Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

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It was a big - and bad - news day for automotive workers on Thursday when Jaguar Land Rover and Ford announced jobs cuts.

But shouldn't these car-makers have seen these problems coming?

Tim Urquhart, principal automotive analyst at IHS Markit, tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It is very difficult in hindsight to say [Jaguar Land Rover] should have seen everything coming down the line.

"Yes, they probably have been a little bit slow to recognise the downturn in demand for diesel and the change in public sentiment away from diesel.

He says: "The problem that they have is that they make large SUV vehicles...so it is not just a case of them saying 'lets put everything into petrol vehicles or electric vehicles', even though they are investing very heavily in electrification and hybrids for the future."

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It's been an upbeat session for most markets in Asia.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index closed up 1% at 20,359.70. China's Shanghai Composite put on 0.5% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.4% in afternoon trading.

Australia bucked the trend, with the ASX 200 closing down 0.4% at 5,774.60.

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There's been a flurry of reports about Carlos Ghosn overnight including a statement from his wife, Carole, who says she is concerned about her husband's health.

She said: "I recently learned that my husband is suffering from a high fever at the detention centre in Tokyo, but my information is limited to news reports as no-one in his family has been allowed to contact him since 19 November.

"I am pleading with the Japanese authorities to provide us with any information at all about my husband's health. We are fearful and very worried his recovery will be complicated while he continues to endure such harsh conditions and unfair treatment."

BBC Radio 5 live

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Today was meant to be the day that the period of detention Carlos Ghosn was placed under came to an end, but it was expected that Japanese prosecutors would file new charges against him.

Mr Ghosn is still the boss of carmaker Renault, which announced yesterday that its internal investigation had found no evidence of any illegal payments made to him over the last two years.

"There’s definitely a lot of criticism in French media for how he’s been treated. In Japan if you get arrested it can keep being extended for 10 days and so on. There’s been criticism of this system in domestic Japan but there’s never been this much oversight from the rest of the world," BBC News reporter Mariko Oi told Radio 5 Live's Wake Up to Money programme.

"For now, Renault is sticking by him."

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It’s been nearly eight weeks since Carlos Ghosn was arrested as he landed at a Tokyo airport in his private jet.

Just before the maximum period he could be held for questioning expired, Japan’s prosecutors indicted him with a new charge of aggravated breach of trust.

He was previously indicted for underreporting his income - this latest charge is even more serious.

He’s accused of transferring his personal investment losses onto Nissan and making a hefty payment to a Saudi businessman for allegedly helping Mr Ghosn cover up those losses.

During his first public appearance in court on Tuesday, he denied any wrongdoing.

Image source, Getty Images

Carlos Ghosn, the former boss of Nissan, has been indicted on two new charges of financial misconduct, according to local reports.

The Nikkei business daily said that he has been charged with aggravated breach of trust for temporarily transferring personal investment losses to Nissan in 2008, and for understating his compensation for three fiscal years through March 2018.

Good morning and welcome to the Business Live Blog.

This morning, the Office for National Statistics will be releasing GDP figures for November, as well as data on overseas trade, construction output and UK trade.

There will be Christmas trading updates from Dunelm, Moss Bros and online electrical goods retailer AO.

Also, the Treasury Committee will be publishing the government's response to a report into small medium business finance it published last autumn.

The chair of the Treasury Committee Nicky Morgan says the Financial Conduct Authority must be given the powers to provide protection to SMEs now.

Have a point of view? Drop us a line on bizlivepage@bbc.co.uk.