fire and an explosive was detonated as they tried to carry out a reconnaissance mission to a syrian town awaiting chemical weapons inspectors. the guardian says according to the imf, the world's current $161; trillion debt pile is bigger than at the height of the financial crisis a decade ago. the ft looks at tv streaming giant netflix, which is escalating its assault on european broadcasters by sharply increasing its content investment across the continent, it plans to spend around $1 billion on original productions this year. and finally, in the times, plastic stirrers and cotton buds are to be banned alongside straws in the uk. the move, expected to come into force as early as next year, is designed to curb "society's addiction" to throwaway products. this is also our twitter

conversation today. we will mention your responses in a moment. with me is iain anderson who's founder of the international communications agency, cicero group. that start with the japan times. we talked about it in the briefing. from the point of view ofjapan, this meeting is very important that the us president who is about to meet with the north korean leader, kimjong—un, meet with the north korean leader, kim jong—un, sometime in june meet with the north korean leader, kimjong—un, sometime injune it is thought. staggering, isn't it? it is absolutely staggering what is going on. actually, ithink absolutely staggering what is going on. actually, i think really the first time trump has been in power, we have maybe got some very positive global news to look forward to. mark pompeo‘s nomination to be secretary of state has been in north korea, which is a pretty amazing fact. for the japanese, this is very

significant because it is notjust about easing tensions in that part of the world between japan about easing tensions in that part of the world betweenjapan north korea, which have been very difficult for many years, japan has been arguing for trump to get on the agenda, many of the japanese people that have been, that were kidnapped by the north korean is to effectively make them more able to embed themselves injapanese society, there was a play in london on the subject that the national theatre run which was an incredible, one of the most powerful players i think i have ever seen take place and they want that firmly on the agenda. but it is also about trade and the relationship betweenjapan and the relationship betweenjapan and the relationship betweenjapan and the us and trump's decision to go back into the tpp trade deal. indeed. there is a lot forjapan to gain from this relationship. we are looking at pictures right now while

the four of them, the two leaders and their wives as they were touring mar—a—lago yesterday. they had a big game of golf. he has worked very ha rd game of golf. he has worked very hard at this relationship will stop but forjapan, of course, the threat, the nuclear threat to the japanese is very, very real. of course, if they can talk about the by2020, course, if they can talk about the by 2020, that really is quite something. if north korea were to agree to that. yes, if they were to agree with that. he is also talking overnight about walking away from the tables ina elon about walking away from the tables in a elon musk type way. let's see. but the fact that they are talking and the rhetoric is calming has got to be good news, and markets are responding accordingly. idid think responding accordingly. i did think of you, you refer to elon musk. there is a story on the bbc website and i tweeted earlier that elon musk is saying that if the meetings are long, just walk out. what you make of that?

iama what you make of that? i am a great believer in that. bill gates was the inventor of the standing meeting and... you are not allowed to sit down. men in particular is that down in a meeting and love the sound of their own voices, so the shorter the meeting... iam allfor meeting... i am all for it. it's get back onto the agenda. we have a publication in the agenda. we have a publication in the us, an online publication, un security team comes under fire the us, an online publication, un security team comes underfire in syria. we are looking ahead to the fa ct syria. we are looking ahead to the fact that chemical weapons experts will be allowed in finally on wednesday, ten days after this horrific attack on the people. but clearly, the rite of passage is not there by any means and they are not able to get on with the job. that look like there is a passage. what appears to have happened is the reconnaissance team from the un, the

security team has gone in just literally secure the area. we have waited almost two mac weeks for the syrians and the russians to allow the un to actually go in and test soil test what is happening to people affected by this horrendous act, and now it appears that they are being attacked either by demonstrators or attacked attacks, actually being shot at. it is a pretty appalling situation. for me, the un needs to take much tougher action on syria and their collaborators, russia, as a result of this. very ha rd of this. very hard for them to get any votes through anything when russia is there, coming against them under every single step of the way. and that raises real questions about whether or not the global diplomatic

infrastructure still works. is it fit for purpose? indeed. we will jump fit for purpose? indeed. we willjump over the imf, couldn't we have talked about it already as i have done with rob parker as well. at talk about netflix. we were talking about this earlier this week, subscriber numbers going up and up. it is not stopping. at the moment, if you are a broadcaster in europe here in the news they will really invest in european audiences, what they offer to us here, you would be quite worried. this is a really good example of if you are not reinventing, you are dying. that is for any business right now. it is very true in media and television. very true in broadcasting. it clicks, you talk about subscriber numbers and expectations, about double, it sent $1 billion in terms of original content here in europe. i was of original content here in europe. iwas in of original content here in europe. i was in lillehammer the other week, netflix's first original piece of

