shaking trump's hand, saying the 71—year—old president shows its no abnormal signs following a cognitive exam. there's more detail online. now it's time look at the stories that are making the headlines in media across the world. we begin with the china daily, which reports that chinese president xi jinping spoke with american president donald trump yesterday to reaffirm their position on the korean peninsula situation. china is not attending the north korea crisis summit in vancouver today, but says its important the international community stays united. the financial times leads with carillion crisis, as does most of the uk papers this morning. they reveal that carillion was left with just £29 million when it collapsed this week. and the metro, its headline reads taking the piste, which is a dig at former carillion boss richard howson, who it says owns a six—bedroom ski chalet in the alps. the independent goes into details

about the family in california. 13 children were allegedly being held captive by their parents. the parents are due to appear in court later this week, charged with torture and child endangerment. el pais says catalan parliament lawyers have dismissed the notion that separatist leader carles puigdemont can be sworn into parliament remotely. the catalan parliament is due to reconvene this morning. and finally the japan times touches on a story about a rather tricky exam question that baffled a bunch of poorjapanese highschool students. it's about the moomins, many of you know about them. so, let's begin. with me is cornelia meyer,

the ceo of mrl corporation, a business consultancy. you have been reading furiously since i last saw you, china daily, really interesting to know they have on theirfront page really interesting to know they have on their front page the korean calendula. .. on their front page the korean calendula... not crisis, maybe it's moved away from that, we're talking about diplomacy now hopefully given the fact the north and south are in discussions about the winter olympics, but interesting to see what china is saying even though they're not at the talks in vancouver. it's interesting because china are the first ones who want to seek an because the whole debate was a lwa ys seek an because the whole debate was always between the us and china —— sea calm. china says this is our neighbour and we don't want a dysfunctional state, like libya, on oui’ dysfunctional state, like libya, on our doorstep. it could spill over the doorstep. they don't want the refugees. the same with south korea.

in that sense of what xi jingping says makes sense, in that sense of what xi jingping says makes sense, he endorses the wider world to work together. it's if the us is bound into a broader arena and into more coalition partners on this then there will be less incentive for midnight tweets. in that sense, very good. as you mentioned, there's a little bit where you can feel a certain detente and there is a very good serendipity that the olympics are in south korea. indeed, a global sporting event to the rescue yet again. absolutely. to make it clear, trialer daily for those that don't know is a state—sponsored newspaper, so it's seen as the mouthpiece for the government. which is encouraging —— china daily. the government. which is encouraging -- china daily. you talk to many

clients all over the world in many different areas, what is their sense of this story right now? last year there was a lot of concern and fear that geopolitics was up and centre, do people feel more positive now?l little bit, it is a wait and see, this is a good first step and thank goodness there's the olympics and there's a south korean president hu from the word goes said he would engage. i think everybody feels it's moving in the right direction but it is still a wait and see. we don't know what kim jong—un will say because he is quite the citrus and we don't know what donald trump will say. —— vociferous. more than anything it's about keeping the language down because language matters. actions follow language. let's talk about carillion, which i have talked about everyday, carillion held £29 million in its

final days according to the ft. this is keith cochrane, interim ceo of carillion, lots of details came out ofa carillion, lots of details came out of a document that he had to put forward for this insolvency process to continue and it's given us details of the last few days an weeks. he's pointed the finger at the banks saying they weren't helpful at all, what is your take on this? i think everybody was asleep at the wheel. were worthy auditors? if you get to such a cash—strapped situation then you see it coming —— where the auditors? they did see it coming. a good company has strong internal audits. i have noticed in european companies and us companies i have worked for, us companies tend to ta ke i have worked for, us companies tend to take internal audits more seriously, especially post— enron. and where was the government? and where were the banks? they were

looking for new lucrative contracts. the government were holding their hand and hoping for the best. that's not the government's job, they shouldn't say it will be all fine on the day. if you give contracts you need to look into the financial solvency of a company. where was the government? where were the banks? the banks must have seen their cabinets were broken. they should have acted earlier. to me this is a classic case of everybody being asleep at the wheel and thought the next guy would deal with it. should the banks, some of those in charge of carillion at the time i implying this, should they have been more lenient and given them more time and a better deal in terms of managing debt given the cash flow crisis they have had? —— are implying. debt given the cash flow crisis they have had? -- are implying. the banks should have got together and acted in unison, and they couldn't do that, so there you go, you don't wa nt to

