welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is lewis vaughanjones. our top stories: hours before the biggest—everjoint us—south korean air force exercise gets under way, washington says the potential for war with north korea increases by the day. ahead of monday's brexit negotiations between the prime minister and the eu president, the bbc understands they're close to reaching an agreement, clearing the way for the second phase of talks. cambodia's premier leads prayers for peace and unity at a lavish ceremony days after dissolving the country's main opposition party. all these people have been brought to this, the most symbolically important site in cambodia, for one purpose — to impress on the population that the country is united, despite the destruction of the opposition. and looking to the heavens for the biggest and brightest so—called super moon as it reaches its closest point to earth.

president trump's national security advisor says north korea's nuclear ambitions pose "the greatest threat to the united states and to the world". the comments from hr mcmaster came ahead of the largest everjoint aerial exercises in the region, which have got under way between us and south korean airforces. pyongyang has called the drill an "all—out provocation". from washington, laura bicker reports. weapons experts have described the latest north korean missile as "a beast" capable of striking the us mainland. there were celebrations in pyongyang — a staged event to declare that north korea is becoming a nuclear nation. this is something the trump

administration has said it will not accept. the greatest immediate threat to the united states, and to the world. speaking at a defence forum, the us national security adviser had this warning. we know china has tremendous coercive economic power over north korea. i mean, you cannot shoot a missile without fuel. so, there are ways to address this problem short of armed conflict. but it is a race because he's getting closer and closer. and, umm, there's not much time left. the us is keeping a show of force in the korean peninsula and stealth fighters have been deployed to the region as part of the largest air exercise ever held with south korea. they've been dubbed as "war games". but a north korean television broadcast described the drills as provocation. the us has made it clear it doesn't want war with north korea

but kim jong—un has continued to build missiles and sanctions have not stopped him. the international committee is running out of diplomatic options. i'm going to urge the pentagon not to send any more dependants to south korea. it should be an unaccompanied tour. it's crazy to send spouses and children to south korea, given the provocation of north korea. military experts have warned that a war on the korean peninsula would have devastating consequences and north korea would be utterly destroyed. the hope must be that the threat of action, alongside stringent sanctions, will force the young korean leader to change course. laura bicker, bbc news, washington. the bbc understands that britain and the european union are close to reaching an agreement that will clear the way for the second phase of talks on the uk's departure from the bloc. eu officials have told the bbc that deals have now been reached on the bill britain must pay,

and on citizens‘ rights. the outstanding issue is the border with ireland. prime minister theresa may travels to brussels on monday for talks with the president of the european commission, jean—claude juncker. here's our political correspondent alex forsyth. when these two meet tomorrow, it will take more than polite greetings. his verdict will be crucial in deciding if they have edged close enough together on key issues for eu leaders to agree to start talking trade when they meet later this month. meanwhile, a handful of brexit—backing conservative mps have increased the pressure on the prime minister, signing a letter setting out their demands, including a promise that the european court ofjustice will cease to have any jurisdiction over the uk. for some, this goes to the heart of the brexit debate. the european court ofjustice is there to rule on all matters to do with the european union. we will have left the european union, and therefore,

the simple point is that we should not therefore have to look to the european court ofjustice or to havejudgements made by them bound directly back here into the uk. when it comes to this court, theresa may has signalled it will have a role during any transition, a possible 2—year period to prepare for new systems. but some brexiteers fear there could be compromise beyond that as the eu wants it to keep overseeing citizens‘ rights. today, one cabinet minister said there'd have to be cooperation between legal insisted systems, but european law wouldn't hold sway over british law, and he had a warning for some mps. the supreme court will decide what the law of the country is in this country, as voted on by parliament. that is the big thing that theresa may has achieved. and i think there's an even bigger point here. the choice we face now is not between this brexit or that brexit. if we don't back theresa may, we will have no brexit. but there are competing views over

several aspects of these talks. the island of ireland will be where the uk meets the eu. all agree there should be no hard border. but today, the irish government still was not convinced as to how —— the irish government is not being unreasonable here. we're simply asking questions that need more credible answers before we can allow the process to move onto phase two. here, the government said they have made headway on the irish border, as well as citizens‘ rights and the financial settlement, but say nothing‘s agreed until everything‘s agreed. there are still outstanding issues in these key areas in which the eu had wanted progress before agreeing to talk trade. the meeting is a crucial step in deciding whether or not enough —— the meeting is a crucial step in deciding whether or not enough has been done. the outcome is vital, but it‘s still far from certain. alex forsyth, bbc news, westminster. let‘s take a look at some of the other stories making the news.

