President Obama Expels Russian Diplomats

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President Obama has ordered the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats in retaliation for what the US believes was interference by Moscow in the US Presidential election. Russia denies the US accusations and says the expulsions are an unjustified blow to relations between the two countries. We get analysis from Chris Weafer; he's an expert on the Russian economy and works in Moscow for the financial risk consultancy Macro Advisory. On January 20th Donald Trump will become the 45th President of the United States. He will inherit an economy with low unemployment, decent growth and a stock market at a record high. Irwin Stelzer is an economist at the Hudson Institute in New York and wanted Donald Trump to win the election. We hear why he thinks that Trump's economic promises will give the US economy a boost. The railway line between the Kenyan capital Nairobi and the port city of Mombasa is known as the "lunatic express". Thousands of workers died during its construction at the end of the 19th century. Several were killed by man-eating lions. The line is now notorious for its delays sometimes stranding passengers for days. Help could soon be at hand however when Kenya gets a new railway line linking Nairobi and Mombasa as the BBC's Joshua Thorpe reports. The online retailer Amazon has filed a patent for massive flying warehouses equipped with fleets of drones that deliver goods to key locations. Carried by an airship, the warehouses would float one and a half kilometres above places where Amazon thinks it might find lots of customers. It says one use could be near sporting events or festivals where they would sell food or souvenirs to spectators. But could the idea come to fruition? Sean Maffett, an independent aviation analyst gives us his thoughts. We hear an interview from the archives with Hollywood actress Debbie Reynolds who died earlier this week. There aren't many movie industry people left from the period when Debbie Reynolds was at the peak of her fame but the BBC's David Willis tells us what the industry was like in her heyday. The BBC's Helier Cheung joins us live from Hong Kong to tell us about the growing trend of micro-flats, small living spaces of around 14 square metres. And joining us throughout the programme are radical activist Jose Martin - who's in New York and David Quo of the Motley Fool, who's normally in Singapore but today joins us in New Broadcasting House in London. Picture Description: U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House December 16, 2016 in Washington, DC. Picture credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images