is also filing its own motion with the states of new york, massachusetts, and oregon, joining its suit. now it is time for our news review. we begin the bbc website and the breaking news south korea's highest court has upheld a decision by parliament to remove the country's president, park geun—hye, from office. she's been embroiled in a corruption scandal, involving a close friend. the decision means ms park will be stripped of her immunity against prosecution. the gulf news leads with the united states confirming its biggest deployment yet of forces on the ground in syria to fight against so—called islamic state. several hundred marines have been sent to support an allied local force aiming to capture the is stronghold of raqqa. the ft says new york and london are locked in a frantic race to be the main international listing venue for saudi arabia's initial public

offering of its state oil company, emerging as clear frontrunners in what is set to be the world's biggest everflotation. the telegraph business pages have a picture of lego batman and the news the danish toymaker has reported it's highest revenues in its 85—year history. sales last year hit a new high of £41; billion. the china daily says a report into human rights in the united states published by beijing accuses washington of paying no attention to its own problems with regards to human rights and instead casts blame on many other countries. finally, in the times, the number of days taken as sick leave in the uk has fallen to the lowest rate since records began, as staff struggle into work for fear of losing theirjob. beware of your sick, you could be sacked! joining us is funke abimbola, who's a senior lawyer and diversity leader in the uk.

thank you very much forjoining us, funke abimbola. as a lawyer, you must be watching south korea with fascination and interest. what is interesting when this happens is the separation of houses, which is a core theme in any democratically elected society. this is right. what is interesting is the division within korean society itself, with some youngsters actually wanting her to remain in power. older and more conservative voters want the opposite. it is unusual when a head of state gets removed from power that actually the country is still so that actually the country is still so divided. usually everyone has a popular thing against the head of state, but it isn't happening. not at all. she has been suspended in november as well. things have been

building up and there has been a lot of unrest. apparently, outside of the court, people were waiting eagerly awaiting the outcome. we can actually see live pictures for a seoul. we have had reports that two people have died during the clashes between supporters and opponents, as we we re between supporters and opponents, as we were saying. it is something that has divided the population, even though the court decision was a unanimous one. that's right. that's right. the gulf news. american marines joining right. the gulf news. american marinesjoining the right. the gulf news. american marines joining the fight against daesh in syria. they could make a difference. it is a tactical move when you try and leverage in this way with military operations. it is tactically planned and carefully manoeuvred. i think it will be a real boost. it will lead to real impact on the ground in syria, i think. it is significant because raqqa, just to remind people, is the

stronghold, the main base of islamic state in the region. that is right. it is all part of the plan again. a real tough call manoeuvre. boots on the ground, that is not part of official policy. it has mostly been in the air in terms of focus and tried to have an impact. but they must know something that we don't, thatis must know something that we don't, that is all i can say, actually. there is a lot more going on behind the scenes. financial times. there is a lot more going on behind the scenes. financialtimes. london and new york trying to woo the saudi oil company. this will be huge when it happens. the biggest flotation the world has ever seen, is the expectation. umm, what do you think? it is particularly interesting post brexit. in a sense, if london does not win this battle, i think people will start commentating and say is that indicative of a loss of

confidence in london as being the principal market where you would wa nt to principal market where you would want to float your shares. i hope we win, honestly, becausei want to float your shares. i hope we win, honestly, because i think it will be good for us and instil confidence in how we go with the negotiations. also, there might be some feeling, it might encourage a feeling, that london has lost its mojo after what happened with the deutsche deal. that was a bit of a knock back. i really hope it happens. it is a crucial time for new york as well. because under the new administration under donald trump, there are questions about how strong the thais are with traditional allies in the gulf and the feeling they have. —— ties. the feelings they have the united states. should that influenced the decision? we should say that none of

those involved actually commented. this is all based on sources that have been speaking to the ft. what do they do, just take each other out to dinner? how much of a race is it really? 0k, something lighthearted. well, actually, not lighthearted, it is big money. it is a really dynamic country, companieshas been able to evolve. they have evolved. i am feeling quite fuzzy feeling about it. i loved lego. so does my son. there is a social at up to it as well. it has managed to maintain that over the years. —— aspect. well. it has managed to maintain that over the years. —— aspectlj was speaking to the chief executive yesterday on world business report and we were talking about getting more girls interested in lego. this line that they have, lego friends,

is that a smart way to go about? or is that a smart way to go about? or is it wrong to try to have a separate line? it is difficult to move away from gender—based assumptions with toys. that is something lots of toy manufacturers really struggle with. the boys like lego more, i have to say that. but you liked it. yes. did you like it asa girl? you liked it. yes. did you like it as a girl? no. i didn't, i have to say. i didn't notice many girls playing with it son's schools. i don't know. i think if you get more interested in it, you might get more female engineers. the whole stem debate gets into it as well. my friend got given a build your own white house set. it doesn't get better than that. it looksjust like the real thing.

