on for scotland. the other story still dominating the front pages around the world, coronavirus. the japan times reveals that chinese tourists are being shunned amid virus fears. on to business matters, the new york times reveals better than expected profits for amazon following increased sales over christmas despite spending heavily on high—speed delivery services for its prime members. and the bbc news online is reporting that the controversial commentator katie hopkins has had her twitter account suspended for violating its anti—hate policy. so let's begin. with me is fiona cincotta, senior market analyst with spread betting company city index. good company city index. morning to you and thanks for good morning to you and thanks for coming in at this ungodly hourin for coming in at this ungodly hour in the morning! for us in

the uk, anyway. let's start with this front page, let's start with some positivity, shall we say. very much the tone on the telegraph's coverage of what is brexit day, big h of boris johnson addressing the canberra ina johnson addressing the canberra in a speech broadcast at 11pm where he is hailing the dawn of a new era and a moment of real national renewal —— camera. the beginning of what? at this stage we don't know. it's a good point, we don't know but it is honing in on that was it ever to of a new era and a new dawn. it comes with, he mentions here, a tax break of up mentions here, a tax break of up to 3! million people. this is honing in on the idea that this is a new era for the uk. the tax break is looking to increase the threshold with

which taxpayers pay their anr, a £104 benefit, so this is focusing on how the uk can take this forward and, as i said, with this lovely, positive attitude. a very different take here on the guardian, a picture ofa here on the guardian, a picture of a sandcastle, very traditional picture, calling this the biggest gamble in a generation. of course, today will be a celebration for some and commiseration for others and commiseration for others and a resignation for lots of people that we perhaps need to get on with it now. this has been really interesting across the papers this morning, the different takes that there are and it does represent the uk, different attitudes there are in society at the moment. there's lots of unknowns, that is definite as far as the economic state of the future is concerned, but what's interesting is the level of the

pound as a fear gauge as to where we are with brexit is concerned can be considered, and it is holding onto recent gains, £1.31 versus the dollar, so gains, £1.31 versus the dollar, so staying up at a level of not positivity but at least we aren't falling out the bottom. yes, absolutely, silver linings, fiona! speaking of which, and all things light, this is interesting from the national, the paper that supports an independent scotla nd supports an independent scotland and they say," air europe, we didn't vote for this, remember to leave a light on for scotland, share yourself with this front page, hash tag leave a light on". it is fascinating, and with the meps singing old lang's line after voting to pass terms on the uk exit this week, pretty poignant and also important for scotland. this is a very

different tone to the other two headlines we have seen, and it really does hone in on what could be around the corner for scotland. we know that so far boris johnson's not scotland. we know that so far borisjohnson's not given any attention to requests for a new referendum in scotland, independence referendum, but that's not to say they won't keep trying if they don't feel co mforta ble keep trying if they don't feel comfortable with the new arrangements in the uk. interesting, mentioned in this article that the latest indie youguv paul banks scotland being an independent country for the first time since 20 for dean, 51% of people polled think that, but we should say the majority aren't in favour ofa the majority aren't in favour of a referendum and 2020 at this stage ———— 2015 —— poll backs scotland. let's move on and talk about the coronavirus

and talk about the coronavirus and how it is affecting people around the world. this is interesting, the japan times has picked up on this line, and it is something we have heard anecdotally in london and other places too that chinese tourists are being shunned because of fears about the virus, is the world in danger of turning its back on china? definitely a question that is right to be posed i think. there's obviously the safeguarding of public health and that's. .. you safeguarding of public health and that's... you know, how to do that without stigmatising an entire population is really important. there is a lot of fear surrounding the virus and its effects and how quickly it is spreading, and that does appear to be turning into people shunning, as you say, chinese people. in this particular article, there's a

story about a chinese woman visiting hito and a server at the restaurant shouted, "chinese, get out!" that really strikes home how serious and how afraid as well people are. and when you think about this, when you look at it in comparison with the sars virus, the world is actually quite a different place insofar as social media sharing is concerned, the images of people in masks across the world. it is on everyone possible social media seeds, everyone in the world is aware of this virus and that's how we have this epidemic of fear, i suppose, that has caught alight across the world. and its constant as well. every time you switch on your twitter, you go to instagram and turn on your newsfeed, there's constant images to do with the change in technologies we've seen over the past 15 years. amazon,

