we'll have full analysis of those airstrikes with our correspondents in the middle east, america, and russia. also this morning: under pressure. new figures show a big increase in the number of ambulances being turned away from hospitals because they're too busy. good morning. we're eating less toast for breakfast, and sales of margarine are spread too thin for the food manufacturer, unilever, and they've decided to sell their flora and stork brands. and good morning from aintree on ladies‘ day, ahead of tomorrow's grand national. the big one. it's been confirmed that katie walsh will be able to ride in the big race tomorrow on wonderful charm despite a nasty fall yesterday. that's good news. and the weather is supposed to be so good this weekend, we've sent carol out. good morning. it certainly is depending on your definition. it is springlike this morning but also cold. a cold start across the uk. frost, patchy mist and fog. lots of sunshine later today. a very warm weekend for some of us. a high possibly of 24. i will have more details in 15 minutes. thank you. good morning. first, our main story. the united states has launched missile strikes against syria overnight. 59 cruise missiles were fired from us warships at an air base in retaliation for a chemical attack that killed dozens of people earlier this week. the syrian government has condemned the action. president trump said it was in america's national security interest to prevent the spread of chemical weapons. this was what he had to sayjust hours after the attack. on tuesday, the syrian dictator, bashar al—assad, launched a horrible, the weapons attack on innocent civilians using a deadly nerve agent. bashar al—assad ended the lives of helpless man, women, and children. —— men. it was a slow and children. —— men. it was a slow and brutal death for so many, even beautiful babies. they were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack. no child of god should ever suffer such horror. tonight i ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in syria from where the chemical attack was launched. it is in this vital national security interest of the united states to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons. there can be no dispute that syria used banned chemical weapons, violated its obligations under the chemical weapons convention, and ignored the urging of the un security council. years of previous attempts at changing bashar al—assad's behaviour have all failed, and failed very dramatically. as a result, the refugee crisis continues to deepen, and the region continues to destabilise, threatening the united states and its allies. tonight i call on all civilised nations to join us in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in syria, and also to end terrorism of all kinds and all types. we ask for god's with them as we face the challenge of our very troubled world. —— wisdom. we pray for the lives of the wounded and for the souls of those who have passed. and we hope that as long as america stands were just as that peace and harmony will, in the end, prevail. good night, and god bless america and the entire world. thank you. so, that was president trump speaking in the early hours of its morning just after the cruise missiles were launched from us warships. our us correspondent, barbara plett—usher, joins us now from mar—a—lago, in florida, where the president is staying. barbara, this was a limited attack on one airfield but intended to send out a strong message? this is a significant moment. this is a significant momentm this is a significant moment. it is a significant moment. it is a major shift in the us approach. it is the first time in syria's civil war that the americans have directly targeted the americans have directly targeted the forces of the syrian president, bashar al—assad. they supported opposition members against him but have never targeted him before, not even under president obama. it is also a major shift in approach for president trump who has been quite ambivalent about bashar al—assad, saying it was not his problem and he was focused on islamic state and their group. now he said his mind has changed and bashar al—assad has done a heinous act and has launched a strike against the syrian air force. but the administration says this does not change their military strategy, their military policy, in syria, and are still focused on islamic state. this is a one—off strike. but because the chemical weapons attack was carried out, it was called specifically in a limited way on the air base from where the attack was launched, and it was meant to send a warning and a message to the regime that chemical attacks will not be tolerated. barbara, this weekend, where you are, the chinese president is there and the prime minister, sorry, the president, is having that meeting. it isa president, is having that meeting. it is a personal message, but also, the dynamic around this, there is a huge diplomatic dimension around this as well. well, he is meeting with the chinese president, probably the most important international relationship that he is going to have while he is president. it is a very... it is a relationship between the leaders of the two, the two biggest economic level powers in the world. and while he is trying to work out a proper relationship with the president and talk about things including north korea, he is facing this crucial test of his ability to act on the world stage should he respond to this chemical weapons strike in syria. and he acted quickly, moving a day or two after the chemical weapons attack. he responded with a military strike to be so here is being tested in a number of levels, his ability to say what the role of the us will be under his presidency and to react. that is something he has been working on over the past couple of months and it is still a work in progress, frankly. so this weekend has been interesting in that regard. for the moment, barbara plett—usher, thank you. our correspondent, benjames, is in beirut. ben, what's been the reaction in the region? we just heard her saying this is a change in policy. we are expecting some reaction, sorry, were expecting a reaction to this attack, so what has changed 7 a reaction to this attack, so what has changed? from the syrian government point of view so far we have heard from the governor of homs province, the province in which this air base is located. they are talking about risky operations at the airfield. talking about not many people being killed, but certainly there has been material damage. that was the stated aim of the pentagon in the first place, trying to target some of the infrastructure that barbara was talking about. we have also heard from somebody on the ground who lives close by. one of oui’ ground who lives close by. one of our producers has been talking to someone about the moment the attack happened. they work appearing repeated strikes of those missiles, 59 launch from the destroyers on the mediterranean. they were talking about the anvil of activity and people on the air base as well, saying a number of jets people on the air base as well, saying a number ofjets had been destroyed along with infrastructure. —— the ambulance. destroyed along with infrastructure. -- the ambulance. thank you very much. we will talk to you later on. and we'll be bringing you the latest on this throughout the morning. there has been a sharp rise in the number of accident and emergency departments in england turning away ambulances compared with the previous three years. the nuffield trust think tank says its analysis shows ambulance services are facing even more pressures than nhs hospitals. here's our health correspondent, jane dreaper. a service under strain. ambulances are diverted when hospitals are exceptionally busy. it's a temporary measure to take the pressure off a&e, but it means patients have further to travel for urgent treatment. today's report shows how the number of diverts has leapt in the past few months. during the three winters beginning in 2013, this happened on average 249 times. but in this most recent winter, the number of diverts jumped to almost 500. the report says this is bad for patients and explains why ambulance trusts in england are missing their expected response times. 500 or so — you may say "well, it's not a big number." they are the tip of the iceberg. they have doubled. they reveal a service under tremendous pressure. there'll be 500 diverts but there'll be many more a&e departments working right at the limit that they could have diverted. and the report says morale is low among ambulance staff, another sign of pressure. nhs england believes too many ambulances are being dispatched to simply try to hit targets, and it's reviewing the system. jane dreaper, bbc news. the basque militant group, eta, has said that it will officially disarm tomorrow, according to a letter obtained by the bbc. more than 800 people were killed during eta's campaign of violence, thousands of others were injured. here's our chief international correspondent, lyse doucet. the french presidential candidate francois fillon has been pelted with flour at a campaign event. the conservative candidate had been at a rally in strasbourg when a protestor emptied the bag of flour at mr fillon. the former prime minister has faced protests in recent weeks since he was charged over accusations he gave his wife a fake parliamentaryjob for which she was paid hundreds of thousands of euros. the kenyan long—distance runner, jemima sumgong, who won the marathon at last year's rio olympics and the london marathon has tested positive for a banned performance enhancing substance. the long—distance runner tested positive for the banned substance, epo. there's no indication as yet as to what action the authorities will take as a result of the test. norway has unveiled plans to build the world's first ship tunnel beneath a mountain. the mile—long and i20—foot wide tunnel will connect two fjords so that ships of up to 20,000 tons can bypass the perilous stad peninsula. it will cost £250 million and take around six years to build. that is the artist's impression you can see. and now we will take a moment to talk about sport. it's ladies‘ day at aintree race course. mike's there with the sport for us this morning. good morning. good morning. ladies' day. for race—goers, the styles sta kes for day. for race—goers, the styles stakes for hats and suits. what a view from the stands. my kingdom for a horse. the grand national is tomorrow. the fences. the steeplechase, the toughest test for the riders and their horses. it should be a keenly contested race. wide open as ever. the hardest to protect in the calibre year. —— predict. it is 40 years since this race was put on the map with an historic three races in a row. more on that to come. for now, golf news. the masters is under way at augusta, but without world number one, dustinjohnson. he hurt his back when he fell down the stairs at his rental home on wednesday. johnson seemed determined to play and made his way to the first tee, before walking back to the clubhouse. that was really sad. after the opening round, justin rose is one of several british players towards the top of the leaderboard. he's one—under—par, six shots behind the leader, charley hoffman, of the united states. kyle edmund is first on court in rouen, as great britain begin their davis cup quarter—final against france. he takes on luca pwee. edmund was one of the singles winners in britain's victory over canada in february. and here at aintree, lizzie kelly rode "tea for two" to victory in the betway bowl, the feature race on day one. they were pushed all the way to the line by the two to one favourite cue card. talking of falls, katie walsh had a bad for yesterday and it was bought for a time she might have broken her arm, but she hasn't. she tweeted last night that it was just bruising. she will get to ride wonderful charm tomorrow. not bad. an outsider, 32—1. talking of the big race, so many memories from red rum, when he defied all of the odds and his age to win the grand nationalfor and his age to win the grand national for the and his age to win the grand nationalfor the third and his age to win the grand national for the third time. i remember being at a schooljumble sale and i was watching the tv and they stopped the sales so we could watch this horse. it was the horse that rang the nation together. a really vivid sporting memory. now the museum is open here, itjust opened this week, and i will have a little look later. a lovely walk down memory lane! thank you. this weekend could be the hottest of the year so far and rising temperatures have brought trees around the country in bloom. carol's going to bring us the latest weather in the moment. first, some lovely pictures to show you of some of the blossom. alnwick gardens, taken by m whittaker. westonbirt arboretum is the next shot. the next one — batsford arboretum. beautiful images. brogdale collections looking very gorgeous. if you've got some pictures, do send them into us at bbcbrea kfast@bbc. co. uk, or share them with us on facebook and twitter. we would love to see them and show them off this morning. how is it looking where you are, carol? rather beautiful! this morning it's a cold start wherever you are. but look at regent's park. some lovely blossom. on the other side we've got sure lips, daffodils. spring really has sprung. —— got tulips. i mentioned it was cold. it is about six celsius here at the moment. the temperature will head up when the sun comes up. temperature will head up when the sun comes up. but for many parts of the uk it's a chilly start. mist and fog around and for most of us there will be sunshine through the day. the exception to that over the next couple of days will be in the north—west of the uk, where we will have a bit more cloud. that will suppress temperatures. 