weather. i'm james menendez. the top stories this hour: in her first public remarks as the united states‘ new representative at the united nations, ambassador nikki haley has condemned russia's aggressive actions in ukraine, and pledged strong us support for the government in kiev. an estimated 200,000 protesters have staged a third night of demonstrations in romania against a government decree that decriminalises some types of corruption. the prime minister says he won't withdraw the decree. europe's migrant crisis, the election of donald trump, and britain's exit from the european union are all likely to dominate the eu's first summit of the year. the meeting of the group's leaders is taking place in malta. the new american defence secretary has said the us will deliver an effective and overwhelming response if north korea uses nuclear weapons. generaljames mattis said any attack on the us or its allies would be defeated. now it is time for our news review.

we start with the irish times. that reports on president trump's pledge to abandon a law preventing churches getting involved in political campaigns. the paper says that any move to weaken the provisions separating religion and state would be a huge victory for the religious right. next up, it is the probe into deutsche boerse‘s chief executive over possible insider trading. the daily telegraph writes questions are being raised over the timing of the investigation of carsten kengeter, just weeks before the company wanted the go—ahead to merge with the london stock exchange. and francois fillon is on the front page of le figaro. the paper says that the former prime minister is determined to continue his fight in the french presidential campaign. that is despite an investigation into his financial affairs. the guardian reports on comments

from the british defence secretary, michael fallon, warning that nato must now compete on the cyber battlefield, and do more to counter russian hacking. would you donate cash, jewellery and gold to bail out your government? the gulf news writes that citizens in mongolia are doing just that, to help pay off a near—$600 million debt. and camp out under the stars for a better night's sleep. an article on the front of the daily telegraph reports on a new study that suggests the great outdoors could be a solution for insomniacs. another solution is to get up early and do the paper review. joining us isjonathan charles, who is managing director of communications at the european bank for reconstruction and development. to see you. let's begin with trump.

this is particularly about this religious law, the johnson amendment. what this proposal might entail. you could pick a story almost every hour and the one on the front page of the irish times is about the johnson amendment. front page of the irish times is about thejohnson amendment. in the 19505, about thejohnson amendment. in the 1950s, before lyndon johnson about thejohnson amendment. in the 1950s, before lyndonjohnson was president of the united states, when he was just a senator, this law was passed which basically said that religious organisations could not get involved in politics. if they did they would lose their charitable status, their tax—free, exempt status. for years the religious right have said they want to get involved in politics, they believe they have things to say and it is a denial of the right to free speech, this law. so donald trump doesn't use words like abolish, so he intends to totally destroy this decades—old law. he is going to allow the church to get involved in politics. it is quite controversial, because there has always been a view that the church should stay out

openly of politics, even though they do, it, and this will change things completely. it is interesting in another way. i was in washington on monday and tuesday of this week and one person in particular said something very direct about the approach donald trump has taken. he says it is christian nationalism. i suppose this plays into that. he knows a lot of his supporters come from the christian right. is that where it is coming from? no one is suggesting donald trump is.|j where it is coming from? no one is suggesting donald trump is. i don't think donald trump is interested in religion at all. it is coming from the people driving his politics in the people driving his politics in the white house, who are connection to christian nationalism. people like steve bannon, and steve miller within the white house. so i think he is quite happy to say these things, because he understands where his political support is coming from. and it is notjust a signature by mrtrump. from. and it is notjust a signature

by mr trump. it would have to go through congress, and i also heard some quite strong voices on monday and tuesday making it clear they are not just there to and tuesday making it clear they are notjust there to rubberstamp donald trump's policies. i guess we have to bea trump's policies. i guess we have to be a little bit careful. this is an enquiry over the boss of deutsche boerse, the german stock market, was going to have talks and merge with the london stock market, but two weeks before the talks began, the bossin weeks before the talks began, the boss in germany acquired lots of shares. let's be very careful about this. the daily telegraph reports in its business section that the boss of deutsche boerse, the german stock exchange, as you say, actually bought a large number of shares and the allegation is, of course, he knew that it was in the light of talks which would be taking place and the stock price would go up. he said he did nothing wrong, and there

isa said he did nothing wrong, and there is a suggestion that this is being done to delay the merger with the london stock exchange. it is the german authorities who are investigating, because the newly merged deutsche boerse and london stock exchange will be headquartered here in london. that is not liked very much in certain circles. he says it is a storm in a teacup and he has done nothing wrong. it looks to me as though it was all above board, but we will see. so storm in a beer stein. and is fillon toast? french toast, perhaps. this is having an impact on his popularity. he was the person who could certainly see off le pen, currently the most popular of the candidates

