"The bakers used a lot of soya sauce in the first challenge on #GBBO, so it's a good thing it will be made cheaper thanks to our trade deal with Japan."

That was a message posted on Twitter by the UK's Department for International Trade, referring to the popular TV show Great British Bake-Off and the recently signed deal between the UK and Japan. 

The only problem was, as pointed out by CGTN Europe's regular guest David Henig, there were no existing tariffs on the product. 

Elsewhere in the news today, there was good news for Paris – its Charles de Gaulle airport overtook London Healthrow as the busiest in Europe, albeit by losing slightly fewer passengers to the lockdowns and travel restrictions. 

In the U.S. tech sector, Apple has revealed a step forward in its long-time goal of developing a search engine to rival Google, with the results appearing on the new iPhone. 

And Chinese shoppers will be able to find the latest and classic music merchandise on Alibaba's Tmall Global platform, after a collaboration with Universal Music Group was unveiled. 

Finally, we have a video today that might not be for the faint of heart... scroll down to find out about the world's biggest insect farm, being built near Paris. 

Until tomorrow, 

Patrick Atack

Digital business correspondent 

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Chinese retail giant Alibaba has partnered with the merchandising and branding arm of Universal Music Group "to help bring iconic artists' merchandise and exclusive collaborations to Chinese consumers." Universal, which represents artists like the Rolling Stones and Taylor Swift, will open a store on Alibaba's ecommerce site Tmall Global. 

Apple's new iPhone operating system iOS 14 includes a first step towards a search engine, which the California tech firm hopes will one day challenge Google's supremacy. Apple remains secretive about the project, but customers who downloaded the new system have reported Apple search results placing above others when they search from the home screen. 

Microsoft's cloud computing business slightly accelerated and its Teams messaging and collaboration software won new users, as a pandemic-driven shift to working from home and online learning drove quarterly results upwards. Daily users of Teams have risen to 115 million from 75 million in April, the company said. 

Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris has overtaken London's Heathrow as Europe's busiest airport. A total of 19.3 million passengers used the French hub in the first nine months of the year, compared to 19 million who went through Heathrow. The pandemic-affected year had led to a 69 percent drop for Heathrow passengers, down from 61 million in 2019. CDG numbers also dropped significantly, but by slightly less at 67 percent. 

UK telecoms network provider BT has signed a deal with Swedish firm Ericsson to use its 5G radio antennas and base stations, after the UK government told the company to remove technology provided by Chinese telecoms giant Huawei. The rules claim Huawei poses a national security threat, which the company denies.

Japanese tech company Sony has revised its full-year profit expectation upwards, after a record second-quarter profit of more than $3 billion. It now says it expects to earn 13 percent more than forecast, totalling $6.7 billion. The much anticipated launch of its PlayStation 5 in November has already boosted the firm's income, with "very considerable" pre-order demand reported. 

Consumer marketing analysis app Streetbees said it's raised $40 million from investors in a B-round which attracted venture capital groups. The app asks customers how they feel and what they think when they engage with client brands including Unilever, P&G and PepsiCo. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit global wine production, with vineyards forecasted to dip below the five-year average. The International Organisation of Vine and Wine, which represents global vintners, made the prediction despite good weather across wine-growing regions. Vineyards in Champagne have reported harvests 20 percent smaller than previous years due to the pandemic. 

Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok said it plans to hire 3,000 engineers across its bases in Europe, North America, and Asia. "To support our rapid global growth, we plan to continue expanding TikTok's global engineering team," a spokesperson said. 

Payment processing giant Visa is facing an antitrust inquiry in the U.S. over its $5.3 billion deal to buy fintech startup Plaid Inc. The deal was announced in January, but the Department of Justice has questions about Visa's strategies around pricing and competition, according to court filings. 

U.S. airplane maker Boeing announced another 7,000 coronavirus-linked job cuts, meaning by 2021 it will employ 20 percent fewer people than in 2019. The company recently posted its fourth consecutive quarterly loss, with a $466m decline to the end of September. 

Peugeot owner PSA Group said it returned to profit in the latest quarter, as showrooms re-opened after lockdowns across Europe. The result was a good sign ahead of PSA's merger with Fiat-Chrysler – due in early 2021 – despite a likely return to lockdown in France. 

A deal between German car manufacturer Daimler and the UK's Aston Martin will give the James Bond sportscar brand access to Daimler's electric vehicle technologies in exchange for a further 20 percent stake to add the five percent Daimler took in 2013. The move comes months after Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll rescued Aston Martin with a $702 million injection.  

India's Tata Motors forecast a stronger second half of the year after improved sales of its Jaguar Land Rover vehicle brand. Tata posted a $42.47 million loss for its second quarter, but it said JLR is on track for its $3 billion full-year revenue target. 

CLICK: CAN A CENTURIES-OLD SYSTEM SAVE AUSTRIA'S ALPINE FARMERS?

WATCH: French firm Ynsect has raised $224 million from investors to build the world's largest insect farm in the French city of Amiens, due to open in early 2022. 

Karol Sikora, a lecturer at the University of Buckingham and former head of the WHO's cancer program, spoke to CGTN Europe about news that COVID-19 antibodies are not effective for as long as previously thought – and what that means for the companies developing a vaccine.

What does this news of fast-disappearing antibodies mean for the vaccine progress? 

We don't really know. It's negativity in the newspapers, it's billed as though it's terribly negative. It may not be. And what really matters is over a period of time, do we as a society build up immunity against the virus? 

Does it mean we have to continue to vaccinate against COVID-19, not just one round of shots?

It depends very much what the critical factors are that make the vaccine work, if it is only antibodies – and we know all the main vaccines that we've tried have looked for antibody production and they do make antibodies. If that was the only mechanism, this would be worrying. But almost certainly, the same vaccines also stimulate T cells, so it will be a combination.

Oxford University's coronavirus vaccine is said to trigger a robust immune response in both young and older adults. Is it time for optimism?

I think so. This is really encouraging. When they say that, they mean the antibody levels or up there, albeit temporarily, and the T cell activity was also up. That data has been published by Oxford and some of the other vaccine makers. This is really good news. However, at the end of the day, we've got to get society up to a level of immunity, either by being infected by the virus or by being vaccinated to prevent them being infected.