the top two european competitions. good morning — and welcome to the bbc news at 9:00am. the united states has more than doubled tariffs on billions of dollars of chinese goods, after trade talks between the world's two largest economies broke up without agreement. china has said it will take "necessary countermeasures". the international monetary fund has warned that the row poses a threat to the global economy. with the new measures, tariffs on $200 billion worth of chinese goods have risen from 10% to 25%. president trump has been keen to point out his country's massive trade deficit — that's the amount by which us imports from china exceed the value of its exports to china. that total figure was $419 billion in 2018. these new tariffs will affect nearly 6,000 goods, mostly consumer products such as soy sauce and vacuum cleaners. let's get the view from china now with our correspondent robin brant, who's in shanghai. robin, what has gone wrong here? president trump was all about the art of the deal. yeah, he was, and there was a sense of optimism about a week ago, the trade secretary stephen nugent said 90% of the deal was done but then reportedly china's leadership changed its mind. —— steve mnuchin. and went back on 150 pages of a draft agreement and that seems to centre around us demands that apparently have been agreed to when it came to enforcing the steel and issues like dispute mechanisms and issues like dispute mechanisms and dispute resolutions. the americans wanted to see something ha rd americans wanted to see something hard and fast that would lock the chinese are in, notjust to the agreement, but also making sure that any changes on the chinese side would actually happen, and that appears to be the area where china has come as president trump described it, broken the deal. in terms of what we now know, the talks are going to go ahead tomorrow. there is a sense of some optimism here in china on the stock market, rallying slightly. it's not com pletely rallying slightly. it's not completely the end of the talks. and in terms of what the chinese are going to do, as you just mentioned, there is going to be retaliation. we don't know what it will be precisely but ina don't know what it will be precisely but in a statement that came out just minutes after the tariff hike went into action, china's ministry of commerce said china deeply regrets that it will have to take necessary countermeasures. will that be retaliatory tariffs? almost certainly, yes. will they move beyond that into areas where they have traditionally put pressure on the? that's probably likely. have traditionally put pressure on the? that's probably likelym have traditionally put pressure on the? that's probably likely. it is puzzling, you mentioned the talks continuing, do you think this is a last game of chicken we are seeing, oi’ last game of chicken we are seeing, or is this seriously going to be a breakdown at this point? the honest a nswer breakdown at this point? the honest answer is i really don't know, and that's very difficult to make an informed analysis really. it is a cause for optimism that the talks are going on. apparently robert lighthizer and the man in charge of the chinese side should meet tomorrow as well, present trump should be there as well because he was briefed by his negotiators after initial talks on thursday. perhaps what we end up with maybe is just a day of this tariff hike coming into place, they agree to freeze it, essentially the status quo, and let the talks go on. i have to say, this is the 11th time they have met face—to—face and you did get a sense from the american side in particular there is only a finite period of time by which a deal can be agreed, they don't want to keep going on and on and on. and remember donald trump is tariff man and he believes ta riffs is tariff man and he believes tariffs can be very effective, he thinks you can win trade wars and we are seeing more evidence of that today. robin in shanghai, thanks so much. with me now is professor linda yueh — an economist from the university of 0xford. let's deal with that issue of whether tariffs can win trade wars and even whether a trade war is actually what this is about, or something more fundamental about different economic models. something more fundamental about different economic modelslj something more fundamental about different economic models. i don't think anyone really winds from a trade war. i think most of us lose because trade was tend to add ta riffs because trade was tend to add tariffs which add taxes to the things we buy as consumers, so they tend to be quite economically damaging. they do tend to be used to leverage for something else, which gets at the second part of your question. the underlying issue between the us and china is that the americans don't feel the chinese have given them a level playing field, in other words, when their companies compete with chinese companies compete with chinese companies it is not a level playing field, there is subsidise credit from the state banking system to chinese enterprises, state—owned enterprises and even private companies and there is not protection of intellectual property, so protection of intellectual property, so that gets at a much deeper fundamental clash between a country like china, which believes in having state intervention in the economy and the united states, which traditionally has been very open in terms of its markets. for instance, the us doesn't have a lot of free trade agreements, only 1a, but still has one of the most open markets in the world because it opens it up unilaterally. what is interesting about china's approach is, in a way, how slow it has been to respond to growing frustration on the other side come because the americans, it's not even just the republicans and donald trump, the democrats are basically, a lot of them, behind him on this if nothing else, and you would have thought if you are sitting in bashan, you would think, come on, we have to respond on this because we are no longer a poor, backward rural country, we are a superpower economically and we have to play fair. within the chinese state, as you know, there will be different voices and i think there is an arm which is very much of that view, which is now we are now a middle income country, for us to grow and become prosperous we are going to have to be more efficient, more competitive, are firms have to be able to compete with the best in the world. we have to have less distorted lending, it needs to be more driven by profit. but there is also another arm that believes, and i think this is probably why it is slow, the other arm believes that china is still a country which is sort of now being pressured by the outside, not wishing to see it prosper, so therefore it becomes more important in directing economic