9am this morning in scotland we have a fair bit of sunshine. in the east, more cloud and drizzle. but the pigeon ruled —— living south into england, a bit more cloud. inland, a bit more cloud. currently we have cloud in the midlands. then we have sunshine coming through. as we will in east anglia and southern counties of england's generally. don't forget, a chilly start and some of us have frost first thing. for wales we have bits and pieces of cloud around. for northern ireland, a bit more cloud this morning as well. so as we go through the day it what you will find is we still hang onto some cloud in northern and western scotland, where it is also breezy. the odd spot coming out of that. for northern ireland, bright spells as well. for the rest of the uk it will be drier, fine and temperatures up to 19 celsius for example in london. through the evening and overnight there will be some breaks in the cloud. another chilly night in the countryside. frost around again and low cloud. mrforming countryside. frost around again and low cloud. mr forming as well. —— missed forming. breezy in the north. tomorrow for the north and west we start on a cloudy note. what you will find is that will push back towards the coast through the day and many of us will have a sunny day. along the coast it will be cooler, with seabreeze is developing in the south. inland, 20— 2i. further north, temperatures not as high, but still a lovely day. into sunday we start to pull in the southerlies, so it will turn warmer, especially in central and eastern parts of england. this is where we get up to 22, possibly 23 or 24. we also have a weather front coming across scotland and northern ireland, which will induce more cloud and rain. so it won't be as warm. temperatures close to where they should be. through the rest of sunday and into monday morning the front crosses us all and for somewhere we have the high temperatures on sunday it will drop 88 or nine degrees. it sounds lovely! thank you. —— eight or nine. let's bring you up—to—date with the events as they unfolded early this morning. the us launches a major missile strike on syria, a military airfield is the target. president trump says he ordered the strike in retaliation to a suspected chemical weapons attack that killed dozens of people. the pentagon says this was at 1:40am, uk time. 58 tomahawk missiles were fired from navy ships in the mediterranean. they say they targeted where the chemical attack was launched from on tuesday. michael pregent is a middle east analyst at the hudson institute, in washington. he is also a former us government intelligence officer. this is all unfolded in the last three orfour hours. just this is all unfolded in the last three or four hours. just give us your analysis of what has happened, why donald trump has made this decision so quickly. thanks for having me. it was important for the president to do something based on the developments in the last 48 hours. in the last 48 hours the us intelligence confirmed that it was assad who carried out the chemical strike in idlib. general mattis and general mcmaster presented a target package to the president for consideration. there were two target packets presented. he chose to go with the one that focused on the specific base, leaving options to do something else if assad doesn't get the message. so it was important to do itand the message. so it was important to do it and it is even be —— more important to see what happens in the next 48— 72 hours. important to see what happens in the next 48- 72 hours. it has been described as a precision strike. it is also being... the us administration described it as a i—off response to a specific incident. a lot of people will be thinking possibly that this could be the beginning of something else? well, the thing about a strike like this is it opens up all sorts of options. to say it's a i—off i think isa options. to say it's a i—off i think is a mistake because you telegraph to assad, putin and imran that this is just to assad, putin and imran that this isjust a one—time response because of the chemical weapons. —— iran. but what is actually the situation is that if assad continues to do this there will be more military strikes on assad's airports, specifically military targets. i like what happened, a lot of democrats like what happened, a lot of advocates in the obama administration are saying this is a good ring. advocates for military force, such as susan rice. so this is good for this president to do something, but you're right, it's the question, what happens next? the one good thing is assad is looking to russia and imran and wondering why they weren't able to stop this. especially russia, with their defence systems in syria and also with russia getting a heads up about the attack. and then warning syrians. assad is very concerned about his relationship and insecure about his relationship and insecure about his relationship with putin this morning. talk about that a little more. clearly president trump is convinced. he knows who carried out the strike. but russia, as you well know, has been very vocal, saying, we don't know the answers to those questions at this stage and seen the reaction this time was inappropriate. russia being an authority on whether assad has chemical weapons are not, but is not clear. when it was decided to instead of using military force to address the redline issue in 2013, to work with russia to remove assad's chemical weapons, there was a key phrase used during those negotiations and it was" declare munitions". declaring of chemical munitions. as we saw from the attack on tuesday, assad still has gas and the ability to deliver these chemicals. the russia was either completed or incompetent in removing the chemical weapons. we believe it there for now. thank you very much for your time this morning. obviously lots of information coming to us as this story unfolds. we've got some words from the syrian observatory for human rights, a british—based monitoring group. they say that that us strike on a syrian air base has killed four solders on friday. they say it virtually destroyed the facilities there. the air base was almost completely destroyed. the runway, the fuel ta nks destroyed. the runway, the fuel tanks and air defences were all blown to pieces. that comes from the syrian observatory for human rights. of course more information coming all the time. those strikes were carried out at 1:40am uk time. we will bring you more information from washington, reaction from russia and around the world as well. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. good morning, from bbc london news. i'm victoria hollins. employers in the capital are struggling to fill so—called white collar jobs. the most affected sectors are in it and finance. that's according to a study from the recruitment and employment confederation. it also says that brexit could exacerbate the problem if immigration restrictions are implemented. new figures show thames valley police is handling a growing number of gun crimes, more than 1,000 in the past six years. firearms were involved in 158 incidents between january and october last year. that's more than the whole of 2015. in partnership, working together, not only with other agencies and organisations but by working with the public. we can increase the intelligence in the picture of criminal use and possession of these firearms, which means we can target them more effectively, take these handguns off the street and make it a much safer place to be. the barbican centre says it will carry out a review of its decision to scrap male and female toilets in favour of "gender neutral" loos. signs outside the cinema have been changed to say "gender—neutral with cubicles" and "gender—neutral with urinals". let's have a look at the travel situation now. on the tubes this morning, sever delays on the northern line. that's due to late finish of engineering work at kennington and delays between seven sisters and walthamstow central. on the roads, queues on a205 thurlow park road at croxted road, due to temporary traffic lights. temporary traffic lights on windmill hill at gladbeck way, due to water main works. blackwall tunnel — traffic slow on a102 northbound from blackwall lane. and eastbound on the m2, all lanes open following early completion of emergency repairs towards dover port. let's have a check on the weather now, with elizabeth rizzini. get set for a warm and sunny weekend. the day looking similar to yesterday. lots of sunshine around and a bit of cloud coming and going at times. a rather chilly start again as well with temperatures in the low to mid single figures through the morning. lots of sunshine around this morning and temperatures will start to rise nicely. personally warm in the sunshine, withjust nicely. personally warm in the sunshine, with just a nicely. personally warm in the sunshine, withjust a light breeze and temperatures will eventually picked out in the mid—to the high teens. yesterday we saw just shy of 19 celsius in central london. probably something similar today. be aware that the tree pollen levels today as fairly high. more sunshine around this evening and overnight tonight it will be variable amounts of cloud. at a lot of clear skies as well. these are the values we will see in the towns under cloud. for most of us, a chilly start again tomorrow, with temperatures in possibly the mid— single figures. there could be some mist patches around but they will clear quickly. high—pressure dominates, so it will stay dry. southerly winds developing, bringing up warm air. temperature wise we could hit 19— 20 on saturday, maybe 23 on sunday. i'm back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. bye for now. hello. this is breakfast with charlie stayt and steph mcgovern. it's on friday the 7th of april. we'll have the latest news and sport injust a moment. and coming up, on breakfast today. we're live in dover as more than 80 hot air balloons prepare to set off for calais in an attempt to set a record—breaking mass crossing of the channel. cooking up a storm. james wong, the self—proclaimed "botanist who is obsessed with food" will reveal simple ways we can turn everyday ingredients into so—called "superfoods." blur drummer, dave rowntree, and the artist, dom pattinson, join us to talk about an easter treasure hunt with a difference, there's no eggs to find, but instead, pieces of art worth thousands of pounds. all that still to come. but now, a summary of this morning's main news. the united states has launched missile strikes against syria overnight. 59 cruise missiles were fired from us warships at an airbase in retaliation for a chemical attack which killed dozens of people this week. the syrian government has condemned the action which happened at 20 too two this morning. president trump said it was in the interest of america's safety interests to do this. this is what he said just hours after the attack. tonight i ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in syria from where the chemical attack was launched. it is in this vital national security interest of the united states to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons. there can be no dispute that syria used banned chemical weapons, violated its obligations under the chemical weapons convention, and ignored the urging of the un security council. years of previous attempts at changing bashar al—assad's behaviour have all failed, and failed very dramatically. as a result, the refugee crisis continues to deepen, and the region continues to destabilise, threatening the united states and its allies. tonight, i call on all civilised nations to join us in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in syria, and also to end terrorism of all kinds and all types. president trump. david willis joins us president trump. david willis joins us from our studio in washington. this is a change in policy from president trump. he was opposed to intervention during the campaign. this is sending out a strong message, isn't it? yes. just as recently as a week ago, would you believe, the trump administration was saying they had little interest ina regime was saying they had little interest in a regime change in syria. well, all of that changed when they saw those heartbreaking pictures from syria of that chemical weapons attack. and the administration, which is often criticised for being chaotic, acted very decisively in the early hours of this morning, about five hours ago, firing 60 tomahawk missiles from warships in the mediterranean. they were targeting the syrian air raids were those chemical weapons were stored that carried out the attack and from where the planes took off to deliver them on their target. and they have destroyed, apparently, some infrastructure in that area, and some aeroplanes. now, it is what the us is calling a limited response to the chemical were up and attack which sends, they believe, a sharp message. “— which sends, they believe, a sharp message. —— weapons attack. rex tillerson says president trump is showing his authority, saying when red lines across, he is well prepared to take military action. a lot of criticism as well from the administration of syria's closest ally, russia. and it will be interesting to see what happens next week when rex tillerson, the secretary of state, visits moscow on a prearranged trip. david willis, indeed. thank you. those attacks took place at 1:40 this morning uk time. reuters is saying the governor of homs said several died and five we re of homs said several died and five were wounded. we will keep you up—to—date on all the action as it comes in this morning. let us look at the other news this morning for you. there has been a sharp rise in the number of accident and emergency departments in england turning away ambulances compared with the previous three years. the nuffield trust think tank says its analysis shows ambulance services are facing even more pressures than nhs hospitals. the basque militant group, eta, has said that it will officially disarm tomorrow, according to a letter obtained by the bbc. more than 800 people were killed during eta's campaign of violence, thousands of others were injured. gp practice closures have hit record levels, with hundreds of thousands of patients forced to change surgeries last year, according to figures obtained by medical magazine pulse. the royal college of gps said doctors could no longer cope with growing patient demand, but nhs england said all patients would still be able to register with a surgery. it added that an extra billion pounds had been invested in general practice in two years. it's ladies' day at the grand national at aintree. mike's there with the sport. we will have a look. where are you now? good morning. had morning. the new red rum museum at aintree, a trip back to the certainties of my childhood to be photos and memorabilia celebrating the third win of red rum. this picture is key. this is what makes it a fairy tale. this is what makes it a fairy tale. this horse had an incurable bone condition, pass from trainer to trainer, until one pick up and him to full fitness on this send in the seawater. —— sand. he went for a swim in the sea before his grand national win. if you want to see his importance, look at this. pictures, a bottle of whiskey, a car, cod—liver oil named after red rum so you could have his stamina. the masters is under way. golf's world number one dustinjohnson said "it sucks really bad," after being forced to withdraw from the masters. he made his way to the first tee at augusta, before deciding he couldn't carry on. johnson hurt his lower back on wednesday, when he fell down the stairs at his rental home. obviously, i want to play, you know, more than anything. i will have a few swings. but ijust can't more than anything. i will have a few swings. but i just can't swing at all. justin rose is one of several well—placed britons after the opening round. he's one—under—par, six shots behind the leader, charley hoffman of the united states. kyle edmund will play the first rubber of britain's davis cup quarter—final today, against france's luca pwee. edmund helped the team to victory over canada in february, but without the injured andy murray, great britain are the underdogs in this tie. there's coverage from rouen across the bbc. in rugby league, we have some news. greg eden scored his 11th try of the season, to make sure super league leaders, castleford, beat the defending