a former egyptian prime minister whose family said he‘d disappeared after returning from exile has given a phone interview on egyptian television. ahmed shafik denied speculation that he‘d been kidnapped but he said he was now reconsidering his plan to run in next year‘s presidential elections. the saudi—led coalition has reportedly launched air strikes on yemen‘s capital in support of the former president, ali abdullah saleh. mr saleh had been allied to houthi rebels but their 3—year rebel alliance appears to have collapsed into what‘s described as a "street war" in sana‘a. new york‘s metropolitan opera has suspended its long—time music directorjames levine after multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. the us opera house said levine would no longer appear at the met this season, and they‘ve hired a former us prosecutor to investigate the accusations. mr levine is reported to have denied wrongdoing. pope francis has left bangladesh after completing a 6—day visit to asia. on friday, he used the word ‘rohingya‘ for the first time on his trip, having avoided

using it in myanmar. speaking to journalists on the plane back to rome from bangladesh, the pope said if he‘d used the word in his speech, he would have seen the door slammed shut. cambodia‘s democracy has taken several steps backward recently as the main opposition party was banned, its leaderjailed, and most of its leading politicians driven into exile. long—serving prime minister hun sen has also accused the united states of conspiring to overthrow him. over the weekend, he ordered a lavish buddhist ceremony at angkor wat, the seat of cambodia‘s ancient kings, to pray, he said, for unity and peace. our south east asia correspondent jonathan head was there. trappings fit for a modern—day king. the man who has ruled cambodia for 32 years chose his country‘s most famous landmark as a backdrop for this elaborate prayer ceremony, confusing the tourists

who found their expected route into angkor wat no longer open. at 65 years old, hun sen is visibly slower than he was but his hold on power is now complete, having just outlawed the only popular opposition party. these prayers, he said, were for peace and unity. by wrapping himself in the mantle of religion, though, and the aura of cambodia‘s greatest historic era, hun sen hopes to demonstrate that his legitimacy is secure. but this was a largely organised crowd, many of them schoolchildren. it was not a spontaneous show of support. these girls had no idea why the ceremony was being held. they‘d been told to come by their teacher. all of these people have

been brought to this, the most symbolically important site in cambodia, for one purpose and that‘s to impress upon the rest of the population the country is united, despite the distraction of the opposition. but the fact the prime minister has gone through all this trouble suggests he‘s not so sure. the party he outlawed has been doing well enough in recent elections to pose a serious threat. now its leaders are either injail or in exile. they believed that his drastic moves against them actually shows the wily cambodian strongman is worried. if he were sure of himself, he would call us back and say "let‘s compete fairly and freely and justly and inclusively. " do you think he‘s lost his confidence? he‘s haunted by the need to hang onto power. hun sen can command the finest

performances, the most spectacular settings, and the loyalty of an inner circle which, with him, has grown very wealthy. but for how long? within minutes of his departure, it was as if he‘d never been. people were buying souvenirs and the tourists who, more than anything else, have enriched this part of cambodia were back in joining the wonders of this ancient temple. jonathan head, bbc news, angkor wat. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: over the moon — sky—watchers celebrate as the december supermoon graces the skies. it‘s quite clear that the worst victims of this disaster are the poor people living

in the slums which have sprung up around the factory. i am feeling so helpless, that the childrens are dying in front of me and i can‘t do anything. charles manson is the mystical leader of the hippy cult suspected of killing sharon tate and at least six other people in los angeles. at 11am this morning, just half a metre of rock separated britain from continental europe. it took the drills just a few moments to cut through the final obstacle. then philippe cozette, a minerfrom calais, was shaking hands with and exchanging flags with robert fagg, his opposite number from dover. this is bbc news.

our top story this hour — as the biggest—ever us—south korean joint military airforce exercise begins, washington says the potential for war with north korea is increasing by the day. let‘s get more now on that story now. jacob shapiro is the director of analysis for the intelligence firm, geopolitical futures. he joins us from austin, texas we have heard they‘re the biggest everjoint we have heard they‘re the biggest ever joint exercise, we have heard they‘re the biggest everjoint exercise, given the timing of all of this, how significant are you think they are? first of all, thanks to having me. i think exercises are significant but i think the site is. size doesn‘t matter. we had massive exercise is backin matter. we had massive exercise is back in august of the important thing is the united states doesn‘t give up its security guarantee in south korea and is withdrawing from the korean peninsula which is what

career is after right now. if the scale of the drills don‘t matter, we heard a north korean debt describing this is deliberate provocation, do they have a point? if you look at it from the north korean suspect is of course they do. the north korea, it is surrounded on all sides by enemies, the united states has troops in south korea, japan, military assets all over the place. the north korean ‘s view these military fuse the same way the united states is used the missile launchers, this is why you get this back and forth in this never ending circle of provocation. but how close are we to war? i don't think we are that close. i think the united states is still in the diplomatic face, right now the united states is putting more pressure on china. you can see that in some of the flak that the united base was going to give to china on economic issues, and most of the officials are