content, and what that has done for drawing people into the norwegian economy is quite amazing. netflix is now a bigger in terms of its market cap than general electric and ibm. that tells you all you need to know about the new economy. and the worry for the media opposition as it were is the fact they are making all this original content and they are getting the money in to do so and spending billions on it. it is expensive. if you get it right, you marketed well, people will be paying for netflix to watch things like the crown. you can watch it whenever you want and how you want. it is tough to compete with that. the traditional broadcasters are struggling to keep up. the final story in the times and also on our website, plastic straw, cotton bud, a ban proposed. this is in england in the next couple of

yea rs. in england in the next couple of years. this is expected to be announced later at the commonwealth heads of government event taking place at government —— buckingham palace. it is the queen's big day to day for the lots of symbolism, the fa ct day for the lots of symbolism, the fact that she is so heavily involved at the moment. cheap and travel now that these commonwealth events. it is so important to her. this is probably the queen's last commonwealth summit. big example of soft power, really big example of soft power, really big example of soft power, really big example of soft power from the uk. my doppelganger, michael gove, is going to be making this announcement, the uk environment secretary, carrying around his reusable cup, and we have launched a reusable cup as well. everybody is getting into this because i think there is a greater consciousness of the need, you were pointing to this earlier... throwing away stuff. the throwaway society that people have had enough. absolutely. many of you have been in touch about this. talking through your replies, good morning from

india. paper straws, to available like paper cups so why are we not using them? it is a matter of time before these things will be replaced no doubt. people are saying it is fantastic they are taking this action and it is a matter of time, but it is not too soon. it is not too soon. it is far too late. that is exactly right. you look at the plastic bag tax, massive effect on consumer behaviour. i think this can as well. brilliant, thank you for coming in. thank you for all your contributions on the website. take a look if you want to see what people were saying. we will see what people were saying. we will see you soon. hi there. it's been the warmest day of the year so far, with temperatures climbing up to 25 degrees celsius on wednesday around the greater london area. and it was a fine end to the day,

as well, for western wales — in gwynedd, a fine sunset there. looking at the picture today, it was good to be even warmer in the sunshine, which will be widespread as well. however, at times there will be a little bit more in the way of cloud across western areas. that's because we've got a weak weather front out west. it's not really going to do much for rain, but there is the strip of cloud. maybe one or two spots over the hills of northern ireland, western areas of scotland, but otherwise it's fine. any early—morning mist patches, perhaps through the thames estuary, will clear through the day. with winds coming from the south, and even hot today. temperatures will reach 27 degrees, which will be the first time we've pushed into the 80s in terms of fahrenheit. now, looking at the weather picture for thursday night, we'll see a little bit cloud developing over western areas, maybe a few mist patches forming, as well. the cloud across the west of scotland threatening some showers. but another relatively mild night. temperatures between 7 and 13 degrees. more of the same on friday, although there will be some showers coming and going for

the highlands of scotland, across the northern isles too. fresher air working across scotland, northern ireland and northern england. the temperatures easing back in the northern half of uk, but in the south, it's another very warm one, temperatures 25 towards london and the south—east. so all this fine weather's being brought to us thanks to this high pressure. the area of high pressure is slipping away a little bit as we go on through the weekend, to allow a greater risk of some showers to come up from the south. so they're most likely to swing up ahead of a weather front that's out just to the west of the british isles. we may well see some showers or thunderstorms developing across western areas of the uk. sunny spells elsewhere — the best of the sunshine probably for scotland and across eastern areas of england, where it will feel pleasantly warm, with temperatures up to 23. for the second half the weekend, it looks like we may see further showers, and we'll continue to see the temperatures just ease back, particularly across the north—west of the country. in fact, sunday could turn out to be quite a wet day across the far north of england, northern ireland,

and the west of scotland. still, not too many showers across the south—east, just one or two passing ones, with temperatures continuing the trend ofjust cooling a little. a good deal cooler and fresher across the north—west. and there'll be a further cool—down with the weather as we look at the forecast for next week. that's your latest weather. mac hello, this is breakfast, with steph mcgovern and charlie stayt. a ban on plastic straws, cotton buds and drink stirrers. the government's latest plan to cut plastic waste but campaign groups say it doesn't go far enough. good morning, it's thursday the 19th of april. also this morning: thank you, thank you so much. dale winton, who became a household name as host of the game show supermarket sweep, has died at the age of 62. good morning. can you trademark a shape? nestle, the maker of kit kat, says you can. its big rival, who owns cadbury, has spent millions trying to prove you can't.