saying observers believe that north korea's threat to cancel next month's planned summit with donald trump is part of the country's efforts to maximise its bargaining power. and the telegraph reports that britain will tell brussels it's prepared to stay in the european union's customs union beyond 2021. it comes as uk ministers remain deadlocked over a future deal with the eu. and from brexit to another possible exit — the financial times says that a french energy giant is threatening to pull out of iran unless it can be protected from us sanctions, following washington's withdrawal from an international nuclear deal with the islamic republic. and finally, a story on the guardian website about the pope issuing guidelines for nuns about how they engage with social media apps, saying they should use such apps "with sobriety and discretion". as we all should. with me is rolake akin—kugbe filani, who's head of energy at fbn merchant bank. ok, so let's start with the new york times and a story

——. comet everyone is kind of getting excited about the royal wedding, but american media is focusing on a more negative angle. yeah, one of the bonynge is how much the media in general hasjust taken a keen interest in this, not in meghan markle herself in herfamily. of course, we have seen that over the past few days and this is a particularly sensitive note for prince harry, he has been particularly protective of her and it seems that a lot of it has swelled up in the run—up to the wedding and it a pity because it is a wonderful occasion for the two of them. years, and there has been some criticism of the way that kensington palace has dealt with this, they have media professionals have been working on this for quite some time. -- it is.

working on this for quite some time. —— it is. they had not seen to be able to get a grip on this. they have not been able to get a grip on this but it seems the tabloids have gone into every nook and cranny, the tabloids in the us, digging up dirt in the past and present activities of herfamily in the past and present activities of her family and in the past and present activities of herfamily and it isjust in the past and present activities of her family and it is just a in the past and present activities of herfamily and it isjust a shame because really, the focus should be on this quite monumental occasion and it remains to be seen whether her father will attend. of course, there is a lot of speculation around that. as we head towards the event, we wa nt that. as we head towards the event, we want to focus on other things, rather than her father, he we want to focus on other things, rather than herfather, he might not wa nt to rather than herfather, he might not want to be in the papers so much. sally is down there at windsor this morning, soaking up in focusing on some of the more positive elements. let's move on to the south china morning post, what did you want to pick up here? this is really interesting because both sides have heals dragging. the position of north korea here is that it does not wa nt to north korea here is that it does not want to be cornered, they have heard

the us talking around the libyan model. that did not go down well. we all know how that ended. i suspect that the talks still have a good prospect of taking place injune but it is really about the fact that north korea is a bit anxious about these annual exercises between the south and the us. they know they a lwa ys south and the us. they know they always happen though, it isjust them playing... they know. it is really interesting because kim jong—un had appeared to be softening, and of course there have been talks before with the south, but on the other hand there is this need not to be seen as weak at home. there is this sort of grandstanding andi there is this sort of grandstanding and i am not sure that the talks are in fulljeopardy at and i am not sure that the talks are in full jeopardy at the moment. and i am not sure that the talks are in fulljeopardy at the moment. i think there is still a small prospect. you do have to do think calling them max thunder, that is not really the name... but also china has taken a key interest as a

potential mediator. that is interesting, we have not heard too much from them as yet. they have, and they have come out firmly in support of talks from both sides. so you are confident of that meeting still being on the in singapore. 0 nto still being on the in singapore. onto brexit, we cannot not talk about brexit. what is your view on this and remaining in the customs union? the thing about brexit is that negotiations were never going to be easy. this is among several things, it is about the really hard—core members of the brexit debate, people like borisjohnson and david davis owns michael gove, who are really concerned about the wording. it is really about how you can continue to have a border, trade across the borders between northern ireland and the republic of ireland, and is really the hard—core

brexiters say remove all reference to the single market, even though you can have written in the customs union, which is what the eu has proposed which is causing a bit of rancour within britain, particularly within the brexit camp. and really, how is the government able to strike a balance beyond these talks? now, the question beyond 2021, remaining in the customs union until 2021, is that going to be acceptable to the brexiters devoted to leave? you have colleagues, you sit with a lot of clever people. the sub cabinet and cabinet committees are trying to find a way through this. the old line that he would have thought someone line that he would have thought someone would have had an answer and got planning a long time ago. yeah. that is not seem to be happening. you exasperated at what has gone on when you are looking at these cabinet subcommittees that are still

not come to any conclusions? well, i look at it from a different vantage point because i work internationally. the real question is what is in our national interest? what kind of agreement can you strike for britain without compromising its ability to trade with its neighbours? i think that is going to be key and a really difficult balance to strike. that is the understatement, i think, so far. it isa the understatement, i think, so far. it is a really difficult balance. let's move on to the front page of the financial times, the story we we re the financial times, the story we were just talking about there and your violent and sanctions and the wider consequences of this decision. this is about 1.3 trillion feet of gas reserves. totally saying it was the first company to go back to the country the first company to go back to the cou ntry after the first company to go back to the country after the us eased sanctions on iran. —— iran. it is reallya

