the slowdown continues. china hits its 5% growth target for 202a. but the world's number two economy is at its weakest in decades — and from here it only gets tougher. no christmas cheer for the high street — uk retail sales fall unexpectedly in december, we'll give you all the details injust a moment.

also coming up — a tax onjobs? the boss of next says uk government policies mean young people have fewer opportunities. so is it time for a rethink by the chancellor? and can trump stop the clock for tiktok? fans and influencers hope the app will get a reprieve ahead of a us ban on sunday. live from london, this is business today. i'm lukwesa burak. we start in china — where economic growth slowed last year to its weakest outside the pandemic in well over three decades. the world's number two economy has been struggling since its post—covid recovery fizzled out — and there could be worse to come. let's just show you the numbers. china's economy grew 5% in 2024, according to official data out in the last couple of hours.

that's down from 5.2% in 2023. economists polled by reuters expect growth to keep slowing — to 4.5% this year. compare that to the peak before the global financial crisis, when china's economy as growing at a rate of more than 14%. so what's going wrong? our asia business correspondent suranjana tewari is following the story. there are countries around the world that would go to great lengths for a 5% growth figure. but as you just laid out, this is actually one of the slowest rates of growth in several decades in china. and this comes against the backdrop of a very real slowdown, a protracted property crisis, high local government debt, weak demand, and therefore low spending. that said, the last three months of last year did see a pick—up, with the last quarter

seeing growth of 5.4% compared to the previous year. and that's largely because china's leaders seem to realise how serious this is, implementing stimulus measures to try and boost growth. and there has been some success. retail sales, a measure of consumption, rose 3.7% last month, accelerating from the 3% pace in november. even that property sector saw signs of recovery as new home prices steadied in decemberfor the first time sincejune 2023. now, i've been speaking to a number of analysts. they all said that stimulus will only be a temporary measure, and leaders need to address more structural issues. there's also a weakening currency and high unemployment, which leaders are having to contend with. now, beijing has rarely missed its growth targets in the past, and it's really important for the country to ensure growth and continued prosperity,

to maintain social stability. plus, there might be more trouble ahead. one major driver of last year's growth was exports. they could lose steam because incoming us president donald trump has proposed tariffs on $500 billion of chinese goods, which is rattling markets and businesses. so growth in 2025 might be a very different story altogether. here in the uk, we've had some more grim news for the economy this morning. retail sales fell 0.3% in december, following a small rise of 0.1% in november. the monthly fall was strongest within supermarkets, but sales volumes also fell in specialist food stores such as butchers and bakers, and alcohol and tobacco stores. we're nowjoined by christie cook, who's the retail managing

director at hodge bank. good morning to you, lovely to have you with us. the key takeaway is for you with us. the key takeaway is for you following these figures? goad you following these figures? good morninu. you following these figures? good morning- they _ you following these figures? good morning. they say _ you following these figures? good morning. they say the _ you following these figures? (emf. morning. they say the results are just out so we are still working through them but a high level of the results for december, including christmas, falling to 0.3, disappointing. this data pretty much aligned with that of the british retail consortium and credit card spending so that raises concerns. we've had results this week from a number of uk retail heavyweights including tesco, sainsbury�*s and m&s. when you put this all together, what is it telling us about uk spending patterns? is it telling us about uk spending atterns? , ., ., patterns? ok, so while there are some positives _ patterns? ok, so while there are some positives here, _ patterns? ok, so while there are some positives here, i _ patterns? ok, so while there are some positives here, i suppose l some positives here, i suppose overall the golden quarter hasn't

lived up to expectations in 202a. that indicates consumers are being cautious with their spending. with uncertainty in the markets, they continue to try to protect themselves, i guess. and you are sa in: themselves, i guess. and you are saying that _ themselves, i guess. and you are saying that will _ themselves, i guess. and you are saying that will continue - themselves, i guess. and you are saying that will continue for - themselves, i guess. and you are saying that will continue for the i saying that will continue for the year, for the sector?— saying that will continue for the year, for the sector? there is some ho -e for year, for the sector? there is some hepe for 2025 _ year, for the sector? there is some hope for 2025 when _ year, for the sector? there is some hope for 2025 when you _ year, for the sector? there is some hope for 2025 when you look - year, for the sector? there is some hope for 2025 when you look at - year, for the sector? there is some l hope for 2025 when you look at cases such as wage growth and lower—than—expected inflation, which could reduce the cost of borrowing. there is no denying that significantly increase costs have to be absorbed by retailers. there are three options for retailers, there growth, reducing costs and increasing prices. most retailers will do a combination of all three which ultimately means there are fewer opportunities in the retail sector for consumers, which could also impact on service levels, and higher prices for them as well. thank you very much indeed. staying in the uk, the boss of retail giant next has warned that a rise in the minimum wage and taxes on employers will mean fewer

