the un warns of a humanitarian catastrophe as government forces intensify their offensive on the rebel—held idlib province in northern syria. this is a polar bear‘s view of the arctic — scientists say their numbers are in decline because they expend too much energy hunting for food. now it is time look at the stories that are making the headlines in media across the world. we begin with the daily telegraph, and its main story is that health service leaders have warned that compensation payoffs must be cut, or the nhs will go bust. the guardian claims labour is considering forcing landowners to give up sites at knock—down prices to build more council houses. arab news reports that women will be allowed to drive taxis and other commercial vehicles in oman from march first as part of a drive to give women equal business and employment rights. the japan times goes with a crytocurrency story, bitcoin lost m42 billion off its value injanuary. that's its biggest one

month loss to date. and finally gulf news has a photo of the world's longest zipline called the jebel jais flight. definitely not for the faint hearted. it is a terrifying 2,832 metre long wire which stretches above the rocky outcrop of the uae's highest mountain range. let's begin. nina trentmann from the wall street journaljoins me now. to the to with, shall we? quite an astonishing story in terms of figures from the daily telegraph about the amount of money that the nhs does pay—out in compensation and where it is taking it. yeah, rather extraordinary claims in the daily telegraph that if the nhs had to pay out all current claims, it would

amount to billions of pounds, which is up from the amount paid out in 2015. this comes on the back of a change in the law and there are a number of groups, the nhs confederation, the british medical foundation, and the academy of medical colleges is saying we need to be further changes to that law in order to make sure that these pay—outs are restricted and that there is a on these. interestingly, 37% pay—outs go to lawyers, which i thought was something was high. which they probably think should be much higher. it is the huge amount of money, isn't it? i thought it was interesting that because of the drop in interest rates, that has to be taken into in interest rates, that has to be ta ken into account in interest rates, that has to be taken into account as well for the victims. are not earning much money on the pay—outs they are getting, so they are getting higher pay—outs. yeah, the interesting thing also to say then is where is this coming

from? one of the people quoted in the story saying that doctors are taking too much time now in doing checks to prevent pay—outs just because they are concerned about being sued. the warning of course has been quite stop, saying that the nhs will go bust if this is continuing at that level. and perhaps not surprising that we the daily telegraph, a brexit line gets in there as well. the amount of money that would be saved for the nhs by brexit is dwarfed by the sort of figures they are putting out in this story. it remains to be seen, i guess, brexit is all very uncertain how it plays out but these figures are not how it plays out but these figures a re not really how it plays out but these figures are not really comparable at this point in time. let's have a look at the guardian, another intriguing story here. labour, is one of the big problems as we know it has faced in the uk, building houses. —— that is faced. this is labour's answer to the problem. their answer is to make

a change to the 1963 compensation act, according to which the government would be able to purchase land from landowners at the preplanning value, which is often times lower than once planning permission has been given. according to the story, that would cut the expenses that the government has to build public housing by quite a substantial figure. i guess, build public housing by quite a substantialfigure. i guess, of course, it remains to be seen what landowners and politicians representing these would say to that because... it does not really remain to be seen, does it, because that is the death of their business in a sense, if they lose out on that sense, if they lose out on that sense of an arrangement? it is, at least you have if this was to go forward , least you have if this was to go forward, you have some sort of clear conflict because from the landowner‘s perspective, it is not something you would necessarily wa nted something you would necessarily wanted to see because you would be saying i want to sell my land that market value, not at a price that

was five or ten years ago. it is intriguing because a, of course it is going to appeal to all of those who feel that there is this ever growing discrepancy between the haves and have—nots, and b, it does offer a big challenge to one of the big challenges facing this country, which is how do we find housing for everyone, how do we afford it? yeah, at least it is one that proposal to bring the issue forward. there are other proposals around with which you could alleviate the problem, it is interesting that this is coming from labour, that is trying to position itself at the moment as a party, they have drawn benefit from the current situation. it will be interesting to see the way that it is going. they have story in the arab news about what is becoming a theme in the middle east, wanting to offer a female only taxi service.

