Today in what has been called the most important vote in a generation. This could solidify conservative Boris Johnsons pot as Prime Minister, paving the way for breaks it, or if the labor leader wins, send britain toward a new referendum. Catherine norrison is outside a polling station in southern london. Will come on this chilly day. What more can you tell us about what is happening with the vote . We are slightly limited what we are allowed to tell you because of u. K. Law for broadcasters. A lot of the key issues we cannot really discuss in depth because the idea is that broadcasters are not allowed to influence the vote while polling stations are open. We are allowed i think to mention the fact that brexit is a major issue, something viewers will be well aware of, unless they have been living in a cave or not paying attention. The politics of the last three and a half years, that is one of the big deciding factors. We have been speaking to voters coming out of the polling station. Some of them have very strong opinions, turning up very early in the morning. We will have to look at the turnout, whether it is high indeed. That could have an impact on this decisive vote, which could really have an impact. Some commentators saying it is the most important election in a generation, because this is going to be crunch time. It decides which way the country will go. It could break the political deadlock. However, i have been speaking to other voters in the north and the midlands of england. Some of them say they have been agonizing about this choice. They dont know which way to go until the very last minute. Some of the opinion polls could be very tricky for them to predict exactly what the outcome will be. Genie i know you cant talk much about the key issues. When are we likely to learn more about who won this election . Catherine all will become much more clear at 10 00 p. M. British time, 11 00 p. M. Paris time, when polls close. Immediately after that, we will get the publication of exit polls, which will hopefully give us an idea of who may have won the election, what shape the parliament will take going forward. It is a first past the post election, not proportional. It does make it difficult to predict. There seems to be a lot of tactical voting going on, which is making it even trickier for the pollsters. The opinion polls have gotten it largely right in five of the last six elections. It is probably going to give us a very good idea. The results will be counted immediately, very speedily in some cases. We should get the First Official of the within two hours polling stations closing, and then trickling in through the night, perhaps 5 00 a. M. Local time, we should know for sure who will have won the u. K. General election. Genie Catherine Norris trent reporting from london, where voting is underway. As the u. K. Is heading into a third election in four years, we will take a look at the state of britains economy. Reporter as the end of your shopping season arrives, the u. K. Economy remains in the doldrums. We tell sales dropped slightly in october from the previous month. Initial figures suggest that black friday in november failed to turn things around. Strong consumer spending, rebalanced labor market, had been shoring up the british economy in the wake of the brexit referendum. At the time, spending was 10 lower than todays figures. Despite the market turmoil the boat unleashed, the Unemployment Rate continued its decline, which started in late 2011, until it studied just below 4 last year. Inflation rose close to 3 by late 2017. It has been in decline since inn, coming down to 1. 5 october. A decline also in britains Economic Outlook in the manufacturing and services sectors. And the prospect of a no deal brexit continue to loom. Businesses started taking flight to continental europe. Extremelyshows clearly how uncertainty over the direction of policies can induce a serious lack of investment. And that has longlasting effects. Written managed to dodge a recession, defined by two consecutive quarters of contraction, but growth has stagnated since august. The forecast remains pessimistic. It expecects gdp growth to hit e lowest level in recent years, before bouncing back in 2021. Genie algeria is also going to the polls today in a much delayed president ial election, but that vote has been opposed by a mass protest movement that wants to delay the vote completely, until the ruling elite steps down. Protests already pushehed out te longtime leader and kicked off an Anticorruption Campaign that led t to the arrest of some of e highest profile members of the algerian establishment. Probe needs to extend further to root out corruptionon within the entire political class. Our report. Two former Prime Ministers are arrested less than 48 hours apart in june. Wasgovernment one governor until 2019, and the other from 2012 32014. Firstrest signaled this Anticorruption Campaign since the countries countrys independence and sheds light on the corruption during 20 years in power. But the most notable figure isis the younger brother and special advisor to the ousted president. He has a very wellconnected circle of friends. They are also the owners of a Construction Group and the head of his own empire. Companies were awarded lucrative government contracts. They never got off the ground. They were also involved in several corruption cases. The first verdicts w were passed dodown on tuesday, just two days before the president ial election. The former Prime Ministers were sentenced to 12 and 15 years effectively, for among other campaignfifth turn that would have cost the treasury 830 million euros. Buttaflika, he was found guilty of high treason by a military court and is currently serving for teen years in prison. Report from our french sister channel. Tell us a little bit more about why the majority of the population in a algeria is so against thisis election. Analyst algerian people are rejecting widely this election because for now almost 10 months they are taking to the streets to say no to the system, and this election, the candidates in this election, are all they have all a link with the system. There are two former prime flika ands of boute former ministers. They are part of the system. Today, this administration is rejected because the election is organized by the system with people from the system. Algerian people are not saying we are against an election. They are saying we are against this election. What is interesting is that the system generally is that the candidates are rejected, but also the whole campaign