activity. my guess is, this is only activity. my guess is, this is only a guess, that what has happened with these negotiations is that the negotiators had agreed to make legal changes to enforce what they were agreeing on no more subsidies to state owned enterprises, intellectual property rights tra nsfers intellectual property rights transfers will no longer be enshrined in law, that kind of thing, and they brought it back to beijing and the other arm of the beijing and the other arm of the beijing state said, hold on, that goes to our economic growth model, you have a mandate to negotiate a trade agreement in order to prevent a trade war. this is much more fundamental. so the reports are then that the chinese side crossed out the legal reform part and that's why president trump over the weekend tweeted that tariffs are going to go up, and they are going up. tweeted that tariffs are going to go up, and they are going upm tweeted that tariffs are going to go up, and they are going up. it is fascinating. that brings us back in a way to the politics, doesn't it? as you say, there is an issue of economic models but also in china there is always a very significant issue of proud and prickly patriotism, just like they would be, in fact, patriotism, just like they would be, infact, in patriotism, just like they would be, in fact, in america, so they cannot ina way in fact, in america, so they cannot in a way be seen to respond, or can they, to this kind of unilateral action from trump? does it make it harderfor action from trump? does it make it harder for xi jinping action from trump? does it make it harderfor xijinping and action from trump? does it make it harder for xi jinping and his action from trump? does it make it harderfor xijinping and his team to actually concede? so, i think it makes it both harder and easier. i think this is what is happening. china was going to open up anyway, you saw that in terms of all the, probably all of your time in china, they were moving towards market reforms because they have to, growth is slowing down. but they were doing it very slowly. so when president trump announced these tariffs pretty abruptly, he could have had the europeans alongside the united states in forcing china to move faster, and that probably then tipped the chinese into the other side, which as we were doing this anyway, now we are not going to do it because we don't want to be seen as caving to the americans. i mentioned the europeans because what present trump did was pretty dramatic and you could see the reaction in business and markets. now we are at a position where the chinese know they have to open up more in these sectors, have better legal systems. can they do it while not looking like they have given it away in a trade negotiation? can it be something they use as a bargaining chip? so, we agreed to do these things because it's good for our trade relations and it's good for the economy. that's a really difficult balance to strike and my concern with what is happening now is they may well get a deal in the short term because there is a lot of reasons why both sides are suffering economically and they need a deal and present trump is coming up for re—election next year. but the deeper issues will probably get swept under the carpet and so we could have this flare up again after the elections next year. we could have this ongoing thing which actually makes it harder for china to have a smooth path of reform. but then on the other hand, if this all works, and it prompts china to do something which actually introducing competition would be good for its economy, being a more responsible global player, that could actually give the chinese politicians the cover to say, do you know what, this is what we had to do in order to make ourselves continue to be in the global economy as a major player, and look, we have delivered prosperity. so, it all kind of worked out. we shall see. come back and tell us. watch this space. thank you. linda. tributes have been paid to comedian freddie starr who has reportedly died at the age of 76. the sun newspaper broke the story — it says he was found dead at his home in spain. but the bbc has been unable to verify details. freddie starr was one of britain's most well—known performers during the 1970s, but in recent years had suffered ill health. 0ur correspondent keith doyle looks back on his life. known for his edgy stance and close to the knuckle humour, freddie starr was an impressionist, singer and actor and comedian. he was discovered on 0pportunity actor and comedian. he was discovered on opportunity knocks the biggest tv talent show at the time and hit the big time at the royal variety show and after that his career took off. freddie starr was one of the biggest names in british light entertainment in the 1970s and 80s. light entertainment in the 1970s and 805. at light entertainment in the 1970s and 80s. at the height of his fame the comedian inspired one of the most infamous headlines in newspaper history, when the sun's front page announced freddie starr ate my hamster. he denied it but it stayed with him. freddie starr ate my hamster! freddie starr ate my hamster! freddie starr ate my hamster! how freddie starr ate my hamster! how how would freddie starr ate my hamster! how would you like that for 20 years? 20 yea rs! would you like that for 20 years? 20 years! doesn't it give you a headache? doesn't it give you a headache? doesn't it give you a headache? doesn't it give you a headache? doesn't it? doesn't it? yes, well... i was absolutely shocked. i mean, i knew freddie well andl shocked. i mean, i knew freddie well and i was shocked. it is very sad because he is a great talent sol was very shocked. his private life was very shocked. his private life was complicated, married four times, he had six children and also had a history of heart problems and asthma. in 2010 he suffered a major heart attack and soon after he had to pull out of the tv show i'm a celebrity. . . get to pull out of the tv show i'm a celebrity...get me out of here! for health reasons. he was caught up in the police investigation into historical sex abuse cases but was never charged. he lost a subsequent libel claim, which left him with large legal bills. depressed and isolated, he moved to spain where he spent the last few years of his life. a message on his facebook page said to be from his manager said: rip to our greatest comedian of all time. keith doyle, bbc news. radical new ways to repair the climate and reverse global warming are being considered by scientists at the university of cambridge as part of plans for a new research centre. among the ideas is a scheme to re—freeze polar regions, by reflecting sunlight away from the earth and spraying water from ships into the atmosphere. 