toie: british mp's get set seal the brakes a deal for good, three yearsrs after the u.k. fit voted to leave the e.u.. a vote on final approval exexpected to o pass today. and mystery still surrounds what caused a ukrainian airline to crash outsididto run yesterday, killing everyone on board. that came hours after iran launched missiles at u.s. forces in iraq. the latest coming up on the investigation from ukraine. also on the way this hour in business, we will show you some of the ideas the auto industry is presenting at the consumer electronics show in las vegas. they are all trying to fight a

slowdown in sales. u.k. as shocker in the prince harry and meghan markle make a surprise announcement will be stepping back from the royal duties and spending more time in north america. first, our top story, live from paris. we will start in france, where the country is gearing up for another mass day of protests. this time, unions are calling workers from all sectors to take to the streets in anger for government plans for pension reform. this comes as france is in day 36 of nationwide transport strikes. andrew hillier is covering the protest from the train station in southern paris. andrew, unions and the government today are having this face-to-face again as the unions

are hoping that all of these people will turn out, these protests do to get underway in about half an hour. is there any indication yet on how big that turnout is going to be? just behind us here, we just found several dozen protesters making their way to join that protest. they were carrying flags belonging to the cgt movement. we heard drivers beeping horns and support. also, movement. that might be a good indication of the kind of support we are expecting today on what is going to be the fourth major day of protests. reforms,e pension unions calling for workers in various sectors to come out and protest. of course, the paris metro workers will be on strike, as they have been for 36 days now,

the railroad workers, dockworkers, health workers. the, some new sectors join movement today -- telecommunications workers, postal workers. the big question is what that turnout is going to be. protestersent -- the are hoping the turnout will show the french government that people are still overwhelmingly against those reform plans. the question is whether or not the numbers are going to match what we saw at the start of the movement in december. genie: the government saying they are trying to wait this thing out. andrew: that is right. this week, of course, has been a key week for negotiations between the government and unions. both sides are men stuck at loggerheads. the aims of this reform, it is worth mentioning, to streamline 42 separate pension regimes into

one universal point skin system. the cgt say the system means retirees will be poorer, worse off overall. the government has said they won't be doing that. on the other hand, there are more moderate unions. they have said they are willing to compromise on one part of that reform, the so-called pivot age. the government wants to raise the age to get a full pension. they want to raise it from 62 to 64. they want to compromise if the government leaves that age at 62. of the strategies for the government going forward would be to talk with them. they could split the unions and

break the back of the union. genie: andrew, thanks for that. andrew hillier reporting on the protest movement, the nationwide transport strike that is now in its 36th day in france. u.k., british mp's are set to seal the brexit deal for good, over three years after they voted to leave the european union. that's expected to easily pass this evening. that thea stipulation country cannot extend for a growing new relationship with the e.u. they say they will find it nearly impossible to negotiate all future aspects with the e.u. by the end of the year. ene --ct bobbio -- p benedicte gave us the latest from london. cte: this will be symbolic, much awaited, decried

by other people, when the house of commons has finally greenlighted, given its approval to the withdrawal agreement bills. the lower chamber will have finished its job. it will goat -- it will go next week to the upper chamber. genie: the devil is in the details, as we say. it cannot be renewed past the end of this year. the european union saying that is just impossible, practically. how will they make this work? to be clear, the end of phase one will be on january 31 at 11:00 p.m. that will be the divorce finally after the brexit referendum and the surprise result three and a half years ago in 2016. urszula underline -- urszula

leyen made an interesting and positive speech at the london school of economics. she did give a gentle, firm warning. she has said she does not believe this can all be done by the end of this year, that is very much the goal of this prime minister. but she underlined was that actually what will be needed is to give priority to certain things. phase two, a complex we will see how united the e.u. is. the u.k. are really gunning for fishing rights and getting back there fishing waters. e.u. seeot the way the it. the end of phphase one coming u.

be talking more about that. it is not going to be easy. genie: benedict pavillon -- p pavilot reporting from london. by -- gone was questioned carlos ghosn was questioned a day after his press conference to defend himself in lebanon. he fled while awaiting charges on breach of trust and misappropriation of company funds, all of which he denies. and tensions between the u.s. and iran reached a high point wedndnesday. they seem to be cooling back down after both sides say they do not want a war. trump's approval of the strike that killed iran's top general has many democrats questioning

his judgment in international affairs. the democratic controlled house has measures to restrain actions against iran. nancy pelosi calling the drone strike provocative and disproportionate. that will face more opposition in the republican-run senate. the investigation i into the ple crash in iran continues. the ukrainian airliner was on fire before it went down not long after takeoff. board, leslie iranians and iranian canadians, were killed. ukraine is investigating to s se if a missile or bomb might have brought down the plane. simon joins us from kiev. the story from ukraine's point of view has changed since yesterday. yesterday, the embassy ruled out a terror attack.

