lam iamjames i am james menendez. i amjames menendez. our top stories: the us military attack and air base in syria with a0 cruise missiles. they were fired from an american navy ship in the mediterranean, hitting the side of homs from which government planes and erika says staged a weapons attack —— america. the pentagon has said that it did warn moscow about the attack. the secretary of state has accused russia of being complicit in committing president assad's actions. donald trump said president assad used a deadly nerve agent to kill civilians including what he called beautiful children and babies and called on civilised nations to end the slaughter in syria. stay with that story now, and oui’ syria. stay with that story now, and our north american reporterjon sopel is in america with more details. the pace at which us foreign policy

towards syria has changed has been simply dizzying. 0ne towards syria has changed has been simply dizzying. one month ago president assad was seen in a —— as a tool in the fight against so—called islamic state and there was no mention of regime change. but on tuesday came the chemical weapons attack on idlib and everything was changed. president trump said he was reconsidering his approach to the country and then within the space of a8 hours he gathered his military advisers, he took advice on what targets to hit and has struck. now, what we don't know is whether this cruise missile attack is a one—off not to be repeated or whether this is the start of a prolonged campaign. and the other big unknown — where does this leave the relations with russia? yes, they we re relations with russia? yes, they were informed of the attack was going to take place but their consent was not sought nor given. jon sopel. the australian prime minister, malcolm turnbull, said

australia supported the strike. the australian government strongly supports the swift and just response of the united states. this was a calibrated, proportionate and targeted response. it sends a strong message to the assad regime and, as isaid, has message to the assad regime and, as i said, has been struck at the very airfield from which the chemical attack was delivered. this is a vitally important signal, a vitally important message, that we will not tolerate, the world will not tolerate, the world will not tolerate, the world will not tolerate, the use of these chemical weapons. the retribution has been proportionate and it has been swift. we support the united states in that swift action. we hope and pray it will see the end of the use of chemical weapons in syria. malcolm turnbull there. let's ta ke

turnbull there. let's take a look through the headlines. hmm. mostly about syria. there are some other stories. let's start with the arab news, of course, most of the papers went to the press before the strikes were carried out. they carry eight photo of the president, assad, the regime accused of being behind the suspected chemical attack that killed dozens of civilians. president donald trump has ordered the missile strike and the us says the chemical weapons we re the us says the chemical weapons were flown from there. and, are you listening, mr assad, is were flown from there. and, are you listening, mrassad, is the headline. indeed. the china daily reporting on the chinese president, xijinping, who has arrived reporting on the chinese president, xi jinping, who has arrived for the first meeting with donald trump. sensitive discussions on north korea and trade arrangements between the countries high on the agenda with president trump saying that they held lengthy discussions and it was

the start of a great relationship. the business section of the telegraph has a warning from the imf that households through the world face the end of free banking if the current low growth economic environment continues. and the ft, financial times, reporting on norway's $910 billion sovereign wealth fund pushing for an overhaul of chief executive pay, arguing long—term incentive schemes favoured by many companies are flawed and should be scrapped. in the guardian financial pages, a warning from ryanair that it will have to stop flights from the uk for weeks or months if the uk prime minister theresa may doesn't seal an early bilateral brexit deal on international aviation. huh, goodbye ryanair. and finally, the milk in yourfridge might

ryanair. and finally, the milk in your fridge might warn you that it has gone off. dublin researchers have smart devices which communicate with you — that is in the irish times. you don't like the look of that? ah, let's bring in the chief a nalyst that? ah, let's bring in the chief analyst at energy aspects. morning. morning. syria dominates the conversation, and it is in many of the papers this morning, obviously, asi the papers this morning, obviously, as i mentioned before, the strikes took place. my first question to you is, surprise when he woke up this morning at what happened, despite the talk yesterday of military action? yes, we have a sense something was kind of changing in terms of the us policy, or whatever trump said earlier, but yes, a surprise as to how quickly it happened. so far, donald trump has aligned himself with targeting is and much more with russia, and

russia had warned that, look, if you do this, there will be consequences. it will be a step back against fighting isla mixed eight and so on and so forth. —— fighting is. he says we need to look at assad and what he is doing. we were talking earlier about the emotional response, about seeing the pictures which we all saw earlier in the week, about children being gassed. 0ne can't understand a reaction, but emotionally driven foreign policy can bea emotionally driven foreign policy can be a difficult, dangerous thing, can't it? i would say that people focus on the welcome change for a person like donald trump where he is only focused on america, and how every relationship has been about how to getjobs every relationship has been about how to get jobs back and so every relationship has been about how to getjobs back and so on, and not caring about anything else, whereas this shows more compassion towards situations such as this. sorry, is it also realising once you