0ur science correspondent, pallab ghosh reports. a scorched earth, where people are poorer and have less food because of severe droughts. there'll be more flooding and all the coral has gone. that's what we are headed for, unless we do more to cut emissions of carbon dioxide. scientists at cambridge university fear that reducing co2 emissions on its own won't be enough. the man who's led efforts at the heart of government to combat climate change for 20 years, is helping to set up a new research centre. its role will be to repair the damage that's already been done. the urgency of the issue is such that we have very little time left. so we have to pull out the stack of greenhouse gases that's already in the atmosphere, and that means examining all the alternatives. we are looking for processes that are scalable, by which i mean processes that can take out billions of tonnes of greenhouse gases each year. with trillions of tonnes of ice gone from both the earth's poles, the new centre will look at ways of refreezing them. one idea is to have boats spray sea water into the clouds above the ice, to reflect sunlight away from them. another is to develop forests of artificial trees to absorb carbon dioxide — just like real forests, only better. and some think releasing shiny discs into space might act as a planetary parasol, reflecting sunlight and cooling the earth. in the past these ideas have been described as too radical, too ambitious and even too risky but now scientists say we are running out of time and options to prevent damaging irreversible climate change. the ipcc says net c02 irreversible climate change. the ipcc says net co2 emissions will have to be zero by 2050 to avoid some of the worst scenarios. this at a time when chinese and indian industries need much more energy as their nations grow. this is a global problem that we have to solve. we can't fail, it is our duty to future generations that we succeed in this task that has been put upon us. and that means that we need to very carefully a nalyse, that means that we need to very carefully analyse, create the evidence base so that sensible, informed decisions can be made today that will last generations into the future. the scientists here believe that the earth's climate can be repaired but they say new solutions need to be found and implemented within the next ten years, otherwise it may be too late. pallab ghosh, bbc news, cambridge. the headlines on bbc news. president trump raises tariffs on $200 billion of chinese goods — and beijing has vowed to retaliate. tributes are being paid to the merseyside comedian freddie starr — after reports that he's died aged 76. university of cambridge scientists are considering radical new ways to reverse global warming. good morning, here are your sports headlines. it's another incredible night for english clubs in europe — arsenal and chelsea, set up a meeting in the final of the europa league. naomi 0saka said thinking about, hanging on to her world number one spot, was to blame for her defeat at the madrid 0pen — she lost to belinda bencic. and england's matthew jordan, breaks the course record with a round of 63, to lead after the first day of the british masters golf, at hillside in southport. i'll be back with more on those stories at around 9:40am. a new radio network for britain's emergency services is set to go over budget by more than £3 billion. that's according to the national audit office which also suggests the target date of 2022 for replacing the current system may not be met. ramzan karmali reports. siren wails the government wants to modernise the communication system used by our emergency services, but not only is it likely to be delayed, it's going to cost a lot more. the current system, airwave, was meant to be replaced this year by the emergency services network. that's been delayed until 2022. but even that target date looks unlikely to be met. it's also going to cost a lot more, £3.1 billion more, which means the total cost of implementing the new system will be £9.6 billion. the national audit office's report is highly critical of the home office. back in 2016, the home office expected to be able to deliver this programme by 2019, that's not proved possible. and it's a consequence of the home office failing to manage the risks that existed in the programme at that time. are you diabetic? according to the report, key technology is yet to be properly tested, and work hasn't even started on upgrading control rooms, or providing coverage for police helicopters and air ambulances. the report also reveals that ministers are expected to approve a decision which will mean that the new system will not be as resilient to power cuts as the existing one. but the home office is confident the new system will transform the service offered by the emergency teams that will mean faster and better treatment for victims. ramzan karmali, bbc news. detectives investigating gun fire during ramadan prayers near a mosque in east london say the incident may have stemmed from another incident in a street nearby. police responded to reports that a man entered a mosque in possession of a firearm. there were no injuries or damage caused and the incident is not being treated as terror—related. school breaks in england have been getting shorter over the past 20 years as teachers try to pack more lessons into the day. researchers at university college london believe that it could have an impact on the well—being of pupils. children's social lives seem to have been curtailed as well, with fewer students than in 2006 reporting that they had visited a friend's house after school. every care home in england is to get more gp support to ensure residents aren't given too much medication. the nhs says the move could reduce hospital admissions among elderly people in care by up to a0%. our health correspondent, rob sissons reports. it's a simple idea. it's been tested at this care home, derbyshire house in nottinghamshire, and has reduced hospital admissions and cut the drugs bills. a gp practice buddies up with a care homes, up with a care home, so residents' health can be checked by a doctor more. rachel visits every two weeks. is there anything urgent that we need to deal with initially? erm, yeah... and what began as an experiment here in nottinghamshire is now being rolled out across england's care homes. the major benefit is that the patients here get continuity of care, which we know is a problem across the nhs. we get to know the patients more, we get to know their families more, we can get more involved in understanding what they would want to happen, should they become acutely unwell. across england, around 400,000 people live in 17,000 care homes. on average, residents take seven medicines a day. for many, it's more than ten a day. charities have voiced concern for years that some residents