now it is time for our news review. we begin with the guardian, and a warning to north korea from us defence chief james mattis, who said pyongyang risked the end of its regime and the destruction of its people if it attacked america or its allies. and, in the guardian's financial pages, investors have sought out traditional safe havens such as gold and government bonds, as tension mounts between the us and north korea. the japan times says, according to diplomatic cables sent from us secretary of state rex tillerson, us envoys should sidestep any questions from foreign governments asking what will it take for the trump administration to re—engage in the paris climate agreement. the telegraph focusses on the european union, reporting that brussels is facing an expenses scandal after it had to admit senior officials had claimed tens of thousands of pounds to hire private jets and stay at luxury hotels. in the gulf news business pages, shares in disney fell 5% after it announced it would pull all film

and tv content from netflix by 2019. the entertainment giant says it plans to launch its own rival streaming service. and finally, on the front of the gulf news, women in india have been posting photographs of themselves enjoying a night out on social media, in response to a politician who said a woman who was chased in her car by two men should not have gone out so late at night. the hashtag #aintnocinderella has now gone viral, and has been trending across india and all over the world. so let's begin. with me is michaela bergman, chief counsellor for social issues at the european bank for reconstruction and development. are very warm welcome. good morning. lovely to see you. let's start with

this story in the guardian and many of the international papers. this increasing tension between washington and pyongyang. i suppose the danger is that they talked themselves into a corner where they almost accidentally end up coming to blows. i think that there is a lot of posturing and blustering, and i think the problem is actually neither of them really know each other very well. so you are not even starting from a firm basis. so they are saying... you know, they are posturing. both leaders are known to posture, and that is what they are doing. and they are also, i think, addressing their own domestic electorates or populations. the problem is where will it lead. it was as you said they will back themselves into a corner, and i think it is very destabilising, and obviously people are concerned. this article, because there are lots of voices and it picks outjames article, because there are lots of voices and it picks out james mattis in particular, the defence secretary

in the united states, and what he has to say about it. 2a hours of sabre rattling, and that is certainly the case. many are getting quite concerned about the comments, particularly trump yesterday saying fire and fury. from your experience of the region, i mean, north korea has always been the neighbour that they have all been extremely concerned about. what do you think the feeling is that? you have recently been in that part of the world. i haven't been to north korea, and up until recently china has been trying to mediate and keep the balance. china has been quite so active recently, so it isjust the balance. china has been quite so active recently, so it is just north korea and the united states going at each other, and i am hoping one other country will come and sort of mediate between them. i don't think it is really helpful, and really they have to get along with each other. that said, south korea has repeatedly made offers to engage in talks, but so far those seem to have

fallen on deaf ears. yes, and the other thing is we also don't know what is going on behind the scenes. i don't think it is in any one's interest, certainly not china's interests, or south korea's interests, or south korea's interests, that this escalates more. i would expect that things are going on behind the scenes. you have a lot of people talking on both sides, and i wonder what is going on. yes, the unreported diplomatic activity. i wonder what is going on. yes, the unreported diplomatic activitylj would hope. we are all hoping, let's be honest. and that is the point of view from investors around the world. whenever there is real concern about geopolitics, of course, the safe havens become very attractive. so this story in the financial section of the guardian is no surprise at all, the activity we are seeing. and people are concerned, and they are also concerned, and they are also concerned because north korea is the big unknown. there is not that much access to north korea, and that

increases the concern. so yes, and people go to gold in the swiss franc, and the same old ones. the ones we all run to when we are getting concerned and we don't know how it will play out on the impact it will have. on the japan times, theissue it will have. on the japan times, the issue of climate change has come to the fore since president trump took office, and apparently us envoys took office, and apparently us e nvoys a re took office, and apparently us envoys are being told in diplomatic ca bles to envoys are being told in diplomatic cables to evade questions from foreign governments on this issue. that is one strategy, isn't it? well, i think it is probably quite a wise strategy because they have not decided what they want to do. and rather than have an array of different responses which could be more problematic in the end, and maybe someone loses face, they have said just avoided, evade or sidestep. tightlipped, mum 's the word. trump's the word. i think they still haven't got their policy together, and i think it is probably

actually quite sensible. for the self—styled dealmaker, trump, probably what the administration fears as somebody saying this is what it would take. the other countries then offering that, and they find themselves in an embarrassing situation, almost cornering themselves. and i think the article also talks about how they are doing studies and trying to make an assessment through federal agencies. so maybe america has not decided what it is going to do. and they haven't got the time, have they? they haven't got north korea, have they? and in the meantime we had a story a couple of days ago about how the department of agriculture in the united states, some memos were leaked to show that they are not allowed to use the term climate change. they change in wording and policy documents, and things like that. it is a watched this space scenario, and we all want to know what their stance will be.