insisting that this is china‘s problem to solve but ultimately china will not be able to in the united states will be faced with a difficult situation and a question to answer. on most difficult decision, aren‘t they simply stuck with not even they have to launch a pre—emptive military strike or accept a north korea with nuclear weapons. that is what the regime in north korea expects. all the us could do would be a limited strike. they could not take out the regime. if they could not, they will not give up they could not, they will not give up nuclear weapons because china stops giving oil. unless you take out the regime, they will move forward. i don‘t think the us has the capability or will to take out the capability or will to take out the regime and their capability on the regime and their capability on the ground. what you are saying is

despite all the rhetoric and powerful torque coming out of washington, actually, what is more likely to happen if the us retreat in the region. in some ways, the us has advocated doing that. we have seen more responsibility onjapan and china, asking why don‘t you deal with this? that is why the military is so important. as long as there are tens of thousands of us troops in south korea, it does not matter. is the north koreans want to push the us for the peninsula, they were not do what they want. —— the north koreans. thank you. they you for having me. since the good friday agreement was signed in 1998, ending 30 years of conflict in northern ireland, relationships between catholics and protestants have greatly improved in many respects. however, in some places peace walls are still in use to separate the two communities.

so, welcome to belfast. thanks. and, umm, my name‘s tom, and i‘ll bring you around today. the tour that we do in the black taxis is all about the trouble period that we had from 1969 until 1998. belfast looks like a chess board. instead of black and white squares, we have catholic and protestant areas everywhere. what is the difference between these two communities? it may have been about religion 500 years ago, but it is not about that any more. it is about british identity and irish identity. those gates were locked in 1969 and they have never opened since. there are more than 100 walls in northern ireland separating some catholic and protestant areas. most of them have gates that close every night and at the weekend. some of the walls are 15 metres high, and mainly located in economically deprived areas.

the northern irish government hopes to take the walls down by 2023, but only if tensions are reduced. donna is protestant and seamus, catholic, but they work in the same organisation to bring the communities together. they do have needs, and should it be education, should it social, should it be employment? and you can‘tjust go in and magically fix it, but what you can do is start a process and work in partnership. the thing about peace walls is they can impact one street or one road. and it is only when the circumstances are right for those directly impacted that you see change. a lot of people in these communities have suffered a lot. sheamus is one of them. he lost one of his friends in 1994. paul was shot dead, and shortly after that attack, then plans were put in place for this substantial structure to be

put up, which the nametag attached to it was the million—brick wall. the fact that the peace walls and peace lines are still standing in between communities shows that the tensions still exists and the peace is uneasy. many say brexit is bringing new uncertainty. the majority of people in northern ireland voted to remain. but the problem we have is we are landlocked with the republic of ireland, so what‘s going to happen now? community workers worry about getting cut off from eu funding and how it might affect the peace process. i think a lot of people are concerned that brexit will bring enormous difficulty. we currently have an internationally binding agreement within the good friday agreement. how is that supposed to work and develop in what is supposed to be a connected peace process, a connected system ? last month, australia made history by voting in favour of changing

the country‘s marriage laws to allow same—sex couples to marry. the bill has passed in the senate, and is now on its way to the house of representatives. there‘s speculation it could be voted on sooner than many people thought. the bbc‘s hywel griffith in sydney says the prime minister malcolm turnbull is working towards a christmas deadline, but there‘s still work to be done. so they‘re already on their feet in the house of representatives discussing this bill. it‘s the final furlong for what‘s been a decades—long campaign to legalise same—sex marriage here in australia. we expect the bill to be passed but it might be days rather than hours and that‘s because they will be amendments discussed. the main amendments will be around religious freedoms and people who want to take i guess a moral stand against conforming with this law. there will be amendments made to suggest celebrants of marriage will be allowed to refuse to celebrate the same—sex marriage,

charities, religious charities won‘t be found at fault or have their funding withdrawn if they have a stance against same—sex marriage, so these are things which will be difficult potentially, it will cause some more debate, but that final vote expected maybe by wednesday. certainly before the christmas deadline that the prime minister had hoped for? yes, and that will be a huge endorsement for malcolm turnbull, who‘s had, it‘s fair to say, a pretty tricky 2017 so if he can end the political year with something he supported, getting that final stamp of approval, a big moment for him but a much bigger moment for the tens of thousands of same—sex couples in australia who felt they‘ve had second—class status until now. romania enters a new period of political turmoil this week, as the government tries to push a series of controversialjustice and tax reforms through parliament. protesters have returned to the streets of the capital and other cities, determined to force the government to back down again, and repeat the success of similar protests earlier this year. nick thorpe sent this report from bucharest. the anti—government protesters are back in bucharest‘s victory square.