may be on too much medication, criticising an over—reliance on anti—psychotic medication for dementia patients as chemical cosh. the key thing from our perspective is to make sure that the right drugs are given at the right time and that people don't have drugs unnecessarily, because we know that that is not good for their health. now the nhs england long—term pan involves recruiting thousands more clinical pharmacists. the aim is for every care home to have access to one. rob sissons, bbc news. joining me now is dr rachel shaw, a gp from the east leake medical group. thank you forjoining us. you are pa rt thank you forjoining us. you are part of the piloting of this. yes. what will it achieve? it will achieve greater continuity of care for elderly care home residents, which is a really crucial way of managing multiple medical conditions these patients often have and of reducing over medication in these patients, and therefore, reducing hospital admissions in the population. what did you see when you were going out during the pilot that convince you it was necessary? so, traditionally, what was happening was residence in care home we re happening was residence in care home were registered with multiple different practices and we were practising a very kind of reactive medicine, so we were only really responding when there was an acute problem, when a patient was acutely unwell. what is changing as a result of the pilot is that we are being much more proactive and practising much more proactive and practising much more proactive and practising much more preventatively, and that's really the best thing for the patients and their families and for the nhs as a whole. so, give us a sense that some of the issues that patients would have and how this preventative model can actually help them. so, as you get older you tend to accrue more and more diagnoses, you get more and more sort of medications added in and as a younger person you may well be able to cope with that physiologically. as you get older, there can be issues that develop with the combination of different medications, you can be more susceptible to the side effects of different medications and that in turn can lead to its own issues. for example, one of the major reasons we see hospital admissions in the elderly population is falls as a result of difficult medication interactions or side effects such as low blood pressure, and it's an easy thing that with good regular review of the patient group we can help to avoid. do we have the gp resources to do good regular review? there is a lot of talk at the moment about the pressure on gps and how we are coming under increasing pressure, andi coming under increasing pressure, and i think whenever you are practising reactive medicine and just responding to things on an ad hoc basis you are always going to feel the pressure. having the allocated time to do this kind of work and to foresee problems before they arise, i think, actually reduces the pressure on us as gps. some people will look at this story and think, may be that people who are being driven by cost in the first place and they don't want to prescribe so much medicine because it costs the nhs a lot of money, so people who actually need medicine will be getting less of the medicine they need. how can you reassure people who might be concerned about that? i think there is always going to bea that? i think there is always going to be a cost saving benefit to reducing prescribing. but actually, our major issue is the effects of medicine and the ill effects of medicine. what we are trying to achieve is people only being prescribed what they actually need and what is actually going to be doing them good and not doing them any harm. doctor shaw, thank you. american multi—billionaire jeff bezos has unveiled a model of a lunar landing craft that he says could be used to take scientific equipment, and eventually people, to the moon. the amazon founder said his private space company blue 0rigin, could help nasa deliver president trump's goal of sending humans to the moon's south pole by 202a. the reusable blue moon vehicle will be able to carry scientific instruments, satellites and rovers. let's get some of the day's other news. the former us army intelligence analyst chelsea manning has been released from prison after serving a two—month sentence. she'd been jailed for refusing to give evidence before a grand jury investigating wikileaks. but she'll have to appear again before a grand jury next week, and refusal to testify could lead to another spell in jail. three venezuelan mps have taken refuge in the italian and argentinian embassies as the government of nicolas maduro increases pressure on the opposition. they're among ten mps stripped of congressional immunity earlier this week on the recommendation of the pro—government supreme court. it said they should be investigated for conspiracy, rebellion and treason for allegedly taking part in the botched uprising at the end of april. a german woman who posed as a billionaire heiress to swindle new york hotels and banks has been sentenced to at least four years in prison. anna sorokin was found guilty in april of theft of services and grand larceny, having stolen more than $200,000. in a moment the weather, but first, let's join joanna gosling to find out what she's got coming up in her programme at 10am. mps have branded the government's screening programme for breast, bowel and cervical cancers in england as unfit for purpose. all three programmes consistently fail to meet their targets and after the government admitted last year that thousands of women didn't receive letters inviting them for screening, there are concerns the nhs will miss a deadline to bring the it system in—house. this morning we are going to talk to the son of a woman who died in 2014 after she didn't get an invitation for a mammogram for more than 14 years. join us at 10am on bbc two, the bbc news channel and online. we will, thank you, joanna. now it's time for a look at the weather with simon king. we have got to endure another day of sunshine and showers before we get the quieter weather going throughout the quieter weather going throughout the weekend. some of the showers today could be heavy and may be thundery with some hail particularly across england and wales as they start to develop later this afternoon. still some showery rain and some cloud across northern parts of england and up into scotla nd parts of england and up into scotland this afternoon, and showers developing in northern ireland. there will be sunny spells developing and maximum temperatures will get to about 10—12d in northern areas up to about 14—17d further south. tonight we could see more persistent rain moving through southern coastal counties, particularly the channel isles, before that clears away still some residual showers into saturday morning. 