champions, wigan. after intercepting a wayward pass, eden ran almost the entire length of the pitch, to dive over the line. castleford won by 27 points to ten. and well done. here at aintree, lizzie kelly showed she'd recovered well from herfall in the cheltenham gold cup three weeks ago, when she rode the 10—to—1 shot, "tea for two," to victory in the feature race on day one, the betway bowl. it was a battle at the end, with the favourite cue card pushing them all the way to the line. a brilliant ride. back in the museum, i might look around the corner to find a historian. this is fantastic. a trip down memory lane. tell us about the legacy of red rum. you can see how popular he is by all the memorabilia we have about him. we call him the saviour of aintree. ido we call him the saviour of aintree. i do lots of tours without him we would not have such a big advance today. you are saying that the grand national would not be famous around the world today without him. was a lwa ys the world today without him. was always a famous race, but in the 70s it was down on its knees. but there was a threat it would be bought and made into a housing estate. but red rum, especially being a local horse, brought all this excitement and people flooded back to it. and he had this bone condition and he was a horse no one wanted until they found the rejuvenating properties of the irish sea. it shows the spirit of the grand national, anyone can win. these are not period dresses. they have been designed by students in a tribute of 40 years to red rum. you can see his colours, maroon and gold. and hats made by a girls school as well. a jigsaw puzzle behind you. it looks very 70s. very 70s. books about him, postcards, whiskey, as you have seen, scarves, teddy bears, kilts in red rum tighten. and this is a famous saddle? —— tartan. tighten. and this is a famous saddle? -- tartan. this road him to two victories in 73 and 74 and second place in 75. —— rode. two victories in 73 and 74 and second place in 75. —— rodelj two victories in 73 and 74 and second place in 75. -- rode. iwas watching in 73 and 74. i was wondering who red rum was. i certainly know now. thank you. that was great. that was brilliant. fascinating. we will see you soon. keeping you up—to—date with developments this morning. we know that the us has carried out a missile attack against an air base in syria. 59 tomahawk cruise missiles were fired from a destroyer in the mediterranean against a syrian air base. the uk government fully supports the us action, which whibley was an appropriate response to the barbaric chemical weapons attack launched by the syrian regime, intended to deter further action. a spokesman for the government of the uk. —— which we believe. we will keep you up—to—date on that. six years ago, around 50 hot air balloons soared into the record books when they completed a mass crossing of the channel from dover to calais. the balloons are back, more than 80 of them hope to smash that previous record later this morning. our reporter, fiona lamdin is getting ready to join them, and shejoins us now. wow. look at that. it looks amazing. look behind me! 82, to be precise. they are from all around the world. we arejust outside they are from all around the world. we are just outside dover. we are going to take the 26 mile journey across the channel. i have just in given my lifejacket. i am not keen on that idea. look at these balloons. isn't that absolutely beautiful? the weather is completely perfect. we just had a safety briefing. we heard about the wind. all of that. me and conditions, absolutely, this morning. i will ta ke absolutely, this morning. i will take you over to meet my pilot. —— mint conditions. he will give us a taste of what we can expect. we are hoping to bring you live broadcasts as we cross on this world record attempt. we really wants to get on to the guinness world book of records to become away from the burner. you can hear it getting ready. good morning. you tried six yea rs ready. good morning. you tried six years ago. the last time we did this was six years ago to the day. we flew 49 from here the front and set a world record. that came about because everyone always asks me what my favourite flight was. i said it was this. 82 balloons ready to go to france. if we ordered the weather we need for this to be perfect, this is what it would be. tell us were these people have come from. belgium. ten countries. spain, italy, croatia, all of western europe. in fact, we a lwa ys all of western europe. in fact, we always have someone from america who just can't get here on time. how many hours? 26 miles. how long? 50 miles an hour is the wind today. from here the front is two hours of flying time. it will give us time to ta ke flying time. it will give us time to take ourtime and flying time. it will give us time to take our time and take a look at the cliffs and enjoy it. i have flown over land but never be sea. do you have to do anything different, take more fuel? you can see from the equipment and your lifejackets that there is a lot more fuel and flight plan are going in over oceans. umm, but, you know, as long as the wind is there it is safe. and i think this is going to be the most memorable flight of every pilot thank you so much. we will keep you date throughout the morning. my cameraman andi date throughout the morning. my cameraman and i have shared that we are both a little bit scared of heights. it's going to be amazing. we look forward to what will happen through the morning. it looks like pretty good weather. carol can bring us up—to—date on what it will be like for them later in the day. it is a cold start to the day, certainly in regenfs cold start to the day, certainly in regent's park, in london. some of us seeing frost this morning. a look at this view. blossom, pink and white, and look at the kaleidoscope of colour we have. juliet —— tulips, daffs. if you are just stepping out it is chilly. as i mentioned, some frost, also some patchy mist and fog. but that will lift readily. for many parts of the uk it will be sunny and pleasant. at 9am this morning in scotland you will notice more clout in the west, with drizzle. in the east we have some sunshine. further south and into northern england and the north—west has more clout, the north—east sunny skies. further south again we have cloud across the midlands. that will thin and break. the sun coming out in east anglia. heading towards kent, generally southern counties of england. don't forget it is cold if you're stepping out first thing. for wales this morning we have variable amounts of cloud and sunny spells. for northern ireland we have more cloud. we will hang onto that through the day. not as cold for you. talking of going through the day, most of us will have a very pleasa nt day, most of us will have a very pleasant and sunny day. temperatures getting up in the south—east to about 19 celsius. for other parts of the uk, widely in the midteens. 14— 16, for example. pollen levels today are high across most of england and wales. moderate or low across northern ireland and scotland and northern england. pretty sickening and overnight once again there will be holes in the cloud. once again we will have mist and fog patches forming. there will also be frost around and we hang on to the cloud and drizzle across the far north—west. it won't be an especially cold start in towns and cities, but in the countryside it will be. especially where we have clearer skies. tomorrow, any mist and fog will lift. looking again at and fog will lift. looking again at a fine day. although it will start off on a fine day. although it will start offona a fine day. although it will start off on a cloudy note in scotland and northern ireland, through the day that cloud will melt away and it will brighten up. sea breeze will develop around the south coast in particular. here it will feel fresh. inland tomorrow, especially in england, we have up to 21. but generally 14— 16 celsius. into sunday we have some southerly winds coming our way. it really is going to turn warm across england and wales in the killer. for scotland and northern ireland we have a weather front introducing rain and the cloud associated with that will fringe into counties adjacent to the irish sea through the day. on monday it will turn cooler again. that man running behind her due! he is off! —— hard you. going back to the lead story. the united states has carried out a missile attack on a syrian air base, in response to tuesday's chemical attack on a rebel held town in which many were killed. the us had a red line had been crossed by president assad's regime and trump said it was in their interest to prevent the spread and use of chemical that is. on tuesday, the syrian dictator bashar al—assad launched a horrible chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians. using a deadly nerve agent, assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women and children. it was a slow and brutal death for so many. even beautiful babies were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack. no child of god should ever suffer such horror. tonight i ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in syria, from where the chemical attack was launched. it is in this vital, national security interest of the united date to prevent and deter the united date to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons —— the united states. there can be no dispute that serie a used banned chemical weapons —— syria used banned chemical weapons, violated its obligations under the chemical weapons convention and ignored the urging of the un security council. years of previous attempts at changing assad's behaviour have all failed and failed very dramatically. as a result, the refugee crisis continues to deepen and the region continues to deepen and the region continues to destabilise, threatening the united states and its allies. tonight i call on all civilised nations tojoin us in tonight i call on all civilised nations to join us in seeking to end the slaughter. and bloodshed. and also to end terrorism of all kinds and all types. we ask for god's wisdom as we face the challenge of a very troubled world. we pray for the lives of the wounded and for the souls of those who have passed. and we hope that, as long as america stands for justice, then we hope that, as long as america stands forjustice, then peace and harmony will in the end prevail. good night and god bless america and the entire world. thank you. that was president trump speaking in the last few hours. as to give you a sense of the sequence of events, all aberdeen in the early hours of the morning —— all happening. 1:40 a.m., uk time. those 59 cruise missiles we re uk time. those 59 cruise missiles were launched from a warship in the mediterranean at a syrian air base. just getting reaction now. a spokesperson from number 10 downing st, the us has taken action against a syrian regime, and the uk government fully supports the us action which we believe was an appropriate response to the barbaric chemical weapons attack launched by the syrian regime, as intended to deter further attacks. that's the downing street response coming through in the last half—hour. we will be talking to the defence secretary michael fallon just after 8am on this. let's get the business news now. you've got props. what's going on? they are crucial! we are talking about toast. have we fallen out of love with margarine? have we? we will find out. good morning. we are talking about toast and margarine. the food manufacturer unilever has said it is selling off its spreads division. that's iran is like flora, i can't believe it's not butter. sales of my dream would down 7% last year. we are more conscious of our health, we are busier, we are making less toast and fewer sandwiches. but how is that changing our taste and affecting the business? let's talk to gareth hodgson from the market research firm mustard. we've got some bread and toast and margarine here. is it that we are eating more butter and less margarine, or we aren't eating bread much at all these days so we don't need the margarine? much at all these days so we don't need the margarine ?|j much at all these days so we don't need the margarine? i think it is symptomatic of the lifestyle change, both in terms of convenience and looking for improved health. what we are seeing is that bread sales are down, cereal sales are down, so consequently margarine... people just aren't consuming it at brea kfast just aren't consuming it at breakfast time in the same way as they previously were. the whole point of margarine was that it is there and ready to spread. put it on your knife and off you go. what needs to be much quicker than that for breakfast in the morning? why aren't people happy to do that while they go to coffee shops?|j aren't people happy to do that while they go to coffee shops? i think the lifestyles have changed. we are seeing things like commute times changing, for example, so on average people are maybe competing for an hour into work, up to two hours, so it is very much about getting out of the house as quick as possible, beating the traffic as quick as possible and if that means going to a coffeeshop and grabbing something to eat, or the cup of coffee, or taking something preprepared, then that's a trend. what are companies like unilever doing? they are selling some of their divisions. what are they doing instead?” selling some of their divisions. what are they doing instead? i think one of the main things with scene in the market over the last couple of yea rs the market over the last couple of years is a massive increase in on the go products which have been developed. recent research we did with a manufacturer demonstrated that across the market there was double—digit growth in the volume of those snacks created, as people moved towards cereal bars or things which incorporate nuts and seeds and fruits and things like that. so that convenience but also the healthy lifestyle. thanks very much. i also realised that normally i like to put my butter on a plate, with a cup of tea, to get it to melt a little bit. what you mean? you put the butter on a little sauce and you put it on the key, to get it warm. but studio lights do the same thing, because this butter is perfectly spreadable now! well, you are just a now! well, you arejust a mine of information and —— information! time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. employers in the capital are struggling to fill so—called white collar jobs. the most affected sectors are in it and finance. that's according to a study from the recruitment and employment confederation. it also says that brexit could exacerbate the problem if immigration restrictions are implemented. new figures show thames valley police is handling a growing number of gun crimes, more than 1,000 in the past six years. firearms were involved in 158 incidents between january and october last year. that's more than the whole of 2015. for the world's best gymnasts will compete in london this weekend as the 02 compete in london this weekend as the o2 arena holds the world cup of gymnastics. this is one of the british olympic stars who will be hoping to do well on home turf in the all—round competition.” hoping to do well on home turf in the all-round competition. i was still a junior during london 20 oh. i bought my ticket and was sitting in the crowd, so it will be very different this time, competing in the arena, rather than just sitting on the sidelines. looking at the travel, pretty good news as there are just minor delays in the northern line at the moment. because of late finishing work at kennington. on the roads, west dulwich has queues on the a205 thurlow park road at croxted road. inpex isa thurlow park road at croxted road. inpex is a collapsed manhole at eckham high street westbound at peckham hill street. and queueing on me a406 eastbound and that's from bounds green road to bowes road. let's have a check on the weather now, with elizabeth rizzini. get set for a warm and sunny weekend. today's weather is looking similar to yesterday. lots of sunshine around and a bit of cloud coming and going at times. a rather chilly start again as well, with temperatures in low to mid single figures through the morning. lots of sunshine around this morning and temperatures will start to rise nicely. pleasantly warm in the sunshine, with just a light breeze and temperatures will eventually peak out in the mid—to—high teens. yesterday we saw just shy of 19 celsius in central london. probably something similar today. be aware that the tree pollen levels today are fairly high. more sunshine around this evening and overnight tonight it will be variable amounts of cloud. a lot of clear skies as well. these are the values we will see in the towns under cloud. for most of us, a chilly start again tomorrow, with temperatures in possibly the mid—single figures. there could be some mist patches around but they will clear quickly. high—pressure dominates, so it will stay dry. southerly winds developing, bringing up warm air. temperature wise we could hit 19—20 on saturday, maybe 23 on sunday. i'm back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. plenty more on our website at the usual address. bye for now. hello this is breakfast, with steph mcgovern and charlie stayt. the united states has carried out missile attacks in syria overnight. 