from south america. authorities found more than 700 kilogrammes of the drug hidden in pineapples. nine people have been arrested. in business, china faces the weakest growth rate in decades, but are its soaring levels of debt a bigger worry for the world economy? also, look at the latest idea from nintendo. their latest technology is diy cardboard, apparently. it has been dubbed labo. it goes with the switch. they are all made of cardboard. i love that idea. i have plenty of cardboard in my home. that is on the bbc news app. now it's time look at the stories that are making the headlines in media across the world. we begin with the times, and the news the uk is to boost its contribution towards border

controls in france by over £41; million and take more migrants, especially unaccompanied minors. the deal will be announced at a summit between theresa may and president emmanuel macron later today. the guardian online focusses on steve bannon, who won't be appearing before a grand jury in the investigation into links between the trump election campaign and russia. however, president trump's former chief strategist will now meet and talk with special counsel robert mueller‘s investigators instead. the irish times says tech giant, apple, is expected to pay its largest tax bill ever, to the amount of $38 billion. the move comes as the company repatriates overseas cash, mostly held by irish subsidiaries back to the us. the ft reports on crypto—currency, bitcoin, who's value has fallen below $10,000, making it the worst two—day rout in three years. and finally the independent leads with a poll that says the majority of britons back plans for a 25p charge levied on all drinks sold in disposable cups. the proposal follows uk

prime minister theresa may's announcement of a plan aimed at eliminating avoidable plastic waste within 25 years. with me is james hughes, who's chief market analyst, axi trader, a brokerage firm. welcome back. hello. starting with macron and may, together today at the summit. a lot to talk about, including brexit. brexit is the undercurrent to derail these plans. they are making sure the border is maintained. similar issues to

before. the talks are positive. the increase of spending, cctv, staff, lots of things. it will help families and children coming over and seeking asylum. what macron wants to do is speed up the asylum in the uk and stop the calaisjungle beforehand happening again. we reported on it a light. they dismantled it, but many hundreds are still there. there was no provision for them. to a degree, it did not solve anything, and made things worse for many. i think theresa may felt, at least the uk, felt they had to do more to woo macron. when he was campaigning to be president, he said he would rip up the agreement

between france and the uk about calais. absolutely. and with brexit as the undercurrent, it makes these talks more important. the guardian says steve bannon will meet with robert mueller, who is leading the investigation into russia interfering with the us election. we heard reports that steve bannon received a subpoena. now it seems they will talk together. no one us will be present. mixed messages. yes. i think the feeling is that a subpoen means steve bannon would be testifying in front of a number of different people. now this is behind closed doors with robert mueller. there seems to be a feeling a lot of ha rd

there seems to be a feeling a lot of hard work is going to cover up, stop, a lot of the information steve bannon could have been in the public domain. robert mueller‘sjob is com pletely domain. robert mueller‘sjob is completely the opposite, getting the truth out, getting these stories out. but there seems to be a lot of movement to make sure steve bannon does not put the president in a lot of trouble. we all know that since he has been part of the team, there was the potential for that to happen. watch this space. he was the chief strategist. they are at loggerheads, steve bannon and donald trump. the irish times. this story about apple breaking yesterday repatriated in $28 billion. —— repatriating. that is good news for the us economy. is it not underlining the fact this is what donald trump wanted, the purpose of us tax reform? that is why he did

this topic he wanted big american companies to do business in the us and have had head offices there. this amount of money going to the economy is fantastic news. donald trump will tweet about this to say... i have not checked. he could have already. what we are looking at is his tax plan is already paying for itself. it is helping. it is creating jobs in the us and making money go back. what it shows is that the us, after this tax plan deal, is much more attractive for these major us corporations to bring that money back to the us to do their business in the us. it has done what donald trump said it was going to do. this broke late yesterday after the dow

closed. a 300 point gain. today we saw more. goldman sachs, coming out with disappointing earnings despite that. give your take on this. it is interesting. the markets are rallying so strongly. what is driving these markets? the last three earnings seasons, we have seen, from the snp 500 stocks, we have seen 75% of those having better than expected earnings. are we managing expectations? are they giving us a forecast they know they will beat? you have to pick your forecast to get any traction on the markets. we have to look at the guidance. we need to look at what they are saying. yes, we are performing better now than what we were, but we want to see how they expect to perform going forward. what the tax deal of the president

