scientists say smoking, diet and stress are linked to a 60% drop in sperm count. the ft says greece has returned to the international debt market for the first time in three years. the government said the successful bond sale was a sign that confidence in the greek economy was returning. the guardian financial pages discuss german car giant bmw, who have ended speculation that brexit would result in the new all—electric mini being made outside the uk. it says the new model will be assembled at its plant in cowley, in oxford, starting in 2019. and, finally, the telegraph says diesel car drivers in the uk will face new pollution taxes. the government says it will commit to banning the sale of all new diesel and petrol cars by 2040 in order to force people to switch to electric and hybrid vehicles. joining us is nina trentmann from the wall streetjournal. thank you very much for being with

us. thank you very much for being with us. everyone is looking at it in different ways at donald trump on the war path against one of the people who did back him in the election campaign, jeff sessions. yes, jeff sessions was one of the first, he was the first senator that supported him at the time, the senator from al obama, now increasingly under criticism from donald trump for his handling of, his lack of handling the investigations into donald trump's opponent in the campaign, hillary clinton, and also for refusing himself for the investigations into the meddling with russia in the campaign, so that is something which seems to be increasing —— recusing. what is he trying to achieve, yet rid ofjeff sessions by pushing him out, rather than actively doing it himself? it appears as if, given the criticism has been increasing, yesterday, in the wall street

journal, in an interview with the wall street journal, journal, in an interview with the wall streetjournal, donald journal, in an interview with the wall street journal, donald trump repeated his criticism. people have said we expectjeff repeated his criticism. people have said we expect jeff sessions to resign rather than trump firing him, as he did with comey, the fbi director. of course, there is this whole way for mr trump to distract from the fact there is an ongoing investigation into his affairs with russia during the campaign. investigation into his affairs with russia during the campaignm investigation into his affairs with russia during the campaign. it is partly the way he goes about it, very publicly, tweeting, and in a press c0 nfe re nce very publicly, tweeting, and in a press conference saying their sky has it all wrong. if you look at it, he appointed an attorney general who he... 0k, they have to be independent. you would think they would be an ally. the first thing he does is say that he cannot do anything on the russia story because he is implicated. you can understand trump's frustration. yes, although there wrapping voices before they say that given the amount of information available at the time,

it was understandable forjeff sessions to recuse himself. mr trump has been criticised for the words he used when criticising jeff sessions, and criticised for taking the step of being so public in his criticism of being so public in his criticism of mrjeff sessions, which of course is in line with previous comments we have seen on a wide range of issues. mrtrump does have seen on a wide range of issues. mr trump does not hold back when it comes to uttering his opinion. he does like a tweet. if you are into golf, look at the irish times' cartoon. quite a dramatic story in the independent, male fertility is a wake—up call for the the independent, male fertility is a wa ke—up call for the west. the independent, male fertility is a wake-up call for the west. yes, it appears the amount of sperm in males has receded dramatically over the la st has receded dramatically over the last years. there are having research is, a wide range of researchers, looking into this, and finding the same signs —— there are

have been researchers. and is it leading to the overall reduction in fertility in western countries? the researchers pointed to lifestyle changes, chemicals, smoking, stressful lives. maybe if we are all getting less stress in life, maybe thatis getting less stress in life, maybe that is going to improve. getting less stress in life, maybe that is going to improveli getting less stress in life, maybe that is going to improve. i suppose once you see it, it is no great surprise, if we think about diet, smoking, they affect every other pa rt smoking, they affect every other part of our lives and health, so this is just part of our lives and health, so this isjust one more example part of our lives and health, so this is just one more example of that, i suppose. the interesting point of course is to say, ok, what is the biggest reason for this, and how can we tackle this? the study does not give recommendations on how to change this. it is also for a wide range of populations in different countries. there is no single bullet for this. interesting in terms of when they compare it,

they haven't seen similar results in south america, africa or asia. it is the west and the us. they were less studies in these countries. maybe we would see a similar impact in these countries. and some of the modern ailments like obesity follow that route. that is true. they will come, one would suspect, sadly. right, onto greece, what do you make of this? 3 million eurobond sale? onto greece, what do you make of this? 3 million eurobond sale7m onto greece, what do you make of this? 3 million eurobond sale? it is an encouraging sign if you are the greek finance minister because if you are the greek finance minister you are the greek finance minister you are the greek finance minister you are aware that injuly you are the greek finance minister you are aware that in july 2018 your current bailout programme ends, so you have to either refinance yourself in the market, or wait for a bailout programme, which at this point in time is not something that athens wants to go for, given it has beenin athens wants to go for, given it has been in the past led to tussles with the imf and the eu and these monies have come with strings attached. the

