�*political solution' and, happy new year — now get back to the office! amazon ends the right to work from home for corporate staff, welcome to business today. we begin with europe's energy security, because the era of cheap russian gas has formally come to an end. russian gas stopped flowing to the eu via ukraine on wednesday, after a five—year deal expired, and kyiv refused to renew the transit agreement, which has been in place for decades. the european commission says the eu has prepared for the change and most states will cope. but hungary and slovakia have remained heavily dependent on russian gas. slovakia's prime minister says his country's interests have been �*trampled'. here's the wider context

though, at the time of russia's invasion of ukraine in february 2022, the share of russian gas on the european market was about 35% since then that share has fallen to about 8%, as european countries sought to diversify supplies. as well as investing in renewables, many have moved into lng or liquefied natural gas supplied from other parts of the world, such as the us and qatar. cornelia meyer is an independent energy analyst. she told us the end of russian gas has meant higher energy costs for europe, but also raises environmental questions. many others sort of have the yearly pilgrimage to the un climate conference where we want to save the world. find want to save the world. and what happens _ want to save the world. and what happens here - want to save the world. and what happens here is - want to save the world. fific what happens here is that lng, you need to ship it across long distances which is having a bigger environmental impact and also, the us lng comes from shale gas which is done with a method of tracking which is not

particularly friendly. so that is really there and there is another application which is the deindustrialisation of europe, because, you know, europe, because, you know, europe has pretty high labour costs and when there was the relatively cheap lng, relatively cheap lng, relatively cheap lng, relatively cheap russian gas, that was very helpful in terms of competitiveness. now you have high labour costs and high energy costs, which is not helpful. energy costs, which is not helpful. belgium has become the first european country to ban the sale of disposable e—cigarettes. other countries, such as france ireland and the uk will follow suit later in the year and 12 eu health ministers have backed a paper calling on the european commission to propose new legislation, which could include banning flavoured vapes and limiting nicotine content. dustin dahlmann is president of the independent european vape alliance, which represents the industry. he told us why the ban

won't be effective, because we see in other countries, in member states, because we see in other countries, in memberstates, it is difficult. and it is likely that we would see in high increase in the black market in belgium for these kind of products. forthe belgium for these kind of products. for the authorities, enforcement is extremely difficult when just one single member state is going for a ban on a single product that is allowed in all the other states around belgium. for example, france, germany, the netherlands. so it is likely to see that the serious companies will lose turnover and the black market will rise. we see that in other markets with different bands. tim phillips is managing director of ecig intelligence, which analyses the electronic cigarette market. good to have you here. i don't know if you could hear that clip but the industry are saying the ban meant to make any difference. it won't be effective. do you agree? i do,

sliuhtl . effective. do you agree? i do, slightly- i _ effective. do you agree? i do, slightly. i think— effective. do you agree? i do, slightly. i think the _ effective. do you agree? i do, slightly. i think the banner- effective. do you agree? i do, slightly. i think the banner is. slightly. i think the banner is already being effective. so i think that disposables will be banned in all of europe anyway. getting that through european environmental legislation so thatis environmental legislation so that is going to happen. the industry has already moved. most of the products that are coming through, the new products are going to get around this ban on disposables by having removable batteries or being able to be refilled so i do not think it is going to make very much difference. find make very much difference. and the crucial _ make very much difference. and the crucial bit _ make very much difference. and the crucial bit here _ make very much difference. and the crucial bit here is that this is being done under environmental regulations, nothing particularly to do with health. it may be easier to circumnavigate. the question is whether this simply pushes the problem underground? people problem underground ? people will still get problem underground? people will still get their hands on the start but they will do so on a black market.- on a black market. well, i think there _ on a black market. well, i think there is _ on a black market. well, i think there is a _ on a black market. well, i think there is a big - on a black market. well, i. think there is a big problem with illicit vapours at the moment. some of these markets are these half or more illicit products but part of the problem is that there are plenty of companies and want to do the right things but they

don't understand the rules. the rules are really complicated and as your speakerjust talked about, they are different in every single country in europe and that makes it very difficult to comply. and to the auestion difficult to comply. and to the question as — difficult to comply. and to the question as to _ difficult to comply. and to the question as to how _ difficult to comply. and to the question as to how it - difficult to comply. and to the question as to how it will - difficult to comply. and to the question as to how it will be l question as to how it will be policed, enforced, given that there are slightly different regulations right across the blog, we talked about whether there would be further regulation and legislation from the eu. is that what the industry perhaps needs to make sure there is a cohesive approach to this? yet they make definitely, yes. but it is coming. it isjust taking a novel long tables that there is a directive which is going to be updated coming out of brussels and that is expected over the next couple of years but, in the meantime, you've got a big problem with illicit products and european member states doing their own thing so bringing their own bans or restrictions and so on so it is a bit of a mass at the moment. good to talk to you. we will discuss this more, i am sure, as we get more details. thank

you. thank you. could donald trump stop the clock — for tiktok? the us supreme court decides next week whether the social media giant can continue operating in america. but the president—elect has asked the court to delay an upcoming ban while he works on a "political resolution". as things stand, a us law requires tiktok�*s chinese owner, bytedance, to sell the social media company to an american firm or face a ban on the 19th ofjanuary — a day before trump takes office. the legislation is the result of concerns about national security. but russ shaw from london tech advocates told us he thinks trump will succeed in heading off the ban. i think donald trump will get his way and that the supreme court will extend the stay that is currently in place beyond his inauguration. clearly, donald trump has changed his position last year on tiktok. he was adamantly against it and then decided that he liked the