will have done is say companies within the us will be better off. goldman sachs said calm markets are why they were rubbish. yes. when you are in the business of speculating, you need that to happen... perhaps they should be trading bitcoin. there is a lot of fluctuation. though that is the next move, probably. but it has, again, as we said before, when something goes up so aggressively, it comes down very aggressively. you are not a fan? not especially. it is in the financial times again. so much to read about bitcoin. tell me about this. a p pa re ntly bitcoin. tell me about this. apparently most of us are happy with the 25p levy on hot drinks in disposable cups. we are all for it because we want the planet to be

well. that is the take on a story if you ask someone, would they be willing to do this in the future? many people would say yes. when push comes to shove, will people opt for this? you will find less drinks in disposable cups, won't you? 1496 of people, only i4%, they said they we re people, only i4%, they said they were unlikely to opt for... change their behaviour. yes. we know this has to change with plastic. it is a step in the right direction. indeed, it is. james, it has been great to have you on the briefing. thank you. and thank you for watching. stay with the bbc. we will be back at the top of the hour. hi there. the weather looks set to cause a few problems for commuters first thing thursday morning, thanks to this rapidly deepening area of low pressure. now, the isobars really squeeze together across eastern counties of england.

that's where the winds are going to be at their strongest, particular across parts of east anglia, maybe the south—east. now, coastal areas could get wind gusts potentially up to 75 mph. not far off that from inland areas, so we could well bring down one or two trees, with the winds that strong. power cuts a possibility, transport disruption a possibility, as well, due to that windy weather. whereas, across the far north of england, southern areas of scotland, it's snow that's going to be causing problems. with another 5—10 centimetres of fresh snow around, we could well have some disruption across some of those higher—level routes first thing in the morning, as well. so it's one of those days where you might want to leave a little bit of extra time for your commute. across scotland, icy conditions first thing in the morning. plenty of snow showers working in across western areas, and we've got a number of snow showers, as well, piling their way in across northern ireland, across the high ground, the pennines, the peak district, as well, of northern england. very strong winds, remember, across parts of east anglia and south—east england. even towards the south coast, winds will be very gusty for a time, and there will be a few showers working into southern parts of wales

and across south—west england. so, as i say, it is going to be one of those mornings. whether it's due to the snow locally, or those strong winds, either way, we could see one or two problems out and about. now, through the rest of the day, the weather becomes a little bit more straightforward as those fierce winds work across the netherlands. and by the way, that could bring disruption at schiphol airport, for example. if you're flying there, check before travelling. through the rest of the day, it stays quite windy. we'll have a number of wintry showers across the north and west, with temperatures again struggling across northern areas. feeling cold here, but even colder when you factor in the strength of the wind. now, as we go through thursday evening and overnight, those snow showers, if anything, could get a bit heavier again across parts of scotland and northern ireland, with further significant accumulations of snow building up. elsewhere, as temperatures take a dive, again ice could be a problem as we head on into the first part of friday morning. and friday, a similar kind of look to the weather, to be honest. it's a day of fairly brisk winds, plenty of wintry showers across the north—west of the uk.

yes, there will be some sunshine, but even across parts of england, we could see one or two wintry showers pushing in from time to time. now, the weekend looks like this — a ridge of high pressure, followed by this atlantic weather front. it means that the weekend comes in a package of two halves. saturday not bad, largely dry. sunday sees a spell of rain, eventually turning milder, but potentially a little bit of snow on the leading edge of this weather system. that's your weather. hello — this is breakfast, with naga munchetty and charlie stayt. boosting french border controls and taking in more migrants from calais — the prime minister will announce a new agreement with france today. as theresa may hosts president emmanuel macron, she'll say almost £45 million will be spent beefing up security around the channel. good morning.

it's thursday 18 january. a third day of snow, and a night of strong winds continue to cause hazardous conditions. 0ver seven inches of snow fell in parts of northern