the issue is the same. the government alleges the country‘s anti—corruption agency is too big for its boots and it wants to cut it down to size. these people have come out to defend it. it‘s going to take more than that to make them change their mind. i‘m sure we can but we have to get out of the house and into the streets, that‘s all we have to do. the protests are inspired by a loose alliance of groups linked on social media. this the reason have died, our children don‘t have good schools that our public money, our public budget has been going to private pockets and this country, instead of growing, is going down. on december 1 for celebrations for many‘s national day, officials stayed away, angry at the support the president has given to the current justice system. a parallel state has been alleged to have been forming.

both sides in this dispute say there are defending romania‘s constitutional order from attack. romanians have a habit of protesting just when the weather turns cold. massive crowds in the square and others in february this year forced the government to back down. the question now is whether they can do it again. it‘s become known as a super—moon, seen here above whitby abbey in yorkshire in the uk. the phenomenon happens when the moon reaches it closest point to earth and appears to be larger in the sky. as seen here by this aeroplane in california. to ea rthbound observers, it appears about 70% larger than normal, and that‘s because its elliptical orbit takes it about 16,000 miles closer than average. the effect is slight, but seems exaggerated thanks to an optical illusion. we are going to see a super—moon,

and there is some gain in the apparent size and the brightness of the moon as it makes that closest approach and is fully eliminated from our perspective by the sun. but the difference is really quite marginal. what i would say is if you want a dramatic effect, if you go outside and look at the full moon, indeed, any full moon, rising and setting, your mind actually produces an illusion which we call "the moon illusion," which makes the moon look larger on the horizon. and that effect can be more dramatic than the so—called "super—moon." nasa has called this week sighting the first in a super—moon trilogy. in the next two months, there will be others, on the first and last of january next year. last year, the moon made its closest approach to earth since 19118, and it will not be this close again until 203a. back some gorgeous pictures to

finish with. —— some. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter. i‘m @lvaughanjones. this is bbc news. hello once again. there were certainly enough gaps in the cloud in the first part of the night for our weather watchers to get a really good view of the night‘s super moon. after what had been a pretty reasonable day, especially so across parts of northern ireland, scotland, the north of england, probably the best of the sunshine here. that‘s not to say we start the new day with plenty of gaps around because we have weather fronts not a million miles away and there may be enough cloud for there to be the odd spot of rain across the far north of scotland, showers running through the western side of scotland and down

through the irish sea. out east, bit of a concern about how dense some of the fog patches will be, not first thing, some may linger in east anglia, the south—east and central and southern england but elsewhere, a cooler not start, as you would expect for the start of the year and essentially it‘s a dry one. that‘s not the case for the north of scotland, quite breezy and wet here, especially in the northern isles. elsewhere, a speckling of showers for northern scotland and northern ireland but that‘s the exception to essentially a dry rule, as i say, some of the fog may take time to get away from the south—eastern quarter. there may be more low cloud than i‘m showing here, giving a rather grey aspect to the day. that prospect gradually drifting from west to east. if yourfog lingers, six degrees could be your high, elsewhere, eight, nine, ten. not a great deal happening during the evening, perhaps just

freshening up the wind, that‘s a sign of things to come, especially for northern scotland, wet and windy fare here as we get on during the day on tuesday but elsewhere not a bad day, quite a quiet start to the week. notice monday and tuesday. however, we begin to change things quite markedly as we get on into wednesday. here across northern and western parts it‘s either wet and windy orjust for some windy, but at least it‘s coming from the south, that‘s your mildest day of the week by some degree. notice how we‘ve got a lot of isobars here, hence that windy nature to wednesday, it becomes more widespread and crucially through thursday the wind begins to change direction. i‘m just about to show you how extensive that change becomes in the latter part of the week, looked at that, cold air right down and across all parts of the british isles, rather like the middle of last week. i‘m going to show you the effect on the temperatures, see how through the day they begin to fall away, ten in norwich at the start of the day when you‘ve got the mild air and wet and windy weather, and brighter skies later but the temperatures fall away.

so the start of the week is mostly fine, then it gets wet and windy and certainly by the latter part of the week, it turns much, much colder. this is bbc news. the headlines: as the biggest—everjoint us—south korean military air force exercise gets under way, donald trump‘s national security adviser says the us is "in a race" to address the threat from north korea. hr mcmaster says the potential for war is increasing every day. the bbc understands that britain and the european union are close to reaching an agreement that will clear the way for the second phase of talks on the uk‘s departure from the bloc. prime minister theresa may travels to brussels on monday for talks with the president of the european commission. cambodia‘s prime minister hun sen has accused the united states of conspiring to overthrow him. over the weekend, he ordered a lavish buddhist ceremony at angkor wat, the seat of cambodia‘s ancient kings, to pray, he said, for unity and peace.

it comes after the banning of the main opposition party and the jailing of its leader. now on bbc news, it‘s time for dateline london.