was herak. D by the it started to reject bouteflika s securirity mandate. Which is only election proposed to the population, and election with his former and ministers. People are saying it is a continuation of president bouteflika, so we cannot agree to this election. Hirak, of course, the protest movement. Why is the election taking place . Analyst a president will be elected for sure. How the movement will continue will it continue that every friday people go to the street to make demonstrations to ask the system to go . President gine the giving some insurance to organize a transition. People are determined and what the movement to stay peaceful. And want the movement to stay peaceful, to keep asking the system to go. They want the army to leave the political scene. That is important. The army is behind the curtain for independence. For the first time in the history of the country, we have a face to face between the , withoutn and the army interference between the two. Now, the facetoface is here and is important. It is necessary for the movement to organize itself and be capable of having people to represent the movement, to negotiate with the system. Weekend imagine the situation in during four months. To see howortant is the movement will organize itself now, after the election of this new president. Genie thank you for coming on the set from our french sister channel. Staying with the protest theme, it is day eight of the nationwide strike in france. Most metros, trains, and buses still shut down over government plans to reform the pension system. Frances most hardline union is digging in its heels, saying there will be no break in the strikes, even over christmas, unless the government backs down. The french Prime Minister says the new pointsbased system would be favor and find a gaping deficit in the pension budget, unions are not happy about the changes, including a plan to push the legalal retirement age from 60 to to 64. Reporter having laid its cars on the table cards on the table, the government is Standing Firm on its proposed pension reforms. Prime minister Edouard Philippe has defended his plans, saying they are needed to balance the books. He will offer an olive branch to unions. Firm on the principle, but not close minded. As i indicated to the social and labor organizations, they were a series of points which we could improve upon. I take into account difficult working conditions. I take into account family rights. The government wants to consolidate frances complex pension system, which currently has 42 options, into a universal, pointsbased plan. French unions have been striking, leading up to the announcement, and they are not happy now they have heard the proposal. A point of contention remains the age of retirement. Is against this economic measure. This technocratic accountancy means workers are considered as statistics. The government must stop this reform. This moneysaving measure to make people work longer. To raise the plane retirement age from 60 to to 64 by 2027 has been opposed by unions across the board, even those considered to be more moderate. This means further strikes, with public transport set to remain paralyzed across much of the country. The deadlock looks set to continue as the government refuses to buckle in the face of the protests. Genie in india, police fired blanks into crowds as s thousass ofof protests ignored a curfew in the norththeast of the cocou. They were out for a controversial measure on citizenship, which fast tracks applications from millett from religious minorities, but not muslims. It is part o of the Prime Ministers hindunationalist agagenda to marginalize muslims. This is something the Prime Minister denies. Reporterer indias new bilill grants citizenship to refugees from minorities persecuteted in neighboring bangladesh, pakistan, and afghanistan. Those countries have a muslim though the mininorities cited were nonmuslim. The hindunationalist government says this bill does not discriminate against muslims. We are giving citizenship to hopeless refugees who come here. How will this affect the Indian Muslims in any w way . Rereporter this is the firirste indian legislation has been based on religigion. Strtructu ofbasic the constitution. It is divisive and exclusive. It has consequences he would not imagine. And this is part of your political strategy. Reporter the citizenship Amendment Bill has caused protests among those who fear it will lead to mass immigration. Allow peoplet to on the basis of electoral look in theu must areas where normal people will have to sacrifice their lives. Critics say the ruling hindu party wants to divert attention from the Country Economic slowdown. Genie the cliche goes failure is not an option. One canadian toymaker is trying to turn that around. In a game of balance and experimentation,n, teams compete for points value balance game pieces on an unstable base. You lose when pieces fall, but you get more points for taller structures. Failure can be practiced or developed as a skill, leading to positive things like empathy or creative collaboration. I would like to say that ourure is a natural part of learning and development. I dont know a Single Person in their life who has never failed. We all know it is going to happen. Failureracticing abstinence. We are not teaching failure. Likeels like skills empathy, failure, skills that are the future of f work this allows us to be really better at it when it happens, as opposed to suddenly being surprised. Genie lets take a look at todays headlines. It is election day in the u. K. Peopople voting in a parliamenty poll that could be a game changer on brexit. Algeria voting for p president. Election bitterly opposed by protesters, as a way of keeping the old regime in power. They ate of travel chaos in france as the strike against pension reform continues. The hardest line union set to dig in its heels through the holidays. Time foror your business news. This is our very own stephen carroll, talking a lot about the u. K. Elections today. The market will be watching closely those results. Stephen some trtraders will bet their desks a all night in londn to reactct as sosoon the resulus comeme in. Ininvestors s following develops in the campaign closely. A drop over fears of a british exit, but since then, the british currency has been climbining. For 1. 