platform. he was very popular on the platform and that one of his key donors, is actually an investor in the parent company of tiktok. so trump is clearly behind keeping tiktok intact and i think is going to keep a lot of pressure on the supreme court to let him resolve this from a political point of view. now to amazon — it's corporate workers return to the office today full—time, after the company called time on a period of flexible hybrid working triggered by the covid pandemic. that announcement was made in september. the chief executive, andyjassy, in a memo to staff, said the business would be "better set up to invent, collaborate, and be connected." mrjassy has long been known as a sceptic of remote work, but amazon staff were previously allowed to work from home two days a week. chris roebuck is an expert on working cultureat the ucl school of management. he disagrees with

amazon's decision. just to give a quick repeat of what the evidence says. effectively, we all know from our own experience, if we are trying to do individual work in an office that is distracting, we have difficulty because people disturb us and we lose concentration. people who do individual work at home are potentially 30% more productive. yet, what seems to be happening is, for whatever reason, the ceos are saying, no, i'm going to ignore the evidence. i want everybody in the office. we know worklife balance has improved. we know people actually have more time and the survey said that, interestingly, people don't hate being in the office. they just hate travelling to the office, which is dead time. so it is absolute madness, from my perspective, to force people then. because what is going to happen is, the people you are going to lose and the suggestion is that may be 70%

of amazon's staff are effectively saying, i might think of anotherjob, i going to be the best people, your talent. now here's a question, are you an introvert or an extrovert? and what difference does it make to your work? well, today is world introvert day and a growing number of books highlight the strengths of introverts and how they can harness their unique traits to thrive in a world that often seems designed for extroverts. sissel heiberg is author of �*quiet leader: what you can learn from the power of introverts.�* she told us that introverted leaders are often the unsung heroes of organizations. introverts bring a whole host of skills to their organisations that they are part l. and often are overlooked. there are certain skills that we wanted leaders that introverts can more easily tap into. and yet we still have this extrovert bias towards perhaps people who display

different kinds of skills. as humans, we tend to assume that, when someone speaks with authority, and certainty, that they know what they are talking about. but actually, that sometimes benefits the extra votes because they think things through while speaking whereas the introvert sits back, observes and reflects and then jumps in. and actually, that makes for better decisions in a complex world that we find ourselves in today. bitcoin surged to a record high. bitcoin surged to a record hiuh. ., �* , ., , high. the world's largest whi tail high. the world's largest whiptail currency - high. the world's largest whiptail currency briefly | whiptail currency briefly passed $106,000, or related to optimism about the incoming trump administration. the chief strategist at an it infrastructure and services firm told us that incoming administration has a number of

very pro—crypto people on board. very pro-crypto people on board. , , ., , very pro-crypto people on board. , , ., very pro-crypto people on board. , ., ., board. the industry as a whole is very positive _ board. the industry as a whole is very positive that _ is very positive that president—elect trump is bringing in a slew of more crypto positive advisors so a good example of that is the presidential council which will be chaired by a silicon valley entrepreneur who is a hugely crypto positive and there is a slew of incoming announcements from the administration and huge amounts of crypto advocates in key roles so president—elect trump sees it as a key part of this pledge to make america what he calls the crypto capital of the planet. i think probably the most important one is the incoming chair, the regulator, the sec, significantly more pro crypto than his predecessor. so we expect to see a significantly friendlier attitude from a regulatory perspective. we will

kee - regulatory perspective. we will kee a regulatory perspective. we will keep a close — regulatory perspective. we will keep a close eye _ regulatory perspective. we will keep a close eye on _ regulatory perspective. we will keep a close eye on that - regulatory perspective. we will keep a close eye on that for . keep a close eye on that for you this year. here in the uk, house prices ended 2024 some 4.7% higher than at the start of the year, according to the latest survey by nationwide. the average home in the uk now costsjust under £270,000. northern ireland saw the fastest price growth. stay with us here on bbc news.

hello from the bbc sport centre. with less than 2a hours to go until india play their must—win final test against australia, their head coach gautam gambhir has denied that the squad is divided. india trail the 5—match series 2—1, and defeat would mean they lose the border—gavaskar trophy, something they've held since 2018. following their most recent defeat, gambhiradmitted harsh words were spoken

in the dressing room but says it was all for the good of the team. that is not the truth. and i don't think so. i need to answer to any reports, to be honest. and there are some honest. and there are some honest words, that is all i can say. it honesty is very important. honesty is extremely important. honesty is extremely important if you want to go on and achieve some great things and achieve some great things and it starts from all of us. not only from the players, from the coaches as well. and i said it, the kind of talent that is an indian cricket, i think will always be in safe hands, yes. there might be times when we don't get the results and we will have to be patient and, more importantly, i think we are not only criticising the young players. ithink are not only criticising the young players. i think we've got to give them time to develop as well. well, there's a much more optimistic atmosphere in the australian squad, as they go into the final test knowing they can't lose the series. captain pat cummins says they're fully focused on one more victory to win the, and regain the trophy. it is always the preferred position. but you going into

every test match trying to win