to search for 60 people who are still missing after tuesday's earthquake. aftershocks are threatening to collapse some of the blocks where most are thought to be trapped. let's have a look at the papers and some of the stories that are making the headlines in media across the world. we begin with germany's suddeutsche zeitung. its main headline — "two winners, one merkel". that's after angela merkel agreed a coalition deal after months of deadlock. the guardian's main story now, and it says a secret report by the british government puts the cost of a hard brexit at £80 billion, and the worst affected parts of the uk are those that were most in favour of leaving the union. more on that in a second. the main story on the front page of the japan times is the visit from the us vice president mike pence to the region. he's denied there's a split

there on how to deal with north korea's threats. the daily mail among those picking up the bbc guardian story yesterday. that's a £4 billion equal pay challenge against tesco brought by some of its female employees. a story from norway makes the sun here in the uk. the man whose girlfriend walked away with his apartment and car, after he breached a contract between them not to go onto tinder. so, where to start? with me is alpesh patel, from praefinium partners. to speak to the serious topics, aren't we? yeah, we will go to tinder later. germany, perhaps some surprise and anger from the cdu over the level of concessions at angela merkel has had to make it. yeah, it has been going on for probably five months they have been trying to find a government, and it has probably

been one of the most boring five—month period is. the major stock index did not plunge all climates, it is actually up a tiny bit and the euro is actually up against the dollar over the same period. yes, yes, yes, but as we both know, the fortunes of an economy do not necessarily track the stock market and vice—versa. economy do not necessarily track the stock market and vice-versa. not having government is not do any harm quite directly to the economy. the euro has not gone down. i tell you what is quite interesting about this, though, is that these three major ministries have gone, it is a shift towards the united states of europe, less austerity and this is interesting, potentially more going towards a potential european monetary fund. i don't want to make brexiters overjoyed about how much of united europe there is going to be and is going to be and isn't britain to be part of it, and all that. but this is going to be a

significant difference to what we're used to in europe as a result of what has just come about yesterday. does this mean that angela merkel and emmanuel macron‘s plans have gotten a much firmer footing? indeed. that is no secret, obviously. i do not realise our think people realise how seismic this is, given five months of snoring, i do not think we realised how seismic this is for a move towards a more integrated europe and how much good news this is for italy, portugal and greece, all of the economies that will basically have their debts underwritten as well. you should just basically explain what the pig economies are, just that we do not offend anyone. pig comes from their initials, these are the ones that had the biggest budget deficits and look like they might be in national deficits. the

finance ministry has gone to the spd as well. let's move on and talk about another sort of critical quake. brexit, this is the story that was on the guardian. buzzfeed last week was referring to this, the government has since criticised this analysis which is somewhat concerning, given that it is their own. this is the point why get lots of hate tweets because anything to do with brexit, you arejust of hate tweets because anything to do with brexit, you are just going to be slaughtered on social media. you and me both. lies, dammed lies and statistics. i am not even going to try to find the truth. the brexiters are saying it is rubbish, there is conspiracy in the treasury and fake figures, the remainers are saying the parts that of the uk that will be hit the hardest are the ones that wanted to leave. it serves you right, evil racist, and all of it. the truth probably lies somewhere in between. the economic analysis that

they are coming up with is that we have it now and we can do something to change it. if we know and believe that the north—east may be the ha rd est that the north—east may be the hardest hit, we can do something about it. i havejust hardest hit, we can do something about it. i have just come hardest hit, we can do something about it. i havejust come back hardest hit, we can do something about it. i have just come back from india, singapore and hong kong, looking at investment into the uk, and those other regions that we are focusing on, because we already know that those are the areas of the uk that those are the areas of the uk that will be hardest hit in economic terms. there is something we can do about it, whether or not you are a brexiteer or remainer, and you think that these statistics are right or not, there is something we can do about it. i am less worried about the truth in the figures and like i say, it is the old mark twain quote about dammed lies and statistics. say, it is the old mark twain quote about dammed lies and statisticsm is, just a couple of lines from that before we move on. a 12% rise in retail sales and ii% before we move on. a 12% rise in retail sales and 11% rise in food and drinks prices. it is interesting

how economists can oversee apocalypse now that they cannot foresee a stock market crash and all that. tokyo and washington urging the world not to fall for what they are calling a smile democracy. yes, this notion that the north koreans have now come about. this is not a north korea story, i really do not think it is. i was looking at the japan times and there is a couple of sentences in there from mike pence, which tell you what it is really about. he said that security is the foundation of our security in the indo pacific, india and china. he also said the united states is committed to providing japan with additional cutting—edge defence systems, not against north korea but against china. this is about trade and china, north korea, is moving along nicely so that the americans realise, even the president has realised, keep your mouth shut, do

