the article says both the us and russia have been trying to reduce rapidly rising tension, clashing over a range of issues. a warning against trade protectionism. the gulf news has international monetary fund chief christine lagarde saying that after years of disappointing growth, the global economy is finally gaining momentum. but she said restricting trade flows would be a "self—inflicted wound". the new york magazine has donald trump saying that he is his own strategist, but what does that mean for the chief strategist he employs, steve bannon? the article looks at whether the president is distancing himself from mr bannon. the international new york times is in italy, where it's looking at what's described as modern—day slavery. thousands of women labourers who are allegedly exploited by the country's agriculture industry. the papers says some work 12 hours for as little as 30 dollars a day.

and a bitter sweet story in the financial times ahead of easter. swiss chocolate firms are re—evaluating their products as people become health conscious, many turn to artisan chocolates, and the increased price of cocoa beans hurts profit margins. let's begin. with us is alpesh patel, ceo of praefinium partners. hello. i will be having some chocolate later. let's start with syria, russia, us relations at an all—time low. there did seem to be some attempt to try and patch things up or at least put and patch things up or at least put a brave face on things, but there's no doubting relations are in a

terrible state. beyond just the relations, this story is probably the most important of the day, if not the week. think a lot of people will miss it. the russians have vetoed at the un yesterday a un investigation into who launched the chemical attack. if the russians are claiming it wasn't assad, why not have the un investigator? they vetoed that. it's making the increasingly think the un is becoming more and more redundant. not least because if you gamble and 59 cruise missiles without a resolution, a criminal act, then what's the un for right now? but the un is only its members. it is also a lawmaking institution. at the moment, members like the us can undertake actions without legal authority and when there's good work

to be done, such as let's find out who is launching chemical weapons, it can be vetoed by the russians. it is pointless and completely redundant at the moment. it's the eighth time that russia has stepped into protect its ally. it has vetoed every single one. but i think we are missing the bigger picture again, which is isis. we offer yet in the fa ct which is isis. we offer yet in the fact that half of those cruise missiles should have been launched at isis spots. why do they have this focus with regime change? we know how that works! what about isis? what about the argument. the us has been saying that you can't have a solution to any of the problems, including so—called islamic state, without dealing with president assad. that he is at the root of all of these problems. there is no logic to that. you can deal with assad next. deal with islamic state first.

but islamic state wouldn't have existed without the civil war and president assad. you can't deny that. wait a minute. it is where it is now and we need to get rid of it asa is now and we need to get rid of it as a number—i threat to civilisation, probably. then we can worry about assad and whether or not there needs to be regime change and we will worry about how we do the russians, who we have been having problems with since the second world war. but the threat at hand is isis. absolutely we need to work out why these chemical weapons were launched, by whom and where they were. first and foremost, isis. we can talk about this for hours but we have to move on. christine lagarde, the boss of the international monetary fund, saying after all of these years global growth is starting to gain momentum. but, again we have heard these warnings before, trade protectionism, i know

there's a lot of rhetoric but at the end of the day all of these countries all need to trade.” thought it was a particularly miserable note by the imf president. you are absolutely right. i've been out to india with the chancellor of the exchequer and i was in singapore with international trade officials looking at more trade agreements, and christine lagarde says are protectionism, worries about brexit. she is talking about britain in particular by the global economy. we aren't seeing evidence of that. i do wa nt to aren't seeing evidence of that. i do want to see another redundant institution but the imf are too busy looking at spreadsheets and not getting out there and seeing what is happening. politicians are so afraid of uncertainty in the world and are desperately getting out around the world to make more trade agreements and boost global growth. is it actually working? look at global

growth right now. it is upwards, upwards, upwards. we are really really talking about donald trump and he can't get anything through congress anyway. doing u—turns on absolutely everything. great news for the global economy. it is. i agree. i can hardly hear myself think! steve bannon, he was the sort of svengali character, the puppet master some people describe him as. but there's been this drip, drip of little comments and suggestions, that he has been sidelined. we've got nato, the imf and steve bannon now! everyone except as three! the right wing that he represents, there must be tearing their hair out. now you've got him sidelined, congressional gridlock, can't get rid of obamacare. 18 months from now there are elections and i think the