59 cruise missiles were launched from us warships targeting a syrian air base. president trump said he ordered the action in retaliation for a chemical attack that killed dozens of people. it is in this vital national security interest of the united date to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons. good morning, it's friday, 7th april. we'll have full analysis of those air strikes with our correspondents in the middle east, america and russia. and the very latest response from downing street. also this morning: under pressure, new figures show a big increase in the number of ambulances being turned away from hospitals because they're too busy. good morning. a quarter of us have found we've overspent on mobile phone bills by 50 pounds while we've been using our phones on holiday. i'll be looking at why that is. and good morning from aintree on ladies' day, ahead of tomorrow's grand national, and it's been confirmed that katie walsh will be able to ride in the big race tomorrow on wonderful charm, despite a nasty fall yesterday. and will be live at dover ahead of a world record attempt to get more than 80 balloons to cross the channel. and the weather is supposed to be so good this weekend. we've sent carol out. good morning from a beautiful morning at regents park. it is beautiful here, and it is going to beautiful here, and it is going to be sunny and warm for most of us away from the north—west. that is the same forecast for the weekend. it is getting warmer for most of us, especially by sunday. more details in15 especially by sunday. more details in 15 minutes. good morning. first, our main story. the united states has launched missile strikes against syria overnight. 59 cruise missiles were fired from us warships at an air base, in retaliation for a chemical attack that killed dozens of people earlier this week. the syrian government has condemned the action which happened at twenty to two this morning, but downing street has said the action was an appropriate response. here's our washington correspondent david willis. it was a decisive response from an administration that has often seemed disorganised and at times, dysfunctional. a few salade of tomahawk missiles fired from us navy ships in the mediterranean, aimed at the syrian air base from which america says the deadly chemical weapons attack was launched earlier this week. a line in the sand moment. on tuesday, syrian dictator bashar al—assad launched a horrible chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians. using a deadly nerve agent, assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women and children. these are the heartbreaking images that moved the president to action, triggering a remarkable shift in foreign policy on the part of his administration. one week ago, white house officials professed little interest in rating change in syria, but the use of a deadly nerve agent has changed everything. tonight i call on all civilised nations to join us in seeking to end the bloodshed in syria. and also to end the terrorism of all kinds and all types. news of the missile strikes some want overshadowed a summit with president xijinping, at some want overshadowed a summit with president xi jinping, at which the two lea d e rs president xi jinping, at which the two leaders were expected to discuss the threat posed by north korea. depending where the us goes from here, it could be that president trump has his conflict cut out in syria. it could define his presidency one way or the other. and david joins us now from our studio in washington. david, this was a contained attack on one airfield but intended to send out a strong message? absolutely. president trump is calling on the global community to join him in sorting out the situation in syria. it is not something that he had looked to get involved in. president trump was elected on a mandate of america first. his middle east policy was confined to rooting out islamic state, but that changed with those heart wrenching pictures of the victims of the chemical weapons attack in syria a couple of days ago. since then, his administration has done a 360. reaction coming in from foreign governments as well. the richest government giving their full support, saying it is an appropriate reaction. the response from russia, a very different feeling. they have said it is a serious obstacle to an international coalition. it is interesting, because russia is syria's main ally and benefactor. the united states, particularly donald trump, had fought a better relationship with vladimir putin. that relationship seems to have turned 360 degrees in the time that donald trump has been in the white house. its bubbly now back to where it was at the time of barack obama. the russians will not be happy with this. even though the americans point out that they did tip of russian forces on the ground in an attempt to avoid casualties, they have also said they did not get permission, if you like, from moscow's before doing this. the bigger question is, what is to follow now? will there be other strikes? the indication is that this was a 1—shot deal, but we will have to wait and see. thank you. lots of reaction coming in on this story. a statement from number ten this morning, they said: the uk government fully supports the us action. we believe it was an appropriate response to the barbaric chemical weapons attack launched by the syrian regime. it was intended to do deterfurther the syrian regime. it was intended to do deter further attacks. we will be talking more about that later this morning. there has been a sharp rise in the number of accident and emergency departments in england turning away ambulances compared with the previous three years. the nuffield trust think—tank says its analysis shows ambulance services are facing even more pressures than nhs hospitals. here's our health correspondent, jane dreaper. a service under strain. ambulances are diverted when hospitals are exceptionally busy. it's a temporary measure to take the pressure off a&e, but it means patients have further to travel for urgent treatment. today's report shows how the number of diverts has leapt in the past few months. during the three winters beginning in 2013, this happened on average 249 times. but in this most recent winter, the number of diverts jumped to almost 500. the report says this is bad for patients and explains why ambulance trusts in england are missing their expected response times. 500 or so — you may say "well, it's not a big number." they are the tip of the iceberg. they have doubled. they reveal a service under tremendous pressure. there'll be 500 diverts but there'll be many more a&e departments working right at the limit that they could have diverted. and the report says morale is low among ambulance staff, another sign of pressure. nhs england believes too many ambulances are being dispatched to simply try to hit targets, and it's reviewing the system. jane dreaper, bbc news. the basque separatist movement, eta, has said that it will officially disarm from tomorrow — according to a letter obtained by the bbc. more than 800 people were killed during eta's campaign of violence — thousands of others were injured. the spanish government has refused to negotiate with the group, whose aim is to achieve independence from spain. the government is proposing to prevent hidden charges being charged to chance in hidden fees. it comes after information that some chance we re after information that some chance were being charged twice for the same service. the ban begins today. gp practice levels have been changed dramatically, and it is affecting doctors. the doctors have said they can no longer cope with growing patient demand. nhs england have said that all patients will be able to register with a surgery. it added that an extra billion pounds had been invested in general practice in two years. the french presidential candidate francois fillon has been pelted with flour at a campaign event. the conservative candidate had been at a rally in strasbourg when a protestor emptied the bag of flour at mr fillon. the former prime minister has faced protests in recent weeks since he was charged over accusations he gave his wife a fake parliamentaryjob for which she was paid hundreds of thousands of euros. the kenyan long—distance runner, jemima sumgong, who won the marathon at last year's rio olympics and the london marathon, has tested positive for a banned performance enhancing substance. the long—distance runner, tested positive for the banned substance epo. there's no indication as yet as to what action the authorities will take as a result of the test. back to our main story now. overnight, the us launched a military attack on syria, releasing dozens of missiles from navy warships — targeting an airfield in western syria. it's in response to a chemical attack that killed at least 80 people and was described by president trump as a disgrace to humanity. here's what he had to say about the air strikes this morning. on tuesday, the syrian dictator, bashar al—assad, launched a horrible, the weapons attack on innocent civilians using a deadly nerve agent. bashar al—assad ended the lives of helpless men, women, and children. it was a slow and brutal death for so many, even beautiful babies. they were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack. no child of god should ever suffer such horror. tonight i ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in syria from where the chemical attack was launched. it is in this vital national security interest of the united states to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons. there can be no dispute that syria used banned chemical weapons, violated its obligations under the chemical weapons convention, and ignored the urging of the un security council. years of previous attempts at changing bashar al—assad's behaviour have all failed, and failed very dramatically. as a result, the refugee crisis continues to deepen, and the region continues to destabilise, threatening the united states and its allies. tonight, i call on all civilised nations to join us in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in syria, and also to end terrorism of all kinds and all types. we ask for god's wisdom as we face the challenge of our very troubled world. we pray for the lives of the wounded and for the souls of those who have passed. and we hope that as long as america stands were just as that peace and harmony will, in the end, prevail. good night, and god bless america and the entire world. thank you. we understand those missiles were launched at 1:40am uk time. a total of 59 tomahawk cruise missiles fired from destroyers in the eastern mediterranean. conflicting reports at this stage about the damage done. some suggestions there may have been a number of lives lost in the attack. let's get the reaction from downing street, offering full support for the us action. we're joined now from our westminster studio by our political correspondent eleanor garnier. take ta ke after take after exactly what's been said. i understand the minister was informed ahead of the strikes taking place, as she did know ahead of them they were going ahead with the strikes. i've also been told by downing street that the uk and the us were in contact at the highest levels, not just us were in contact at the highest levels, notjust overnight but yesterday too. a statement from the government says that overnight the us has taken military action against the syrian regime, targeting that airfield which was used to launch the chemical weapons attack earlier this week. the uk government fully supports the us action, which we believe was an appropriate response to the barbaric chemical weapons attack launched by the syrian regime and is intended to deterfurther attacks. interestingly we heard from george osborne, the former chancellor, who says that although the uk wasn't involved in the strike, he says he assumes we were consulted and we will support. there are further questions that will be asked about whether the prime minister and government were not just informed that the strikes were taking place, but whether they were also consulted. and if they were, is there a reason why it particular the uk didn't go ahead and get involved itself? so lots more questions to come. we've heard from one labour mp, mary craig, said the government was right to support the us action against the airbase and she hopes this ends assad's impunity. —— mary creagh. thank you. that was the information that as we understand the british government was informed. we will speak to the uk defence secretary michael fallon just after 8am, we can ask some of those questions. dr leslie vinjamuri, a us analyst at the think tank chatham house, joins us now from our london newsroom. thank you forjoining us. it is a real change in policy for president trump. we heard through his campaign how he was very imposed the intervention in syria. what