Downbeat session in asia. And well be getting the inside track on alipay, the chinese Digital Payment giant owned by ecommerce giant alibaba. The ceo will be joining us later. And as jay zs digital only album goes platinum in under a week we want to know, what was the last physical album you bought . Let us know. Just use the hashtag bbcbizlive. Welcome to the programme. In a few hours time, the eu and japan will sign off on a major trade deal in brussels covering everything from cars to cheese. It comes despite doubts around the world about Free Trade Deals and the rise of Trade Protectionism in the us under the trump administration. Japan and the eu account for about a third of global gdp thats over 21 trillion. Both sides believe their Trade Relationship has room to get even bigger. Eu Officials Say the deal will boost the eu economy by 0. 8 and japans by almost a third of a percent. Among the big winners, the car industry. The eu will scrap a 10 duty on japanese car imports, while
plan. activists say at least 26 people were killed wednesday in several cities. video posted online appears to show new shelling in the district of homs. the crisis in syria is expected to dominate the summit. ban ki-moon is there. an updated resolution on syria will be presented to leaders, but it will not call for president bashar al assad to step down. those are the top stories from cnn. i m monita rajpal. world business today starts right now. good morning, from cnn london, i m nina dos santos. this is world business today and these are the top stories this thursday. leaders of the brics nation stand united. nigeria s finance minister hopes to prove the emerging economies are ready to take the lead. she tells cnn why she s the ideal candidate to run the world bank. also on the show, a general strike grips spain a day before the government announces a new round of austerity measures. so these are some of the world s fastest-growing major economies these days,
a handful of people who s been into north korea and very familiar with the region. i am and i have to say quite a shock. he had been sick since 2008 officially. had suffer add stroke there, but i think it came to a shock to a lot of people including south korea and we do begin with this breaking news thinking morning. some hope, some fear and lots of uncertainty. people are reacting worldwide to the death of north korean dictator kim jong-il. his 17-year reign of power is over. this came late last night on north korea television. delivered by a weak tv anchor having trouble keeping it together. take a look. [ speaking in foreign language ] now, this, what you re looking at, is the last known image of kim jong-il released by state media, north korea said he dysart of a heart attack. he was on a train when he suffered. only 69 years old. the country announced what it calls a great successor to the so-called dear leader. his son, third son, kim jong un, who is said to be
committed crimes against humanity. pope benedict xvi is visiting madrid, spain. the city expects a million or so people to attend. not everyone is happy to see the pontiff, however. some spaniards are protests over the cost to put on the event. those are the headlines from cnn, the world s news leader. i m zain verjee and world business today starts now. good morning from cnn london. i m nina dos santos. good afternoon from cnn hong kong. i m andrew streechbs. you re watching world business today. the top stories this friday, august 19th. many people are happy it is indeed a friday because the market sell-off continues to roll around the world as fear takes hold of global investors. bank of america announces plans to cut thousands of jobs. and the story of a small business that s thriving despite the tough economic environment. now, the stock market sell-off has made its way right around the world as andrew is saying, driven in particular by fierce of recessio