he said he was in too much pain after hip surgery. the german chancellor angela merkel has praised her greek counterpart alexis tsipras for leading his country out of a very difficult period after nine years of austerity. at least 16 people have been killed in severe winter weather in parts of central and eastern europe. now it's time to look at the stories that are making the headlines in the media across the world. and — as so often — we start with brexit. namely, a story in the guardian, which quotes the confederation of british industry — or cbi. it says a no—deal brexit could have profound economic consequences with the uk's gdp shrinking by up to 8% — putting thousands ofjobs at risk. next we turn to gulf news, which is reporting on mike pompeo‘s tour of the region. in a speech in cairo, the us secretary of state said america was determined to rid syria of iranian influence. the financial times has more worrying news about the state of the american economy. perhaps the country's most famous traditional retailer,

macy's, saw a major downturn in its share value after it issued a profit warning following weak festive sales. according to bloomberg, things don't look so good for europe's car—making industry. demand weakened towards the end of last year and manufacturers ford and jaguar land rover have announced thousands of job losses. finally, the bbc sport website shows an image of a tearful andy murray. the british tennis player has announced his intention to retire this year — following long—running injury problems. he wants to bow out at wimbledon, but admits he may have to call it a day at the australian open. that starts next week. with me is oliver cornock from the oxford business group. thank you very much for being with

us thank you very much for being with us again. we are back to brexit. and the cbi weighing in. no surprise in the cbi weighing in. no surprise in the way they are weighing in. the position hasn't really shifted the two years. it is another big headline grabber without a percent cut in gdp. it is certainly a big headline, david, but as you point out it is nothing new. 8% isjust anotherfigure. out it is nothing new. 8% isjust another figure. what is clear is that business is reading from this uncertainty. we have heard that car story that we will come to. increased costs, increased tariffs, and supply chain concerns are all going to be weighing on british business, wherever and whatever sector they are. this lack of clarity, should there be no deal, is really beginning to bite. however, is it much for a big story, it is a liquid had been talking about for months. the average person on the street is getting bored with this, i suspect. it reflects some of what the bank of england has been saying

in figures as well. you would know better than i would. there are so many businesses who have been strapped in this world of not knowing do we jump, strapped in this world of not knowing do wejump, what strapped in this world of not knowing do we jump, what measures do we take, what sort of an outcome are we take, what sort of an outcome are we going to get? as every day goes by and it is still there, all that contingency that hasn't taken place is bound to frighten a business above. yellow indeed. i think at this time of the year when people are doing their budgets this will be weighing very heavily. people have been factoring in this for a very long time. markets attracted a certain amount of slowdown into this. the real concern is that the world may be on the brink of a more broad slowdown. that is where thinking about, david. let us move on to the gulf news. mike pompeo, on his tour, a major speech at the american university of cairo yesterday. the focus was pretty clear, it was about a ride as the big malevolent factor in this administration —— iran.

big malevolent factor in this administration -- iran. it comes a decade after obama made the speech about resetting the button and turning it into a more benevolent situation. that has not happened with the trump administration. it seems to be that this is slightly ironic. they talk about re— engagement, but then there is this withdrawal from syria. engagement, but then there is this withdrawalfrom syria. this is in the gulf news, which is very much focused in the uae which is implacably opposed to iran's perceived expansion, this is the trump administration lining with its gulf allies and coming in with a hawkish position on iran. he said in the speech itself, not reflected in the speech itself, not reflected in the top line, that you need to assist, he said you have to shoulder responsibility. that was the message in terms of, we are still engaged, but... he said this interesting thing. "the us is a force for good

in the middle east". quite listenable for a lot of arab people. the financial times looking at the christmas sales figures —— quite questionable. macy's share price virtually collapsed. i9% down on figures that were not dreadful, but they had to put a warning out and thatis they had to put a warning out and that is the problem. it is always this reporting season that comes up with these figures, particularly for the retail sector. victoria's secret down. lots of key high street, us high—street names posting losses. it is interesting against the backdrop of the uk where a lot of traditional retailers struggled in the christmas, the period of myself and people go shopping. black friday, the friday after thanksgiving in the united states, that did see a boost but it was not significant enough to tip the dial. this is all about the digital story. it was almost a full storm, that gave a sense of confidence that had to be pulled

back again. ijust confidence that had to be pulled back again. i just wonder, confidence that had to be pulled back again. ijust wonder, i bumped into a colleague yesterday, who was returning goods after christmas. that is another big problem, particularly with online sales. i think people by more than they are going to and then send a lot of it back. not only that, there is a psychological element if you tra nsa ct psychological element if you transact online it does not feel like a cash transaction, so people then have regret as well. the bigger story is the shift online and the traditional retailers struggling with that. that will only grow. exponentially, probably, as well, this year. you referred to the auto industry and the job losses they are. we have a headline which is, it is an interesting one, jaguar to slash a500 jobs in brexit slump. it puts brexit at the top of that headline. do you think that is fair asa headline. do you think that is fair as a way of addressing the story?” as a way of addressing the story?|j think as a way of addressing the story?” think it is an important point. it

