from the australian open and then cast serious doubt on his immediate future when he revealed he is considering surgery to mend his troublesome right hip. we have the principal social specialist at an investment bank based in beijing with us. welcome back. let's get cracking. west tells to run to respect right to protest —— tehran. this has been going on for nearly seven days now and the death toll is going up. as ever it is very complicated. it is very complicated. you've got what's going on in tehran and there were protesters, it started with protest against the economy and people not feeling as well off as they ought to or they were led to believe they would be and now maybe others have taken advantage. and there has been

violence unfortunately. now you've got other countries waiting in, telling tehran what to do or what not to do and of course that doesn't necessarily help or hinder, but i suppose it's a dance of international. the west, canada and other countries, feeling a need to say something, but whether that will have any impact and the risk is that it will go the other way and irritate. it is quite interesting, i was listening to the peace earlier, that president obama didn't take sides when this was happening under his presidency and donald trump has waded in pretty much immediately to say this needs to happen, protesters need to be allowed to protest, et cetera. the us is calling for an emergency meeting, but it will be interesting to see how those in the un will react as well. not everybody

is necessarily willing to take sides in this. no. you could say give the authorities in iran a chance to try and sort thing is out. it is coming asa and sort thing is out. it is coming as a surprise. it's the first time they've had demonstrations for sometime. but there's also a history of countries not liking to be told what to do by others. so i think that's the risk. because at the beginning they said people were free to speak, before it got violent. so there was the acceptance that people are able to go on the streets, but i think the risk is that they suddenly feel caught because everyone is telling them they need to do this, and then the authorities say, actually, this is our country and we ought to manage it. we will keep a close eye on how things develop and how the media is interpreting all as

well. let's move on to the japan times. it has an interesting front page. south korea offering high—level talks with the north. in 2017 this issue with regards to north korea absolutely dominated. it was the fear factor across geopolitics and across the world. does this article give us a bit of glimmer of hope? give us your perspective on this, being based in beijing. i think that. .. perspective on this, being based in beijing. ithink that... there's been a history and countries have moved nearer and further apart and it's a bit of a damp —— dance, i would suggest. the reality is that north korea does want to isolate itself so much. it's coming backwards and forwards again. there

are threats made and they were retracted, but in essence i think they are using the winter olympics as may be an excuse 01’ an opportunity to maybe bring things backin opportunity to maybe bring things back in from the brink, because it wasn't a good place to be for anybody. it just wasn't a good place to be for anybody. itjust goes to show once again howa anybody. itjust goes to show once again how a big sporting event is an avenue to open up talks about other issues. and there are some very well—known skaters from north korea and sport is a really good opportunity or stage for people to come together. the use that, anything to release the tensions. we don't really know what's going on. there are many players in that story. one player that seems to be very important is of course china. what's the feeling in beijing about all of this? you hear about it, but

people aren't sure... observer and watch, i would say. all right. people aren't sure... observer and watch, iwould say. all right. let's move on. i know you want to get your teeth into this story. in a financial times, financial services some of the worst in the uk for the gender pay gap. this story did dominate in 2017 and we even heard that the bbc. we were talking about iceland and steps it's taking this year. some industries arejust iceland and steps it's taking this year. some industries are just not moving quick enough. no and they claimed that they were moving in volu nta ry claimed that they were moving in voluntary codes but it shows that you actually need some real policies and teeth to make this happen, because you are changing centuries in effect of attitudes and, you know, more recently there have been attempts. there hasn't been enough

progress. what does this article actually say? we know some industries like construction not great. financial services? you would have thought they would be a little bit more on it, as it were, because of the people who work within financial services pushing for better conditions. and the issue also in these companies is its pepe. the decision—making roles. so if you've got more men, for example, in both roles, they are getting paid more and that's how theyjustify it. but it's not even... the construction and financial services, it's really not good for 2018 and also shocking really in the uk. i think again iceland and the scandinavian countries are taking the lead and hopefully the uk will follow, but slowly. at best got to bea follow, but slowly. at best got to be a lot of people just demanding and demanding. demanding, but