are your thoughts on it? it is clearly a very specific reaction to the use of chemical weapons. i wouldn't say it's a broad change in strategy, it's a broad change in strategy, it's a broad change in strategy, it's a response, the limited response, directed response. it has very widespread consensus support. across the us there is some pushback from congress, that if there's any further action taken then the president needs to with congress, but it doesn't really represent a significant strategy. i wouldn't say there is a very significant strategy right now. i would say the next thing to watch will be how russia response, because that will be crucial in terms of any further engagement with the conflict in syria. but these strikes are largely symbolic and important. the violation of the prohibition in using chemical weapons and the intense devastation that sat in syria can't be understated. but they haven't been aiming to fundamentally change what's going on in the war in syria. you mentioned russia and we have had a reaction from the kremlin this morning, saying that within the last few minutes they've said the cruise missiles attack does significant damage to us— russian ties. resident putin considering those us strikes as aggression against the sovereign state, which violate the rules of international law. so clearly this is making that relationship very tense? yes, and that relationship, as we know, has beenin that relationship, as we know, has been in an increasingly bad place, even before donald trump has come into office, for a lot of reasons. if russia is not onboard had not willing to put pressure on assad and syria, then the prospects of these strikes having any significant impact on the war in syria are u nfortu nately impact on the war in syria are unfortunately quite low. nonetheless, the symbolism is is —— is significant. in 2014 president obama looked to the russians to work with assad, to get rid of the chemical weapons, and he got a lot fla k chemical weapons, and he got a lot flak for that, for not taking harder measures. but there was the view that most of the chemical weapons had been destroyed. now we know that wasn't the case, the trump really didn't have a proper especially after the statement the night before last, he didn't have room to take much more serious measures, but it doesn't change the context of the war. if russia isn't on side it will continue to be very difficult. there is now pressure on the us and president trump as to whether he will do more to affect the conflict in syria, which is now in its sixth year, more than 400,000 people killed, most estimate. so it's a very severe situation. any further attacks really need to be taken with attacks really need to be taken with a much more comprehensive strategy, for what they aim to achieve. thank you very much for your time this morning. we will come back to that story throughout the morning. let's catch up throughout the morning. let's catch up with our reporter, who is taking pa rt up with our reporter, who is taking part ina up with our reporter, who is taking part in a world record this morning. more than 80 balloons took off this morning. she can hear us but we must explain, your camera is in the balloon we are looking from and that's you in the distance? ido that's you in the distance? i do know. can you see me? -- don't know. we can! you won't be able to see this but my hand is clutching onto the banister. i can't look down, but i am sure the cameraman is showing you the beautiful pictures. we are very close to the sea. underneath us is dover castle. how far have we gone? we are about half a mile from the cliffs. just about to go over the castle and this is the point of no return. the next stop is france. looking ahead, 82 balloons behind us. we are leading the way and it's a pretty good site, isn't it? it is amazing. we are all bunched up together, so it is this mass exodus of balloons. i have no idea what the people on the ferries are going to think when they see as passing by! no one has seen this across the channel before? 49 was the record and we have 82 in the air. hopefully we will end up with a new guinness world record. the conditions you were telling the earlier are completely perfect. we are going quite slowly? slower than normal but it is safe. the upper winds are above us. above us are much faster winds. so once we finish our sightseeing we will climb up and get to france quicker. brilliant. i love the way you say lovely views. you're great with views. am i the only person struggling with the heights? what more could you want? inaudible... you heights? what more could you want? inaudible. .. you might heights? what more could you want? inaudible... you might not be able to hear us because the bird is going. we're getting very close... look at that! amazing. once we are out there, you look out and all you can see is sea? divisibility today is such that the weather is quite clear. we are in the middle of the channel. we won't be able to see france or england, which will be a little bit disconcerting. we will get in touch and hopefully see you soon when we are across the sea, in the middle of it! absolutely stunning images. stay on the pictures for a minute. the noise you can hear other burners. initially you thought it was interference, but of course it is the rise of the burners as they set off on a journey. it looks absolutely stunning. and the weather looks absolutely gorgeous. let's see what the weather is like across the rest of the country. good morning! carol is country. good morning! carol is at country. good morning! carol is at regent's country. good morning! carol is at regent's park. country. good morning! carol is at regent's park. good morning. i think you have fairly well summed it up. the weather for many parts of the uk today is going to be gorgeous. if you like it is sunny and pleasantly warm. here in regenfs sunny and pleasantly warm. here in regent's park this morning it is glorious. a cold start for many of us, but look at the colours of the spring flowers. regent's park has been here a long time, since the 1800, and each season it offers something beautiful. lots of people have been running this morning. the forecast for most of the uk is a chilly start. we're also looking at sunny spells through the course of the day. the exception to that in the day. the exception to that in the north and north—west. at 9am this morning in scotland we have the north and north—west that seeing more cloud and some drizzle. still quite breezy. eastern scotland has some sunshine. for north—west england, a little bit more cloud. across the pennines and into the north—east, back into the sunshine. further south still some cloud across the midlands. that will break and we have sunshine and sunshine into east anglia. blue skies already in london. down in the south coast as well. and all the way over to the south—west, including the isles of scilly and the channel islands. a bit of clout in wales. but lots of sunshine as well. for northern ireland, more cloud around. at least it isn't such a cold start. some of us it isn't such a cold start. some of us have got that frost. what it will quickly lift now that the sun is out and temperatures are rising. through the day we hang on to the breeze in the day we hang on to the breeze in the north and north—west. for the rest of the uk, we have this sunshine. high pollen levels today across sunshine. high pollen levels today a cross m ost sunshine. high pollen levels today across most of england and wales. and it is treatable. temperatures today up to about 19. —— it is tree pollen. overnight it will be holes in the cloud, so again a touch of frost in the countryside. east and low cloud forming. breezy in the far north. but average about 7—9. in the tomorrow, any mist and fog will lift rapidly and for most of us there will be another fine, dry and sunny day. the cloud in the north—west retreating towards the coast. inland tomorrow, especially in england, 20— 21. widely we have about 14— 16 celsius. but on the coast it will be a little bit cooler. that leads us into sunday. it will be the warmest day of the weekend. southerly winds coming our way. highs of up to 23— 24. fresh in scotland and northern ireland. that will produce bigger cloud and rain. sounds lovely and looks gorgeous where you are! we are going to go back to that shot of the hot air balloons. 80 of them about to cross the channel. look at that. it isn't every day we can offer you a picture like this. it's a record—breaking attempt today and it just looks a record—breaking attempt today and itjust looks remarkable. a record—breaking attempt today and it just looks remarkable. they a record—breaking attempt today and itjust looks remarkable. they got lucky with the weather. i am not an expert on good learning conditions but it looks good. fiona is in one of them. we will be going back life to her later. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. good morning, from bbc london news. i'm victoria hollins. employers in the capital are struggling to fill so—called white collar jobs. the most affected sectors are in it and finance. that's according to a study from the recruitment and employment confederation. it also says that brexit could exacerbate the problem if immigration restrictions are implemented. new figures show thames valley police is handling a growing number of gun crimes, more than 1,000 in the past six years. firearms were involved in 158 incidents between january and october last year. that's more than the whole of 2015. some of the world's best gymnasts will be competing in london this weekend, as the 02 hosts the world cup of gymnastics. brinn bevan trains at the south essex gymnastics club. he's one of the british olympic stars who will be hoping to do well on home turf in the all around competition. i was still a junior during london 2012. i bought my ticket and was sitting in the crowd, so it will be very different this time, competing in the arena, rather than just sitting on the sidelines. let's have a look at the travel situation now. on the tubes this morning, there's a good service on all lines. on the roads, west dulwich has queues on the a205 thurlow park road at croxted road, due to temporary traffic lights. in westminster, road closures going in at 8am on abingdon street, st margaret's street, parliament square, whitehall and bridge street, until 12:30pm. that's due to a memorial event at westminster abbey. in enfield, temporary traffic lights on windmill hill at gladbeck way, this may cause problems due to water main works. in peckham, a collapsed manhole on peckham high street, westbound at peckham hill street. let's have a check on the weather now, with elizabeth rizzini. good morning. get set for a warm and sunny weekend. today's weather is looking very similar to yesterday. lots of sunshine around and a bit of cloud coming and going at times. it's a rather chilly start to the day again as well, with temperatures in low to mid single figures through the morning. lots of sunshine around this morning and temperatures will start to rise nicely. pleasantly warm in the sunshine, with just a light breeze and temperatures will eventually peak out in the mid—to—high teens. yesterday we saw just shy of 19 celsius in central london. probably something similar today. just be aware that the tree pollen levels today are fairly high. more sunshine around again this evening and overnight tonight there will be variable amounts of cloud here and there. a lot of clear skies as well. these are the values we will see in the towns under the cloud. so, for most of us, a chilly start again tomorrow, with temperatures in the mid—single figures. there could be some mist patches around but they will clear quickly. high—pressure dominates, so it will stay dry. southerly winds developing, bringing up warm air. temperature wise we could hit 19—20 on saturday, maybe 23 on sunday. lovely. i'm back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. plenty more on our website at the usual address. bye for now. hello, this is breakfast with steph mcgovern and charlie stayt. the united states has launched missile strikes against syria overnight. 59 cruise missiles were fired from us warships at an air base, in retaliation for a chemical attack that killed dozens of people earlier this week. the syrian government has condemned the action which happened at twenty to two this morning but downing street has said the action was an appropriate response. this morning, president trump said it was in america's national security interests to prevent the spread of illegal weapons. this is what he had to sayjust hours after the attack. tonight i ordered a targeted chemical attack on syria from where the chemical attack was launched. it is in this vital national security interest of the united states to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons. there can be no dispute that syria used chemical weapons, violated its obligations under the chemical weapons convention, and ignored the urging of the un security council. numerous previous attempts at changing assad's behaviour have all failed, and they'll vary dramatically. —— and failed vary dramatically. —— and failed vary dramatically. as a result, the region continues to destabilise, threatening the united states and its allies. tonight i call on all civilised nations to join us in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in syria. president trump talking about the airstrike there. let's get more details now from our moscow correspondent, steve rosenberg. they have said that there has been significant damage to us— russian ties because of this? yes, moscow's faith things very differently. we heard the first reaction from the kremlin —— moscow sees this very differently. they have said it was a violation of international law, and an attempt to distract the international community from civilian casualties in america's military campaign in iraq. president putin said that this attack would cause significant damage to the us— russian friendship, strong words from the kremlin this morning. that was expected. although yesterday the kremlin said that the chemical attack in idlib province was a monstrous crime, they also said that there was no evidence to suggest that it had been carried out by president assad. just after eight o'clock, we will be speaking to the defence secretary michael fallon. it is understood that the british government was informed that this strike was going to take place, but we will discuss that later this morning. looking at the other news this morning. there's been a sharp rise in the number of accident and emergency departments in england turning away ambulances. analysis by the nuffield trust think—tank shows ambulances were diverted nearly 500 times last year, compared to an average of 249 in the previous three years. nhs england says too many ambulances are being dispatched and the system is under review. the basque separatist movement, eta, has said that it will officially disarm from tomorrow — according to a letter obtained by the bbc. more than 800 people were killed during eta's campaign of violence — thousands of others were injured. the