fa ct have come with strings attached. the fact that they could price it lower than in the shelley, than the initial yield, at 4.6%, was better than what they got when they have a short window in the market in the; i"; more 1/7 on' q4; if n angles, 5:52? more 1/7 on' q4; if n angles, 5:5; of|ore 1/7 on' q4; if n was held back by the imf. bailout was held back by the imf. that won't happen until greece's debtors gave them debt relief. and the ecb said debt relief is a requirement for them to buy bonds from greece. if they can secure that, that could be a game changer. yes. it has been one of the issues that has been ongoing in the last couple of months. this debate on how to make sure that greece is able to service some of the debt that it has. it seems that there is some movement on the imf's side and the

eu side to come to an agreement which, as you pointed out, greece is not benefiting from the bond buying programme that the ecb has started, and which in other countries has positively impacted the size and health of the overall economy. who would have been buying these bonds? they are still quite risky. they had a helping hand, didn't they, a0 million euros. yes, so was some enticement to buy the bonds. it appears that there were enough investors wanting to buy these bonds, at which, well, is not a real surprise. there is always people who wa nt surprise. there is always people who want to go for more risk than others. very briefly, it has been a high—rise from the prime minister, tsipras, and it remains that way, he wa nts to tsipras, and it remains that way, he wants to pull greece out of the euro and ultimately he might be the man who champions greece staying in the euro. that is a good point. two years ago they were in a different

situation and we were talking about greece ace—king the euro, or being forced out of it, so it is interesting they can save, well, to be honest, we are in the euro and investor confidence is enough for us to sell bonds —— exiting. well, the yield isn't too bad. yes, tsipras has been campaigning on this move to say, we are exiting the bailout and we are back into financial... we are ina good we are back into financial... we are in a good financial state which, other countries, like ireland, did a couple of years ago, like, they said this is a way back to normality when we exit the bailout programme. bmw, i like this one. this story about bmw building the electric mini in the uk and people have lauded it as a seal of approval for the uk. 0thers a seal of approval for the uk. others have said it is no surprise that they will build it there. the car is already made there. the

electric part of the engine will be built elsewhere and it will be shipped in. what is your take on it? it isa shipped in. what is your take on it? it is a good point, that you say that the drivetrain will be imported from germany, so that is pointing to the main question going forward for the main question going forward for the british car industry, which is — will, after britain's exit from the eu, the import and export path between the uk and other european countries, as seamless as it currently is? and then it will lead to car makers deciding on whether to build cars in the uk or not. well, they are on the up, mini figures are very good at the moment, with production levels very high. we have to leave it there. thank you very much. it is good to see you here. and thanks for watching. thank you. goodbye. good morning. there's rain in the forecast for the next few days, but i think the important message is, it's not going to be raining all the time. that's certainly

the story for today. some wet and windy weather for a time, but not all the time. we have low pressure pushing a band of cloud in from the atlantic and that will bring some outbreaks rain eastwards through the day. with that wet weather some fairly strong and gusty winds. so we start the morning in northern ireland and western scotland, wales and the south—west with this rain. they then move across the midlands, north—east england, east scotland, eventually rain into the south—east, but by this stage the wet weather quite light and patchy. behind the rain band, things will brighten up. there will be showers across northern ireland and scotland into the afternoon. some of these will be quite heavy and the wind is still fairly blustery. notice the persistent rain holding on across the far north and east of scotland right through the afternoon. brighter skies into wales. a fairly cool and fresh feel to the weather. 19 in cardiff. similar in plymouth, with patchy cloud and sunny spells for the afternoon across the south—west of england. we come further east across hampshire, berkshire, into london, kent and east anglia there will be a fair amount of cloud through the afternoon.

some outbreaks of rain, fairly light and patchy, extending through the coast of england. further west some bright weather developing. in the evening the cloud and patchy rain will be chased away to the east. a lot of dry weather through the night, however, some hefty showers developing across northern ireland and western scotland. there could be the odd rumble of thunder here. temperatures overnight about 11—15 degrees. into thursday and low pressure still the dominant feature. this isn't what we expect to see on the weather charts at this point in late july. some tightly squeezed isobars, meaning there will be strong winds and some heavy showers. most frequent up to the north—west, but even further south and east we could catch the odd heavy shower and maybe a rumble of thunder. some sunny spells in between. but those temperatures no great shakes, about 16 in aberdeen, 18 in cardiff, 20 in london.

another day of showers on friday. some sunny spells between the showers. then late in the day more persistent rain pushing in again across the south—west and wales. but that should move its way through on friday night and into the early hours of saturday. so the weekend is certainly not a complete washout. there will be some spells of sunshine and some heavy showers as well. some rain in forecast, but not all the time. hello, this is breakfast, with charlie stayt and louise minchin. new diesel and petrol cars are to be banned from 20a0. it's part of a strategy to tackle air pollution but critics say it doesn't go far enough orfast enough. a high courtjudge will today decide whether charlie gard should be

allowed to return home to die. we'll find out later how quickly the economy grew over the last three months, but the figure is expected to be great. what does it