大象传媒

The state-controlled national chemicals firm, ChemChina, has offered to buy the Swiss pesticide giant Syngenta. If the forty-three billion dollar deal goes ahead it would be the largest foreign acquisition ever made by a Chinese company. We hear from Tom Mitchell of the Financial Times newspaper in Beijing. Syngenta has several research and production facilities in the US, including Louisiana, North Carolina and Omaha. Anne Salladin, a lawyer at the Washington firm Stroock Stroock & Lavan, tells us how handing control of them over to the Chinese could raise a few eyebrows among lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Also Martin Patience reports from Lagos on how the fall in oil prices has hit Nigeria's economy hard. And we hear from Spain, which has been without a government for the past month. Katy Watson reports from Mexico on what effect the sugar tax has had there, and we find out why the British government is trying to stop Lawrence of Arabia's robe and dagger from leaving the country.