is not such a big brexit story, a very critical of the uk navelgazing and discussing brexit the whole time. the bigger back drop here at is that we have emissions controls increasing, the appetite for diesel ca i’s increasing, the appetite for diesel cars reducing, legislation around increasing all around the world, and also china, a huge consumer of vehicles, and the rest of the emerging markets, all slowing down, all shifting where they are buying. this is a much bigger story. we are seeing for denouncing $a0 billion of ca i’s seeing for denouncing $a0 billion of cars that need to be made, we see jaguar land rover talking about £2.5 billion of cuts. this is not good news for the car industry. no. i suppose that is across the piece, particularly with jaguar land rover, they have a preponderance of diesel vehicles, don't they, so i suppose thatis vehicles, don't they, so i suppose that is going to hit them even harder than many others. while for low ——is owned jaguar land rover have a huge presence in the uk. that is where a lot of those are going. we will now return to the story we

are leading on, andy murray. i have to say, when i heard the story, without having seen him, my first thought was they are tweaking this for all they work, the headline makers, because it sounded so final. and yet it is this is it. it is a really sad day. andy murray has been a stalwart of the british sporting scene and as the gentleman who spoke earlier said, british tennis players get a really rough ride. indeed i think british sportspeople get a really rough ride. if they were good in front of the camera they would be doing yourjob, david. they are professional sports players. andy murray has really struggled. in any of three megastars of the tennis scene, he has managed to put himself there and win grand slams time and again —— era. there and win grand slams time and again -- era. the i did to come back from world war i, dealing with a hip injury that lasts the best part of two years... that make the idea to come back. he said i have to stop

playing. i think i found that very difficult. my goodness, he has tried to get back. as somebody who is british, when andy murray was losing he was scottish, when he was winning he was scottish, when he was winning he was scottish, when he was winning he was british. that says it all. we ta ke he was british. that says it all. we take us what very seriously in the uk. andy murray is a real icon. we had henman hill, murray's mount, i wonder how he will be immortalised at wimbledon. we have been asking for your views as well on what mcavennie murray and what he has achieved. they have come in thick thick and fast. we will get more out in due course. ollie, thank you very much, indeed, nice to go over the world media with you. to stay with some bbc world news. more to come, not least on andy murray. hello there. it won't be as cold to start this morning as it has

been recent mornings. it will still be chilly, temperatures close to freezing in a few spots but not the widespread frost that we've had this week. and actually with high pressure close by, it looks mostly dry with a little bit of sunshine, but we've changed the air across the uk so behind this warm weather front on thursday, we had the arrival of some slightly milder atlantic air. but that weather front is pushing towards the alpine regions to give more heavy snow through the day ahead. there are red warnings out for the alps, that's the highest level warning, and indeed parts of norway, but across our shores, it's a generally milder air mass, if you like, during the next couple of days. which means that for most of us, it won't start quite as chilly. the fog will take a wee while to clear this morning. as i say, it is largely frost—free.

those temperatures are not too many degrees away from freezing so it will still be chilly, the odd spot of frost out in the countryside and the fog to lift, low cloud as well sitting on the hills courtesy of that weak weather front. there'll still be a weak front around the northern isles with drizzle here and patchy rain and drizzle in the north and west but there will be brighter skies coming through, perhaps southern and eastern scotland, the north—east of england and temperatures in the south in particular will be three or four degrees higher than during the day on thursday. temperatures hold up through the coming night because we've got these weather fronts edging southwards. quite substantial rain in the north and it peters off as it comes southwards. it does hold the temperatures up above frost levels again. but the wind picks up and the wind will be a feature as we go through the weekend. the wind coming in from the west or north—west maintains relatively mild weather for this time of year but there will be rain initially in the south and then showers or longer spells of rain following in the north and west but very little rain coming further southwards. that brisk north—west wind becomes quite strong, particularly in the north, taking the edge of temperatures which otherwise are, as you can see, well up from what they have been in recent days, but there could be quite a lot of rain coming

in through friday night, saturday. saturday night and sunday across northern and western parts of scotland. it looks quite wet here. this low pressure accelerating across the north sea, it will just tighten those isobars and strengthen the wind. we could fairly widespread gales over the coasts and hills. quite a blustery old day. and more rain to come. again, even though the wind is blowing further south, it should blow some holes in the cloud and again temperatures at 11 or 12, taking the edge off just a little by the brisk wind. bye for now. good morning. welcome to breakfast, with charlie stayt and naga munchetty. our headlines today: an emotional andy murray announces his intention to retire from tennis. i'm not sure... i'm not sure i am able to... to play through the pain, you know, for another four or five months. the man who transformed british tennis by finally ending britain's 77—year wait for a men's wimbledon champion has been struggling

with a hip injury, and fears next week's australian open could be his last tournament. another universal credit u—turn. a cap on payments for more than two children is scrapped for those born before the limit was announced.