ory are seeing if a missile a bomb could have brought down a plane. simon, can you tell us a bit more aboutut the investigation from ukraine today? simon:n: sure. the sesecretary of thehe nationl secucurity council says that ukraine had sent a delegation of about 45 people e to investigate the crash site, representntg 10 or 111 different ministries. they have been on n the ground since 2:0:00 a.m. she have time, so q quite a whilele at that po. we are expecting to hear some of the preliminary findings later today or even tomorrow. ukrainian national security council said they are at this point looking at four different possible scenarios for w what could hahave brought the plane down. the first of ththose was that it was hit by an unknonown flying object o of some kind, maybe a drone.

they're also lookoking at a potential mechanical failure in the engigine. some photographs of been circulated on the internet purporting to show a missile, but those are unconfirmed. they also say one potential scenario they are looking into -- the last is terrorist attttas , like a bomb that might have been brought on board. d downn't really narrrrow it at this point. the ininvestigatioion is still n its preliminary changes. it is heaeartening thatat the ukrainians were able to get a large number of p people o on te groundnd in tehran so quickly so theyey can tl us more abouout wt happened in the coming days and hours. genie: how is the story being covered in ukraine? what is the reaction light from there? simon: i think ukraine has p ptd from situations like this, because this is flooding back

memories from 2014, when malaysian flight 17 was shot down over eastern ukraine. a lot of people are feeling like potentially that has happened again. some o of the things the secrety at the security council said was that some of the people who had investigateded the mh 17 incidet have now been flown to iran to investigate on thihis one. ukraine is no stranger to investigating plane crashes in difficult circumstances. as you will remember, mh 17 fell in an area controlled by pro-russian separatists and russian forces. that was a a very long and strog at the investigatition that totk yearars and d years. it is only r recently that the dutch ininvestigators pointed fingers at a russian antiaircraft missile. whether that is the case in iran, whether the plane was shot down, we don't know yet. hohopefully, we will find out in the coming days. genie: simon speaking to us from

tf. -- kiev. in australia, fires in the south are expected to grow in the coming days. authorities are saying that hot and windy forecasts could see more breakout and are urging residents in the path of the wiwildfires to evacuate. authorities have set t the death toll at 2 227 since the fires began, witith over 20000 homes n the blazes. the effect on australia's flora and fauna has been devastating. the thick smoke still hangs in the air. but t the bushfirire has finally been extinguguished. slolopes use to make up a 350 hector sanctuary, home to hundreds of native australian animals. but everything has been destroyed.

sarah runs a site which used to be brimming with kangaroos. 100 50, out00 a and every night, grazing. counted 20 this morning.g. reporter: sarah has also paid a heavy price from the e fire. her home in the middle of thee sanctuary is not just a pile of blackened rubble. but she is more concerned about the vast numbers of kangaroos who haveve died, or have needed urgent care for their injuries. to lose everything like this is just so cruel. it is so cruel. we paid the high pricece. we don't care aboutut that. alall that is just stuff. what did they do toto deserve wt we have done to them? the uniniversity ofof

sysydney have doubled their estimate of the number of animals killed or injured in the brush fires nationwide to one billion. this baby one that is one of the lucky survivors, a rare bundle of good news, which sara says has given her back strength and determination to fight on. fore: we haveve the latest you on what has been dubbed the megsit. prince harry and meghan markle made a surprise announcement wednesday that they will be stepping back from the royal duties and spending more time in north america. media reports say the move came as a complete surprise even to other members of the british royal family. we will talk a bit more about all of this. let's bring in p phillip turloc. a surprise to members of the royal family, but was the queen surprised d asell?l? phillip: i think shocked, disappointed, and probably a bit annoyed that she was not consulted about this before the

announcement was published yesterday. you have to remember that the protocol in the royal family in the united kingdom is such that they are now sort -- that announcements like this are usually well prepared in advance and get authorization of f not only the queen, but also prince charles and probably prince william. this has come out of the blue. there were discussions taking place between harry and meghan and the queen. but they did not have any idea, the rest of the royal family, they were going to publish this announcement as soon as they did. i think the feeling today is one this."weren't expecting after the accident last year of prince philip, the problems of prince andrew and his relationship with jeffrey epstein, just when you thought it could not get worse for the british royal family, thihis cos out. it is going to be a difficult period for them and i don't really know where this is going to lead, to be quite honest.

the royal couple is expected to live at least part of the time in canada. why, and what will they be doing there? phillip: if you look at how things have been happening since they got married, they have been pretty miserable as members of the royal family. you remember back in the old days, until 2015, megan had a "suits," where she played one of the key roles. they have just been to canada for a long break. it is a commonwealth country, so it has strong links with the united kingdom. these are reasons they have chosen canada as a place they would like to live in. also, meghan markle has made it absolutely clear, or the duchess has made it absolutely clear, that she detests donald trump and does not want anything to do with him while he is in office,

