the daily telegraph says mothers in the uk returning from maternity leave may soon have an extra six months ofjob security. it follows a study which found one in nine women had been fired or made redundant after returning to work. the guardian looks at a so—called military build—up in the arctic with melting ice opening shipping lanes and heating up competition for strategic northern borders. and finally in the washington post, it's now 2 minutes to midnight, according to scientists in charge of the world's doomsday clock. the clock is a measure of threats to humanity, including nuclear risk and climate change. it's the closest the clock has been to doom since 1953. it's been keeping track of our progress or decline since 1910. how depressing! i don't really where to start! with me is nina trentmann from the wall streetjournal. i guess, i mean we are going to have

to start with the lead story, venezuela and the deepening crisis, the economic crisis we have known about for some time, since majuro came to power the economy has shrunk by half, and we now have inflation potentially up at nearly i0,000,000% —— maduro. absolute crisis, we heard from pasquale in the world economic forum that people are paying for petrol in bananas! where you come from —— from here? the headline, el nacional, and how to use donald trump to the future? quite essential that he decided then said he has seen the leader of the national assembly as an interim leader the venezuelan, which i guess we'll change the game quite significantly because we have also seen other countries like the uk and canada backing that. i guess it remains to be seen how this develops and to be

honest i am astonished how this has been going and going on for such a long time because see the decline of the country for many years, under hugo chavez and now nicolas maduro and you think it cannot get any worse and it still is that i am wondering how average people deal with this on a daily basis. is there a democratic way out?” with this on a daily basis. is there a democratic way out? i think it remains to be seen whether the national assembly comes up with anything. also whether various movement within the country to back the interim leader and what the military is doing in the next couple of days, but the problem of course is mr maduro has set up like a competing parliament in order to wea ken competing parliament in order to weaken the national assembly which could make things more difficult because you have two bodies claiming to represent the public that could play a role in this. from one political crisis to another and one far closer to home, the times is running on some comments that the queen made when she was speaking at

the sandringham women's institute, she said, she was urging the country to seek out common ground. this is not the first time she has intervened, shall we say, in matters of politics. i think one is reminded of politics. i think one is reminded of the comments she made in 2014 ahead of the scottish referendum where she was saying that people should make a wise decision. i think thatis should make a wise decision. i think that is what she said. hope that people will think very carefully about the future, these were comments she made in the run—up to the scottish referendum. to be honest i think this time, the situation is a bit more complex than it was in 2014, even though of course the scottish exit from the uk would have had major consequences. i think it is interesting to see she is of course trying to get involved

in this conversation at this point in time, 64 days before the brexit date with no deal, that is obvious, and a lot of division in the country between remainers and levers and then the question is where is the uk going? —— leavers. then the question is where is the uk going? -- leavers. do you believe a head of state should be making these overtures, despite the divisions going on the political spectrum and also just going on the political spectrum and alsojust ordinary going on the political spectrum and also just ordinary people, ordinary household, ordinary pubs?” also just ordinary people, ordinary household, ordinary pubs? ithink there is a role for the queen in such set durations of these and if you look at her comments she hasn't really made a comment going one way 01’ really made a comment going one way or the other ——in such situations as these. the question is also what does it achieve because we know there is huge division with the country and we know that people are getting, the lot of anger on both sides because it seems to be so difficult to difficult to come to a solution so, yeah, i'm not sure

whether her comments will make any difference! the comments that did make it each difference yesterday, certainly, were those from the boss of airbus. he was talking about brexit being a disgrace and called it madness and very outspoken but i guess he can be because he is leaving in april. that is true but also, in the end, it is a clear reflection of what brexit would need to companies like airbus. with just—in—time production it isn't feasible if you have no deal broke that which means you could have delayed that the border which means the airbus, a very important wing parts and travelling in time from the uk where they are being produced to toulouse in france. to be fair, these were about an ideal scenario, this wasn't about accepting general but interesting that the pound jumps on some of these comments and perhaps the market is believing that the likelihood of an ideal scenario is diminishing after comments like

this. i think the perception was very clear comments like these, especially from a company like airbus who has always been i —— highlighted in the uk at the sign for successful british engineering, if companies like these are making these statements, the assumption yesterday was it would make a difference. talking about the daily telegraph story, job security for new mothers. i am staggered to read half of new mothers do not take full maternity leave because of fears about theirjob maternity leave because of fears about their job security. maternity leave because of fears about theirjob security. this looks like it may be extended under some government appraisals. like it may be extended under some government appraisalslj like it may be extended under some government appraisals. i did not actually know to be honest it is only two weeks at the moment during which you are protected coming back from trinity leave, during which cannot be fired. the government is suggesting to extend that period to six months to give mothers but fathers returning from paternity leave or pa rents fathers returning from paternity leave or parents who have adopted a child to give them more protection.

