i wonder if she's watching. i doubt it. we will be just i doubt it. we will bejust —— discussing that in a few minutes. so let's begin. with me is liam booth—smith, chief executive of the think tank localis. let's start with his take on bloomberg on how south africa is going to react now that jacob zuma has finally gone. the litany of corruption scandals has finally caught up with jacob zuma and his own party had decided to force him out. the markets have responded very positively. also, i think the general economy will respond positively as well. for the last ten years, they have been sluggishly growing about 1.6 per year. this story says. i'm sure that after ten yea rs year. this story says. i'm sure that after ten years of that, it is shy —— time fora after ten years of that, it is shy —— time for a change. it is not the anc acting morally against some sort of corruption or wanting to prove that it

of corruption or wanting to prove thatitis of corruption or wanting to prove that it is right to leave the country. what is really happening is zuma and they are losing elections. they lost the economic cattle —— capital and the political capital. they are now realising they probably need to change to maintain their hold on power. the political tide has turned against them. now, cyril ramaphosa is expected to be named the president tomorrow or friday. he has a lot of work on his hands. he isa has a lot of work on his hands. he is a successful businessman. he has promised reform the economy and is needed. there is lots of pretty significant structural challenges they are going to have to deal with. the anc now have been in control for such a long time, the internal politics of that pa rt time, the internal politics of that part is essentially the intel politics of the country and there is no sign yet that ramblers will be able to do anything radically different to zuma. it is just too

complicated and everyone is waiting to see what he will do. there is no guarantee that he will be appointed but it is just the assumption he will. people will want change. it is not going to happen quickly because of the internal workings of the anc. there is still a lot of support for jacob zuma. there will be a challenge uniting the divided party and changing people in government because the accusation is many people have been too susceptible to brides and corruption. there is no guarantee as well. there is no guarantee zuma's cabinet has to resign. while you may lose the president, actually, many of the ministers may remain in place. with that, potentially, the problems as well. time will tell. it is look at this story in the washington post. give us story in the washington post. give usa story in the washington post. give us a bit of that round because this is about a warm on start, and we need to keep it clean. lots of allegations around her —— pawn star.

a person called michael cohen who was the attorney, it has been revealed he facilitated a payment to stormy daniels who was alleged had a sexual liaison with the president in 2006. that has been bubbling away and there was a nondisclosure. the nondisclosure was signed in the campaign? it was, before it really kicked off in 2016. it was beforehand. it has come out is that michael cohen, the attorney, has acknowledged that the trump campaign didn't reimburse the $130,000 trump campaign didn't reimburse the $130 , 000 that trump campaign didn't reimburse the $130,000 that he paid to stormy daniels, but has refused to deny that president trump himself personally didn't reimburse him and experts are haggling over whether that means president trump did personally reimburse her. that is the essence of the story right now.

does it count as campaign contributions? absolutely. it is whether donald trump did personally reimburse him or not. it seems pretty clear that if money was exchanged to hush something up, it was done for at least partial political reasons. democrats are trying very much to try this, the john democrats are trying very much to try this, thejohn edwards type story who is the former democratic vice president who had his career ended because of a related indiscretion. this lady has also said that, because michael cohen has spoken publicly, any nondisclosure that she's signed is null and void, so she's signed is null and void, so she may come out and give more details as well. i think this story is inching closer and closer to the president, and whether‘s i couldn't possibly comment on whether it is true or not, but it seems there is enough happening in and around the story, enough people moving and talking

that i think there is more legs in it and it seems that the stormy daniels character is time to find a way of speaking publicly on the record. she did speak before he was elected president. water, story, i'm sure. let's move on to the next story. it is about a ship that has crossed an outbreak —— crossed the arctic without an ice rake. the ship was able to make its way from south korea through to north russia and breakthrough. as the ice melts, it means the northern oceans are becoming more accessible to vessels. with that, people are able, one side says the ship routes will become faster and there are economic opportunities and other people argue it is another example of global warming affecting the planet.