0vernight temperatures down to 3-8dc morning. 0vernight temperatures down to 3—8dc but as we go through the weekend there will be showers on saturday across eastern parts, dry and bright on sunday, the temperature is starting to rise. bye— bye. hello this is bbc news with carrie gracie. the headlines: the united states has more than doubled tariffs on $200 billion worth of chinese goods, after trade talks between the two nations failed to reach an agreement. the comedian freddie starr has reportedly died. the sun says the 76—year—old was found inside his home in spain, but the bbc has not been able to confirm this. scientists in cambridge are planning to set up a research to develop radical new ways to repair the earth's climate, including refreezing the earth's poles and removing c02 from the atmosphere. time now for the morning briefing, where we bring you up to speed on the stories people are watching, reading and sharing. let's talk first about school playtime. spending time in the playground is just as important for the wellbeing and development of pupils as sitting in lessons. but a new study by university college london has found that breaks are shorter now than they were two decades ago, and children are missing out on making friends and exercise. the study found that infants in england had 45 minutes less break time a week than in 1995. vivian hill is an educational psychologist at university college london. we know that children working for sustained periods, their attention and concentration reduces. so, actually, having short breaks allows children to focus better. and improve their learning. i think our concern is that this study has identified what has really been a shift in the amount of play opportunities children have over time, without any clear policy directive. and if we think about some of our current concerns, which are to do with children's mental health and well—being in the school setting, but also childhood obesity, this is the one opportunity for many children to have safe opportunities to play and socialise, and it's being really quite significantly eroded. the comedian freddie starr has died at the age of 76, according to reports. he rose to fame in the 1970s and was a regular fixture on light entertainment shows for more than 30 years. the sun newspaper says he was found at his home in spain. the bbc has not been able to independently verify his death at this time. earlier, the bbc spoke to the actor and comedian bobby ball, who has known starr for more than four decades. he gave us his reaction to the news of the comedian's death. i was absolutely shocked. i mean, i knew freddie really well, so i was absolutely shocked. it's very sad, really. he was a great talent, a very great talent. so, yeah, i was very shocked, yeah. when i first knew him, he was in a group called freddie starr and the delmonts and he was always funny. he was a great fella, for me. i mean, ifound him fine. he made me laugh all the time. i think his talent wasn't used enough on tv, for me. he was... ..we always had a little bit of banter, me and him. yeah, i loved him, he was great. well, famous fans and fellow comedians have been paying tribute to freddie starr who has reportedly passed away. in a tweet last night, sir alan sugar wrote: "according to some news reports freddie star has died in spain. "if true sad news, he was a very funny man, rip." actor amanda holden paid tribute to him, tweeting, "his style may have fallen out of comedy fashion and favour — but it's important to recognise his once huge popularity and fame. i hope his legacy is not smalled down and he's remembered with a smile." and comedian jim davidson described him as "the greatest". radical new ways to repair the climate and reverse global warming are being considered by scientists at the university of cambridge, as part of a new research centre. we have been talking about that this morning. among the ideas is a scheme to re—freeze polar regions, by reflecting sunlight away from the earth and spraying salt waterfrom ships into the atmosphere. well earlier bbc breakfast spoke to sir david king, the government's former chief scientific adviser, about that new research centre. what we do over the next 10—12 years will really determine the future of humanity. we have already gone too far. we are emitting 50 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere every year, and we have to now learn first of all how to take the greenhouse gases that we have already put up there out of the air, to bring average temperatures down to stop sea levels rising, to stop the polar ice caps from melting and sea levels then rising as ice from land, such as greenland enters the ocean. all of these are situations that would challenge our ability to survive into the future. so, at cambridge we are setting up a centre for climate repair, in which we are going to look at all of these potential technologies that may be available to deal with each of these problems. but let me say, we are not only looking at the science and technology, we are looking at the social and political consequences of utilising these technologies and bringing them into play in the marketplace. 0k. how receptive are those with the money to radical ideas? i think there are many people who understand the nature of the challenge and who have access to funds. the response that we have received so far, to the quiet announcement we have made prior to me coming on television and radio this morning, has been exceptionally good. but we are looking for philanthropic funds, we are looking for government support, and i don'tjust mean the british government. we are looking more broadly at countries abroad. and we are also getting a lot of support from the business community. so, i think that the understanding of the challenge is now penetrating, it's getting through the media, such as yourselves. we are in the process of setting up what i consider to be a critical centre. it will be a global centre based here in cambridge in the uk. we will have scientists, technologists, economists, social scientists from around the world coming to meet us to discuss how we can manage this. as i said when we went through a few of the wacky, i suppose come off the wall, whatever you want to describe it, these ideas, but a radical solution is, perhaps, what's the timeframe? so, for example, the discs in space, this parasol in space that's being suggested, what would be the timeframe of someone saying here is the money, let's get it done? how quickly can it be done? i think what you are describing as parasols in space could be done alarmingly quickly, by which i mean that the consequences of reflecting sunlight away from the planet's surface really need to be examined very, very carefully. the basic idea that has been put forward as these parasols, is to put sulphates up into the stratosphere. one of the major issues there is what that does to the ozone layer. and we know that if the ozone layer is removed from the stratosphere, we ourselves will be unprotected from ultraviolet radiation, severe skin cancers around the world. breaking news on the economy. the latest gdp figures are in for the office for national statistics. they show the uk economy performed slightly better in the first quarter. it grew 0.5% in the first three months of 2019. we can speak to andy verity, our economics correspondent. are we celebrating? i think compare to how it has been, you might want to celebrate. it's better than we've had in awhile and it means it has grown 1.8% in the last year, which is not as good as it to grow a decor two ago but it's better to what we have got used to recently. 