get into office that the world looks rather different, especially when you have access to that information? 0n the campaign trail, focused on your ideas, then you get into the white house and things change? things change, advisers have changed over the last couple of weeks. you have to think these changes in policy has to do with the fact that some people have left. absolutely. it is probably a reality shock. but you know, you mention it is dangerous to have an emotional reaction, and i am torn, i looked at this news coming in this morning, and at first i was like, wow, they have done it. and then the rest of the world is like, here we come again, relying on the us — you know, europe is sitting on its hands, the rest of the middle east is sitting on its hands, this war has gone on for, what, seven years? half a million people dead. you can't sit and watch those chemical attacks.

you won't give me an opinion? no, i will pick up on the headline, are you listening, mr assad. the response, you can respond in those terms, but will it make a difference? does it send a strong signal? strong enough, because it comes from donald trump. he has so farsaid comes from donald trump. he has so far said nothing on regime change. if anything, he said he will partner with russia, we will get rid of islamic state, so it is very much saying you can't get away with anything. i agree with that. something had to be done. this can't continue forever. no. just to bring in xijinping. i can't imagine he is happy about this. no. for no other reason that it will overshadow the big important summit. absolutely, and given how much pressure donald trump is putting on him about north korea. to the point that he told the corps that if they don't support it, we might go at north korea

ourselves, and that ties in with what he has done here. he needs to be taken what he has done here. he needs to be ta ken seriously. what he has done here. he needs to be taken seriously. in ten seconds, can the two — donald trump mentioned the start of a great relationship? you would hope so because trade is on the agenda and if there is a trade war between the biggest economies, we will all feel that. we need the biggest economies in the world to be together. otherwise economic growth is going to store and you will feel huge repercussions. many thanks. cheers. that is it from us for the moment. have a great day. goodbye. hello there, good morning. lots of pleasant weather on offer over the next few days for large swathes of the united kingdom. and in fact, on thursday, it was a pretty decent day for many, although there was always a bit more cloud in the north and west, a little bit of rain with that, and that is where we keep most of the cloud overnight.

it helps to give the temperatures up in the north and west, but generally it is a chilly night. major towns and cities, eight, nine degrees. but it is in the rural spots, away from the north and west, that we are going to see temperatures getting down to two or three degrees, so a chilly start for many, but a bright start as well, with lots of sunshine. the cloud that we see into north wales and the north—west of england, that looks like it will be breaking up through the morning. so by the afternoon we will see lengthy spells of sunshine for much of england, wales, eastern scotland, too. western scotland, ireland, always seeing more cloud. the odd spot of rain, most places dry. ten or 11 degrees in the north and west, but with some sunshine in cardiff and in london, it is 15 and 16 degrees in a few places. but, across england and wales, we do have quite high levels of tree pollen through the day on friday, and that is causing hayfever sufferers a bit of a problem. other side of the atlantic, it is the wind which has been a bit of a problem for the golfers at augusta. that wind still in evidence on friday, but easing down.

continues to ease down into the weekend, as temperatures are on the up. and temperatures will be rising back on our shores into the weekend. it's going to be a lovely day for much of england, wales, most of scotland, most of northern ireland too. it is just the far north—west which will have a little bit of rain. 16,17 or 18 degrees across england and wales, very pleasant indeed. with light winds, looks like a lovely day at aintree for the grand national. 16,17 degrees, some sunshine and light winds. it should be a fantastic day out. the second part of the weekend has this area of light high pressure drifting away towards the near continent. the winds started to drift in from a more southerly direction. the air will be coming up from spain, from france, and it will be quite warm air heading ourway. and the effects of that will be most felt across england and wales on sunday, because towards the north and west we will see a weather front drifting its way in. that is going to bring some cloud, some patchy rain, slightly lower temperatures here. patchy cloud for the western side of england and wales. further east, there is going to be light winds, plenty of sunshine, and quite a warm day.

the west of england will be easily into the low 20s. i think around 22, 23 degrees will be the top temperatures, maybe about ten or 11 in the far north and west. but we do have a weather front drifting its way south sunday night into monday, and as that happens it is going to shut the warm air out of the way. there will be a few more showers dotted around, as well, and temperatures will be taking a bit of a tumble. hello. this is breakfast, with steph mcgovern and charlie stayt. the united states has carried out missile attacks in syria overnight. 59 cruise missiles were launched from us warships targeting a syrian air base. president trump said he ordered the action in retaliation for a chemical attack that

killed dozens of people. it is in this vital national security interests of the united states to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons.