and miniatures go massive. warhammer helps games workshop's profits surge with films and tv shows in the pipeline. welcome to business today. we start though with tiktok. the company behind the popular social media platform has described reports that it could sell its us operations to elon musk as "pure fiction". there are just five days to go before a new law comes into effect in the us which would force tiktok to either sell its us operations or be banned in the country. in the meantime, american social media users have been migrating to a chinese—made app called rednote, which became the most—downloaded product on apple's us app store on monday. from singapore, our business reporter mariko oi has the latest. it would have been a fascinating twist in this ongoing story, but tiktok has

told the bbc that it can't be expected to respond to pure fiction, referring to that bloomberg report which said that chinese officials might be considering selling tiktok to elon musk. meanwhile, some tiktok users in the united states have been migrating to another chinese app called rednote, which looks a bit like a combination of tiktok and instagram. and its popular with young people in china, taiwan and other mandarin—speaking populations. and those users are calling themselves tiktok refugees, and it's made rednote the most downloaded app on apple's us app store on monday. this all comes after last week when bytedance, the chinese parent company of tiktok, had its day in the us supreme court to challenge that legislation, which set a deadline on the 19th ofjanuary for tiktok to be sold or face a ban in the country. now, supreme courtjustices are expected to rule on it within days, but tiktok has repeatedly said that it will not sell its us operation.

meanwhile, of course, mrtrump, who initially called for a ban of the app, he has urged the supreme court to delay its decision until he takes office on the 20th, one day later to seek a political resolution. that change in tone appears to have come after he met tiktok�*s chief executive, shoji chu, and also he talked about how tiktok has managed to bring some younger voters to vote for him. but during a supreme court hearing last week, justices appeared inclined to uphold that legislation and stick to that deadline, repeatedly referring to that national security concerns that us lawmakers have talked about. so we'll see what bytedance chooses to do if the us supreme court decides to do that. the uk government is considering plans to clamp down on ransomware by making it illegal for companies

and services providing critical national infrastructure in the uk — to pay a ransom in the event of a cyber attack. it would include hospitals, data centres and ultility firms. let's get more on this with our technology reporter chris vallance give us a sense of how significance it would be because it sounds counterintuitive, don't pay a ransom, but it's maybe to stop them demanding a ransom in the first place. them demanding a ransom in the first place-— first place. please explain. it is designed. _ first place. please explain. it is designed, in _ first place. please explain. it is designed, in a _ first place. please explain. it is designed, in a sense - first place. please explain. it is designed, in a sense to . is designed, in a sense to remove the financial incentive from out ransomware attacks on critical national infrastructure or public sector bodies. according to the government, last year $1 billion was paid globally to these ransomware gangs, so it's a lucrative business but the question of whether these kind of bans on payments will deliver the results they expect

is one that security experts are debating as we speak. some people point out that some of the motives for ransomware are geopolitical, if you like and a lot of the gangs are based in russia. money may not be the only factor in there deciding to attack critical national infrastructure. also a question of whether, it is a game of whack a mole, if you are not going to attack, public sector bodies are not lucrative, may be that pushes you more towards corporate targets. so a lot of questions that the government is consulting and it's worth saying that central government departments are already prevented from paying ransom and with many of these ransomware gangs are subject to sanctions, it's difficult for public sector bodies to make those payments anyway, a hard thing to justify if you are a public sector organisation spending public money on criminals, if you like. we know this is a growing _ criminals, if you like. we know this is a growing problem, - criminals, if you like. we know this is a growing problem, but| this is a growing problem, but

how bad a problem has become? there will be lots of people watching this broadcast who have had their lives disrupted by ransomware already. think back to last year we had important nhs services disrupted under postal services, even the british library was hit, and there is a host of stuff that doesn't make the headlines. local councils or local schools, this stuff is having an impact on peoples lives as we speak, and it is certainly a growing trend. if you look at all of the stats from the past five years, we've seen steady growth, increasing amounts of data and the new thing is that they threatened to leak the data and we've seen increasing amounts of uk data appearing on leaked sites as well. chris, thank you.

sales of electric vehicles around the world rose by 25 percent last year, according to new data from the research company rho motion. growth was especially strong in china where sales leapt by a0%. in europe though, it's a different picture where sales actually fell by 3%. but not so in norway. the oil—rich nation has encouraged drivers to buy evs, using generous tax breaks and other incentives. they now outnumber petrol cars there. adrienne murray went for a drive in oslo to see a vision of the future. here in oslo, evs aren't a novelty. they're the norm. there are now more battery powered vehicles on norway's roads than petrol cars. and out of all new car sales, nine out of ten were electric. the revolution began years ago, with tax breaks driving up ev sales. norway had set a goal to phase

out the sale of new petrol and diesel cars next year. so can it get there? we are closing up on the target and i think that we will reach that goal, and i think that also the transition is already made. other perks like free parking and discounted tolls have also helped drive change. with all the incentives we have in norway with no taxes on evs, that was also quite important to us money wise. we figured out that for our day to day needs, an ev would be perfect. i'm one of the very first owners of a tesla. i really wanted a car that didn't pollute. it gave me a better conscious of driving. worldwide, electric cars now make up a fifth of all vehicles sold.

