Heavy equipment, agricultural products and pharmaceuticals. The ports account for more than half of container imports. Consumers are not likely to feel the effect right away and many businesses have tried to get ahead of this by stockpiling or diverting shipments to the West Coast and i spoke to the ceo of The Port of long beach and he said they had a record august but having said that, if the strikes go ahead and last for weeks, they could lead to shortages and high prices for consumers. Who; high prices for consumers. Why are we in high prices for consumers. Why are we in this high prices for consumers. Why are we in this position . The entire east Coast Port Infrastructure could be shut down by this . Why have the talks broken down . The dock Workers Union talks broken down . The dock Workers Union have talks broken down . The dock Workers Union have been talks broken down . The dock Workers Union have been in l Workers Union have been in talks with the us Maritime Alliance now four months and the sticking points are around wages and automation, on wages neither side has had their demands but out in the open, but the dockers had months of soaring inflation, and the Union Statement suggested they could be seeking a 5 per hour yearly increase on a six Year Agreement which could raise the top end from 39 to 69 by The End of the contract, and on automation, we have seen this before with the hollywood workers strike. The bosses here are Warning Employers they could be replaced by machines. Unions continue their support for a full ban on fully automated equipment. The president automated equipment. The president could automated equipment. The president could get involved on this if this is thought to be a threat to national stability. It is an act from the 1940s. But he said he will not do that. , �. ,. , that. President biden does not want to get that. President biden does not want to get involved that. President biden does not want to get involved and that. President biden does not want to get involved and he i want to get involved and he said the parties should continue to negotiate in good faith, and he does not want to do this ahead of an Election And Risk upsetting the Labour Unions but it is a lose lose situation. You either intervene and upset the unions or you face economic headwinds which are not good headlinesjust before the election. Are not good headlines ust before the election. fi before the election. That is the key issue, before the election. That is the key issue, isnt before the election. That is the key issue, isnt it . Before the election. That is the key issue, isnt it . For| the key issue, isnt it . For now, thanks forjoining us. I know you will keep us posted on this over the coming days. Luxury Carmaker Aston Martin saw its shares drop more than 20 after it said profits will be lower than expected this year. The company, famed for its links to james bond movies, has been hit by Supply Chain issues and falling sales in china. And theyre not the only ones the Share Price of stellantis, the owner of brands such as peugeot, citroen, and jeep, also plummeted on monday after a Profit Warning. Carmakers across europe have been suffering lately, with disappointing sales and increased competition from abroad taking a heavy toll on earnings. Lets unpack this with our Business Correspondent theo leggett. Aston martin not the only one suffering in terms of the Share Price. Have we fallen out of love with luxury cars . Hot love with luxury cars . Not exactly but love with luxury cars . Not exactly but people love with luxury cars . Not exactly but people in exactly but people in the chinese market might be or they are finding other brands they can buy. Aston Martin And Stellantis are very different companies, and Aston Martin is a maker of a small number of luxury cars each year and it built around 6500, and of those about one fifth are sold in the asia pacific region, predominantly in china, and one of the problems for the company is that the chinese economy is slowing and chinese buyers are finding more options. Sales in that part of the world have been declining and that is one certainty, that Car Maker is notjust certainty, that Car Maker is not just Aston Martin, certainty, that Car Maker is notjust Aston Martin, some of the big german Car Makers, they have been counting on in recent years to boost their profits, demand for luxury cars from china, but that is not there. Aston martin has also suffered from Supply Chain issues so it will build about A Thousand fewer cars this year than it was hoping to. Stellantis also has a Profit Warning with disappointing sales in the us. It has a large inventory of cars which they are having to discount and that is a problem. And chinese manufacturers are moving into established markets, quite aggressively, and that has cost stellantis. Profit warnings from volkswagen and mercedes benz, bmw, a lot of these are the same kind of themes, struggling to sell cars where they were hoping the growth would come from in china but also struggling with competition from chinese brands in their home market. With volkswagen, we had a warning it might have to close factories in germany for the first time in germany for the first time in history. In germany for the first time in history in history. Speaking of the competition in history. Speaking of the competition from in history. Speaking of the competition from china, i competition from china, particularly acute in the Ev Market because china are churning them out, to the point that the eu is now considering some hefty tariffs and they will vote this week on that. Its, will vote this week on that. Vote on extending tariffs on electric vehicle imports from china and the idea is that the European Commission thinks chinese brands are unfairly subsidised by the chinese government and therefore the exports can be sold more cheaply in europe and that would normally be the case or have a bigger profit margin, but either way it is not great news for european Car Makers so thatis