jobs for young people. lord wolfson's warning comes amid growing pressure from business on the uk's chancellor rachel reeves over her handling of the economy. he's been speaking to the bbc�*s business editor simonjack. i think one of the things people haven't quite appreciated about the national insurance increases is just how much they hit retail work. so, for example, £60,000 a yearjob — the increase in tax on that, the combination of the threshold and the ni increase would be around 2%. the increase in the cost of a part time national living wage worker will be around 6.5%. so the axe has fallen particularly hard on those entry—level national living wage jobs. and that's where the pain is going to be felt the most. and i think if i've got one ask of government, it would be phase the increase in the threshold over two or three years. give us a chance to plan and prepare and make this change in a way that is the least harmful,

rather than introduce it with six months�* notice. if that doesn't happen, and there's no indication that it will, what does that do to hiring intentions at companies like yours? does that mean having fewer people? it means fewer hours, yeah. fewer hours? fewer hours. whether that be, you know, the same number of people working fewer hours or fewer people, it will depend on lots of different areas, but ultimately it comes down to reducing hours. what does it do to wage differentials? because clearly, one of the biggest things we've seen is a raise in the national living wage, very substantial one for 18 to 20—year—olds. and how does it ratchet up through the rest of the wage structure? well, it's it's a really good question, because we're now at the point where, over ten years, the national living wage has gone up 88%. and what that means is that that wage is now bumping up against the wages immediately above that. so it's going to cost us almost as much raising wages above the national living wage as raising those people who are on the national living wage. the labour party came to government saying that

public services needed rebuilding, they've been crumbling and that they need to put extra money into it, and the broadest shoulders have to contribute the most. yours is a company that makes £1 billion a year. tesco makes £2 billion a year. that qualifies as broad shoulders, you have to pay a bit more — so be it. let's be clear. the government did need to raise taxes. i think the fine tuning that is needed is to look at the speed at which those changes are made. in principle, i've got nothing against lowering the threshold for ni on part—time work. there's no in—principle reason why that shouldn't happen, but the speed at which it is going to happen, the lack of consultation, the fact that we were given six months to prepare for it, that is the problem. but there's also a broader worry for the economy, which is it means that sort of entry—level jobs, the firstjob people go for, are going to be much harder to find. numbers of people applying for shop jobs over christmas per vacancy was up 50% on the previous year. we had 13 people for every vacancy that we had in our shops. my worry is that it's going to be

harder and harderfor people to enter the workforce. so in a way, these reforms are pulling up the drawbridge to entry—level employment. it's very difficult to see how such a big increase in the cost of entry—level work is going to result in anything other than a reduction in the number of opportunities available. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

the us supreme court is expected to rule later on whether to uphold a law banning tiktok in america on grounds of national security unless its chinese owner sells off its american operations to a non—chinese buyer. as it stands, tiktok will be banned on sunday, just a day before president—elect trump's inauguraton. but there are growing indications that the president—elect may give tiktok a reprieve.

his incoming national security adviser mike waltz told fox news there's provision in the law to delay the ban for 90 days if it looks like a buyer can be found. elon musk, former us treasury secretary steve mnuchin and even online personality mr beast have all been named as possible buyers of tiktok�*s us business. many of the 170 million americans who use tiktok are hoping a ban can be averted. the bbc has been hearing from two influencers who have built their careers on the app. i don't think creators' voices are being heard. i don't think these businesses are being heard that are going to be affected by this. i think these decisions are being made again at such a high level where you just feel left out and you kind of feel powerless. even though it's something that's so important. i mean, it's truly a lifeline

for a lot of people, and i don't think that's being taken into consideration as much as you would think it would be. it's why i'm where i am today, and it's why i'm here pursuing art and entertainment in new york to this day. brands and companies, when they wanted you to do advertisements, they would want it to be on tiktok. so indirectly, tiktok was majority of my income. because all brands want their stuff to be promoted on the app. i've been someone who's been on instagram primarily, and tiktok, and the audiences don't transfer as much as you think they would. i know people who have hundreds of thousands of tiktok followers and maybe only 10,000 instagram followers, which i know is still a decent chunk, but it's not a survivable amount as a creator, if that's your only source of income. influencing, modelling, it's women—dominated fields, so tiktok is putting a lot of money into women's pockets,

and so i would hate to see that go. people are finding community people who've never really had a voice people are finding community, people who've never really had a voice or sharing their story. so i would hate to see all of that go. the world bank has warned that rising trade tensions pose the biggest risk to the world economy this year. it's forecasting global growth of 2.7% but says plans by president—elect trump to hit imported goods with tariffs could put a dent in that figure. jonathanjosephs has been talking to the bank's deputy chief economist, ayhan kose. the three biggest fears — number one is this, you know, the possibility of escalating trade tensions between major economies. number two, you know, the policy uncertainty going up and the consequences of that for investment. and number three, of course, we are really worried about possibility of financial stress if interest rates remain