better than that. it looksjust like the realthing. you better than that. it looksjust like the real thing. you have better than that. it looksjust like the realthing. you have these amazing instructions. you can never do it again using the construction. then you have to make something else. that is the fun of it. exactly. exactly. the china daily. . a heavy story. pointing the finger at the us. it would be in the china daily. the interesting thing about this, pointing the finger at the us with human rights, just as the relationship between the new donald trump administration and china is still taking shape... it is very early days. it is a fair point to hold the mirror up and actually... you know, america with guantanamo bay and the prisons and the situations they are and racism in america, which is a very serious issue in the states. —— there. china may have a real point here. donald trump will call it fake news. of

course he would. a story about sick days. back on cue. do you think you are going to get sacked?” days. back on cue. do you think you are going to get sacked? i connect this to the fact there are so many freelancers now. if you don't turn up, you may get the sack. yes. and there are many more programmes within companies. certainly within the organisation i work for, where you have to make adjustments if someone you have to make adjustments if someone is unwell. so you could have lighter duties working from home. there are many ways to get around it. funke abimbola, thank you so much for coming in. thank you. that is it. we will see you shortly. thank you. thanks to a ridge of high pressure, thursday turned out to be a glorious day for many. plenty of sunshine and a top temperature of 17 celsius reached across the south—east of england.

during the course of the night, looks like central and eastern areas will hold on to the clear skies. temperatures by friday morning, actually quite chilly here. but further south and west, increasing cloud, some light patchy rain, some hill fog, also a little bit of mist as well. a bit more of a breeze here, so it will be a mild start first thing across southern and western areas. but chilly further east. and further east, closer to this area of high pressure. whereas this area of low pressure will bringing increasingly unsettled weather to western areas. so for friday morning, it is an east—west split. cloudy, breezy across the west, with spots of drizzle. chilly and bright across the far east. it will also be a bit of a bright, dry start across the north—east of scotland and the northern isles. further west, cloudier, some spits and spots of light rain, particularly acrosswestern up slopes, some too for northern ireland with a bit of mist and murk, and some hill fog. that's also the case for north—west england, wales, the south—west of england.

but for east of the pennines, in towards east anglia, and maybe the south—east for a while, it will be a chilly start but at least bright with some sunshine. notice the temperature difference — 6—7 degrees in the east, 10—11 in the west. as the day wears on though, the cloud across western areas will slowly creep eastwards. i don't think reaching the far south—east and east anglia really until after dark. here you should see the sunshine. maybe a high of 13—14 degrees. further west though, it will be very mild but rather cloudy with some spots of light rain. so it means for the six nations rugby, wales v ireland, in cardiff, during the evening it looks like it will be a fairly mild one, rather cloudy and there could be the odd spit of rain in the air. now, as we head into the weekend,

it's a tale of two halves. i think saturday looking dry into sunday looks like we'll see a weather front bringing some cooler and fresher air, mainly across northern and western areas. for saturday though, skies will be brightening up across northern ireland and scotland behind this weather front which will bring some dreary weather to central parts of the uk. sunday is a messier picture. we lose one weather front only to be replaced by another one. and there will be some dry interludes here and there. looks like there will be some rain about and feeling fresher. so to sum up for the weekend, i think saturday looking like being the driest of the two days, with some sunshine around and feeling quite warm particularly across the south and the east. it will start to feel cooler and fresher. hello this is breakfast, with charlie stayt and sally nugent. courses axed, bigger class sizes and after—school clubs cut — a stark warning from head—teachers about the pressure on school budgets. they'll put their grievances to the education secretary at a conference today — the government says school funding is at a record high. good morning.

it's friday the 10th of march. also this morning: labour accuses the government of making a "partial u—turn" as the prime minster says controversial tax rises for self—employed won't now be voted on until the autumn. she's defended the policy. think it is fair to close the