0.5% economic growth is a pick—up from the previous quarter. some of what might be driving that is brexit stockpiling. it's noticeable within these figures that manufacturing has had a bit of a growth. that might be down to the fa ct growth. that might be down to the fact they are worried about breaks and manufacturers are making sure they have their supplies. what has driven the growth mostly is consumption. there is something very important here, trade. it contributed negatively to economic growth and the trade deficit has widened vastly to £18 million in the first quarter of this year. what that says about how the economy is doing and about brexit worries, you can't tell at this level, but it is slightly unsettling. when you say slightly unsettling. when you say slightly unsettling, because part of the message of the brexit issue is we will become a global trading nation? we would hope to become a global trading nation, we are a global trading nation, we are a global trading nation, you'd hope we can continue that prosperity. 0ne global trading nation, you'd hope we can continue that prosperity. one of theissues can continue that prosperity. one of the issues of brexit is well separating from the european union affect normal business and trade? these figures don't necessarily confirm that is happening at the moment but it says our trade is not healthy and trade is contributing negatively to economic growth. andy, thank you. british and irish ministers have signed a deal to preserve the common travel area after brexit. it guarantees free movement for citizens crossing the irish border and cross—border access for study and health care. but with brexit talks in westminster between theresa may's government and the labour party still ongoing, the deputy prime minister of ireland — simon coveney — urged the two parties to come together to make progress, to give people and business more clarity. the two large parties need to find a way of accommodating each other and trying to find a middle ground position that can bring the country together. and, of course, we want to see that happen. if you look at what's happened in irish politics over the last two years, there are two large parties in irish politics and they dominate irish politics just like the conservatives and labour do here. we have worked together on brexit, to try to protect irish interests, to try to protect the irish—british relationship and, of course, ireland's place within the eu. and, of course, we would like to see that kind of cooperation happen here. and i'd like to remind people of this, the delays and the inability to make decisions around brexit is notjust causing frustration and division in the uk, it's also causing huge frustration across the european union. let's ta ke let's take a look at some of the stories that have caught your eye this morning on our website. 0n stories that have caught your eye this morning on our website. on most watched, the brexit debate on question time. the second story is quite an interesting one about health and how people feel about the representation of cancer. this is a case where some individuals who'd suffered breast cancer felt they needed to address an over glamorous, over happy, cheerful image that the charity was putting out in relation to its breast cancer work. so they put up some pictures of their own, to explain how difficult the experience of breast cancer was. that has caught the eye of many reviewers of the website. 0n the most reviewers of the website. 0n the m ost rea d reviewers of the website. 0n the most read section, freddie starr at number one. we have talked about that already this morning. number two, the royal mint. it is quite a sweet story about a strange riddle of why the royal mint didn't need to make any 20p coins in 2017. that was a p pa re ntly make any 20p coins in 2017. that was apparently because of... everyone emptied the jam jars of their saved coins because of the 12 sided £1 coin, which meant everyone took their old £1 coins because they will become obsolete and when and where they were looking for their old £1 coins they found all these 20p coins which meant the royal mint didn't need to make any more the following year. you can see, it goes down to zero on the graph. that is quite a sweet story, the law of unintended consequences. i thought, sweet story, the law of unintended consequences. ithought, let's sweet story, the law of unintended consequences. i thought, let's have a look at number four. consequences. i thought, let's have a look at numberfour. thailand, tropical bay from the beach to close until 2021. the message, don't try and visit the bay that featured in the beach, maya bay. it was getting so many visitors each day because of the film and the coral was getting destroyed. it won't open until at least 2021. let's leave those stories there. that is all from the morning briefing. sport now, and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's mike. what an epic night, an epic week! absolutely, not just the what an epic night, an epic week! absolutely, notjust the champions league but the europa league. we were treated to another extraordinary night of european football, and the result, is that for the first time, all four finallists will be from the same country — and that country is england. after liverpool and tottenham lined up a meeting in the champions league final, chelsea and arsenal made it through to the europa league final. joe lynskey reports. this was the night the premier league got its full house. for the first time, two european finals will have four english teams. chelsea and arsenal will have theirs in baku. but the logistics can start when the singing's over. in this remarkable week of football, no semifinal passage would be easy. chelsea thought they had control at 1—0 against eintracht frankfurt. but the german side were here to express themselves. their equaliser took this tie to the limit. stamford