look at how the us government has pulled out of international agreements and is now looking at sanctions. it has already invested a small sum of $40 million, but it also has huge investments in the us and they might be secondary sanctions, even if it does seek a waiver from the sanctions, even if it does seek a waiverfrom the us sanctions, even if it does seek a waiver from the us about this particular issue. and while the back, what do you think happens next? i think it will be a wait and see. if it is the first to pull out of iran, it is not the end of the world. i think total will tread carefully. it has a fairly diversified oil and gas portfolio, citing will survive. and lastly, the guardian website, obviously the most important story of the day. the vatican advises nuns not to over indulge in social media. what on earth is all this about? this is really be careful what you wish for, pope francis in the vatican have been trying to modernise and revamp the image of the vatican and the pope has a twitter accounts, nuns

have taken the social media. you heard about the talent sister who w011 heard about the talent sister who won the italian version of the poised in the thousand 16 to the huge following, but the double—edged sword is how much exposure to they get and does this compromise the actual position? i think it is important for them to advocate for women's issues on social media. so is this the contention that the calm periods of reflective periods of contemplation are going to be eaten into by constantly being on social media. look, the world is changing andi media. look, the world is changing and i think the nature of the catholic church is changing but the question is how do you balance the usage of social media? it can be a force for good and i think these nuns are finding their voices in a new way that mixes technology. i think there is no harm in doing that but i think they need to put a framework around a way that they do it. i think that there should be a framework for us all, shouldn't there? there should be a framework, we can get into a debate about data

and all of that on social media. we have heard stories about people in bed at night, the blue light on the phone, it stops your sleep. bed at night, the blue light on the phone, it stops your sleeplj bed at night, the blue light on the phone, it stops your sleep. i agree and there must be a limit to these things sometimes. absolutely. 0k, all right. well, thank you so much for joining all right. well, thank you so much forjoining us and taking us through the papers. absolutely fascinating. 0k, the papers. absolutely fascinating. ok, moving on. just before i go, a reminder of our top stories. the government of the democratic republic of the congo says the ebola virus has spread to a large city in the country. 22 people have already died. this is bbc news. the weather for the rest of the week and the weekend really is looking very promising.

as far as the short term's concerned, really chilly this morning. we've had clear skies, so the temperatures have dipped away and in fact in some areas to barely above freezing. there's been quite a big gap in the cloud across the uk. you can see scotland, northern ireland and northern england, so here, we've got the lowest temperatures. you can see those cool colours here from scotland through the lake district, just about into wales and northern ireland. in the south, it's slightly less cold. around 8—10 degrees. but newcastle, first thing in the morning, possibly around two degrees above freezing, but lots of sunshine on offer and the weather will not change through the morning into the afternoon apart from a bit of fair weather cloud building up. that's pretty much it. the temperatures not spectacularly high on thursday, because it will have been that chilly morning. around 18 in london, 13 in newcastle, maybe 15 degrees in belfast and thursday evening is looking absolutely fine across the uk.

a beautiful end to the day is forecast. now, let's have a look at friday's weather forecast. lots of fine weather around but the weather will go downhill a little bit, at least for a time across western scotland, possibly some spots of rain getting in as well but for the bulk of the country on friday, it's looking fine. maybe 19 in london, 16 in newcastle. then the important weather forecast for the weekend, high pressure anchors itself across the uk. now, the weather fronts are not too far away, just to the west of our neighbourhood but they will stay here, they can't move in any closer, because of that area of high pressure keeping the fronts at bay, the winds will be coming in from the south, dragging in warmerair, and the weather looks absolutely perfect in windsor on saturday, starting at a fresh 9 or 10 degrees and then warming up to the low 20s by the time we get to the afternoon. and it promises to be a fine day across the whole of the country on saturday, light winds as well, lots of sunshine around, maybe just a bit of fair weather cloud again, and 20 degrees in cardiff, 20 there in liverpool. eastern scotland also getting temperatures in the high

teens as well. now, the weather does change a little bit in the north—west on sunday. a weather front moves in so there is some rain in the forecast for belfast, for glasgow, maybe getting into edinburgh as well. but for england and wales, the weather should hold and, again, another fine day on the way on sunday. so many parts of england and wales having a dry weekend all the way through. how about early next week? looks like the warm weather is going to win. we'll start to draw in warmth once again from europe and the temperatures will keep on climbing. bye— bye. hello — this is breakfast, with steph mcgovern and charlie stayt. tough new rules on high stakes gambling machines. the maximum stake on fixed odds betting terminals will be slashed from 100 pounds to just 2, but bookmakers warn that the change could cost thousands of jobs. good morning — it's thursday 17th may.

also this morning: no ban on flammable cladding. a review of building rules following the grenfell fire is expected to stop short of one the key demands made by safety campaigners. tackling the terror threat. police consider arming all front—line officers in rural parts of england and wales.