spanish government has refused to negotiate with the group, whose aim is to achieve independence from spain. gp practice closures have hit record levels, with hundreds of thousands of patients forced to change surgeries last year, according to figures obtained by medical magazine pulse. the royal college of gps said doctors could no longer cope with growing patient demand, but nhs england said all patients would still be able to register with a surgery. it added that an extra billion pounds had been invested in general practice in two years. that brings you up to date. the weather coming up in a few minutes time. but for now, it's ladies' day at aintree. mike's there with the sport. today we have the style stakes as well. we also have the buildup to the grand national, the world's most famous steeplechase. at all the officials but is oil and tufts of grass the course to cover up any holes after it took a pounding yesterday. imagine that over two miles. they go around that cause twice tomorrow in the grand national. time to have a look at the rest of the sport for now. golf's world number one dustinjohnson said "it sucks really bad", after being forced to withdraw from the masters. he made his way to the first tee at augusta, before deciding he couldn't carry on. johnson hurt his lower back on wednesday, when he fell down the stairs at his rental home. obviously i want to play, more than anything. but i was just sitting there and i was trying to, you know, ta ke there and i was trying to, you know, take a few swings, and ijust there and i was trying to, you know, take a few swings, and i just can't swing it at all. lee westwood is the leading briton after a blustery opening round at augusta. he's in third place, five shots behind the leader, charley hoffman of the united states, who's seven—under—par. poor weather is playing havoc with practice ahead of this weekend's chinese grand prix. conditions in shanghai mean the medical helicopter can't operate and therefore its not safe for the drivers to go on to the track. the first session was severely disrupted and the second session was due to start at 7am, but is yet to get underway. olympic marathon champion jemima sumgong has failed an out—of—competition drugs test. the 32—year—old kenyan was due to defend her london marathon title later this month. she tested positive for the blood booster epo in a test by athletics‘ world governing body the iaaf. kyle edmund will play the first rubber of britain's davis cup quarter—final today, against france's lucas ppuille. edmund helped the team to victory over canada in february — but without the injured andy murray, great britain are the underdogs in this tie. there's coverage from rouen across the bbc. in rugby leage, greg eden scored his 11th try of the season, to make sure super league leaders castleford beat the defending champions wigan. after intercepting a wayward pass, eden ran almost the entire length of the pitch, to dive over the line. castleford won by 27 points to 10. here at aintree, lizzie kelly showed she'd recovered well from herfall in the cheltenham gold cup three weeks ago when she rode the 10—to—1 shot tea for two to victory in the feature race on day one — the betway bowl. it was a battle at the end, with the favourite cue card pushing them all the way to the line. katy walsh has tweeted that her suspected broken arm was actually just a bruising. she will be able to compete tomorrow. it is 20 years since the entire course had to be evacuated because of a warm threat by the ira. it was the biggest sporting evacuation in british history —— bomb threat. this is a reminder of how the day unfolded. history —— bomb threat. this is a reminder of how the day unfoldedm was to be a special day, the grand national, but it was a very sad day for sport. all 60,000 people at aintree were evacuated. it is so disappointing for so many people, the biggest race in the world.” disappointing for so many people, the biggest race in the world. i am with local resident edie roach. 20 yea rs with local resident edie roach. 20 years ago, it you got more involved than you had ever imagined?” years ago, it you got more involved than you had ever imagined? i did. we were having the usual get—together, as we've always done. and then there was... something happened around the racecourse, there was no activity. people started congregating outside the house. there is no other entrants except the racecourse itself. i went outside and said, what's happening? they said, can you tell us? have you got a television? we've got horses in there. they were very concerned about the horses. i said, instead of me relaying information, why don't you come in and have a look yourself? notjust punters? there we re yourself? notjust punters? there were owners, trainers, jockeys... the whole world of racing in my living room. i didn't realise who they were, to be honest. within seconds, the house was packed. harvey smith was sitting on the stairs patting the family dog, robert ogden was in the living room with his brother. the hendersons, the list just went with his brother. the hendersons, the listjust went on and on. they have nowhere to go, they had to stay, there were no mobile phones and they were waiting for the show first to come and pick them up. it basically just went first to come and pick them up. it basicallyjust went on and on. once we realised that the race was definitely off, it just we realised that the race was definitely off, itjust developed into a nice afternoon. a positive day! one you will never forget. andrew, you had the logistics to organise that day, the biggest sporting evacuation in history?m was amazing at the time. it was great, we just was amazing at the time. it was great, wejust got was amazing at the time. it was great, we just got on with it. it was just one of those things. we had all the horses in the stables and everything. i think it was, everyone was just banding together. and then we ran it as a one—day nationalfor the first time ever, that was fantastic. let's briefly talk about the conditions. who will they favour? something on the easy said i don't make side would be good, you can get your heel in it. —— something on the easy side. i would love a scottish winner, i come from scotland. at the end of the day, it's a great race, and that's what it's a great race, and that's what it's all about. there's £1 million up it's all about. there's £1 million upforgrabs, it it's all about. there's £1 million up for grabs, it will be amazing. thank you very much. in one hour ‘s time, i will need to smart enough a bit, because i will be speaking to some sporting icons later in the programme. fantastic to hear that. if you are on holiday and you use your phone, there is a risk that you will run up a big deal. one option is, don't use the phone. you never use your phone, do you? a little bit more sociable than when he is in the office. last yearl than when he is in the office. last year i was on the phone to my network provider for a couple of hours, trying to sort out my contract before i went away. i didn't want to get the cost once i got there. some of us have nicer times of broad band charlie. it's a sting in the tail after time away. the customer comparison site has found that phone bills were over £50 more than expected after people have been ona more than expected after people have been on a break. there is quite a bit of confusion about the rules and the different providers on offer. time to talk to greenalls. —— graham knowles. what's the capital these people? most networks in the uk have the amount of usage you can hit basically, so if you are on a standard tariff you can go beyond that by £50. you could still spend £50 before the networks cut you off and they will most likely said you we re and they will most likely said you were “— and they will most likely said you were —— said you were text, which will say, would you like to opt out of this? if you say you want to opt out of it that you are really opening the floodgates. the sky is the limit. you probably don't want that scenario. but even if you have the scenario don black —— have the limit, you could still spend that £50. often when you are on holiday people throw caution to the wind and you might need maps, you might be the situation we need directions or something like that. sometimes you just get a voicemail message. we found people didn't realise there was a cost associated with checking your voicemail and that can quickly add up. a lot of this is to do with preparing. one of the things you can do, if you speak to your network of either beforehand or at least know what they offer, there are different deals for when you are travelling, which might mean you can use your contract? definitely. we recommend getting in touch with your network. you can go on the website. many of them are helpful and they have guides available as two packages. you might be done —— payee £2.50 in europe. it might be a bit more further afield. you have to weigh up how much you will use it. if you are just going to send one text message. . . just going to send one text message... i had a situation where i was abroad and i got a text from a bank saying there was suspicious activity on my card. i had to reply yes to block it. that cost me £5 because my add—on was triggered. yes to block it. that cost me £5 because my add—on was triggeredm you are going the way the main thing is to be prepared. you will probably get some costs, so you have to take ca re get some costs, so you have to take care with your budget. thank you. my thank you. my point is that you speak to the people you are with. carol is in regenfs people you are with. carol is in regent's park, enjoying beautiful surroundings! good morning. yes, it is beautiful. it's been a cold start and the temperature is now about five celsius. but look at the view! you probably won't be able to make them out because of the sun, but if i take you around regent's park we've got the blossoms behind, the gorgeous kaleidoscope of colour... inaudible. over there we have the red standing out against the green. it is magnificent. if you have an allergy to pollen it is worth mentioning across most of england and all of wales today the pollen levels are high and we are talking about tree pollen. the forecast for todayis about tree pollen. the forecast for today is a chilly start. some of us starting off with frost, but sunny spells. many starting with blue skies. in scotland we start the forecast with a bit more cloud in the north and west, producing drizzle. around argyll and bute, for example. eastern scotland, dry, with sunshine. four northwest england is a bit more cloud. as we come south into east anglia, kent, the midlands, down the south coast, if you've got pockets of cloud they will tend to fade away. into the south—west of england in the sunny start. for wales, a bit of cloud around, but a lot of sunshine. for northern ireland, the cloudy start, so not as cold as it is for much of the uk. through the day the north and west will hang on to the cloud. so if you are northern ireland and northwest scotland that's where it will remain cloudy. there's the odd spot of drizzle coming out. the wind is coming down, compared to yesterday, but it will be quite breezy. temperatures in the south—east, up to about 19. generally we have14— south—east, up to about 19. generally we have 14— 16. at evening and overnight, again, some cloud around. some of us in the countryside waking up to a touch of frost. a little bit of mist and some low cloud as well. still breezy in the north, showers in the north—west. temperatures in towns and cities roughly from about 6—9. tomorrow morning we should lose any mist and fog that's formed overnight by about 8—9 in the morning and although it will start cloudy the north—west of scotland and northern ireland as we go through the day you willjoin the rest of the uk in having a sunny and pleasant day. tomorrow in england that averages 20- 21. it will be tomorrow in england that averages 20— 21. it will be cool on the coast with the sea breezes, but widely again 14— 16. sunday is the warmest day of the weekend across england and wales. highs of 23— 24 possible in the south—east. but for scotland and northern ireland, a weather front coming in and that will introduce more cloud and some rain. it will feel fresher. as the weather front crosses us all, it will feel that it cooler than this weekend. charlie and sall. and steph! you get so used... it is like saying bill and ben. i apologise! we keep cutting the line because we don't want to hear your excuses! thanks amcu in a bit. we will be back with carol later. —— see you in a bit. let's bring you up to date with the events of the morning. last night the us launched missile strikes against syria. president trump said it was in america's national interest to prevent the spread and use of chemical weapons. the strike to race at1:40am uk time chemical weapons. the strike to race at 1:40am uk time and a total of 59 tomahawk cruise missiles were fired from destroyers in the eastern mediterranean. the target was an air base in syria. we will be talking to the defence secretary later. afzal ashraf was a senior officer in the raf and worked as a counterinsurgency strategist for the us commanding general and the us ambassador in iraq. hejoins us now. we knew there would be some type of reaction from the us. but this feels like the start of a different military campaign. would you say that's fair? yes, it is fair. this isa that's fair? yes, it is fair. this is a very significant departure from what's been going on in syria in a number of ways. it is unclear as to what this will lead to. what do you think will happen next? we've been told by the us government that this isa1—off told by the us government that this is a 1—off attack. do you think it is? i think that's probably the case. the trump administration wa nted case. the trump administration wanted to send out a message. this was the least risky way of doing so. they've used missiles. they have also taken steps apparently to forewa rn also taken steps apparently to forewarn the russians, to take every reasonable care to avoid russian and possibly iranian advisers from being casualties, in order to avoid an escalation. however, the russians appear not to be too pleased about this and the chinese are also —— we re this and the chinese are also —— were critical during the debate yesterday. now the ball is very much ina court yesterday. now the ball is very much in a court and it will be interesting to see how the russians respond. whether they will de—escalate at this stage or if they will want to increase tensions. as you mentioned, in the last few minutes we heard from the kremlin, with russia saying this cruise missiles tac does significant damage to us— russian ties. missiles tac does significant damage to us- russian ties. yes, it does. and of course this comes in the context of what was a very different relationship between the trump administration, from that which the obama administration had with the russians. so it really does change the dynamic. but what it does do for the dynamic. but what it does do for the trump administration is this