"We believe the infomation highway should be democratized." 

That's the view of at least one of the high profile Americans in Brussels today. Nancy Pelosi, who has become a familiar figure around the world for her impeachment battles with President Trump, was speaking to EU leaders today to attempt to convince them to ban Huawei from their 5G networks. So far that hasn't worked with the UK, and it remains to be seen if EU member states will follow the U.S. lead. 

Also in Brussels was Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg. He was there ahead of a white paper on the European Commission's new internet regulations. We spoke to online rights campaigner Laureline Lemoine in Brussels to understand the matter - you can read that interview below.

In Europe, environmental activists have won a battle against Tesla - the electric vehicle firm led by Elon Musk. They had been clearing woodland near the German capital to build a new "Gigafactory," but the firm has been ordered to stop by court order. 

In the U.S. meanwhile, German chemical firms Bayer and BASF have been ordered to pay nearly $300 million to a peach farmer - as a Mississippi court ruled pesticide had been the cause of irreparable damage to the orchard in question. This ruling could open the way for more expensive compensation rulings against Bayer and its subsidiary Monsanto. 

And in France, as I write this, lawmakers are debating President Macron's controversial pension reforms. So far, a whopping 41,000 amendments have been tabled. So, though no one can tell you if it will pass or not, it will surely be a long debate ahead for the National Assembly. 

And finally, do you want to know who pays for the seven-year EU budget, and what it's spent on? Take a look at our handy infographic at the bottom of today's email - it's easy to understand, and an explainer on the process can be found on our website. 

As ever, don't forget to spread the word and encourage your friends and colleagues to subscribe to Global Business Daily.

Happy reading,

Patrick Atack
Digital business correspondent 

Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen saw housing prices rise faster than average in January, at a month-on-month rate of 0.4 percent. Analysts say that property sales are likely to drop in February and March because of the coronavirus outbreak. 

Chinese telecoms firm OPPO has unveiled its forthcoming smartwatch. The device was first teased at OPPO's Innovation Day in December. Vice President Brian Shen, said the device will boast a "curved screen and 3D glass", and he pointed out it would be a "game-changer" for smartwatches.

French infrastructure firm Alstom confirmed it would bid for the train arm of Canadian giant Bombardier. The move, confirmed in the discussion stages by Alstom, comes after it was stopped from merging with German infrastructure and tech company Siemens.

UK-based online bank Monzo said it will hire 500 staff in 2020, and aim for an additional 1.8 million users. It will also try again to launch a 'premium' account, asking customers to pay, to turn a profit. Although it has 3.8 million cutstomers, and is worth at least $2 billion, it is still a loss-making firm.

Nanotechnology firm Nanoco said it has filed a lawsuit against Samsung Electronics at a court in Texas, U.S. It is alledging the South Korean firm has infringed on patents to do with 'quantum dot' technology, used in smartphone screens.

Environmental activists in Germany have scored a win against Elon Musk's Tesla brand, as the American electric vehicle firm has been ordered to stop chopping down trees outside Berlin. It had been clearing forests for its Gigafactory in Gruenheide.

German firm Bayer has been ordered to pay a Mississippi peach farmer Bill Bader $265 million in damages for his orchard "irreparably harmed" by a dicamba-based herbicide. Bayer and BASF have nearly 150 cases outstanding in the U.S. relating to herbicides the firms produce, and although this ruling will be appealed, it could set an expensive precedent for chemical manufacturers.

Head of Airbus'  Defence and Space division has said the firm is in talks with labor representatives over proposed job cuts. The group was hit with technical problems with a military transporter which led to the German air force refusing delivery. The woes were intensified when the German government banned defence exports to Saudi Arabia.

French President Emmanuel Macron's contentious pensions reforms reached the National Assembly today, but protests inside and outside the chamber threaten to derail the reform. Although most rail networks were working as usual today, opposition lawmakers tabled 41,000 amendments to show Macron's En Marche administration that protests were not forgotten.

Two very noteworthy U.S. figures were in Brussels today. Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg met with EU officials to discuss the bloc's upcoming internet regulations. Meanwhile, head of the Democratic Party, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi met with European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen and issued another warning about Chinese mobile firm Huawei. 

On Valentine's Day last Friday,14th February, millions of people around the world gave or received flowers. More often than not, those flowers came from Colombia, the world's second-largest flower exporter. CGTN's Michelle Begue explains how the country wants to grow its blooming business even more.

Laureline Lemoine is a policy expert at the advocacy group European Digital Rights and she joined us  from Brussels to discuss Mark Zuckerberg's visit to the European capital, and gave us an insight into his likely conversations with EU digital chiefs. 

Silicon Valley is obviously very nervous about these new rules. Do you know what they're going to be? 

Well, we will know more in a couple of days on Wednesday. The new commission is going to issue a couple of statements, announcements, regarding the digital polices that they will make. So digital policies are the new and principal objective of the new commission. So we will know more. There will be a white paper on artificial intelligence and the digital strategy of the European Commission which will be probably focused on anti-trust and content moderation and platform liability.

Do you think that Mark Zuckerberg's charm offensive will work?

Well, it remains to be seen, but he's definitely trying to influence European policies. But the other thing is that he is not the only actor in the field. There are also human rights organizations and other companies are trying to influence the debate. So, we represent Internet users and citizens. So we're hoping that the Commission will listen to its citizens and will enact a strong regulation in favor of human rights.

Is there going to be extra pressure, do you think, by the fact that Mark Zuckerberg is going to be in Brussels?

Mark Zuckerberg is also in Brussels because this is a new commission. So there are new people there will lead the digital files. So I guess it's like when Google's CEO visited last month, they're trying to influence the start of the conversation before anything is decided, before anything is written down. And I think it's a new strategy as well, because we've seen with the general data protection regulation that they were quite on the defensive side. So now they're trying to to be more on the sympathetic side.

Google's chief executive has said that excess regulation could risk stifling innovation. Do you think that's true?

Well, we don't know yet what the regulation will be, the white paper will be the basic position paper, the policies. But I believe regulating AI not does not go against innovation. I believe that we can have a good innovation with human rights-centric innovation and that human rights and innovation are not against each other.

Finally, what do you think is going to happen? What are the key issues that you really hope will be resolved by the new EU rules, regulations?

Well, we expect the commission to tackle some of the big issues that are with their Facebook business model, such as the online advertising, content moderation, and the enforcement of data protection legislation.