bridge faced down at penalties, but for chelsea's goal keeper that was just as well. kepa made the pivotal save by hardly moving. and with another to his right it was set up for the big finish. this might be eden hazard's last kick in blue at stamford bridge. he was never missing it. it's chelsea in the european final! for now, hazard says he doesn't know if he'll move to real madrid this summer. he will at least get one more chance to make chelsea memories. from high in the mestalla, the final was just still in reach for valencia. especially when they scored first against arsenal. one more goal would have sent them through. but this would be a night for the gunners' superstar strikers. that's the away goal for arsenal! they stretched out their lead through pierre—emerick aubameyang and then alexandre lacazette. in the end, this was a night when arsenal came together and ran away with it. aubameyang would finish with an emphatic hat—trick. this year, the europa league comes down to a london derby and for premier league sides, winning abroad takes you back to the neighbours. joe lynskey, bbc news. so, we have more happy players on our hands. ruben loftus—cheek celebrated his goal for chelsea on twitter, saying "thanks for the electric support. "see you in baku." and arsenal's henrikh mkhitaryan said, "one club, one goal, "let's win this." the players don't have to worry about getting to baku but the fans certainly do. they face a journey, of amost 2,500 miles, to the eastern edge of europe, and there are currently no direct, scheduled flights between london and baku in the week of the final on the 29th of may. the quickest journey by air on the day, takes nearly seven hours. and by train it takes more than four days, passing through seven countries! of course, you could drive, but the minimum journey time, is listed online as 58 hours. obviously the europa league is on all the back pages this morning — and the headline writers have been having fun. "a full english", says the mirror, and "england is finally the toast of europe." the daily express goes with "bam bam baku", with a shot of arsenal's hat—trick hero aubameyang, as well as chelsea's keeper kepa and in the sun it's, "oh my quad — and "an historic english final 4!" wales coach warren gatland has agreed a deal, to take charge of the british and irish lions on their tour of south africa in 2021. although no contract has been signed, terms have been agreed for gatland to lead the lions for a third time. he's already overseen a winning tour of australia and a drawn series against the all blacks. he's stepping down as wales coach after this year's rugby world cup injapan. naomi 0saka blamed her defeat at the madrid open, on thinking about holding on to her world number one ranking. she was a set up against switzerland's belinda bencic, but lost in three. bencic will face simone halep in the semi—finals, and halep could replace 0saka at the top of the rankings if she wins the tournament. and roger federer saved two match points before beating geal monfils to reach the quarter—finals, where he'll face dominic thiem. novak djokovic is also through. english golfer matthew jordan, led the field going into day 2, of the british masters, after breaking the course record at hillside in southport. he had nine birdies and no dropped shots in a round of 63, in what's only his 12th event as a professional. he doesn't tee off until this afternoon but he's still a shot clear, with play already underway. it's spanish grand prix weekend, and you can follow first practice on radio 5 live sports extra — that's from ten. and later on, it's the friday sports panel with eleanor 0ldroyd and guests — that's at one o'clock on 5 live. and don't forget sportsday, tonight at 6.30 on bbc news. that's all your sport for now. another dramatic morning! breathtaking, thank you, mike. brunei's human rights record is being examined by a un panel. the country faced criticism from the international community after it introduced sharia punishments such as stoning to death for adultery and gay sex. jonathan head reports. it is wealthy, orderly and sleepy. a peaceful corner of southeast asia. brunei is also deeply religious. by custom and by order of its sultan, absolute ruler of this tiny country for more than 50 years. this is the capital during friday prayers. the sultan now wants brunei to be even more islamic. he's imposed harsh sharia punishments, provoking international outrage. translation: it's our responsibility asa translation: it's our responsibility as a muslim country. he also promised not to carry out any death sentences. islam is at the core of brunei's national identity. its role in everyday life is non—negotiable yet very few people here believe the harsh sharia laws just enacted will be implemented. brunei is laid—back, easy—going, not like muslim societies in the arab world. yet tellingly, no one will speak to us about these new laws. they have been told not to. laid—back it may be but the people of brunei know they have no freedom to talk openly about what the government imposes on them. we got in touch with a woman we have called sarah. too nervous even to meet us, she was willing to respond ona meet us, she was willing to respond on a secure messaging app. like many 93v on a secure messaging app. like many gay people from brunei, it's not temper my punishment she fears that rising intolerance. if you are gay in brunei, do you feel you can be just as open about it there is any neighbouring country? i was able to meet a gay man, dean, not his real name, outside brunei. he said he was less concerned about the sharia code. keep a low profile, he said, and you won't get into trouble. we have not been denied basic human rights. we have not been denied the opportunities to work, to study, to walk around in public, unlike all the reports seem to say. life is as normal as normal gets. this is the point where we cross from brunei into malaysia. this is where people from brunei have to do come if they want to let their hair down and have a bit of fun. a small riverside town in malaysian borneo does very well out of brunei. 