elevated, that challenges become even larger for emerging developing economies. when it comes to those potential us tariffs, there are various scenarios laid out in your report saying that they will have a negative impact on global economic growth. does that not tell us that they are the biggest threat to global economic growth? anytime you introduce restrictions on trade, there will be adverse consequences. and those consequences are most often borne by the country that introduced those consequences. but the big issue is that for us to be able to basically provide a quantitative assessment of these tariffs, we need to know how much tariffs are going to increase. and we need to know what other policies are going to be there. i think, jonathan, there is this, you know, the possibility of other countries reacting to these tariffs. in fact, when they react, the cost to the global economy is even larger.

is this the year when self—drivng cars or "robotaxis" start to go mainstream? that's the question we're asking here on bbc news on this weekend's talking business. tech giants amazon, nvidia, and tesla are all still in the race — but others like apple and general motors have crashed out. the leader in the us at the moment is waymo, which is owned by alphabet — the same company which owns google. it's already operating robotaxis in san francisco, phoenix and los angeles — but it's not all going smoothly. tech entrepreneur mikejohns ordered a waymo to take him to the airport a few weeks ago — he told us about what happened next. the car comes up, the door automatically opens. i actually ordered that. so the door automatically opens. you're feeling good. people are looking around. wow, that's the future!

he's in there. get in the car. shut the door. the car takes off. those same people are looking. that's the funny part. those same people are looking. now the car is going in a circle. why is this happening to me on a monday? and at this point, this is probably lap four or five where you end up hearing the voice coming over the system. hi there. i'm calling from waymo support. i actually had it scheduled and planned to do this ride with my son because he's it's going to be a normal thing for him. with my son because it's going to be a normal thing for him. so i might as well start at an early age. he's only 12, so it would have been a lot different had he been in the car. why is this thing going in a circle? i'm getting dizzy. look at what it's doing. i understand, i'm really, really sorry. we're currently working with the situation of the vehicle. we went from this humourless experience that he is a recognised voice, the voice instructing me, telling me something, it is soothing, but is this a

personmacaque on my seat belt on, can't get out of the car. has this been hacked? ifeel like i'm in the movies. the somebody playing a joke on me i have a flight to catch. why is my phone part of this discussion was my by lap six or whatever, i had to do the edit to the rye id they were able to or to correct their mistake. we are part of an experiment and you're paying to be a part of this experiment, a deadly mistake that happens, you just auto correct as we go along. when it comes to autonomous vehicles on the road, we are still in this half baked phase. lots more on the bumpy road towards self—driving cars on talking business this weekend on bbc news. viewers in the uk, if you are watching on bbc one. breakfast is next. if you want to stay with us you can switch over to the news channel.

let's get some of the day's other news now. minerals giant glencore has held talks with the world's number two mining firm rio tinto, according to reports, over what would be the biggest merger ever seen in the mining industry. reuters says the talks are "no longer active". mining firms are jockeying for control of minerals such as copper, which will be vital to the clean energy transition. last year bhp failed to seal a $49 billion bid for rival anglo american. here in the uk, mobile, broadband and pay tv companies will no longer be allowed to give surprise price rises in the middle of a customer's contract as a regulator ban comes into effect. in new deals from today, before somebody agrees to a contract, providers must tell them "in pounds and pence" about any price rises, as well as when they will occur. but citizens advice said the move falls short of a full ban on prices rising mid—contract.

former bank of canada and bank of england governor mark carney has announced he wants to be the next leader of canada's governing liberal party. if he wins, the 59—year—old will succeed prime minister justin trudeau and lead the country into the next general election, which will take place this year. stay with us here on bbc news. improving weather conditions and slower winds across southern california are giving exhausted fire crews some respite as they continue to try and contain the devestating fires across los angeles. clive myrie reports from la. oh, no! this is the story of

an american tragedy. another sunny day in southern california is about to turn very dark. so, i'm sitting at home on the couch with the dogs. cheryll comes in the house and says... hey, babe, i need you to come out here right now. we have a very big problem. what? holy bleep! cheryll ku had spotted a fire in the canyon above the house she shares with husband jeffrey in a suburb of los angeles. oh, no! high winds were threatening a catastrophe and their doorbell camera captures what happened next. we discussed things that we couldn't leave behind. essentially, we needed to to leave as quickly as we could. sirens blare by now, word was spreading very quickly that danger

was approaching from the canyon. neighbours went banging on doors, raising the alarm. david stover was in the middle of dinner. we came out and we could see the fire, you know, from here. j do you think they saved your life? they gave us a head start. right. you know, about five minutes. so that makes a difference. please, god. please, god, save us. save our house. five minutes — precious extra time to escape. given thatjust a few minutes later, as jeffrey and cheryll fled their home, the fire had turned into a monster, becoming one of the largest that's now devastated the metropolitan los angeles area — the eaton fire. eaton wasn't the only monster burning. there were multiple fire fronts and the authorities were struggling to cope. then a stroke of luck.