yeah, amal and it seems to be the latest country in the middle east that wants to allow female drivers to drive taxis, which is something that we have not seen. by the way, reform to make money roads safer, women will also be able drive heavy loads, which we have not seen before. also, it comes on the back of the move from saudi arabia last year, allowing women to drive, which we have not seen before. you have mentioned the saudis there, dubai have started doing it, jordan, egypt to an extent. i thought it was interesting that a lot of men said that they would prefer it as well because they would prefer that a lot of their wives and daughters were transported not by another manned by another woman. which would increase the perceived safety at least of these passengers, i think i would ta ke these passengers, i think i would take such a taxi certainly. is part of that wave of women's writes

gradually being recognised across the middle east, do you think, or is this just let's not get carried away with it? it depends how this is then carried out and whether it is in saudi arabia, whether women then wa nt to saudi arabia, whether women then want to drive and apply for licences and also then, how many women in the end become that taxi drivers. it is a good symbol and certainly better than the other way around quite yeah, true. let's take a look at the japan times. bitcoin just cannot stay out of the news, kennett? the focus on that big wipeout, £16 billion wiped off its value in january alone. it is interesting to see what different regulators are beginning to feel about it and the way they are trying to work it out. yeah, i think for me, big coin has been a staggering story since the beginning it relatively complicated to understand from the concepts of journalist is like me, we have been

struggling a bit to explain to our readers what this is. now it is interesting to see that the value has shot up in december to close to 20,000, we are now at $8,600 this morning, which is quite a substantial decline and i think it will take some sort of time before we have an average base price which is then not going shooting up and going down as much as we have seen before. there were saying before actually, the finance minister in india saying we do not recognise this as legal tender even. so far, central banks have over time looked at this and approached this and had been relatively cautious and how they are treating this, of course they are treating this, of course they are treating this, of course they are also doing this because they are also doing this because they are also doing this because they are overlooking regular tender. but it is also interesting to see how regulators interact with bitcoin going forward and also which central banks then maybe recognise it as legal tender first. at the

banks then maybe recognise it as legal tenderfirst. at the moment, south korean regulators and also the regulator in the us have both been sounding quite cautious notes and in south korea, we have seen a crackdown recently. so, it is quite uncertain to say where everything is going. yeah, let's have a bit of blue sky then. golf news, a story on this extraordinary zip wire, a pretty picture. yes, blue skies. a pretty picture. yes, blue skies. a pretty picture, especially on a day like this in london. would you was yellow yea h, like this in london. would you was yellow yeah, i think i would, if i ever got the chance to travel to the uae and notjust stay ever got the chance to travel to the uae and not just stay for ever got the chance to travel to the uae and notjust stay for a day, which i usually do. tell me what it is like if you ever do. that is it for us for now, nice to see you. hello once again. it was quite a windy day, to say the very least, on thursday — and coming from a pretty cold direction,

from the north and north—west. the wind probably at its strongest across parts of scotland, especially across northern and western shores. there was some disruption to ferries. the only difference i can see about the wind on friday is that there'll be less of it. the isobars just that little bit further apart. it may not seem that way first up along the eastern shores of england, where you have a combination of quite a stiff north and north—westerly breeze, and also quite a supply of showers as well. those tending to lose their oomph as we get on through the day. out towards the west, maybe even some of these showers through western wales and the south—west will also lose their intensity. elsewhere, it's a really decent day. plenty of sunshine but not, again, overly warm if you're exposed to that breeze. temperatures dipping away underneath the clear skies until we bring cloud in, in association with a weather front from the atlantic. this is going to be the major feature of interest, certainly from a meteorological point of view, on saturday. if only because we're not quite sure how far east it's going to go, some of it wants to go that way, some of it wants to come this way. other portions of it mayjust go

round and round as it forms a little low centre somewhere along its length. and where it stops going eastward is really quite important, because if you don't get all of the weather on at this front, you'll end up with a dry day, maybe even a bit of sunshine there. but on its eastern flank, because it's so cold, the moisture will turn to snow, particularly over the higher ground, i suspect. wherever it stops going eastwards, i think it is going to be all over cardiff. no great issues, france versus ireland in paris. the more westerly fixtures here affected by that rain. possibly a little bit of sleet and snow getting over the pennines, and the eastern fixtures in scotland, again i'm not promising that everybody is going to stay dry by any means at all. less in the way of rain or snow on sunday. there will be some snow showers coming down on this noticeable north—easterly wind into the far south—east. best of the sunshine — scotland and into northern ireland. and, if you're heading as far as italy for england's fixture on sunday, well, there really won't be many issues with the weather there, we suspect.

so, the weekend — a real mishmash. the rain and snow come sunday will eventually ease across many parts, but it will remain cloudy and there will be that cold wind. monday is very much more straightforward until we bring more moisture from the atlantic. and tuesday's weather's going to be really tricky because there could be quite significant amounts of snow right across the heart of the british isles. stay up to date on the forecast for that one. hello, this is breakfast, with charlie stayt and naga munchetty. the number of men dying from prostate cancer overtakes the number of women killed by breast cancer for the first time. it's now the third biggest cancer killer in the uk. charities are calling for more screening and research into the disease. good morning. it's friday, the 2nd of february.

also this morning: the prime minister says her trip to china is a sign of a "global britain" and insists that she is delivering what people want on brexit. i'm nota i'm not a quitter. i mean this because there is a job to be done here and that's delivering for the