markus karlsson. stay with us. we will update you on our top international headlines and the top african stories. don't go away. dsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdsdcdc 12/29/15 12/29/15 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> simply put, given this perfect storm of human error, the miscommunication by all involved that day, the evidence did not indicate criminal conduct a police. amy: tamir rice was 12 years old when a cleveland police officer shot him dead as he played with a toy gun. police failed to provide medical help and tackled tamir's 14-year-old sister to the ground as she ran to his aid.

markus karlsson with us. we move into the new year, a controversial new trade deal is coming into effect. markus: it is finally happening. fortunately, for some. unfortunately, for others. the free trade agreement between ukraine and the european union will come into effect on friday. that will lower the cost of ukrainian goods in europe and vice versa. the deal has thank you -- has angered russia. the kremlin has said it will slap punitive charges on imports. we have more details. reporter: it was the free-trade agreement with the eu that for ukraine a part -- that tore ukra ine apart. awayr yanukovych backed from it, sparking widespread protests that led to his ouster. the free-trade deal goes into effect friday and seeks to enhance trade relations between ukraine and the eu. that you remove customs tariffs will remove- the eu customs tariffs and quotas. ,ussia is angered by the deal saying it could reduce the attractiveness of its own exports in ukraine. moscow suspended its free-trade week,ent with kiev th

that and be very serious and announce the fact that i am joined now by our business news editor, markus karlssonoing to talk about the latest episode, the story of the ongoing saga involving an intranet -- internet entrepreneur. markus: those goats are a tough act to follow. accord has ruled that he can be ruled kim has dotcom and three others can be extradited. whenpload was shut down inice raided dotcom's house auckland. lawyers said they will appeal the decision. dotcom emerged from court after a judge said he should be extradited to the united states. >> we have filed an appeal. i'm still on bail. we will go through the process until the very end. reporter: he has lived in new zealand since 2010, where he was arrested in a dramatic raid on his mansion nearly four years ago. he and three cofounders of the now-defunct megaupload face charges of racketeering and money laundering. american authorities argue that their file site -- filesharing site cost companies more than $500 million because it allowed the illegal distribution of copyrighted materials. it was once the 13th most popular website

markus karlsson is here for that. we've got rabbits being eaten alive. markus: i'm having an issue following that story. catherine n.: volkswagen are going to get a bit of mauling as well. markus: we've seen them getting a mauling over the past two months or so. the german carmaker is trying to come to grips with the commission scandal that has rocked the carmaker for the past two months. vw's chairman and ceo have been seeking about the scandal at a press briefing. a small it looks as if group of employees were responsible for rigging 11 million diesel vehicles to cheat on commission tests. they say the investigation -- on a mission -- on emission tests. they say the investigation could still take months. reporter: volkswagen's ceo and chairman provided updates into how thestigation of carmaker rigged 11 million vehicles to cheat emissions tests. chain ofted to a c -- mistakes. >> individual misconduct and neglect by employees in an individual segment of our company. weak points in some of our processes. thattitude in some area the company could tolerate

much less controversial news now with markus karlsson, our business editor. you are going to be telling us about the forecast for oil prices. markus: we are looking at oil we haven the past -- been looking at oil prices in the past few days. investors are worried about the volatility we've seen in energy weeks, in the past days, perhaps even months. tuesday, brent crude went below the $40 per barrel mark for the first time in nearly seven years. we've seen nymex crude, the u.s. benchmark, trade well below that important psychological mark for days. nymex crude is currently trading just above $37 per barrel. this wednesday, prices climbed higher at one point, rebounding from losses earlier in the week. data from the united states show american crude declined last week. gains have fizzled out and prices have once again turned south. the head of the iaea said that a price rise is probably more than a year away. he said the prices are set to remain low throughout 2016 as growth in demand will continue to be subdued. >> there's already a lot of oil in the markets n

the top business headlines with markus karlsson. hi there. there, catherine. anchor: let's start with the oil prices in saudi arabia. yes, brent crude is near and 11-year low once more. and one of the major producers unveiling dramatic spending cuts, saudi arabia cutting subsidies on things like fuel and water. this as the government forecasts and $11 billion deficit next year. our correspondent has more. saudi arabia is looking at the biggest audit deficit as revenue slump. badthis deficit is not as as some feared. some had feared a gap of 20%. the news was announced on monday. >> the estimated revenues on spending are as follows -- we 513.8te revenues to be at billion reals and are projected spending will be -- that makes for a shortfall of some $87 billion. to thee vulnerable fluctuation of oil prices. they control how much they pump, that not how much. there star export is lower than $40 a barrel. state revenues have been affected. to trim belts, cutting back on spending and energy subsidies that sweeten saudis household bills. there's also talk of a gover

markus karlsson joins me in studio. oil prices appear to have fallen following the opec meeting in vienna. tell us more. markus: that meeting has been the focus of energy markets this friday. the 12 member cartel got together in the austrian capital. the question has been whether the cartel would take action to boost oil prices at a time when they were near six-year lows. the upshot is that opec decided against cutting production in order to lift prices. there are signs of division within the organization. nigeria's president says there -- opec's nigerian president says there could be another meeting before june. >> opec is staying put. the cartel has failed to agree on a production cut but will keep pumping at current levels. this outcome is supported by saudi arabia. to maintain market share even at the cost of low prices. goes against calls from smaller members to cut production and boost prices. maker isy decision saudi arabia has decided they want to preserve their market share. it is better for them in the members,

catherine: markus karlsson is back with us for some business news. ticking to the extreme weather theme. a string of storms in the u.k. is costing the country. markus: this, as the u.k. once again is being battered by torrential rains and strong winds. the storm is hitting the country. it is likely to cause additional economic damage in the wake of two previous storms, desmond and eva. raised ofte has been how much the weather is likely to cost insurers. it is forecast to be between 900 million pounds and 1.2 billion pounds. reporter: bursting riverbanks, collapsed bridges, and local businesses left with heavy losses. countrysides, and in parts of northern england have been deluged in the worst since 2007. the water came in a rush, taking the owner off guard. >> i was upstairs sleeping. 4:00 in the morning. i could hear the waterfall coming from the kitchen. it came up within one hour about one meter. reporter: the furniture and a number of home appliances have been damaged, resulting in a one-month closure at least, with an estimated loss of up to 68