals the start of the holiday shopping season. our next guest has been closely watching e—commerce data out of the us. vivek pandya from adobe digital insights estimates that consumers will continue to open their wallets this festive season. they are absolutely seeing good momentum coming into the season. we are anticipating about $240.8 billion in spend from november one to december 31, and that's about 8.4% year on year growth so really strong consumer reaction to deals and discounts from these retailers

and they are expecting that to really spike and search on these major shopping days. it’s these major shopping days. it's interesting because you expressed that people are out spending and getting excited to spending and getting excited to spend again and, of course, the us consumer and has been worried for many years but then we had the singles day conversation only a few weeks ago about china we talked about ago about china we talked about a more thoughtful consumer so how is the us consumer changing at the moment?— at the moment? they are quite rice at the moment? they are quite price sensitive _ at the moment? they are quite price sensitive to _ at the moment? they are quite price sensitive to deals - at the moment? they are quite price sensitive to deals and - price sensitive to deals and really trying to get a sense of how much of the magnitude of discount they would be able to get. other sectors of the economy, they are still seeing elevated prices, prices coming down and easing and in a better position than they were about a year ago so without all in mind, they are willing to spend a bit more freely on discretionary goods but are also conscientious that they are getting the best out of the deal and they can make sure that they can spread their budget for the holiday season effectively. budget for the holiday season effectively-— effectively. one assumes if they are — effectively. one assumes if they are looking _ effectively. one assumes if they are looking for- effectively. one assumes if they are looking for a - effectively. one assumes if they are looking for a good | they are looking for a good deal the chinese online

retailers often have very low prices. how much are the likes of temu and shein disrupting the market for traditional retailers?— the market for traditional retailers? we think about offshore _ retailers? we think about offshore retailers - retailers? we think about offshore retailers they . retailers? we think about l offshore retailers they have definitely come very popular with the consumer, as well as the domestic retailers competing on price but also on the overall experience, how quickly getting these goods to consumers, what is their return policy like, all of its factors into the consumers�*s decision—making around where they shop and when we think about it in a broader sense around price, we are seeing a really favourable environment now for price in the online retail goods. we tend to see deflation across categories like apparel, electronics, toys and those additional discounts kick in during the holiday season makes it very appealing for the consumer to think about where they want to shop and really maximise their spending this season.— this season. you mention the need to get — this season. you mention the need to get the _ this season. you mention the need to get the product - this season. you mention the need to get the product of. this season. you mention the | need to get the product of the consumer quickly. what are the

likes of amazon and walmart being to avoid supply chain disruption?— disruption? these larger retailers _ disruption? these larger retailers have _ disruption? these larger| retailers have anticipated disruption? these larger- retailers have anticipated that there would be good demand this holiday season and they are ensuring that they can handle things like returns in store, bow making sure that they are promoting their different shipping options so all that is being done is would give them a different competitive edge in the us market. —— a strong competitive edge. india will release its latest growth figures for the three months to september later today. analysts and economists are expecting a near 6.5% expansion — which would be the slowest in six quarters — for the world's fastest—growing major economy. our india business correspondent archana shukla sent this preview from the financial hub of mumbai. india's urban consumers are taking it slow, from biscuits to cloves two cars, they are buying less. even sales of two

wheelers which are inaudible activity which has taken major hit in the month of september and this has also been evident in the quarterly earnings of most companies across consumer goods to auto to even metals and if there is one culprit thatis and if there is one culprit that is driving india's growth down in the last quarter, it is inflation. soaring food prices, a low inaudiblejob market has actually squeezed household budgets. and this comes when consumption in india's religious history finally picking up and government spending on building infrastructure which is actually driven india's gdp over the last picking up pace after a slump during the elections but economists say it may not lift up numbers. corsica data on manufacturing and mining also indicates a slowdown and could be a drag. the government inaudible tax earnings to inaudible numbers. the economy may put pressure on the central bank to ease interest rates but economists say with food prices still high and inaudible cuts could be

pushed to next year. in fact most economists have lowered their growth forecast for the country for this fiscal year, except for the central bank that estimates india to grow above 7.2% of this fiscal, only being bullish on an automatic consumption story in the festive season gone by. botswana, the world's second—biggest diamond producer is set to become an export certification hub for rough diamonds. a government spokesperson said the change would reposition botswana as a responsible global leader in diamond production. african producers have been complaining about belgium becoming the sole verification centre, that's after g7 nations banned exports of russian—mined diamonds back in january. that move has caused disruptions to the global diamond supply chain due to delays and added costs. before we go — the popular south korean girl group newjeans have announced their decision to leave their label after accusing it of mistreatment and bullying. the band announced their departure from ador, a subsidiary of powerhouse

label hybe, in a late—night press conference held on thursday. one of the group's members, hanni, has alleged that she suffered workplace harassment while working with the label. hybe shares are down almost 4% in seoul this morning. a quick look at the markets before we go. most asian markets are in the red with the nikkei down about 4% and the lowest as south korean cosby which is down almost 2%. and that's it for this edition of business today. thanks for watching.

hey, it's lucy with the catch up. tonight: big choices for ireland. australia's social media ban. and a very cute penguin. first tonight — polls open tomorrow for ireland's general election. currently, fine gael, fianna fail and the greens run a coalition government. there's nearly 700 candidates,

but the three biggest parties are fine gael, led by simon harris — he's the taoiseach, which is basically the irish prime minister — fianna fail, led by micheal martin — he's the tanaiste, the deputy prime minister — and sinn fein, led by mary lou mcdonald. it's currently the largest party in northern ireland. let's go to stephen. welcome to tullamore in county offaly, where we have been chatting to people about what is on their minds ahead of the election and for lots of young people, it is housing. rents and the cost of buying a place here is in the eu, and some young people have told us that they have considered leaving the country because it is so expensive. polls open tomorrow at 7am and the system here is different. you can vote for multiple people to represent your area. in previous elections parties have had to work together to form a government so it may be a while until we know who is going to run the country for the next few years. in other news, australia will ban under 16 from using social media. the

australian prime minister says it will protect young people but critics are not sure. in the uk ofcom found one fifth of children use a fake age on social media. and there's just time for ten seconds of flop, penguin. she had a limp and couldn't stand without falling over but with the help of a home—made baby bouncer, she is now able to waddle again. that's us for tonight. have a good one. hello and welcome to sportsday. i'm hugh ferris. our top stories: another breakneck beginning but this time, a win as well: ruben amorim gives old trafford some happiness in his first home game. iga swiatek emerges from the "worst experience "of her life" as she

reveals a doping ban. and six—figure bonuses for six executives at the rfu: we'll ask why, when rugby's finances elsewhere are so stretched. hello again. welcome along to sports day. ruben amorim has his first win as manchester united head coach and while he hoped it would bring his new clubs fans some happiness, the 3—2 victory over bodo—glimt in the europa league would've provided a fair bit of entertainment as well. after his opening game brought a goal in 81 seconds, amorim's second had one even earlier with united taking the lead after 48 — this time through alejandro garnacho. despite the early advantage, united had to come from behind

to beat the norwegian champions. rasmus hojlund got two goals, including the crucial third,