china, by far the biggest market, has seen soaring sales. but in the us and europe, including the uk, demand has hit a speed bump. please jump in. thank you. so are there lessons from norway? when they do european surveys or global surveys about this? norwegians are further down the list when it comes to being worried about climate change, for example. i don't think a green mindset has much to do with it. it has to do with strong policies. with around a million diesel models still on the road and a big used car market here, there's still a lot of work to be done. i think the government accept that a few new diesel or hybrid cars will still be on the market. norway's electric revolution is shifting up a gear as sales of new fossil fuel cars tail off. but that journey to zero may take a little longer. adrienne murray, bbc news, oslo.

the british firm behind wargames and minitures — games workshop — has reported a 33.4% surge in half—year profit, helped by big demand for its popular warhammer series. it was the first set of results for the company since it was promoted to the top flight ftse100 at the end of last year. games workshop also recently finalised a deal with amazon to turn the warhammer 40,000 universe into films and tv series. let's speak now to dr hailey austin, lecturer of visual media and culture at the department of games and arts at abertay university good to have you with us. for the uninitiated, explain what this is— the uninitiated, explain what this is because it's an astonishing british success storx _ astonishing british success sto . �* ,, astonishing british success sto �* «m, story. but unless you know it all of it you _ story. but unless you know it all of it you may _ story. but unless you know it all of it you may be _ story. but unless you know it all of it you may be totally i all of it you may be totally unaware of its existence. exactly, exactly. warhammer and specifically warhammer 40k is a mixture of a table top role—playing game but it's mostly a war strategy game with

miniature is, so there's lots of points to the hobby, both in buying and collecting them, the miniature is, as well as painting them and playing together with other people and using the managers in a wrought game setting. it using the managers in a wrought game setting-— game setting. it feels like such a traditional - such a traditional industry, one where you buy small models, spend time blowing and painting them and painting and playing with them, it sort of defines —— defies logic. i with them, it sort of defines -- defies logic.— with them, it sort of defines -- defies logic. i don't know. it's a natural _ -- defies logic. i don't know. it's a natural human - -- defies logic. i don't know. it's a natural human thing - -- defies logic. i don't know. it's a natural human thing to | it's a natural human thing to want to play and to collect things and share them and enjoy them with others and make stories and be part of the story so i wouldn't say it's unusual, i would say it's very human to want to do these types of things. human to want to do these types of thins. ~ ., , human to want to do these types of thins. ~ . , ., ., of things. what they have done is t to of things. what they have done is try to keep — of things. what they have done is try to keep up _ of things. what they have done is try to keep up with _ of things. what they have done is try to keep up with the - is try to keep up with the modern era and that is striking the deal with amazon to make tv and film series which could prove to be another lucrative

stream for the business. definitely, definitely. ithink games workshop from the beginning has been quite lucrative as a business in that they are willing to try new things starting out with more traditional kind of table top games, board games but they've always been pushing the boundaries and going into managers, paints as well as role—playing games, books, magazines and even digitising the games into video games as well. ., , the games into video games as well. . , ., ., the games into video games as well. . , ., ., ~ ., well. really good to talk to ou and well. really good to talk to you and we _ well. really good to talk to you and we will— well. really good to talk to you and we will keep - well. really good to talk to you and we will keep a - well. really good to talk to l you and we will keep a close eye on what happens next and just how lucrative the film and tv deals could be. thank you. that is how your business looks this hour and we will have more with you throughout the day. let s get some of the

day s other news now the coffee chain starbucks is reversing rules that allowed people to use their facilities in their cafes in north america even if they had not bought anything. the changes are a u—turn from a policy introduced 6 years ago that allowed people to linger in starbucks outlets and use their toilets without making a purchase. the move is part of the "back to starbucks" strategy — a plan announced by the firm's new boss as he tries to tackle flagging sales. that's how your business looks right now. see you soon. goodbye.

hello from the bbc sport centre. the premier league has announced it will not charge any clubs for breaches of its profit and

sustainability rules. all clubs were deemed financially compliant for the 2023—24 season. everton and nottingham forest were both sanctioned last season for breaches, and were docked eight and four points respectively. leicester city avoided a points deduction after they won an appeal against a charge in september. an independent panel found the premier league did not have the jurisdiction to punish leicester as the club had been relegated to the championship when their accounting period ended. in a joint statement, leicester and the premier league say the matter remains "the subject of confidential arbitration proceedings". well, despite 15 double faults, emma raducanu started her 2025 season with a scrappy win in the australian open first round. the british number two had her preparations disrupted by a back injury. she lost her serve six times before digging deep to beat russian seed ekaterina alexandrova, 7—6, 7—6. and her reward a match

against another higher—ranked player in amanda anisimova.