in the meantime, the front page of the daily telegraph. european chiefs in expenses scandal. what do you make of this story? it is interesting, coming year after the brexit vote, and you remember during those discussions, a lot of people saying to —— they spend money and have expensive lunches, and now you see hundreds of thousands of pounds being spent on air taxes. were no other flights available? i being spent on air taxes. were no otherflights available? i don't know. who knows? you travel quite a bit. flights are pretty available. but this is not good at all, coming out at this point when the uk is negotiating its departure from the eu and there is the whole issue of thatis eu and there is the whole issue of that is divorce bill, finance is one of the big issues, and as you say, it has always been a concern on the pa rt it has always been a concern on the part of everyone in the eu that what

is spent in brussels by those who make the eu work is too much. is spent in brussels by those who make the eu work is too muchm is spent in brussels by those who make the eu work is too much. it is too much, and administrations cost money, absolutely. but when there are extras like this, and people can't take ordinary aeroplanes, it does seem a bit strange. can't take ordinary aeroplanes, it does seem a bit strangelj can't take ordinary aeroplanes, it does seem a bit strange. i was looking to see whether there was any kind of response from those involved. we have the front page, maybe they comment further in the paper. but i suppose the argument they might put is that they are travelling, they are working, they are having meetings as they travel. just possibly putting it out there. absolutely put it out there. and the story will come back again and again, iam story will come back again and again, i am sure thejournalist story will come back again and again, i am sure the journalist will be on their case. streaming services. disney, yes. let's move over, because we only have one minute to go. i am interested in the story on the front of gulf news. if you want to know about disney, is on a website, they are breaking up with netflix. and india women post—

midnight selfies to mock a politician who made a tricky comment. i would almost say an inappropriate comment. i love the way they are making the point, doing it with humour, that actually women are free agents and why can't they be out after midnight? i love the fa ct be out after midnight? i love the fact that it has come alive and people... i think in india there has been so many problems that women have faced, with the violence a few yea rs have faced, with the violence a few years ago, all the stereotypes that they still have to battle against, and they have done this in a very... it is very, very powerful, but in a very humourous way. and that is the way to do it. thank you very much. we will see you soon. goodbye. hello there. much of the country was fine and dry, with some good sunny spells on wednesday. but it was atrocious across the south—east, cold and wet, like this weather watcher behind me depicts of central london.

the rain's been slowly petering out, and as we start thursday morning, with largely clear skies and light winds, it's going to be a chilly one. temperatures out of town in single figures widely across the uk. maybe a little bit of mist and fog in places, as well. that's because we've got a ridge of high pressure which will keep things largely fine and settled for thursday, this weather front which brought all the rain across the south—east on wednesday slowly clearing away. we've also got another weather system slowly approaching the far north—west of the uk. so that will introduce a little bit of thicker cloud, and also a few spots of light rain across the far north and north—west of scotland. but, away from here, for much of scotland it's going to be a fine and a dry morning, with some sunshine. same too for northern ireland, temperatures around 10—13 degrees to start the day. for england and wales, most places fine and dry. lots of sunshine around. for the south—east, a little bit of cloud. just one or two showers there, in across kent, and quite a strong northerly breeze, too, which will gradually ease down through the day. apart from a few heavy showers for kent and the very far south—east, most places will be

dry into the afternoon, as well, but the winds will be increasing for the north—east of scotland. temperature—wise, 17—20. much warmer across the south—east compared to wednesday. so a good—looking day for the world championships athletics in the london stadium. it's going to be dry with some sunshine, temperatures around 21 or 22 degrees. now, a fine end to the day, as well, for thursday. it looks like for england and wales, it is going to be another largely clear night, with light winds, so it is going to turn quite cool. but, for scotland and northern ireland, we'll have an approaching weather system, so here turning wet and windy through the night, so here not quite as cool. so for friday, then, well, we've got this weather system across northern and western areas. a nice, fine start, though, for central, southern and eastern parts of england. but even here, conditions will go downhill through the course of the day. some of the rain will be heavy across western scotland and north—west england, northern and western wales. it will slowly move its way eastwards, eventually reaching the south—east later on. top temperatures 16 to 22 celsius again across the south—east. looks like friday night

could be quite a wet, blustery one as those weather systems clear away. and then as we head on towards the weekend, a big ridge of high pressure builds in. so it does mean, for both saturday and sunday, we're looking at a lot of fine and dry weather. a little bit of cloud here and there, but some good sunny spells. feeling fairly cool, though, at night. hello, this is breakfast with charlie stayt and naga munchetty. police defend a decision to pay a convicted paedophile £10,000 to become an informer. the payment was made as part of an investigation that led to the prosecution of a grooming gang operating in newcastle. the nspcc says it's appalled by the actions of northumbria police. the force insists its priority was keeping children safe. good morning, it's thursday the 10th of august.

also this morning: north korea says its plan to fire missiles towards an american military base in the pacific will be ready within days. here at the london stadium, it was a magical moment for makwala