that, so there you go, you don't want to be with five banks, the bank out, giving more credit when eve ryo ne out, giving more credit when everyone else doesn't. the front page of the independent has this photograph of this family, in many of the media outlets today, it's a story that unfolded this time yesterday, horrific, david and louise turpin, the parents of the 13 children, so many questions about how this could go on in this home without people knowing and anybody raising red flags. the children were homeschooled and during that time nobody went to check. those homeschooled in other countries, there are education officials who go and visit and check the kids are getting a good education and they're on track. that was my take. the neighbours, you don't want to be noisy but you still probably are a little bit your brother's keeper and then the homeschooling. if you have 13 children being homeschooled, surely every year twice somebody

should come by. more detailwill come out on that one. i'm sure you're keen to talk about catalonia, el pais looking at whether carles puigdemont can be sworn in oakley. can we have a leader of the parliament via skype 01’ leader of the parliament via skype or not? —— can be sworn in oakley. lawyers have said that you can't and they are drawing up legislation for that. —— in remotely. there are other members as well in exile. this is difficult. spain says article 155, which gives direct rule to madrid over catalonia, will not be revoked if ca rles madrid over catalonia, will not be revoked if carles puigdemont becomes president so this is still very volatile. i know some of those part of the separatist movement were hoping for a smoother more diplomatic beginning to the new year given how tricky things were, if ca rles given how tricky things were, if carles puigdemont ploughs ahead

wanting to be on charge that won't happen. i wrote a piece when this started saying how two angry men talked themselves into a crisis and they're still doing that. —— wanting to be in charge. this japan question that baffled many students, it's about the moomins, what about this? the question isn't really about the moomins, it shows it is tough to get into a good university, they have very stringent exams. injapan it's not a school system where creativity rains large. —— dominates. these poor children were totally taken back. that's not fair. i've been there! it isn't there because they have prepared for so long. we have to say goodbye, thanks for watching -- it to say goodbye, thanks for watching —— it isn't fair. well, there's been some significant

accumulations of snow across parts of northern ireland and scotland, the far north of england, and we continue to see wintry showers, snow showers, through the course of the night, early into wednesday so that's prompted the met office to issue an amber warning for parts of south—west scotland, northern ireland, for this combination of snow and ice. very windy too during the overnight period. gale force winds, particularly across irish sea coasts in towards the south—west for a time. plenty of snow showers continuing across scotland, northern ireland and into northern england that accumulate and continue to tot up. across the south, some dry interludes in fact, particularly across the south—east, but wherever you are it's going to be a chilly start to wednesday. wednesday itself looks like to be another cold and a windy one, there will be wintry showers again but also some good spells of sunshine and increasing amounts of sunshine as we head on into the afternoon. but plenty of wintry showers, snow showers across scotland and northern ireland to begin the day. strong winds too so there'll be some drifting of snow, blizzard conditions, take extra care on the roads, watch out for icy stretches as well. the same too for parts of northern england but the further south that we head, fewer showers

through the morning period. a few running through the cheshire gap there in towards the pennines and the odd wintry showers across the higher ground, the moors of south—west england. but elsewhere it should be dry, chilly and bright with some sunshine through the morning. those showers continue across many northern and western areas, but through the afternoon, like i mentioned, increasing amounts of sunshine for england and wales with most of the showers confined to scotland and northern ireland, the far north of england with snow amounts continuing to tot up here. it will be cold if you factor in the wind, subzero feeling temperatures in the north. but to the south with the sunshine, it shouldn't be too bad. now, onto wednesday night, this deep area of low pressure will be the next hazard to our shores. it's going to bring a spell of wet and very windy weather to all areas. across the north of this rain band, we're likely to see a spell of snow for northern ireland, northern england, central, southern scotland, which could be heavy for a time. severe gales sweeping through england and wales along with that rain but it clears out quite quickly through thursday morning, and in fact,

into thursday afternoon, and improving picture, the winds falling lighter. there'll be fewer showers, most in the north and west, against snow on the hills, but some good spells of some joint further south and east. but that area of low pressure is cause some disruption, the severe gales, heavy rain and also the snow, which could fall across southern areas, so keep tuned to your bbc local radio. and then into friday itself, it's looking quieter. not as strong, those winds. still blustery across the north and the west where there'll be most of the snow showers. good sunny spells further south and east. hello — this is breakfast, with louise minchin and dan walker. hundreds of drivers stranded overnight as heavy snow sweeps across the uk. mountain rescue teams are drafted in as blizzard conditions leave motorists stuck for up to 8 hours on the m71; in scotland. good morning — it's wednesday 17th january.

also this morning: more nurses are quitting the nhs in england than joining. senior nurses warn that too many staff are demoralised by the job.