31. Rading gooxplain all this,s, we can toondon and d speak to the head of research at London Capital group. I dont know if you are staying up all night to work through tonight. Can you give us an idea of why we have seen sterling rise during t the campaigign . Thank you foror bringing that up, stephen. Sterling, really the markets since the election has beenn aled, there has theory in n markets ththat thers going to be a conservatitive victory. Itit is probably better for the economy to have conservatitivesn contntrol, partiticularly againt this lababour party. That is debatable, of course, but ththere are big policy changes. That causes uncertainty. The big thing is brexit. Ready todeal that is be passed at the end of january if Boris Johnson has a working majority, unlike we have seen on previous occasions, that deal can actually get through parliament, can be voted through, which we have not seen before. That would open up ending that period of misery where we dont know what is happenening on bret without a deal, were that to happen. Stephen how big a deal will this election result before the markets . Should we expect to see movements on the same scale as the brexit referendum when there are outcomes, perhaps unexpected ones . Resultuld say the brexit was forecasted so one way, and ththe result was soo binary we e not going to see that. In terms of the brexit followed, we have already priced most of the worst Case Scenario into markets. At the moment, market slightly repricing, sterling moving higher. The case looks less and less likely. What nobody expects in this election, much like the brexit referendum, is a majority labor governmentnt. Scenario, there will referendum, and possibly a second Scottish Referendum required. That would be if they go into Coalition Government with this British National party. And then there is a wide ranging plan for natioionalization of various indudustries. A a lot of the gegeneral public actulyly support privatized Rail Companies and the like. Not everyone is happy with that. But if you are an i investor, tt does somewewhat put you off investing in the u. K. , particularly if you invested in utilities, with the possibility your share stake may be taken over by the government. It is not somomething we have bn used to seeing in the u. K. For a while, and it would put off perhaps those flows of fufunds that have beenen sitting on the sisidelines, waititing for brexo be resolved. They would be put off from doing so, most likely. Stephen do you think thehe economy has been a dominant issuee in ththe election, or has this all b been about exexit . The g gl to get s slogandone i hear the all the e time. People are thinking not just about brexexit, but w which p py can deliver o on the main issues they care about. The nhs has been a big one, and how that might be affected by a trade deal with the u. S. , whether it be passed with some kind of bartering process to allow u. S. Drug Companies Better access. Sorted beforeo be anything else can be r resolved. That is whwhy it is so importat. And a Pivotal Moment for the u. K. , which direction we swing on brexit, and also in terms of u. K. Capitalism versus socialism. Europe too. S in stephen of course, polls are still open, and the results could still be anything at this stagage. We will have to wait f for those results coming in overnight tonight. A quick look at what is happening in europeaean share markets. Trading in positive territory this lunchtime. The interest ratee decision at christineankk lagardrde in a few moments time. Genie americas aviation safety regulator says it will not approve the boeing 737 max plane to go back up to the skies, at least this year. The regulator saiaid there were still steps to be completed before the groununded aircraft could go backck into service. A significant delay would have major ramifications for boeing and the airlines waiting for deliveries of those planes. Thee dixon reported regulator made mistakes in approving the 737 max in the first place. Faaf the effie did the at some point in this process make a mistake . Yes. Thank you. My only i dont just want toto leave it at that. Meadows there are enough pipictures over here and enough blame to go around. I get that. It is very frustrating when it is obvious that mistakes were made, thatat you just dont say mistakes were made. Genie not to argrgentina, whwhe the e w finanance ministster sas the g government t will avoid nfrorontation wiwith its creditors. S. Contrututions to the international monetarar fund h have reready gun n over s bailout. T. He h has beeeen a fierce criticf ththe imf i in the past, and soe investors had feaeared conflict with the fund over reforms that had been demanded. Argentinas new government has vowed to put the economy back on its feet. To do that, the finance minister says there will not be any new public spending cuts next year. Is not a year20 in which physical adjustment can be made, and larger contraction will deepen the recession and the downturn. Reporter the country is in the midst of an economic crisis. Its gdp is expected to contract by 3 by the end of the year. To government is struggling repay its debts, including the 57 billion loan from the International Monetary fund, the largest bailout ever in the funds history. A fierce critic of the imf in the past, says the government is looking to avoid confrontation with its creditors. Had talks already with the imf, and there is recognition of the failure of the previous economic program. Our goal now is to understand the need to move toward a different program, which is the one we are implementing. Guzman says argentina will have to go its way out of the situation. In a country where 35 of the population lives in poverty and inflation hovers at 55 , argentinians are hoping the gogovernment will follow through on its promimises. Genie to wrap up business now, two of the biggggest namemes in technology are now off the list of t the best places too work. K. Stephen google and facebook both fell off the top 10 employers list by the u. S. Jobsite glassdoor. Facebook plungeded from seveveno 23, while google dropped to 11. The companies are wraracked by employee reviews on topics inincluding pay, benefits, and culture. Workers at both firms openly criticize their employers on vavarious issueses. A Cloud Computing firm took the top spot in the survey. Genie congratulations to them. Stephen carroll there with the business. Coming up in the next half hour, onset to pick apart the new pension reform plans and all the anger with the strikes. Hey, im valerie junune. E. Comingng up onrereel south. Ive never been underneath a bulldozer before [valerie] spspired b, tivists in west texaxas trd toto bck a p peline that cross thugh native ld. 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