0n weekend nights, it suddenly comes to life. we do well. the bars fill up with people from brunei enjoying what they can't do back home. and so long as they can do this, they're not complaining too much yet about the new islamic rules. jonathan head, bbc news, brunei. now, health news back at home. the menopause is life—changing for all women and difficult for many — but it's been discussed for only one hour and 17 minutes in the whole of parliamentary history. the first full debate took place earlier this year, but every day next week we'll be asking you to ‘wake up to the menopause'. by way of an introduction, jayne mccubbin has been meeting women who managed the menopause and thrived. hold onto your hats, ladies. there's something we really need to discuss. we are in doncaster to talk about — ladies? all: menopause! whoo—hoo! you're all sisters. yeah. four sisters, and you're all going it?! some of us are at the other side! ok, then. those of you on the other side, what have you told those of you that are at the beginning? it... should we just press pause for a moment? press pause to consider the pause? you're so pleased that the periods have stopped, and then the madness begins, you know?! that is what we'll do all next week on breakfast, with real women and the best experts. how has your menopausal journey been? it's terrible, and even now, at 68, i'm still menopausal. it's still going. so, when did it start? so, hot sweats... when i was 40. what?! when i was 40, i was diagnosed with it from the doctor, and now i'm 68. how is it, darling? it's very hot. she laughs. oh, i've had the mood swings — i'm slamming the doors. you can like somebody one day, you can hate them the next. as well as the symptoms, we'll talk about the solutions, and the very latest science. i say hrt, and you say... cool your attitude is really important, how you see it yourself. you're either a survivor or a victim, and i'm a survivor. we'll talk about a time of life which comes to us all, which shouldn't be feared, which can, with help, be conquered. hello, ladies. hello. the menopause? i have been there, done it, and got the t—shirt. and i was very lucky, because my sister always goes, "well, she sailed through the menopause. " i used to forget lines quite easily, and i though, oh, my gosh... am ijust just sort of having that panic attack as an actress? then i realised it was the menopause. i could literally put my phone in the fridge. what i am learning is how to embrace it. so, you're not afraid of what's ahead ? no, i'm not afraid of what's ahead. you shouldn't be afraid to be a woman. it's an empowerment, and we are a fantastic species, so onwards and upwards. high—five, sister. for some, it might be a white—knuckle ride. but always remember — it will pass. you've come out the other side, how is it? it's great, i feel human again. we're tough, here, us. we can stand it all. they cheer. yeah! it's been 28 blimming years, bit i'm still happy, and i'm still here. just keep going, girls! just keep going. ladies, we're going to get through this, aren't we? we can do this! cheering. in a moment the weather, but let's take a look at this. a strange little story from florida. a strange little story from florida. a bobcat, apparently native to florida, the other big cat there is a panther. the bobcat found its way toa a panther. the bobcat found its way to a post. the department for transport saw it on the live feed of the highway and sent out the cherry picker to get it from the post as it wasn't very happy there. it was panting and looking a little unwell. here it is coming down. on the same day they found a nine foot alligator and removed that, not at the top of the telegraph post! it raises the question if one should look up or down when one is in collier county in florida. that is a very dignified descent, i don't think i'd be coming down that poll with quite that grace. anyway, that is the bobcat that came down the pole in florida and thenjust that came down the pole in florida and then just simply ran away. that is another reason for not going to that particular county. you might meet the alligator and you might meet the alligator and you might meet that bobcat. i have said the full some of my knowledge about that particular story so it is a good time the picture has ended. now it's time for a look at the weather with simon king. you could have gone on to the book byjudith kerr, the night at the zoo. byjudith kerr, the night at the zoo. sunshine in many parts of the uk today that chow is developing as we go into the afternoon. this is the scene at the moment in northumberland, a lovely scene with the cumulus clouds in the sky. as we go through today. for many of us, fairly quiet but this area of low pressure and this is where the front which could scrape in across southern areas later on, bringing more cloud and some outbreaks of rain tonight. some showery rain in northern england and into northern ireland, but as we go through the afternoon, the showers tending to clear away. sunny spells breaking through that cloud. heavy showers developing widely across england and wales, up into scotland and northern ireland bust up some of the showers could be heavy and thundery, temperature is about 11—15 degrees celsius but this evening, more cloud and rain moving, skirting along the southern coast, around the channel isles and into france. elsewhere, a few showers across eastern areas. 0therwise, some clear spells, some patchy mist and fog developing, temperatures for — seven. into the weekend, it will be a little showery to start off with but becoming drier, with lots of sunshine as we go into sunday. this is saturday morning, quite a few showers across eastern areas. elsewhere, a dry start. lots of sunshine throughout saturday. a few showers in the afternoon in the pennines and east of the pennines, elsewhere it should be mostly dry and temperatures on par with today, 11—15 degrees. 0n sunday, high pressure becomes firmly established across the uk. it will start to block these weather fronts moving in. so lighter winds on sunday. it could be quite chilly first thing. some patchy mist and fog which would tend to clear away and then some sunshine. some cloud developing in the afternoon perhaps the odd shower but for many of us, dry and temperatures will start to creep up a little bit. about 13—16, about 18 degrees south wales. then the temperature is likely to increase further as we go into next week. it will get warmer. the air will come from the south, so the oranges replacing the blues. a quick summary of what will happen throughout next week... plenty of dry weather, varying amounts of cloud, lengthy spells of sunshine. temperatures mid to high teens, perhaps even the low 20s. bye—bye. hello it's friday, it's 10:00am, i'm joanna gosling. hello, it's friday, it's10:00am, i'm joanna gosling. mps say the screening programme for breast, bowel and cervical cancers in england is unfit for purpose — and are concerned the screening service could actually get worse while it changes are made. we'll speak to a man whose mother didn't receive an invitation for a mammogram for over 14 years, and died of breast cancer in 2012. in 2011 a group of fishermen received long prison sentences for trying to smuggle millions of pounds worth of cocaine into the country. we've seen evidence suggesting those convictions were unsafe. well, there is nothing. there is nothing here whatsoever. they found cocaine — didn't know whose it was, where it came from, and we were just at the wrong place