we begin in south korea, where delegates from 175 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, scheduled to wrap up on saturday, is meant to be the last round of discussions. environmental journalist robin hicks gave us his thoughts on this summit. it's been slow. there's been opposition to plastic production cuts, caps from — rather — from the big petrostates such as saudi arabia. there's also been disagreement over 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 foot the bill, but there has been a lot of pushback also on that, on who should pay for it. speaking of these global powers, of course, the us pledged a commitment to this back in august. now we have donald trump coming in. 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 plastic 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 this treaty as well, 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 a complete ban, so it hangs in the moment at the moment. and from a lay person perspective, it seems like plastic is in everything. you can try and reduce it but it seems impossible. how do you replace plastic? what can be done? there are alternatives. you can make plastic 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, it's a very difficult material to eliminate altogether. robin hicks.

australia has become the first country in the world to ban social media for under 165 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 32 million us dollars if they don't comply. staying in australia, the country's competition watchdog has given qatar airways interim approval to take a 25% stake in virgin australia. the tie—up will give qatar a new avenue to increase flights to australia. this means the two carriers can now market and sell return flights between doha and brisbane, melbourne and sydney from june next year. 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. vivek pandya from adobe digital insights estimates that consumers will continue to open their wallets this festive season. they're absolutely seeing good momentum coming into the season. we are anticipating about $240.8 billion in spend from novemberi 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're expecting that to really spike and surge on these major shopping days.

it's interesting this, because you expressed that people are out 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 and we talked about a more thoughtful consumer, so how is the us consumer changing at the moment? they are quite 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 they're in a better position than they were about a year ago, so with that all in mind, they are willing to spend a bit more freely on discretionary goods but they're also conscientious that they are getting the best absolute of the deal and they can make sure that they can spread their budget for the holiday season effectively. one assumes if 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? we think about offshore retailers, they have definitely come very popular with the us consumer, as have the domestic retailers continuing to compete on price but also on the overall experience — how quickly are they getting these goods to consumers, what is their return policy like? all of this 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 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. you mentioned the need to get the product to the consumer quickly. what are the likes of amazon and walmart doing in order to avoid supply chain disruptions? 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, they're making sure that they are promoting their different shipping options, so all that is being done is would give them a stronger competitive edge in the us market. 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". 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 clothes to cars, they are buying less. even sales of two—wheelers which is a bellweather for india's economic activity, which has taken a 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 to even metals. 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 villages is finally picking up and government spending on building infrastructure which has 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. core sector data on manufacturing and mining also indicates a slowdown

and could be a drag. the government may hope for tax earnings to fill the growth numbers. the economy may put pressure on the central bank to ease interest rates but economists say with food prices still high and volatile, 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% in this fiscal, mainly being bullish in an rebound in the 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 after g7 nations banned exports of russian—mined diamonds back in january. that move has caused disruptions to the global diamond supply chain. 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. 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's 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 among the highest in the eu, and some young people have told us that they have considered leaving the country because it is so expensive. now, 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 might be a while until we know who is going to run the country for the next few yea rs. in other news — australia will ban under 165 from using social media. the australian prime minister says it will protect young people, but critics are not sure. in the uk, ofcom found a fifth of children use a fake age on social media. and there's just time for ten seconds of flop the penguin.

—— a penguin at dudley zoo. 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, 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 sportsday. 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, as united register their second european win in a row, having previously gone more than a year without one. it was special because half of the stadium doesn't know me, and you can say i come from portugal and half of the city doesn't know me, and i have done nothing for this club yet.