as part of the prime minister's commitment to eliminating "avoidable" plastic waste under a 25—year environment plan published today. independent online is calling it a "war on plastic". the financial times leads with tunisia, where anti—government protests hit for the third successive night. the capital tunis has seen one of the biggest upheavals since the 2011 protests that set off a stringof revolts across the arab region. the guardian looks at amazon's jeff bezos, newly dubbed the richest man in history, a little differently. it says with the impact of inflation, bezos is not the richest man who ever lived. in fact, he's not even the richest american to live. we will explain in a moment. the straits times says the reach

and impact of fake news has led the singaporean parliament to form a select committee to examine fake news threat. however, some have cautioned against heavy handed legislation. the new york times international edition questions whether vetting books shows sensitivity or censorship. in today's hyper—reactive social media landscape, it says, many editors are turning to sensitivity readers, who provide feedback on issues like race, religion, race, gender, to avoid giving offence. let's try and do that right now. with me is alpesh patel, ceo of investment company praefinium partners. he is back. i like to give offence. iam not he is back. i like to give offence. i am not good at taking it. you know i always have a response, which is important. let's have a look at the times, and the independent as well, both on this front page, the war on plastic, looking ahead to what the

prime minister will announce. sally, cani prime minister will announce. sally, can i be bold to say this will be the most important story the bbc covers all day if not all week and i will tell you why, three statistics, the amount of plastic produced each year is the weight of humanity, 300 million tons of which up to 13 million tons of which up to 13 million tons of which up to 13 million tons leaks into the oceans andi million tons leaks into the oceans and i million bottles a minute are bought around the world, which camera are we on? i am looking at you, china and coca—cola, that is the problem. let me put to you, we know the problem is there and it has lot of profile partly because of the blue planet two series and the impact on the sea life. that is a nice bump for the bbc programme, but you are right. absolutely, and the question is will it make a difference? we are getting momentum. don't we need a stick, not a carrot? you have front page. i hope we get a big stick, not a plastic stick and my worry is soon or later you will

have some muppet who will say "well it makes no impact at all, it is like carbon dioxide, the environment ta kes like carbon dioxide, the environment takes care of it and it will be someone takes care of it and it will be someone from the plastics industry" and that is when it won't make a difference. up until now it seems i—way traffic to say we have to cut back on it not least because it uses oil as well. and it seems we are in agreement. we need legislators to move faster. we have also seen a lot of action in terms of business not necessarily on the part of the big corporate and have good is wrapped in this plastic, but the small, nimble companies are coming up with excellent ideas. sadly they are too small. using recyclable bags. we need the big supermarkets. the pm needs them in number ten this afternoon to tell them to make it happen. she is busy talking with ba rclays. happen. she is busy talking with barclays. not all afternoon. ithink

she has a gap between 4pm and 4:15pm so she has a gap between 4pm and 4:15pm so she can make it happen. everyone agrees. cup of tea between 4pm and 4:15pm for a rest. austerity push ignites unrest in tunisia. the situation is making the front of the ft. really interesting that this is quite close to the seventh anniversary of the arab spring, when the government was overthrown on 14 january, 2011. the government was overthrown on 1a january, 2011. what seems to have triggered this recent hike in taxes with the common man and woman saying prices are going up, there is corruption and unemployment and therefore they say all these things we we re therefore they say all these things we were promised have not come about and this is a major problem notjust forjimmy shere but europe and the usa. -- forjimmy shere but europe and the usa. —— tunisia but europe and the usa. —— tunisia but europe and the usa. when you get this are people in these countries in this region you get isis recruitment spike going up,

you get migrants, illegal migrants going across in boats and drowning, trying to get italy, trying to get degrees, it is a problem for the eu and the us and they really need to wa ke and the us and they really need to wake up to it. well, this is an issue on going in tunisia right now and, as you say, it is an economic issue that has sparked a protest which often leads to other things and that is what we saw in iran at the beginning of the year. we have seen it in iran. that is more contained, you are likely to get isis recruitment over there. sadly the government has clamped down on it. we have not seen it happen in saudi arabia yet. when you look other countries which are quite closed economies, those are the ones looking for some kind of movement towards democracy which does have negative implications in terms of spillover and social unrest as well. we need the eu to be doing a lot more than is doing and you might say thatis more than is doing and you might say that is interfering in another country's internal politics, actually not when my neighbour fx me

so actually not when my neighbour fx me so directly. let's look at the guardian front page, share surge ta kes guardian front page, share surge takes just as some wealth to $106 billion —— effects. this is what we we re billion —— effects. this is what we were talking about, richer than bill gates. what did take on the guardian angle when they look at the impact of inflation etc and who is richer than her? i tell you what i would expect from the guardian and bezos isa expect from the guardian and bezos is a hedge fund manager so i haven't reached his levels yet, but that is the ambition, 0k, 0k, and i thought the ambition, 0k, 0k, and i thought the angle would be you have $25 billion of turnover in europe for your company, amazon, but pay $17 million in tax. that is how to become the richest man in the world. they next albeit you employ 65,000 people. i will tell you what is interesting, the richest man in history is a british immigrant into britain of the nephew of william the