standing in the election. these numbers have been eroded by the suggestion of wrongdoing. it is not just in the numbers of the people who will vote for him. on the french right they are wondering whether he will be the standardbearer for the right. if he is not cleared fairly swiftly this will continue to eat into his popularity. he was circling in the wings is —— who is circling in the wings is —— who is circling in the wings is his old rival, who says he will remove fillon if this carries on. it looks pretty difficult for him. you need to be seen to be clean in politics. whether he has done anything wrong oi’ whether he has done anything wrong or not, he may well have done nothing wrong, but perception is everything. moving on to the story in the guardian, michael fallon in the uk saying, and we often talk about it, the battleground of the future is technology and cyber warfare. this says a lot about, you could argue, in the last few years that nato in some ways has been

sleeping on the job. they bought into for many years the view that the russian military capability had been weakened in the 19905, had not really recovered. the war with georgia in 2008, the war between ru55ia georgia in 2008, the war between russia and georgia, showed that the military was not that advanced. crimea and ukraine changed all that, we saw how good they were and also we saw how good they were and also we saw how much russia used alternative ways of warfare. unbalanced and cyber warfare. i think what michael fallon are saying that the west has to do better, we had to modernise and do things better. although michael fallon portrayed the kremlin as the aggressor in terms of hacking, america's national security agency and britain's gchq also have targets ona and britain's gchq also have targets on a regular basis. the russians may be hacking, the west hacking as well. let's move on to sleep. do you like camping? i like sleeping. do

you like sleeping out under the stars 7 you like sleeping out under the stars? last time i went camping at poured with rain. this is a great story which says that if you really wa nt to story which says that if you really want to reset your circadian rhythms and geta want to reset your circadian rhythms and get a better night's sleep, spend the night under the stars. you have to go to bed early because you have to go to bed early because you have lots of light, natural light, and they have given people a digital detox. if you go unless camping test you are not allowed to take your phone or a torch. you have to go to bed when the natural light goes, and that resets your body clock by 2.5 hours and you sleep better as a result of that. what happens in summer result of that. what happens in summer when there is only four powers of darkness? have a good day. —— four hours. good morning. more wild and windy weather to come for some of you. different areas to where we saw yesterday. yesterday, it was western parts. these are captured on the northern ireland coast by one of our weather

watchers. that is the low pressure responsible, that is pushing its way towards iceland. and we turn our attention to this in the bay of biscay, which is going to have an impact across southern areas, and already as we start friday you see some rain across devon and cornwall. most others stay dry. a little bit chillier than recent mornings. quite breezy across western scotland, but most light winds to begin with. rain quickly spreads into south—west england and wales through the morning, into the midlands and the south—east of england through lunchtime, and then for the afternoon in the northern portion of the irish sea, some heavy bursts of rain around. and north—west england. there will be some dry moments as well. some of the driest weather throughout will be in the northern half of scotland. sunshine here throughout the day, and a fine day for much of northern ireland. to the east of antrim and across durham we could see rain spread in through the afternoon, and still some rain around across parts of north—west england, the midlands, the south—east. some in the east of england may stay dry throughout the day, and the rain on and off towards the south—west and wales, but persistent in the afternoon

around cardigan bay, and it is across the english channel where the strongest of the winds will be. now, not as strong as they were through yesterday across the far south—west. 50 mph gusts possible here, but strengthening somewhat through the latter stage of the afternoon and evening, english channel. channel islands, 70 mph possible, that will cause some disruption. towards the south—east corner we will see a0 and 50 mph gusts to end the evening. the strong winds quickly ease as that area of low pressure pushes its way northwards into saturday morning. chilly start for england and wales, lots of dry and bright weather sandwiched between one area of low pressure across northern france, another one to northern scotland. here, after a cloudy and wet start, some of the showers will be wintry over the hills. some rain potentially in the south—east corner of england. keep a close eye on that one. that might just be a bit further east. most will have a fine end to saturday. a chilly night will follow, an area of low pressure pushing into the north sea, a few showers spreading in across the english channel once again. so for sunday, probably one of the wettest spots will be here, and maybe to the north—east of scotland.

but most will have another fine day, and a chilly one, with temperatures around five or six degrees for the most part. following that will be a cold night, with a frost developing across many rural parts of the country, and a bright but chilly start to monday. but, before the day is through, there is yet more wet and windy weather spreading in from the west, off the atlantic. bye for now. good morning, it's friday the 3rd of february. also this morning: theresa may will come face to face with european leaders at a summit this morning. she'll brief on them on her meeting with president trump and back his call for more spending on nato. a shortage on the shelves — supermarkets start rationing vegetables as severe weather in southern europe hits supplies.