so maybe that is one of the reasons theyey have chosen canaa and not the united states, where she comes from. genie: the couple has been vocal about how tough this past year has been for them. do you think royal watchers would have seen it coming? phillip: there were warning signs. harry has made it clear he has had a difficult time with his brother, prince william. megan has said she found it difficult as a mother to cope with the constant pressure e of being in the spotlight all the time and being hounded by the press. i think those are reasons that hahave pushed them to try to moe away from that. canada,go to live in they are not british stars. their international stars. wherever they go in the world, they are going to take the press with them. a move to canada or somewhere else will mean they will increase the interest in them. that will make it much more difficult for them afterwards. genie: thank you for that. let's take a look at today's

headlines. another day of mass protests. france sees its 36th day of a transport strike. unions calling for workers to walk out in protests over controversial pension reform plans. to seal the get set brexit deal for good over three years after the u.k. first v vod to leave the e.u. a boat on that final approval expected to easily pass today. mystery still surrounding what caused a ukrainian airliner to crash outside tehran yesterday, killing everyone on board. that came hours after iran launched missiles at u.s. forces in iraq. time foror our business updatete withth stephen cararroll. you are starting g with a gloomy outlook for the global economy from the world bank. growth willnomic only improve slightly in the coming year. 201919 was the weakest year sine the financial crisis. 2020 will be better for emerging

economies than developed ones. it is affecting growth -- it is expecting growth in the u.s. and euros on to be slower, but in india growth is expxpected to re to 5.8.8% in the c coming year. i hahave been discussing this report with one of its authors from the world bank. growth, pricesal lower. emerging-market and development growth has a postcrisis growth of 3.5%. we have seen signs of stabilization. numbers thatxport have recently come out are a bit better. stabilization in 2020, but that is a pickup or inching up of global growth from 2.4% to 2.5%. even that t is a very y fragile recovery. it essentially rests on the rebound in emerging-market

growth to 4.1%. rebounds in a emerging-market developing economies that are coming out of a very difficult 2019 -- there are big downside risks to this growth outlook. stephen: what should we be worried about in the coming year? is u.s.-china trade tensions as big a concern this year as it was last year? francesca: there are any number of downside risks to the global economy. one is ththat trade tensions escalated again. last year was really the year with the weakest global trade growth, less than 1.5% by our estimates. we do expect a pickup. that can b be deililed itradade tensions i increase in 2020. stephen: you can see that full interview on our website, "people anand profit." gee:e: a big name in thehe a aie

industry is steppiping down. stephehen: that is the head of r lingus and ibeberia. he oversaw the creation ofof a group w when ba merged with a spanish carrier. hehe is going to be stepping don and march and he will be replaced by the current boss of iberia. known forook the helm his tough negotiations with unions, which led to major strikes including action by lots last t year that led to thousandnds of ba flightt cancelellations. shows trtrading up s slightly. no major reaction from investors to that nenews. he has said he would step dowown in a fewew years. not a huge s shock. shares werere up 4% in paris afr an incncrease in pasasnger numbs in d december. the decks up over 1%. a look at what is happening in tough week after a

in the middle east. president trump stepped back from escalating tensions with iran. brent crude now trading around $65 a barrel, around the level it was in the middle of december. genie: uber has changed rules for drivers in california in an effofort to escape a new law targeting gig economy workers. stephen: drivers would be able to find the destination of rights before accepting to pick the passenger up, those who take rides will no longer see a fixed price, but a price range. the idea is to give the drivers more compensation for longer rides. this is after a california law which requires all workers involved in what is called a company's core business to o be classed for employees. they are currently treated as independent contractors with fewer rights. the company is trying to keep things that way. it is estimated that if they have to class this drivers as employees, it will cost them around $500 million.

genie: cars are a big topic at the consumer electctronics shown las vegas. stephen: money pouring into technology t to try to keepep up wiwith techh companies i investn the e automotive industrtry. some are pushing things into a whole different dimension. >> what do the movie avatar and wereadie's have in common? -- what do the movie "avatar" and the mercedes have in common? the same designers. >> some of the curvature, the natural organic qualities, a lot of the design. of philosophyiece made tangible. i think it is really cool. reporter: the batteries will be made of recyclable material. thee car can recognize anyone wo sits in it by their heartbeat

and breath. this model by toyota can its drivers. >> you are having a bad day, the car will notice by well and might say, let's visit a spot in the park, or your favorite movie is playing at 7:00 p.m. reporter: the whole driving experience is set to change, like with this model representing an augmented driving concept. >> i am going up to 60 mph. that is pretty good. bit. to slow down a little and i am going to come to a stop. while it may be some

time before technology appearsrs on t the roadsds, it shows carms are putting more money into innovation in an effort to drive sales. genie: let's wrap up in t the tv world, where a new rival to netflix hopes to win viewers with shows just 10 minutes long. stephen: it is a company called qibuibi. they are tarargeting younger viewers wiwith bite-size shows. already a billion dollars in funding for the project that will go live later this year. stars including steven spielberg will beifer lopez joining a credit fefeel after disney a and apple launched streaming services in 2019. it is estimated the streaming market will be worth 620 billion euros over the next five years. lots of money out there. genie: and more stuff to watch, as if we did not have enough already. in the next half hour, the french are known for being grumpy, but no data is backing

up that cliciche. the love affair between france and pessimism coming up in the next french connection after the news.

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