i think it reflects the situation in the end, children are not being seen as an advancement for female, women's careers but as a detriment. the government is trying to do something about it. surely what is needed is parity, it is only once the rights of all carers, others all fathers or whoever looking after children are equal, then the rights of returning employees will be the same and gender discrimination will become an issue of the past. yes, which, well, i hope that will be the case at some point but it calls at the moment we see more care is done by women banned by fathers, by men in terms of the first couple of months of a baby's life ——at of course at the moment. so women are bearing the ru nt course at the moment. so women are bearing the runt of what is the discrimination was returning to work. it seems ongoing. let's look at the arctic and it has been picked up at the arctic and it has been picked up by at the arctic and it has been picked up by the guardian, the ice caps may

be melting but the old cold war basis appeared to be being reopened, talking about these tectonic plates of geopolitics and how they are shift in the. it seems because of climate change because of the fact thatice climate change because of the fact that ice in the arctic melt twice or the climate there is heating up twice as fast as anywhere else in the world, that is opening up new shipping routes but also opening up new territorial rivalries between countries for exam or the us, norway, russia. ——in the arctic. they are all wanting to use this as a passage for ships and four other routes. i think it is interesting to see that an area where, in the past, nobody wanted to go is now becoming a centre of interest. it is only because of climate change. that is in the guardian if you are interested , in the guardian if you are interested, it is a good read. and finally the washington post, one

quarter of the clock to play with, the last quarter, and now they say it is two minutes to midnight and doom islamist upon us. why the long face? —— douma is almost. doom islamist upon us. why the long face? -- douma is almost. the world isa face? -- douma is almost. the world is a western state which is as bad as 1954 when the us and russia were testing hydrogen bombs —— doom is almost. mainly because of nuclear well, the spread of nuclear weapons and that also climate change. on that happy note, nina, thank you, have a good weekend. stay with us, what is to come. —— lots to come. hello there. today's the day that our weather is going to turn significantly milder. if we look at the kind of temperatures we had thursday afternoon, low single figures fairly widely, but this afternoon, we will see temperatures pushing up into double figures.

for some, it will be a jump in temperatures of around 10 celsius, perhaps even a little bit more than that in one or two places. and the only thing that has the power to lift temperatures so quickly so far at this time of year is a warm front. and there it is, pushing its way eastwards. now, along with the warmer air that will be coming with that warm front, we will see extensive cloud. quite low cloud with some mist and fog patches around at times, particularly across eastern areas of england and around the coasts and hills in the west as conditions continue to get that bit milder. so as we go through friday morning, certainly a lot of cloud around. there will be a little bit of light, patchy rain pushing its way eastwards across eastern england, followed by extensive cloud with some bits and pieces of light rain and drizzle around our western coasts and hills. some wetter weather getting into western scotland and perhaps at times into north—west england too. now, the far north of scotland in some cool—ish air but central and southern scotland, northern ireland, england and wales all having a mild afternoon — temperatures into double figures. those mild conditions will continue through friday night and into the early hours of saturday as well,

but rain will start to move in and turn heavier across northern scotland. so, not a cold night — for most of us, temperatures 7—9 celsius. so it will be a mild start to the weekend as well. we are in a warm sector for saturday, starting behind the cold front, so a lot of cloud around once again. a westerly breeze and through the day, we will see the cloud thickening in the west to bring general outbreaks of rain into northern ireland and the rain at its heaviest in western scotland. it's probably not a bad thing, to be honest, that we see this wet weather because january has been a very dry month so far. it will be another mild day then with temperatures typically around 8—11 celsius or so, but it is turning colder across the far north of scotland. now, through the second half of the weekend, as our low pressure pushes eastwards, we start to draw down these winds all the way from the arctic so it will be really quite chilly, particularly across western areas where we'll have gales and severe gales bringing in plenty of showers which will turn increasingly wintry across the hills

in scotland, potentially also down to some lower levels late in the day. all the while, outbreaks of rain will continue to affect eastern coasts of england, eastern parts of scotland, so a blustery kind of day. and turning noticeably cooler as well — temperatures in the north just around four degrees or so. that's your latest weather. bye for now. good morning. welcome to breakfast with charlie stayt and naga munchetty. 0ur headlines today: a man convicted of killing a woman in a speedboat crash will appear in court in a few hours in georgia this morning, after 10 months on the run. tougher food labelling laws are being proposed by the government to protect the uk's two million food allergy sufferers. made in scotland but sold all over the world. how is the whiskey

industry preparing for life after brexit? i have come to scotland this morning to find out. england blown away in barbados. they're bowled out forjust 77, as the west indies take control of the first test on a day when 18 wickets fell.