is the trump administration is this is the first occasion as far as i can tell that president trump has been able to take action with support from all sides of the government, from all sides of the government, from both parties. thank you. sorry to interrupt you. we can now speak to interrupt you. we can now speak to the defence secretary. so michael fallonjoins to the defence secretary. so michael fallon joins us. thank you for your time. can you give us the reaction to the events that unfolded in the early hours of the morning? we fully support the strike. we have been in close contact with the american government over the last few days in preparation for this. the americans believe they've exhausted all possible diplomatic and peaceful ways of dealing with the use by the regime of chemical weapons. and they have been determined to want to prevent future attacks like this, so they've taken this action today, limited and appropriate action against the airfield and the aeroplanes and the equipment that was used they believe in this attack. that is action that we fully support. and whether british government informed before? can you ta ke government informed before? can you take us through the sequence of events ? take us through the sequence of events? we've been in close contact with the american government over the last couple of days at all levels, through the foreign secretary and the un here in london and washington. the american defence secretary consulted me earlier in the evening about our assessment of the evening about our assessment of the regime's culpability for the chemical weapons attack and be reviewed the need to understand and to deal with any likely russian reactions to the attacks. he was then reviewing the different options to put before the president. he then called me later on to advise us of the president's cup sit on, to give us the president's cup sit on, to give us notice of the attack, and our prime minister was kept informed throughout. will there be involvement from the british military in any further strikes? we haven't been asked to be involved in this. it is not part of the coalition. we are in a coalition with the united states, fighting daesh terrorism in iraq and syria, but the us have made it clear that this was a united states operation. but i should emphasise, we fully support it. have you seen for yourself congress is evidence that syria was responsible for the attack? how assessment is that it is highly likely, from the intelligence that we've seen. that this was the regime. and of course the regime has formed here. there have been previous serious allegations of where the regime they have used various gases against its own people and one of the purposes of this very limited and appropriate action was to deter the regime. this is the first time the trump administration has been faced with an incident like this, to deter the regime from using gas in this appalling way. thank you very much for your time this morning. that was the defence secretary michael fallon speaking to us, after the 59 cruise missiles we re us, after the 59 cruise missiles were fired from us destroyers at a syrian air base in the early hours of this morning. this is a story which is continuing to develop, so we will get reaction throughout the morning. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. good morning, from bbc london news. i'm victoria hollins. employers in the capital are struggling to fill so—called white collar jobs. the most affected sectors are in it and finance. that's according to a study from the recruitment and employment confederation. it also says that brexit could exacerbate the problem if immigration restrictions are implemented. new figures show thames valley police is handling a growing number of gun crimes, more than 1,000 in the past six years. firearms were involved in 158 incidents between january and october last year. that's more than the whole of 2015. some of the world's best gymnasts will be competing in london this weekend, as the 02 hosts the world cup of gymnastics. brinn bevan trains at the south essex gymnastics club. he's one of the british olympic stars who will be hoping to do well on home turf in the all around competition. i was still a junior during london 2012. i bought my ticket and was sitting in the crowd, so it will be very different this time, competing in the arena, rather than just sitting on the sidelines. let's have a look at the travel situation now. most lines running well on the tube, but on the northern line there are severe delays after problems between camden town and kennington southbound. on the roads, queues on the a205 thurlow park road at croxted road. you are advised to use alternative routes if possible. in north acton, lane is blocked by debris on the a40 westbound before gypsy debris on the a40 westbound before gypsy corner. in pakenham, there is a collapsed manhole on peckham high street westbound at peckham hill street. and in westminster, there are road street. and in westminster, there a re road closures street. and in westminster, there are road closures going on at abingdon street, st margaret's street, parliament square, whitehall and bridge street, until 12:30 street, parliament square, whitehall and bridge street, until12:30 p.m.. let's have a check on the weather now, with elizabeth rizzini. good morning. get set for a warm and sunny weekend. today's weather is looking very similar to yesterday. lots of sunshine around and a bit of cloud coming and going at times. it's a rather chilly start to the day again as well, with temperatures in low to mid single figures through the morning. lots of sunshine around this morning and temperatures will start to rise nicely. pleasantly warm in the sunshine, with just a light breeze and temperatures will eventually peak out in the mid—to—high teens. yesterday we saw just shy of 19 celsius in central london. probably something similar today. just be aware that the tree pollen levels today are fairly high. more sunshine around again this evening and overnight tonight there will be variable amounts of cloud here and there. a lot of clear skies as well. these are the values we will see in the towns under the cloud. so, for most of us, a chilly start again tomorrow, with temperatures in the mid—single figures. there could be some mist patches around but they will clear quickly. high—pressure dominates over the weekend, so it will stay dry. southerly winds developing, bringing up warm air. temperature wise we could hit 19—20 on saturday, maybe 23 on sunday. i'm back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. plenty more on our website at the usual address. bye for now. hello, this is breakfast with steph mcgovern and charlie stayt. the united states has carried out missile attacks in syria overnight. 59 cruise missiles were launched from us warships targeting a syrian air base. president trump said he ordered the action in retaliation for a chemical attack that killed dozens of people. it is in this vital national security interest of the united states to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons. good morning, it's friday 7th april. we'll have full analysis of those air strikes with our correspondents in the middle east, america and russia. reaction from downing street saying the action was appropriate. more details throughout the programme. also this morning: under pressure, new figures show a big increase in the number of ambulances being turned away from hospitals because they're too busy. oil prices have risen overnight to its highest level for a month, $56 a barrel. and good morning from aintree on ladies day ahead of tomorrow's grand national. it's been confirmed that katie walsh will be able to ride in the big race tomorrow on wonderful charm. look at these images, hot air balloons crossing the channel in an attempt to break a record. we will look at those pictures later on. and the weather is supposed to be so good this weekend we have sent carol out. it's going to be a beautiful weekend with sunny spells. the highest temperatures will be on sunday but across england we could hit 23 or 24 which will be the highest we are likely to see. i will have more in 15 minutes. good morning. first, our main story. the united states has launched missile strikes against syria overnight. 59 cruise missiles were fired from us warships at an air base in retaliation for a chemical attack that killed dozens of people earlier this week. the syrian government has condemned the action. downing street has said the action. downing street has said the action. downing street has said the action was an appropriate response. here is our washington correspondent. it was a decisive response from an administration that has often seemed disorganised and at times dysfunctional. a fusillade of tomahawk cruise missiles fired from us navy ships in the mediterranean aimed at the syrian air base from which america says that deadly chemical weapons attack was launched earlier this week. a line in the sand moment for the new commander—in—chief. on tuesday, syrian dictator bashar al—assad launched a horrible chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians. using a deadly nerve agent, assad choked out the lives of helpless men, women and children. these are the heart—breaking images that moved the president to action, triggering in the process a remarkable shift in foreign policy on the part of his nascent administration. a week ago, white house officials professed little interest in regime change in syria but the use of what they say was a deadly nerve agent by bashar al—assad's forces has changed everything. tonight, i call on all civilised nations to join us in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in syria and also to end terrorism of all kinds and all types. news of the missile strike somewhat overshadowed a one—day summit with china's president xi at which the two leaders were expected to discuss the growing threat posed by north korea but depending on where the us goes from here he could find he has his work cut out in syria, a quagmire of a conflict which could define his presidency one way or the other. and david joins us now from our studio in washington. so, people here are picking up on the story this morning, those 59 cruise missiles launched and the speech shortly afterwards from donald trump, both emotional but also hugely significant in terms of the serious situation. very much so. yes, full of appeals to the international community to come in, even though the president has made clear that he is well prepared to ta ke clear that he is well prepared to take unilateral action if necessary and this intended to send a signalf you like, to the assad regime. it was a limited response according to officials in the trump administration but a powerful one. those 59 missiles fired from us navy forces, navy vessels in the mediterranean. donald trump has described the attack, chemical weapons attack, as barbaric and he said that president assad had, as he put it, choked out the lives of helpless men, women and children. that was what pre—empted this turnaround, if you like, because the trump administration had previously made clear it really wasn't interested in forcing regime change in syria. now all that has changed. the question, though, is are there more such attacks to follow or is this a one—shot deal, if you like? the indications are it's the latter. but we are reallyjust have to wait and see, i think. but we are reallyjust have to wait and see, ithink. david, thank but we are reallyjust have to wait and see, i think. david, thank you. downing street has offered full support for the us action. let's go live to our westminster studio. our political correspondent is there for us. talking to the defence secretary on the programme a few minutes ago, he said this was very much a united states operation but fully supported by the uk government. that's right. we know that the prime minister was informed ahead of the strikes taking place. michael fallon emphasising this morning that over the last couple of days the uk and the us at all different levels have been in co nsta nt all different levels have been in constant contact over the situation in syria. he did continue to say this is a us air strike, it's not a strike by the coalition as he called it and that's why he was saying we fully back it but it is right that we are not involved at this stage because it is action taken by the us on the orders of the president donald trump. here is a little bit of what the defence secretary said a few minutes ago. we haven't been asked to be involved in this. it's not part of the coalition, we are in a coalition with the united states fighting daesh terrorism in iraq and syria. but the united states has made this clear this was a united states operation but i should emphasise we fully support it. now overnight we had a statement from the government which said that the attack in syria was, the chemical weapons attack was barbaric. those are words that have been reflected in response from the liberal democrats this morning, the leader tim farron saying that the american forces attack was a proportionate response to the barbaric attack by the syrian government on its own people. but saying that the british government rather than putting out a bland statement welcoming this should now follow it up and call an emergency meeting of the nato alliance and see what else can be done, be that more surgical strikes or no—fly zones. the lib dem statement goes on, evil happens when good people do nothing. we can not sit by while a dictator gases his own people, we can not stand by, we must act. some strong words there. i guess the questions going forward now are going to be if the government was informed, was it consulted and going forward is there a possibility that the uk may become involved? thank you very much. we will stay with that story throughout the morning and keep you up throughout the morning and keep you up to date including in about five minutes the full statement made by president trump in the hours after the missiles were launched. that's coming up. the other stories this morning. there has been a sharp rise in the number of accident and emergency departments in england turning away ambulances in the last year, compared with the previous three years. the nuffield trust think—tank says its analysis shows ambulance services are facing even more pressures than nhs hospitals. here's our health correspondent, jane dreaper. a service under strain. ambulances are diverted when hospitals are exceptionally busy. it's a temporary measure to take the pressure off a&e, but it means patients have further to travel for urgent treatment. today's report shows how the number of diverts has leapt in the past few months. during the three winters beginning in 2013, this happened on average 249 times. but in this most recent winter, the number of diverts jumped to almost 500. the report says this is bad for patients and explains why ambulance trusts in england are missing their expected response times. 