news for european Car Makers so that is why tariffs will be introduced but do not forget, electric Car Market in europe is declining anyway, thanks to the withdrawal of subsidies for electric car buyers in major markets like germany and france. We have seen a big fall in electric car Sales Year on year. In electric car Sales Yearonyear. Thanks for oininu yearonyear. Thanks for joining us to india now where the country has loosened restrictions on some Rice Exports, a move that may ease global prices. The government cut the tax on Parboiled Rice Shipments from 20 to 10 . India is the worlds largest exporter of rice it first introduced curbs on Rice Exports back in 2022 in an attempt to tame inflation and protect food supplies. Earlier, our india Business Correspondent, Archana Shukla explained the impact the move was having on the wider market. Well, it certainly will have a significant impact on global rice prices. You know, there are already reports suggesting that after the decision by the Indian Government to, you know, Ease Restrictions on export on saturday, already on Monday Prices in the global Rice Index have started easing. There are reports quoting dealers from thailand, Vietnam And Pakistan saying that they are quoting lower prices now. And some reports said that for certain categories of rice that were selling at 536 a tonne, it has already slipped down to somewhere around 500. And the impact certainly will be significant because before India Banned Exports of rice, they were commanding about 40 of the global rice trade. And the Moment India restricted exports, prices shot up to the highest in 15 years. And so with Indian Rice supplies coming back into the global market, prices will definitely ease. It will definitely make it easier and better in Food Security for african and asian countries. India exports largely to asian markets, especially south asia, africa, southern america, and parts of Middle East as well, where rice is a staple. And this definitely would help both consumers in these countries, as well as exporters in india who have been sitting on tight supplies, and not able to earn enough money. And also the farmers who this time are seeing better produce, better rice yields. And in fact, the Government State granaries are also overflowing. A Spacex Craft with two crew aboard has successfully docked with the international Space Station. There are two spare seats to bring back the astronauts stranded on the Station Sincejune after problems with their boeing capsule. Well, the news will be welcomed in in The Netherlands where more than 100 astronauts from All Over The World are gathered for their annual conference. We spoke to one of them who told my colleague Sally Bundock about the importance of the event. A planetary conference, thats how we call it. This is the 34th since the starting of our association, the association of space explorers. And every year we get together somewhere on the planet. And this year its in The Netherlands. To celebrate, in particular, the 20th Anniversary of our friend, the dutch astronaut andre kuiper. The 20th year since his first spaceflight. So tell us, how can space help us with our with our Climate Crisis on earth . We monitor our beautiful blue planet earth, from space. We do so with satellites, but we also do so with human eyes. And we bring the news about our planet. And we do science on board the international Space Station that benefits us right here on earth. At this event, is there lots of conversation about the Space Travel Industry . Because in recent years, its had such a huge boost by big players such asjeff bezos, elon musk, richard branson, the billionaire entrepreneurs. Very much so now. Space is not solely a Government Business within the government space agency, but its also a commercial venture, just like aviation was more than 100 years ago. So we have here people representing the commercial side axiom, space x, sierraspace, starlab, lots of people here, and theres a lot of conversation. And so much has happened in the industry of space with so many countries now, china, india, several looking to really push and advance their discoveries in space. Its an exciting time, isnt it . I cannot say better than this. It is very exciting. China, india, are also part of our conference. Theyre going to give us updates on their activity. We work really together because we share one planet. And when youre in Space Orbiting around the planet, it dawns on you theres only place where we can live, where all the Animal Species can live. You are up to date with the business. See you very soon. The trial has begun in paris of frances most prominent far right politician, marine Le Pen, who is accused of misusing European Parliamentary funds. Her party, the national rally, and 26 other people, also face charges. They are accused of Hiring Assistants who worked on party affairs, rather than for the European Parliament which paid them. If shes found guilty, ms Le Pen could be imprisoned and be declared ineligible for public office for five years. The party denies doing anything wrong. Our france correspondent, hugh schofield, has sent this update about the implications of the case. This case concerns a system, allegedly, which the National Front as was, the national rally as it is now, put in place about ten years or so ago now at a time when it had a big haul of meps, European Deputies in strasbourg and in brussels, but found itself chronically short of cash. And its way out of that was to essentially use European Parliamentary money, the money that supposedly went to pay parliamentary assistants for the meps in brussels, and use that money to actually employ Party Workers in paris. So Party Workers here in paris had this fiction of a job in brussels, and strasbourg, which in fact they never performed at all. For example, it is alleged that marine Le Pens own bodyguard was technically a European Parliamentary aide, which he clearly wasnt. Thats the prosecutions case. The party itself and marine Le Pen, of course