you're watching beyond 100 days. the man who once said he would take a bullet for the president pleads guilty to lying on his behalf. michael cohen, who worked as president trump's personal lawyer, says he was negotiating business deals with russia throughout the campaign. and mr trump knew about it. the guilty plea raises questions about possible conflict of interest for then—candidate trump in his dealings with russia. but he suggests cohen is lying. he'sa weak he's a weak person, and what he's trying to do is get a reduced sentence. so he's lying about a project that everybody knew about. meanwhile, mr trump abruptly cancels a scheduled meeting this weekend with vladimir putin, saying the situation in ukraine makes it bad timing. also on the programme: the planet is getting hotter, and according to the experts, these past four years were some

of the hottest on record. how do we curtail the greenhouse gases we're pumping into the atmosphere? there is no cooling temperatures over brexit. and in a bid to win over the public, the prime minister has agreed to a televised debate with the leader of the opposition, to win support for her deal. hello, i'm katty kay in washington. christian fraser is in london. did donald trump have a conflict of interest in his business dealings with russia during the 2016 campaign? was his praise of vladimir putin in anyway linked to the fact that he was engaged in real estate negotiations with moscow while he was a candidate for president? those are key questions that arise from the news that mr trump's former lawyer pled guilty today to a charge he'd lied to congress. mr cohen had said previously that business dealings over a prospective trump tower project in moscow ended in january 2016. but, in fact, they continued throuthune 2016, which suggests

mr trump was engaged in real estate negotiations with russia in the midst of a campaign, and in an election in which moscow had interfered in order to help elect him. the president says he is not worried at all. i was allowed to do whatever i wa nted i was allowed to do whatever i wanted during the campaign! i was running my business, a lot of different things, during the campaign. so very simply, michael cohen is lying and he's trying to get a reduced sentence for things that have nothing to do with me. mr trump left town just after this story broke and is right now on the flight to argentina for the g20 summit. for more on what this means for him, we arejoined now by jonathan tu rley, a law professor at george washington university, and ron christie, a former advisor to george w bush. let me start with you. legaljeopardy might this represents for president trump. the greatest risk is that the

conflict of interest, but whether cohen lied with the understanding or the encouragement of president trump. first of all, we have to take cohen certain large grain of salt, right? his resume for line is quite impressive. he is litter like to everyone everywhere about everything. —— he is literally like to everyone. the special counsel says he believes he's not telling the truth. if the president knew he was going to lie to congress, that could be a basis for a perjury charge, that he basically elicited false testimony. it also raises the question of whether the president knew in advance or even after the fa ct knew in advance or even after the fact that he lied and whether the president had any obligation to go to his lawyer and say," that's not true." this to his lawyer and say," that's not true. " this effective to his lawyer and say," that's not true." this effective confirmation by michael cohen that president trump knew that there were business negotiations going on with russia during the campaign, raises the

question, though, doesn't it, about whether the presidential as candidate was acting in the interest of the united states or the prophets of the united states or the prophets of the united states or the prophets of the truck family business?” don't think there's any question he was in the interest of the child empire. —— the trump empire. the perception here is he was not being truthful with the american people. he says he put up the negotiations in january. they persisted for several months. if you go back to then governor george w bush. governor bush owned the texas rangers. he wanted to run for governor. what did he do? he took himself out of that business... that would be the normal business. he is cooperating with mueller and his lawyer... what would that tell us will the special companies about his testimony and how it fits into this picture? what is most interesting

this week is you had another individual who release suggested agreements or plea from mueller. what came out of that was clearly a direct effort by mueller to back donald trump. it's very clear that mueller is pushing these witnesses for a clear shot at donald trump, diplomate in a crime. it's abundantly clear, and acting when you see cohen has this cooperation agreements, you really do begin to see a strategy emerging and you should not forget the fact that this happened just a couple days after the president submitted answers to the president submitted answers to the special consort he denied all this. the special counsel largely confirms the timing of when cohen took this fall. this timing was interesting that he waited until after he got the answers to drop this one on the public. professor

tu rley said this one on the public. professor turley said it would be far more series legally if you try to silence lately when he was giving evidence to congress, and we know that he first coined to silence that two witnesses who are going to talk about his six life, so there is... there might be formed by the thing is legaljeopardy here. there certainly is a lawyer sitting next to... —— there i don't think there is legaljeopardy. what you're looking at here, i think, is a pattern that politically could harm the president because it shows a pattern of conduct also he's done it before, he's doing it again and it brings his veracity into question. certainly as he has down to argentina, the last thing this president this juncture is this over him, which i think is going to be dominating the headlines of. ron, let me unpack what professor turley was saying there. the questions a nswered was saying there. the questions answered under oath. the president

has been locked into those answers. they're on a piece of paper in the special prosecutor will be weighing those answers against his other evidence. lou i think he's not going to have a nice plane rained down. -- i nice plane ride down. the president submitted those answers in writing. the special counsel is going to be looking for any inconsistencies do many things open the door to question the president's voracity. professor turley, take all of this, the metaphor issues committee cohen issues, the corsi issues, do you think the things are getting worse for the president in terms of the special consort better is —— special counsel? -- special counsel? i don't know... you to bring this up to 40,000 feet and actually ask what this proves in regard to donald trump. he did not say that trump told in july. he did not say that he told trump he would

like, so in some ways commit trumps answers are found to be true by the special counsel —— in some way, if trump's answers are found to be true, that is going to serious problem for moeller with his narrative. it's like not having a... trump could very well be vindicated. we don't know. this certainly shows that there is a very core witness who has now said that he lied for the specific purpose of delaying the russian, limiting the russian investigation and helping donald trump. that can't be good. the point was made for is we don't know what we don't know. we don't know what mueller has. the concert for has been is that michael cohen has recorded him before, that recording about the payments to the two women have come out. we don't know what else he has. in that context, if the president is talking about pardoning all manafort, because we he doesn't