conqueror who was the richest man ever allowing for information. and there were you, alan rufus, who would have thought it, and interestingly, you may have thought the english became wealthy from robbing the empire, but it is not! it was this european immigrant who brought their wealth and it has been a wealthy country for a long time. 0n a wealthy country for a long time. on another subject of wealth, we are coming up to the world economic forum ina coming up to the world economic forum in a couple of weeks, and i am going, which i look forward to, one subject which comes up is the fact that the rich are getting richer, the poor are not getting the benefit, the gap is getting wider. we have a world bank report out talking about the fact is you will be really good for economic growth. the question is who is really winning? is it reallyjustjeff bezos? i won't even argue about trickle—down, it just makes bezos? i won't even argue about trickle—down, itjust makes people angry but the average pay for amazon, i am

angry but the average pay for amazon, iam not angry but the average pay for amazon, i am not here to defend amazon, i am not here to defend amazon, is above the national average. at least they are creating jobs and the foundation work that bezos does is he is notjust hoarding it. he is going into space. there is not much he can do if the share price goes up. it is the employees and the quality ofjobs. there has been some negative press about the quality ofjobs but as long as he creates jobs in about the quality ofjobs but as long as he createsjobs in britain and keep investing, at least, whether you call it trickle on or something else, at least there is expansion in the uk and i hope they really accelerate that and i hope they accelerate it around the uk. how worried are you about fake news? in singapore they will examine the threat of fake news but some have said that this is just censorship. threat of fake news but some have said that this is just censorshiplj am worried when politicians call it fa ke am worried when politicians call it fake news, if it is the president of the us or otherwise. i was looking at the press freedom index. singapore has a score of 67 between

zero and 100 and zero is total freedom. the uk is 25, so it is closer than singapore, singapore is closer than singapore, singapore is closer to the uae where if you use twitter ronchi go to prison. what worries me is they had freedom. —— wrong you can go to prison. they need to look at making more press freedom. quickly time to mention books. aru a big book worm or not?|j used to be. —— are you a big book worm? i am used to be. —— are you a big book worm? iam more used to be. —— are you a big book worm? i am more of a writer. 0h, plug, plug. it was on the front of the new york times, does vetting show sensitivity or censorship? as ever, great to have you on the programme, ukip our viewers wide awake. i will see very. goodbye. programme, ukip our viewers wide awake. iwill see very. goodbye. —— you keep our viewers wide awake. good morning.

fog is our talking point for the weather this morning, quite widespread fog, particularly across the western half of the british isles, and some dangerously dense patches to be found out there at the moment. the knock—on effects to travel certainly if you're heading on the roads, but also i think for some of our airports as well. a chilly start to thursday across scotland, with a frost here, and dense fog through the southern uplands, and the central lowlands. murky conditions across northern ireland for the rush—hour, as well, for the north—west of england, too. further east, it's murky conditions but for a slightly different reason, the remnants of a weather front here introducing a lot of moist air, so low cloud particularly hanging across the hills. a chilly start for wales and the south—west of england here, with dense patches of fog that have fallen overnight, lingering across the west country, as well, making things pretty messy. then, in the east, some drizzly rain out of the remnants of our weather front. all in all, a pretty gloomy, murky start to thursday. in the west, i'm hopeful things will gradually improve through the morning. the fog lifting up initially into cloud. then hopefully, perhaps over the moors and the south—west of wales, and, particularly for scotland and the north—west of england, it will break and allow

through some sunshine. it looks like glasgow could be one of those areas where fog lingers, temperatures will really struggle. highs of somewhere between five and eight degrees, and, with the cloud in the east, even at eight degrees, nothing too special here. thursday night into friday, a repeat performance. clear skies in the west, the fog will thicken, a patch of frost will develop, more breeze across ireland. in the east, though, the weather front close for a murky start. friday looking gloomy initially. hopefully some hazy sunshine in the west as the day goes on and, perhaps, just perhaps, a little bit more brightness across eastern england come the afternoon. temperatures again fairly unremarkable, somewhere around six or seven degrees. so, quite static for the uk for today and friday. further afield, into europe, our patchy fog could also be a problem across france and germany. if you're travelling down towards the med, this area of low pressure still causing problems with thunderstorms for the next 2a hours. for us, though, not a lot moving until this weather front tries to push in later on on friday. it gradually works its way eastwards

through the weekend. the worst of the rain will be out of the way on friday night and then, basically, for the weekend, it's just going to introduce quite a lot of cloud and a strengthening breeze. so, this weekend, no really dramatic changes, largely dry, cloudy and breezy. hello, this is breakfast, with naga munchetty and charlie stayt. wiping out plastic waste — the prime minister sets out a 25—year plan. plastic—free aisles in supermarkets are among the ideas being put forward by theresa may. but critics say the proposals lack urgency and detail. good morning, it's thursday the 11th of january. also this morning: 0ne of the strongest warnings yet about the nhs in england. this time hospital bosses say services are at breaking point and that the government must spend more. more lives are claimed by the rivers

of mud in california as hundreds of rescuers comb through the wreckage. an armed heist at the ritz in paris. jewellery worth millions of pounds is seized after five men smash