hurricane—force winds that had fanned the flames died down, which meant the cavalry could now fly in. an aerial armada was pressed into service to douse the flames, some dropping fire retardant, coloured pink to show where it's landed. it's a round—the—clock operation, flying low at night to beat the flames. while down below, thousands of men and women are standing their ground in the face of the enemy. it's an ir map of all the heats around here. but even when the flames are extinguished, danger still lurks. so, right down in this drainage, there's a few heats. it's all around us. this team of firefighters are heat spotters. theirjob, to prevent the burning you can't see below—ground, where the root systems of trees can smoulder and die, leading to catastrophic landslides.

this crew are from oregon, part of a resolute national response to this crisis that has gripped the world. and it's the stories of loss and pain that resonate. homes and livelihoods destroyed. wow. a landscape scarred. look at that. a people traumatised. the house behind me was burning. the house on the right was burning. the house on the left was burning. michael haynes is a writer and when he ran out of water to save his own home, he improvised. you don't think... your logic turns off. i started peeing. you know, that's one little fire i could put out. - you peed on the fire? yeah, and i've talked to a few other people who did same thing. - the fires fizzled out on the edge of his property. he was lucky. so many others were not. how does this community, los angeles, america, all of us,

how can we better prepare for a similar catastrophe? that is a question we should all ponder. this is the most beautiful place in the world to me. j and now it'sjust gone. just, i mean, it's gone. a little bit of you dies with it. i don't know. that report by clive myrie. now it's time for a look at the weather with louise lear. hello. there were winners and losers when it came to the weather story on thursday. for parts of northwest england and wales in particular, we have blue sky and sunshine, even somejanuary warmth with a high of 14 degrees. but it was a different story across the midlands. we had quite a lot of fog in the morning, that lifted to low grey cloud. the misty conditions lingered. the misty conditions lingered for parts of hereford

and worcestershire, while temperatures only climbed just up to 4 celsius. it was also quite windy and there was a weak weather front, bringing some outbreaks of showery rain to the northwest of scotland. but most of us under the influence of high pressure and with light winds and that high pressure is going to stay with us for the next few days. further areas of fog could be an issue as well that could bring an issue as well, that could bring poor visibility, and if it lingers, it will also impact the temperatures once again. the fog shouldn't be too widespread though. on friday it lifts quite readily and we're chasing cloud amounts around, particularly for england and wales. still quite a fresh wind up into the far north and west. still outbreaks of drizzly rain from that weak weather front. but temperatures here i! or 12 degrees. seven or eight, perhaps a maximum across england and wales. as we move out of friday into saturday, still under this area of high pressure, it's blocking this weather front from making that much of an impression, but still the isobars squeezed together. the isobars squeezed together, the further north and west. so more wind, more cloud here. but for england and wales it could be quite a cold start

to saturday morning. temperatures dipping below freezing and there will be some fog around. and some of that fog has the potential to linger all day across central and eastern parts of england and also parts of wales. if that happens, it will have quite an impact on the temperature. the wind out to the west breaking the cloud up. there will be some sunny spells and again those temperatures at 10 or 11 degrees. but where the fog lingers, we once again could see a maximum ofjust 4or5. moving out of saturday into sunday, the wind direction changes again, and it's a cooler source, dragging in some cooler air from the near continent. so that means a colder day for all of us. this weather front still being kept out into the west. it is going to arrive on monday, but before that potentially sunday could be a cold, cloudy, murky day for many of us. until then, take care.

live from london. this is bbc news. israel and hamas have officially signed a ceasefire and hostage release deal after overcoming last—minute disputes. israel's cabinet will now vote on whether to ratify it. these are the live pictures of the skyline near the gaza border. the ceasefire is meant to begin on sunday, with the release of the first three israeli hostages. a bbc investigation finds the deaths of 56 babies and two mothers at health services in leeds

may have been preventable. jailed former pakistan prime minister imran khan has been sentenced to an additional 14 years over a land corruption case. new data suggests levels of carbon dioxide, the most significant planet—warming gas in our atmosphere, rose more quickly than ever previously recorded last year. spacex's upgraded starship rocket has exploded minutes into its latest test flight. hello, i'm nicky schiller. israel and hamas have officially signed a ceasefire and hostage release deal, after overcoming last—minute disputes. israel's security cabinet is due to meet later to ratify the agreement. some ministers, including the far—right security minister itamar ben—gvir, have threatened to resign if it is approved, calling it a reward for hamas. the civil defence agency in gaza says more than 80 palestinians have