democrats will get there act in order and take the house if not the senate. we will get this lame—duck donald trump who won't stand again at the age of 7a for president in three years. lame—duck. actually, the us government will be a bit redundant and it will just be the us government will be a bit redundant and it willjust be the private sector getting on with business and producing profits and helping global growth. as it does. is this a sign ofjust how ruthless donald trump can be? that actually steve bannon served quite a big purpose in the campaign? late in the campaign. not that late! the last few months. is the bbc quoting donald trump for factual accuracy? it's not fair! anyway, he was brought in and now this isn't serving my purpose, i can't govern with steve bannon, he

is fighting with my son—in—law. can't govern with steve bannon, he is fighting with my son—in—lawi think what's happening is it is real governing. he will move to that middle ground because it is and other toys. in italy, this discovery of slave labour with women. what's going on there? you've got people working really long hours. essentially it is slavery. on paid work, no legal protection, it's notjust italy. i'm glad it is on the front page of the new york times because it's a problem throughout europe and actually the us as well. basically wealthy economies and i'm pleased to say that the british prime minister when she was the home secretary has put in place an antislavery law because we recognise how big a problem it is but it needs greater co—ordination amongst all european countries, brexiterside. co—ordination amongst all european countries, brexiter side. but co—ordination amongst all european countries, brexiterside. buti don't think people realise how big a problem this is throughout europe

today. easter eggs. swiss chocolate maker suffering. they were seen as the gold standard. i think the swiss are becoming a redundant nation. good lord! no cut -- cabu clocks. chocolates, they are the devil's creation. because we are all eating healthier, hopefully we will start remembering what easter is about and it's not just about remembering what easter is about and it's notjust about chocolate eggs. hopefully it will swing people's thoughts away from chocolate and more towards easter and the meaning of easter and the resurrection. goodbye imf and nato! and goodbye from us. hello, good morning. it looks like it will be on the cool side for the easter weekend. more on that in a moment. we've introduced cooler air at the moment behind this very weak weather front that moved down across the country.

this north—westerly airflow. particularly chilly first thing in eastern scotland and eastern england, with the cloud more broken. temperatures in the countryside briefly not far from freezing. at least we have early sunshine through lincolnshire, east anglia and the south—east. the tendency through the day is to increase the cloud from the west. that's already happening in south—west england, across wales and in the north—west cloud is thick enough for some light rain or drizzle, chiefly over the hills. again, fine to the east of the pennines. as it will be in eastern scotland, with sunshine. western scotland a bit dull and damp. not much sunshine for northern ireland too. through the day it clouds over across the eastern side of england and scotland. at the same time in the afternoon we open up a gap in the cloud across south wales, south—west england and that should push into the south—east. here we have the best of the sunshine in the afternoon and the highest temperatures, but still only 13—111. further north, a lot of cloud, a lot of places dry. around the western hills primarily we get the damp weather.

over the easter weekend temperatures disappointing for the time of year. a rather cool feel. warm when the sun is out, but on the whole there will be a lot of cloud. probably not much rain around. just a bit a nuisance now and again. these weather systems coming into the uk for good friday are going to be very much on the weak side. but across england and wales we will see a lot of cloud. there will be some pockets of light rain or drizzle here and there. no great amounts. but a bit of a damp picture, especially for south wales and south—west england. to the north of northern england, scotland and northern ireland, something a bit brighter, some sunshine, but also showers. a strong wind will make it feel chilly in scotland. maybe sneaking a 16 in the south—east if we are very lucky. those weather systems pull away and we are back into the cooler north—westerly airflow. so we fluctuate almost from one day to the next over the easter weekend. and saturday, easter saturday, much drier and brighter. most places will have a fine day. a little sunshine at times, not doing an awful lot for temperatures. there could be a few showers

in those stronger winds across the north of scotland. then we are back into the fluctuation again for easter day. more weather fronts arriving across the uk. mainly across the north. higher pressure in the south. those weather fronts again are fairly weak. most of the rain over the hills, across scotland, northern ireland and northern england. to the south, it should be dry and brighter. 15 perhaps in london, nine in glasgow. hello, this is breakfast, with sally nugent and charlie stayt. nurses across the uk vote on whether to strike over pay. more than 250,000 members of the royal college of nursing are being asked their opinion on industrial action for the first time in the union's history. good morning. it's thursday the 13th of april. also this morning, the investigation

into a cluster of baby deaths at a single hospital trust — we hear calls for further cases to be probed. it is not going to bring my voip back, but hopefully it will save other babies and parents going