500 or so — you may say "well, it's not a big number." they are the tip of the iceberg. they have doubled. they reveal a service under tremendous pressure. there'll be 500 diverts but there'll be many more a&e departments working right at the limit that they could have diverted. and the report says morale is low among ambulance staff, another sign of pressure. nhs england believes too many ambulances are being dispatched to simply try to hit targets, and it's reviewing the system. jane dreaper, bbc news. a woman who was knocked into the river thames during the westminster terror attack has died of her injuries police have confirmed. andrea cristea, who was 31, was visiting london from her native romania when she was struck on westminster bridge by the car driven by khalid masood. she is the fifth person to have died following the attack. the basque separatist movement eta has said that it will officially disarm from tomorrow, according to a letter obtained by the bbc. more than 800 people were killed during eta's campaign of violence, thousands of others were injured. the spanish government has refused to negotiate with the group, whose aim is to achieve independence from spain. gp practice closures have hit record levels, with hundreds of thousands of patients forced to change surgeries last year, according to figures obtained by medical magazine pulse. the royal college of gps said doctors could no longer cope with growing patient demand, but nhs england said all patients would still be able to register with a surgery. it added that an extra billion pounds had been invested in general practice in two years. the french presidential candidate francois fillon has been pelted with flour at a campaign event. the conservative candidate had been at a rally in strasbourg when a protestor emptied the bag of flour at mr fillon. the former prime minister has faced protests in recent weeks since he was charged over accusations he gave his wife a fake parliamentary job for which she was paid hundreds of thousands of euros. back to our main story. the us launched a military attract on syria overnight, releasing dozens of missiles from navy warships targeting an airfield in western syria. it's in response to a chemical attack that killed at least 80 people and was described by president trump as a disgrace to humanity. here's what he had to say earlier. on tuesday, the syrian dictator, bashar al—assad, launched a horrible, the weapons attack on innocent civilians using a deadly nerve agent. bashar al—assad ended the lives of helpless men, women, and children. it was a slow and brutal death for so many, even beautiful babies. they were cruelly murdered in this very barbaric attack. no child of god should ever suffer such horror. tonight, i ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in syria from where the chemical attack was launched. it is in this vital national security interest of the united states to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons. there can be no dispute that syria used banned chemical weapons, violated its obligations under the chemical weapons convention, and ignored the urging of the un security council. years of previous attempts at changing bashar al—assad's behaviour have all failed, and failed very dramatically. as a result, the refugee crisis continues to deepen, and the region continues to destabilise, threatening the united states and its allies. tonight, i call on all civilised nations to join us in seeking to end the slaughter and bloodshed in syria, and also to end terrorism of all kinds and all types. we ask for god's wisdom as we face the challenge of our very troubled world. we pray for the lives of the wounded and for the souls of those who have passed. and we hope that as long as america stands were just as that peace and harmony will, in the end, prevail. good night, and god bless america, and the entire world. thank you. that was the full statement from president trump in the immediate aftermath of that missile launch. former british ambassador to syria, sir peter ford, is here to discuss this with us. good morning. can i first draw your attention, the opening part of that statement from president trump said, my fellow americans, on tuesday, syrian dictator president bashar al—assad launched a horrible chemical weapons attack on innocent civilians. this is a statement of fa ct. civilians. this is a statement of fact. it is a myth statement of non—fact. we don't know. what is needed is an investigation. there are two possibilities for what happened. one is the american version, that assad dropped chemical weapons on this locality. the other version is that an ordinary ball was dropped and it hit a munitions dump —— and ordinarily bohm. thejihadis we re —— and ordinarily bohm. thejihadis were storing chemical weapons. we don't know which of these two possibilities is the correct one. remember the run—up to iraq. the experts, the intelligence agencies, the politicians were convinced that saddam had weapons of mass destruction. they produced reams of evidence, photographs and diagrams. it was all wrong. it was all wrong. it was all wrong. it was all wrong. it is possible that they are wrong in this instance as well. that they arejust in this instance as well. that they are just looking in this instance as well. that they arejust looking for a in this instance as well. that they are just looking for a pretext to attack syria. and let's not deceive ourselves, what has happened makes more use of chemical weapons more likely, not less. well, the sentiment that you are talking about their chines most amongst international reaction to what happened, the chemical attack, with what russia is saying. you chime most with them. we heard from michael fallon, the defence secretary, you convinced by the evidence is sufficient that he backs this action —— he is convinced. why are you a relatively lone voice?” don't leave my brains out the door when i examine a situation analytically. i try to be objective. based on previous experience, including iraq, we can see that we cannot take at face value what the so—called intelligence experts tell us, not least when they have an agenda. the main point is that it is not going to end here. britain is likely to be dragged into this, because trump has just given the jihadis 1000 because trump has just given the jihadis1000 reasons to stage fake flag operations, seeing how successful and how easy it is with a global media to provoke the west into intemperate reactions. they will very likely staging operation similarto will very likely staging operation similar to what they did, and this was documented by the united nations in august last year. they mounted a chlorine gas attack on civilians, and they try to make it look like it was a regime operation. mark my words, you are hearing it here, and it will happen. and we will get all of the warmongers coming to tell us that assad is defying us and we must go in more heavily into syria. this will be fake flag. can i ask you, you are a form of british ambassador to syria —— a former british ambassador. with your knowledge of bashar al—assad, his regime and the country, what do you think his reaction to this will be? assad may be crawled, brutal, but he is not mad. it defies belief that he would bring this all on his head, for no military advantage. the fight with him had no military significance. it made absolutely no sense. we are going back to the previous argument... it would have angered the russians for no other reason. this is simply not plausible. but how will his dav change now he knows president trump is prepared to launch cruise missile attacks? - how will his behaviour change. he broke the first place, so he can't change his behaviour. we will all pay the consequences. the oil price will spike. very likely there will be more use, not less use, of cw as a result of this. and, this is also important, the russians and the syrians will give glasgow operation in the fight against isis. peter ford, thank you for coming in —— will give less co—operation in the fight against isis. carol is out and about for us with the weather. it's looking lovely, isn't it? it certainly is here in regents park in london. you can hardly believe you are in the centre of london. it has been a chilly start of the day. temperatures are starting to pick up. for most of us, today's forecast is one of sunny spells. the exception is in the north—west of the uk, where there is a bit more cloud. in the north—west of scotla nd a bit more cloud. in the north—west of scotland we have some drizzle. eastern scotland off to a fight but a chilly start with some sunshine. north—east england, similar, it but. to the day, losing the fog in the vale of york earlier. east anglia towards kent, again, beautiful but a nippy start of the day. for wales, you have got little bits and pieces of cloud, nothing too much, and a lot of sunshine. as we cross the irish sea into northern ireland, well, it is a cloudy start for you. asa well, it is a cloudy start for you. as a result, it is not as cold is not. through the course of the day we will hang on to the cloud across the north and west of scotland and northern ireland. still some showers on and off across the west of scotland. here too it will be breezy. for the rest of the uk we are looking at a largely sunny and dry day. temperatures responding in the sunshine. the southeast will hit 18-19 c. the sunshine. the southeast will hit 18—19 c. generally we are looking at about 14. pollen levels are high, tree pollen, something to bear in mind if you are heading out. tonight there will be breaks in the cloud, we will see some frost. in the countryside there will be shallow and mistand countryside there will be shallow and mist and low cloud forming, still quite breezy in the north. temperatures between five and nine celsius, lower in roar areas, which is where we are expecting frost. any mistimed fog that forms tomorrow morning will clear at about 80. —— any mistand morning will clear at about 80. —— any mist and fog. starting off the cloudy note in the north—west, but through the david cloud full retreat back to the coast. for most of us, a sunny day and a pleasant one. temperatures 14—16 . inland we could hit 20 or 21. sunday starting warmer for england and wales. locally we could have 23 or even 24 celsius. the average in london is about 13. for scotland and northern ireland we have a weather front coming in introducing a bit more cloud. through the day we will also see a bit more cloud across western parts of england and also wales. enjoy it whilst you can if you've got it, chiloyan steph. it sounds marvellous! thanks, carol, see you ina bit. marvellous! thanks, carol, see you in a bit. we have been treated to some beautiful images this morning, not only of regents park. 82 hot—air balloons, they look amazing. they are currently sailing over the channel as they attempt a record—breaking crossing of the channel. there are still in the air right now. fiona lamdinjoined them in the airwith right now. fiona lamdinjoined them in the air with her pilot. we spoke to her as they flew over the white cliffs of dover. my hand is clutching onto the canister. i'm trying to keep my eyes, because it is absolutely beautiful but i can't look down! i'm sure the cameraman is showing you the beautiful pictures down. we very, very close to the sea. underneath us is dover castle. the pilot will be able to tell me, how far away from the sequence blog we half a mile from the cliffs. we are about to go over a block the castle, next stop is france. looking that way, straight ahead, 82 balloons behind us, we are leading the way. it's a pretty good site. it's amazing. we are all bunched up together. it is this huge mass exodus of balloons. i have no idea what the people on the ferries are going to think when they see us passing by. nobody has ever seen anything like this crossing the channel b. lot 49 was the record, and we have 82 balloons in the air. hopefully we will end up with the new guinness world record. the conditions, you were telling me earlier, are completely perfect. we are going quite slowly. we are going slower than normal, the winds, up above us is a much faster wind, so when we clear the cliffs we are going to climb up and get close to france a bit quicker. amazing images! fiona is still in the air along with the rest of the 80 balloons, gradually making their way gently across the tunnel.” balloons, gradually making their way gently across the tunnel. i must say, fiona is scared of heights, so she might be having quite a scary time! they are due to get there sometime after 9am this morning. we wish them all good luck. you're watching breakfast. still to come this morning... we're under starters' orders. it's ladies day at aintree, and mike will be looking ahead to today's race with his track—side tips. now, the news, travel and weather where you are. good morning. the weather is set fairfor good morning. the weather is set fair for the good morning. the weather is set fairfor the weekend, good morning. the weather is set fair for the weekend, plenty of dry weather with this high pressure centred across the top of the british isles. we do have some areas of cloud floating through and more cloud across northern ireland, parts of western scotland and north—west england, wales and into the west midlands. where we have the cloud this morning it will break up and for all of us this afternoon it's a story of sunny spells. thicker cloud across northern scotland, maybe the odd spot of rain. but the best of the brightness 17, 18, maybe 19. with that, particularly across england and wales, high pollen levels, so don't be surprised if you area levels, so don't be surprised if you are a little bit sniffley through the day. tonight it's largely dry. clear spells, it will get a little chilly. one or two fog patches. in the countryside could be a touch of frost. into the weekend after that chilly start it's a story of warm sunshine. saturday a beautiful looking day. early mist and fog clearing quickly from the south—west. just about all of us getting to see spells of sunshine. cooler close to the coast, sea breezes developing so maybe 12 there in brighton. but 19 or 20 in london. some parts of central england, the midlands, into wales, northern england, could well get to around 20. could see 18 in southern scotland, 17 in parts of northern ireland. always some thicker cloud plaguing the western isles and northern isles. for sunday we will see a band of rain pushing into the north—west of scotland, maybe northern ireland. from eastern scotla nd northern ireland. from eastern scotland down into england and wales afairamount of scotland down into england and wales a fair amount of sunshine around and particularly towards the south—east we could see temperatures up to 23. hello, this is business live from bbc news. the us air strikes on syria overshadowed president trump's meeting on trade and security with china's president. live from london that's our top story on friday 7th april. with little sign of a breakthrough on efforts to tackle america's huge trade deficit, will the two men manage to avoid a trade war? also coming up, it's a lawsuit that probably runs for more than 140 characters, twitter sues the us government after it demanded to know