global trade beef. the eu is poised to sign a massive trade deal with south america, despite fierce opposition from european farmers and defiance in paris and rome. hanging by a thread. tiktok awaits a court ruling on its north america ban as a sale deadline looms. tough going for boeing as a us judge rejects a landmark

plea deal tied to two fatal plane crashes. welcome to business today. we start in the uruguayan capital montevideo, where in the next hour or so european commission chief ursula von der leyen hopes to sign a massive trade deal, two decades in the making, with south american nations. it would slash tariffs and other trade barriers

between the eu and the maircosur common market — which includes argentina and brazil. but it faces fierce opposition from many in europe — more on that in a moment. so how big a deal would this be? significantly if the deal can be done. but that is a big if. european farmers fear a flood of cheap produce coming into europe from south america — especially beef. a majority of eu nations have to agree the deal to ratify it. germany and spain are in favour — but france has already said it won't play ball — as has italy in the last hour — rejectring it in its current form. joining me now is independent global economist azad zangana. it doesn't matter what eu chief does — members states need to agree. as 65% of the population and a majority of states

need to say yes. with italy now against — it looks like the numbers may be tight to get this through? it gives italy a lot of power. they have absolutely rejected it in its current form and they want some safeguards introduced along with some compensation. this is very typical of a majority decision of where the smaller players, the king made coming and demand additional deals and sweeteners for them to sign on in order to get this trade deal through. i do think it is a good dealfor the european union overall for the long term. clearly, growth has been a real problem lately and is at the kind of measures that can help support growth over the long term. i5 can help support growth over the long term.— can help support growth over the long term. is going to ask ou the long term. is going to ask you about _ the long term. is going to ask you about the _ the long term. is going to ask you about the motivation. - the long term. is going to ask| you about the motivation. you are suggesting growth to help struggling european economies and there is a political element with donald trump looking to put up barriers which was set up a school message. countries like france aren't on the fence, they are not asking for concessions,

they are totally against is so why is the president of the eu commission against this? the euro ean commission against this? tue european commission commission against this? tte european commission has sensitive majority of the eu notjust sensitive majority of the eu not just a strong sensitive majority of the eu notjust a strong and powerful commission groups like the french from the community. we have to think about why is germany in favour? they are looking to expand the export markets we had a shot which has been struggling in recent years and they're looking at the latin america pose a potential new markets which they can move into and started to take advantage of the growth rate as they have achieved. similarly, spain that oakley has also had a pretty strong from the communities i would have expected them to be it against a trade deal but the strong legs with latin america make it idealfor them to do legs with latin america make it ideal for them to do a great deal of business and of course, coming in from latin america in recent years has really helped to boost the latin american economy. tt to boost the latin american economy-—

to boost the latin american econom . ., ., . economy. if you look at france, belgium. _ economy. if you look at france, belgium, poland, _ economy. if you look at france, belgium, poland, italy, - economy. if you look at france, belgium, poland, italy, if- economy. if you look at france, belgium, poland, italy, if it- belgium, poland, italy, if it does not get through, isn't a danger that is fuelling your sketches in nearby striding to put something like this through at such a sensitive time in the eu -- at such a sensitive time in the eu —— infuelling euroscepticism? eu -- in fuelling eurosceticism? ,, ., euroscepticism? the eu mission is to think _ euroscepticism? the eu mission is to think about _ euroscepticism? the eu mission is to think about how _ euroscepticism? the eu mission is to think about how to - euroscepticism? the eu mission is to think about how to help - is to think about how to help these transitions —— farmers transition away from the activities at their window and move towards higher productive, higher profitability activities. there is no point in protecting those industries from foreign competition when they are creating a great deal of cost for the rest of the european union. fascinating battle and — european union. fascinating battle and lots _ european union. fascinating battle and lots of _ european union. fascinating i battle and lots of negotiations ahead. one to watch a day. thanks forjoining us in claiming that for us. do stay are set —— is to stay with us here on bbc news to see how that goes. the fate of tiktok in north america could be decided this week.

in a decision due today a federal appeals court is set to say whether or not they uphold an appeal by tiktok over a us law, which demands the social media app is sold by its chinese parent company bytedance. so what can we expect today? that's what i put to social media expert, jasmine enberg earlier. it is not looking good for tiktok right now given the difficult state that it had in september and as mentioned, we are expecting a decision today and there's a lot of different ways that this could shake out. we could see the judges uphold the law in which case tiktok will appeal to the supreme court pretty quickly. we could also see the judges uphold the law but say that it is unfair to tiktok because it is singles out or as single company which could then lead to a delay and there we can see judge struck down the law. that law probably least likely given how the

courts they are paid out in september but what we do know is that there is still a lot up in the air and this saga is going to continue, especially given that one day after the deadline for the day of rest or bind law onjanuary the 20th, donald trump is due to take office here.— office here. there is a really interesting _ office here. there is a really interesting points _ office here. there is a really interesting points because l office here. there is a really. interesting points because he prompted this ban. he was in favour of it and was a big backlog of it and now he seems to have changed his tune. why? he was the first to try to try to ban tiktok in an executive order which ultimately failed. since then, we have seen him join tiktok and to your point, he also says that he opposes tiktok and there are reports that suggest that he would like to support the enforcement of the band made his office. it's a lot easier said than done so

while trump could be a lifeline for tiktok there is still a long way to go over that actually happen. for one, many of the people that he has picked for his administration support a ban. project 2025 also clearly lays out a ban, so relying on trump to save tiktok is not really a strong strategy here. staying in the us and another court case. the embattled plane maker boeing has had a plea—deal it made in a case related to two deadly crashes rejected by a judge. the judge's decision casts fresh uncertainity into a years long legal battle that began after two boeing 737 max crashes in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people. injuly boeing reached a plea agreement with the us justice department to resolve the case, agreeing to plead guilty to one

count of criminalfraud, face independent monitoring and pay a $243 million fine. but now a districtjudge has rejected that agreement faulting a diversity and inclusion provision in the deal. ritika gupta has the details. more troubles for bowing back. if federaljudge rejected the playmaker�*s p deal that sought to reject their prosecution over 237 —— 77 plane crashes. us districtjudge his side of the family members of people killed during the crashes who urged him to reject the agreement. o'connorsaid urged him to reject the agreement. o'connor said that the provisions proposed in the settlement would blue required race to be considered in the hiring of an independent monitor and that his role in bowing make sure that boeing... is another push for bowing to set back on track in our view

of crisis. it has arrived early this year when a huge panel blew out on the same type of jet. the near catastrophe q revelation of poor quality which is within boeing's factories with their regulators and customers and a management shake—up that included the housing of the company's ceo. it is the biggest decline in the dowjones industrial the dow jones industrial average. more from the us now as president elect trump has made another pick for his top team. naming the former chief operating officer of paypal, david sacks as his artificial intelligence and crypto currency tsar. this on the week when bitcoin broke the 100,000 dollar mark for the first time. mariko oi has been following the story for us. this is another step towards

overhauling the us could do clap see industry. they said that this is work in a legal framework is as a cryptic industry has a clarity that it has been asking for and can thrive in the us. mr trump's supporters in the tech sector want to see more minimal regulation around ai and crypto currencies such as bitcoin it's because they argue that washington would spike for growing innovative sectors with excessive rules. an interesting shift from a mr trump's who did once labelled crypto is a scam and is now embracing digital assets especially since his campaign is permitted to make the us to crypto the capital of the us to crypto the capital of the parliament and accumulate a national stockpile of bitcoin as well. mr sachs is 52 years old and a co—founder of french capital firm called crafter ventures and is an early leader of paypal which is a payment processing firm that was bought by ebay back in 2002. he was

also an early evangelist of crypto currencies, as early as 2017, he was saying that it feels like we are witnessing the birth of a new kind of web. bitcoin broke $100,000 for the first time yesterday and is currently trading below. in other news.... stop the press! the sale of the world's oldest sunday newspaper looks to have gone through. the boards of the guardian media group and its owner the scott trust have approved the sale of the observer to tortoise media. the weekly is changing hands despite repeated strikes by staff. in the uk, thames water has received multiple bids for its struggling business and has warned that it could run out of cash by next year. the scottish utility firm castle water, is understood to have made an offer for thames ahead of a deadline for potential investors this week. thames is the uk's biggest water company and has currently has debts of almost £18 billion.

don't forget you can get plenty more on the bbc website where there is a story which will catch everybody�*s i. because there is a pay row with delivery drivers which means that you may not get your tag on time. i do not mean to pen you but may be the case was, get your order a little bit earlier this year. do not panic but that is it for today. you can watch an business today. for now, you are up to date!

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hello and welcome to the programme. a harry brook century gave england the upper hand on day one of the second test against new zealand. you are england lost early wickets but brook then steadied the ship,

a continuing his excellent form, away from home, with 123 runs from just from 115 deliveries. ollie pope also made 66 as england were bowled out for 280. new zealand struggled in reply, brydon carse taking two wickets as the black caps finished the day 86 for 5 trailing by 194 runs. . obviously