not now, having got them to this stage the pre— negotiation table, let's not say anything to annoy them. let's talk about tesco and tesco facing britain's largest ever equal pay challenge but let's be absolutely clear here, there are two different groups of people doing different groups of people doing differentjobs at different rates. this is not the same as equal pay for equal work, and this conflation between gender pay gap and they air quality is quite concerning. let's turn the tables on the interviewer because you have just said everything i was going to say. tell me, is there a genuine gender pay problem in other industries, such as the bbc? is there a problem? one could say that the higher paid jobs... you are not a politician but you almost being one. yes, there is. i hope that this law firm, and i'm not going to mention their law firm, i used to be alert as i know how

much we are hated, you are right that there is two differentjobs. they are saying why are we not getting paid the same because we work at the same firm? just because i happen to work at manchester united, does not mean i should be getting paid the same as their foot wall is on the field. it is not, from what i can see it has nothing to do with gender, it is lawyers by the looks of it, and i'm not trying to defend lawyers, it is a risky business, but i really do hope they have only got the men working pro bono on this because they feel so compelled to fight the cause of justice. —— football. this isjust bandwagon riding, there is a problem of gender pay in many industries, this is a laughing stock law firm now. unfortunately, we are going to have to move on. i would love to talk more. i want to talk about love rats, the daughter of a judge has drawn upa rats, the daughter of a judge has drawn up a contract to ensure that her boyfriend respectful and that surely tells you everything you need to know. she has worked away with the apartment and a car. —— walk

away. these contracts are legally valid, i cannot see any reason why it should not be. i think more people should do this, it is fantastic. she was flooding, putting adverts for facebook, tinder, saying please, please go on. it is stupid, from what i can tell it only said do not go on that particular one, you could have gone on other websites. it is hilarious because we have got to the age of social media impacting financial pay—outs, i think more people are going to copy this. financial pay—outs, i think more people are going to copy thislj think people are going to copy this.” think they probably will. u nfortu nately, we think they probably will. unfortunately, we are going to have to there. thanks for watching the briefing. from me, victoria fritz, and the rest of the team, goodbye. hello there. for many places, the day ahead will bring a slightly different feel to the weather — something just a little bit milder. yes, many of us starting the day under cold air. but this wedge of milder air

in the atlantic beginning to show its hand. this is tied up with a weather system pushing in from the atlantic. you can see the cloud here on the earlier satellite picture. that cloud is going to bring some outbreaks of rain as we go on through the day. a real split in temperatures as we start off the morning. perhaps as low as —5, —6 in the south—east. temperatures generally above freezing for northern ireland and northern scotland. but that milder air begins to work its way in. this is how the day starts off, at 8am. where we have the coldest weather in east anglia and the south—east, that's where we'll also have the brightest start. quite a lot of sunshine to come. through the south—west, wales, northern england, thick clouds, outbreaks of mostly light and patchy rain at this stage. a lot of cloud into southern scotland. but for northern ireland and the northern half of scotland, something more bright. some sunny spells returning. a rash of showers up to the north—west,

but because of that slightly milder air, most of the showers will be falling as rain rather than anything more wintry. now, as we go on through the day, we take this band of cloud and these outbreaks of rain further south and east. and see the darker blue colours appearing on the chart? that indicates that the rain will turn more heavy for wales and northern england into the afternoon. clouding over in the south—east, after that bright start. remaining chilly here. in scotland, northern ireland, where we have sunshine and a few showers, temperatures getting all the way up to 7—8 degrees. during thursday night, we push this band of at this stage quite heavy rain eastwards across england and wales. behind it, clear skies chasing in and some showers too, wintry showers. as we get into friday, the air will be turning colder again, those temperatures dipping away. seven in cardiff. some rain, sleet, and snow perhaps across the south—east for a time. and a few wintry showers elsewhere. but generally speaking, it's high pressure that's with us for the very start of the weekend. that'll mean a cold and frosty start to saturday. another frontal system in from the west. perhaps a spell of snow in the north. then some rain.

then a wedge of milder air, and then for the second half of the weekend, you guessed it, we get back into the colder air. things very much up and down through the coming days. we can sum up the weekend like this. it will often be windy. we'll see rain at times on saturday. something brighter and colder for most on sunday. sunday could bring double—digit temperatures in places. but with some outbreaks of rain, on sunday, it will feel colder, but it should be brighter. hello — this is breakfast, with naga munchetty and charlie stayt. sexual harassment and bullying in westminster — one in five workers have experienced or witnessed it in the past year. a new code of conduct and tougher sanctions are now set to be introduced. good morning — it's thursday 8 february. also this morning:

the cinderella service — a warning that there's not enough social care workers because they're undervalued and poorly paid. talking tough on trade — bosses from some of japan's biggest businesses meet the prime minister and chancellor later, to discuss life after brexit and what it could mean