perhaps does the law need to change in the case of iceland? yes. in the andi in the case of iceland? yes. in the and i think there needs to be legislation about it. that's the only thing in the end... when companies are facing the possibility of fines? all right. moving on to the business page of the guardian. this is talking about the market capitalisation of companies. these stock prices have been soaring in the last 12 months, so it could soon become a reality. it good. they don't mention chinese can —— ten saved by the —— tencent. it is interesting. what does that mean? it's all on paper of course. it doesn't mean anything until you actually catch these things in and realise it. but interestingly these companies mentioned, apple, google

and amazon, they are all companies that have legitimate businesses, they make profits. it's not a bubble about to burst necessarily, some might argue. no and there's more appetite for the products these companies produce. and they are developing and developing and innovating. especially they are producing the goods. and we are consuming them. we are. let's talk about this headline in the front page of the independent. it is talking about andy murray, ejected because he had to pull out of the tournament in brisbane. what can you say? sport traumatises the body. it has its wear and tear. i guess andy murray, it is an issue of he has worked his body hired and sometimes this is what happens. of course it is sad, but he has had his time. are you saying it's over? i'm not saying

that, it is hard. imagine coming back after so many different injuries and operations and andy murray having a big operation. but these top sportsmen also have the discipline and willpower. but even such a huge potential setback, we could still see him back. absolutely! the sportsmen just have this willpower. let's hope so! it's been lovely to see you. thanks so much for being on the briefing today. thank you for your company. i hope you enjoy the programme. stay with us because we have plenty more in the coming our —— hour. see you soon. a very windy, stormy night for some, and certainly a stormy start to wednesday. met office amber be prepared warnings for the wind likely to expire during the early hours of wednesday.

it's likely we could see disruptions, power cuts, maybe even trees down in places because of this, storm eleanor, which brought some very strong winds across parts of ireland during tuesday evening. it's continuing its journey eastwards. tightly packed isoba rs across much of the country, away from the north of scotland, which will have relatively light winds. but very strong winds to start wednesday across the north of england, southern scotland. 70—90 mph gusts. certainly 90 mph in exposure. 60 mph widely across england and wales, with the risk of 70, maybe 80 mph across the south coast there. so likely to be some disruption from these severe gales for much of the uk through the early hours and to start wednesday. keep tuned to bbc radio for your latest updates, particularly if you head out for the morning rush. a very windy morning, gale force winds. the severe gale easing down as storm eleanor moves out in towards the north sea. but plenty of showers rattling through the morning and also

into the afternoon. some of these showers will be heavy with some hail and thunder. very squally, gusty winds as these showers arrive. but, in between, there will be spells of sunshine. top temperatures reaching around 10 degrees across the south. it may not feel like that because of the strength of the winds. plenty of showers further north as well, merging together to form longer spells of rain, northern ireland, central and southern scotland. but, actually, pretty quite across the north of scotland. fairly light winds, sunshine, showers there into the northern isles. and then we end wednesday on a brief respite, the wind will die down somewhat. plenty of clear spells. it's going to be quite a cool night to come. but then we look to the south—west, to the next area of low pressure, which will make inroads during wednesday night and into the start of thursday. now, this area of low pressure will be a little bit further south. so it looks like we could see the strongest winds across southern britain, certainly south wales, southern england seeing gale force winds. but quite mild with it. 12 or 13 degrees despite all the heavy rain. further north, maybe a bit cooler, maybe snow in the higher ground, outbreaks of rain.

fairly strong winds here, too, but not as strong as in the south. as we head through friday, transitional days. the weather front moving southwards. heavy rain on it. behind it, the air turns much colder. we start to see increasing amounts of snow to the hills and then down to lower levels. and that's a sign of things to come into the weekend. much colder air pouring down across the uk, it's likely to introduce some snow showers in places and a return to overnight frosts. hello, this is breakfast, with charlie stayt and louise minchin. all non—urgent operations and outpatient appointments in england are put on hold because of mounting pressure on the nhs. up to 55,000 patients are affected. senior doctors say demand has increased rapidly over the festive period. ijust want i just want to do a ijust want to do a good job. i want to do the best i can for the

patients i am seeing. i want to do the best i can but i am not being given the resources to do thatjob properly. good morning. it's wednesday, january third. also this morning: storm eleanor brings winds of up to 84 miles an hour to many parts of the uk, causing disruption to travel