should we be surprised? amazon powering ahead with robust profits, say the new york times. lots of analysts and other people were concerned that they would spend a huge amount of money to do the one—day for amazon prime, costs not as bad as we thought and it's the classic amazon thing, trading profit for revenue but enough revenue to see them right. completely. expectations going in were a little bit tepid to say the least because investors and analysts were concerned about the level of spending that was going into this one day shipping for prime, but the fourth quarter smashed expectations, revenue up smashed expectations, revenue up 21% and earnings per share was $6.47 against expectation of $4.03, a huge difference there. shares after hours went

up there. shares after hours went up11%, so there. shares after hours went up 11%, so that has taken amazon into that exclusive market club of $1 trillion, where we've already got apple, microsoft and alphabet. it is on the back of the investment into one day prime deliveries and it has paid off much quicker than we expected. and paid off in particularfor the richest man in the world, jeff bezos, who apparently made an extra $13 billion in 15 minutes on those shares. pocket change for a guy like that, isn't it? as you say, good news for other investors as well. let's quickly talk about katie hopkins, a very controversial figure in the uk, she's had her twitter account suspended, in this case all of her tweets have been removed. doesn't mean all of her tweets violated the anti— hate policy twitter had in place. that's correct.

there's a lot of mystery as to why that has happened and twitter is infamously quiet about why they have removed all of the tweets. apparently the problem relates to one tweet in particular which she is accused of incitement and racist hatred m, of incitement and racist hatred in, a post made about stormzy at the end of last year. why all the tweets have been removed, we're not actually sure, but the key point here is the balance between free speech with, sort of, attracting large—scale audience to the twitter feeds. fiona, we're going to leave it there but really interesting and thanks for your thoughts this morning. stay with us on bbc news, plenty more to come. i'm on twitter if you want me. as always, a pleasure to have your company on bbc one for viewers in the uk but also around the world. for those of you elsewhere, i'll see you in about five minutes' time.

hello there. thursday was a very windy day across the north of the uk, into parts of scotland. it stays breezy through the course of today, as well, even windy in some areas. but what you will notice — it's going to feel very mild. and the reason for it, low pressure, always nearby. this front will bring spells of rain which will spread south—east across the country. quite a few isobars on the chart, and we're drawing ourair in from the south—west. this air source from the azores. as you can see, the oranges and the yellows indicates that it's going to feel mild, very mild in fact, for the time of year. but there will be quite a bit of around through the morning. that weather front i showed you, a band of rain spreading its way southwards and eastwards across england and wales through the day. behind it, skies will tend to brighten up, so there'll be some glimmers of sunshine. well, there'll be plenty of blustery showers across the north and west of scotland, some of these heavy, and merging together to produce longer spells of rain. it will be a blustery day wherever you are. these are average wind speeds, could be gusting to 40mph, maybe 50mph in some

of the windyrefst spots. but look at these temperatures — for the time of year, extremely mild indeed, round the mid—teens celsius. we could be looking at 15 degrees in one or two spots across eastern england. it stays breezy, as well, rather cloudy as we head through friday night. further outbreaks of rain or longer spells of rain across the north—west corner of the country. further south, a few drier interludes, one or two showers around, and again, it should be another frost—free one. those temperatures remaining in double figures across the south to start the weekend. low pressure again nearby on saturday. we'll have this weather front bringing some rain to the north, and this front bringing some rain to the south. in between, a mixture of cloud, one or two showers, but also a little bit of brightness. so one front across the south will allow outbreaks of showery rain to move across southern britain, tending to clear away from the south—east. further north, outbreaks of rain here, northern ireland,

scotland, northern england, with some colder air beginning to push into the north of the country, so single—figure values here. but further south, a cooler day, but still fairly mild for the time of year — 10—13 degrees. on sunday we'll see another blustery day, particularly in the south. a weather front working its way northwards, taking its rain with it, tending to turn to snow over high ground in the north as it encounters the colder air here. but further south, another bright day, with a few showers, and again those temperatures in double figures. now, as we head on into next week, looks like it turns colder, a cold snap for a while, before it starts turn milder again towards the end of the week, with a return to stronger winds and outbreaks of rain.

good morning, welcome to breakfast with charlie stayt and naga munchetty. our headlines today: an historic day — at 11 o'clock tonight the uk will leave the european union after 47 years. boris johnson hails it as a "dawn of a new era". we'll be finding out what if anything will change during the transition period, and we'll be getting views from across the country. i'll be talking hearts and minds in sunderland, a city that voted heavily for brexit, and it's where the prime minister and his cabinet will meet later.