there is an irony of what the ship was transporting. fossil fuels, naturally. was transporting. fossilfuels, naturally. greenpeace say, we are already over our agreed target in that part of the world a nyway target in that part of the world anyway and the person says inevitably this causes big changes and so, ironically, at delivering fossil fuels this way, more quickly, it is like smoking to cigarettes. the idea that fossil fuels are chuntering their way across the art dick... the eu -- dick... the eu —— arctic. people are really acting on it. but look at the continuing fallout from the sexual allegations story now consuming this double page spread in the times. all about the knock—on effect, but essentially, the main story talking about whether a slum

project would help 25,000 vulnerable women 01’ project would help 25,000 vulnerable women or children will now be put on the backburner because a major partnership withjohn lewis could be scuppered. it is not, i mean, john lewis is the focus, but it is much broader than that. celebrities are dropping out of the oxfam beach, businesses making donations as well. the sentiment is we shouldn't criticise and threaten the work of oxfam just because a few people have misbehaved. that was expressed by the founder of the festival last night, he said the bad behaviour of a few people doesn't discredit the woodwork of whole organisation. u nfortu nately, woodwork of whole organisation. unfortunately, he is wrong and that is why this is a tragic story. the bad behaviour of a few people can discredit a whole organisation. it

doesn't matter they —— doesn't mean they haven't done a lot of good work. they need to find a way now of getting across that message and talking about the good stuff as opposed to what they are doing right now, which seems to be not a lot. the good side is that it is going to lead to a re—evaluation and all charities taking stock at how they protect the vulnerable people, which is amazing that it hasn't really been done before. on the same page, the story came out yesterday and they are talking about aid workers not actually being banned by the code of conduct from paying sex workers, saying that we discourage it but we don't want to infringe on your civil liberties. actually, if you are a charity working in a disaster zone, it is not unreasonable to ask that they don't do that. make that part of your own professional code of conduct. here is a tricky one, our last story. the globe and mail here

reporting on the former canadian prime minister who has tweeted about what news presenters should and should not be wearing. which parts of their bodies they should and shouldn't they? asa man, shouldn't they? as a man, it is a difficult one. sitting next to a news presenter with their rounds. —— beararms. it with their rounds. —— bear arms. it is demeaning to have their arms when western about this and the point being that numerous people, world leaders, michelle obama for example, frequently wore sleeveless dresses. campbell says her comment specifically only referred to newsreaders. we will have deleted there. i will refrain from asking you to comment —— we will have two leave it there. thanks for watching the briefing. goodbye. thanks forjoining me. time we updated you on the weather prospects for the whole

of the british isles for the next few days or so. wednesday started in a pretty wild and woolly way across the north—western quarter of scotland. as ever, our weather watchers were there to capture the evidence for us, but things improved dramatically. come a little further south, not far really, troon beach and ayrshire. the difference, you had to get rid of this big old weather front which really made a difference. started dry enough across the eastern side of the british isles, but as that moved in from the west, it brought in quite a bit of cloud and rain. thankfully, that's moved away. thursday starts on a brighter note for many, a drier note, no, not necessarily, because certainly across western spots, particularly the north—western quarter of the british isles, there will be showers. elsewhere, a bright enough and breezy sort of day. quite a few isobars on that chart, and it makes a difference whether you're in the northern half of the british isles or the south, because further north, you're in the circulation of the big area of low pressure — there's quite a bit of wind, and it's got a bit of northerly in it, which makes it feel that much cooler.

come a little bit further south, and a little ridge of high pressure is trying to calm things down. still breezy. there's a lot of isobars on that chart. the wind an ever—present right across the british isles. but i think the bulk of the activity is found across the north, so if you're spending the day across southern parts, and here, i'm showing you the real detail — it's almost like you need reading glasses, we've just put them on to see exactly where those showers are, and you can see them peppering through western scotland and northern ireland. yes, we know there are words on that page, but we take those glasses off and we get the overall sense of what's going on. here are those temperatures. 5, 6, 7 in the north, 10, 11, possibly 12 in the south. taking you out of thursday, pushing on towards friday, not a great deal changes, save perhaps a greater influence from this little ridge of high pressure coming across the southern half of the british isles, killing off what showers there may have been on thursday. less breeze, but there's just not enough influence from that ridge of high pressure to keep rain away

from the western side of scotland, maybe late on into the western fringes of northern ireland, but the temperature differential just beginning to ease up here — 7 or 8 in the north, 10 or 11 in the south. the weekend? starts off none too badly. not wall—to—wall sunshine, but keep that little area of low pressure in mind, because it may on sunday give some parts a little bit of rain. otherwise, not a bad weekend. hello — this is breakfast, with naga munchetty and charlie stayt. 17 people are killed in a mass shooting at a high school in florida. children ran from their classrooms as the gunman attacked — police have arrested a 19—year—old former student who'd been expelled. it's just terrifying. terrifying to the parents, terrifying to the kids. very emotional. good morning — it's thursday the 15th of february.

also this morning: south africa's president, jacob zuma, resigns after his anc party threatend to force a no—confidence vote over corruption allegations — his successor could be sworn in tomorrow.