wa nt all manafort, because we he doesn't want him corroborating what cohen to say, that looks worse for him. certainly. you don't want to be having conversations in the white house right now but any sort of parting, any sort of did you get the president had a legaljeopardy. i think what is interesting right now is that bob mueller is in a position right now that whatever he's investigating, he will now have a democratic congress come january they can look into these issues. the judiciary, all sorts. such as bob mueller. president trump has more headache to deal with on the hill. ron christie, jonathan turley, thank you so much for coming in here. so much going on. mr trump has now cancelled his meeting with vladimir putin on the sidelines of the g20 summit in argentina, adding to what was already a tense international gathering. the situation in ukraine looks set to dominate the summit,

with western countries now in lockstep that they aren't happy about recent russian moves. mr trump said specifically that he was cancelling the meeting becuase russia hasn't returned the sailors and ships it seized from ukraine last weekend. but the timing of the cancellation is curious — coming straight after that michael cohen news. gabriel debenedetti — national correspondent for new york magazine — joins us from washington now. gabriel, it's good to see you. it is interesting the timing of the cancellation. as he was getting onto marine one, the helicopter is happening income he said he still had to read the report on ukraine and he was still open to that meeting with president putin. maybe he read the reports but maybe he sort of thought on about what questions hejust sort of thought on about what questions he just answered sort of thought on about what questions hejust answered on cohen and thought better of it. that certainly is right, and of course, we have... no there are number of advisers in the white house who don't want them to be having all of these meetings with putin because they know what it looks like. you can with the majors this is going to

be —— do you think it's been my ears this could be a short but important trip to argentina. he has worries backin trip to argentina. he has worries back in washington about saudi arabia, and now all of a sudden, there's more domestic political concern about russia and the investigation. it's yet another headache. what he will likely happen if passed is any prologue, another meeting with putin down the line and we'll go all over this all over again. this western leaders coming all out to criticise rush over ukraine before president trump did. now he has cancelled the meeting. we feel that pressure again? coordinating some response against russia for what is going on in ukraine? there is no doubt he will feel that pressure. the question is how he deals with it. president

trump sometimes listens to the western leaders of the nuns agree with them, but i didn't realise the political but if it he perceives back, standing tough against them and talking about standing up to them as if there were some sort of domestic political opponents. that remains to be seen. it's not really clear what it is going to be a united front of a lot of these western european leaders, and president trump, i would expect, to see a lot of them. putin would like to not have that happen. we have to put this in the context of that helsinki meeting. all sorts of questions hovering over that at that time, about what is presented was being so solicitous of president putin. can the ukraine president come away with this without any... it's already started but what we've seen

is whatever president trump is asked about anything that russia is doing, he often visits to denying any allegations of collusion during the 26th election, which of course is not really the question here at all, but as you mentioned earlier, the timing with the latest towing revelations sort of replicate this within his mind —— during the 2016 election. i would expect him to say something about ukraine, and it remains to be seen whether he's going to read through all his briefings during this plane. the pressure will be quite intense, particularly because a lot of the western european leaders are really going to be finally assuring him on this in some events, in a one—on—one setting, saying this is what we need to come out of this meeting with and we are not going to be happy unless you at least listen to us. gabriel debenedetti, thank you very much for joining us. it will be a long to buenos aires. the crown prince of saudi arabia

mohammad bin salman will be down there. the senate has rebuked his pleas and got hit with a motion of tougher sanctions on the saudis. russia is tricky at the moment because of the domestic little concerts and applications and questioned about whether there was some kind of conflict of interest. there isn't much the president will wa nt to there isn't much the president will want to deal with down there. it is like the summits anyway. looking back, though, the problem with days like this as you go back through all the twitter feed about what president trump headset over time. this one back in 2017. nothing to do with russia, no deals, no loans, no nothing. and now we know that... they were discussing this deal on the way to the campaign. right, and thatis the way to the campaign. right, and that is a problem for him. the

question is what he said to the special prosecutor, and we will not know what he said for a while, until robert miller publishes that report, if they do publish that report —— robert mueller. russia isn't the only tricky issue at this g20 summit. there are a host of tensions in the world right now. the bbc‘s tim wilcox is in buenos aires for us. clearly a big issue about russia. the other issue is the china relationship. what you think the chances are president trump and president xi can get together? we know officials are working towards that end. it's interesting what donald trump had his ages before he could offer buenos aires because he said, yes, maybe we could be closer to something with china but i'm not sure if i want to. we know that the chinese officials are desperate, really, to try and avoid that next raft of timber increases coming on chinese goods. the two men are

meeting for dinner during this summit. andl meeting for dinner during this summit. and i think a lot of the re st of summit. and i think a lot of the rest of the world is interested in the result of that as well because it's notjust china and the american economy that suffer. where i'm standing in argentina, christine the guard of the imf has said the ongoing trade were there could've the shock of the economy here, which is in dire straits, as you know. recession once again. another imf bailout after the last disaster is one, which argentina defaulted on a 2001, the largest sovereign debt default ever. and of course, the conference mohammad bin salman is there as well —— the crown prince. donald trump says there is no beating penciled in but everyone will be watching to see what's a relationship there is between the two men —— said there is no beating penciled in. the family photograph tomorrow...

the family photograph tomorrow... the crown prince arrived yesterday. a lot of reaction on social media. this is his one opportunity, really, to come back onto the world stage and presumably just show to come back onto the world stage and presumablyjust show that nothing has really changed after the murder ofjamal khashoggi. nothing has really changed after the murder of jamal khashoggi. there's also some suggestion that the turkish president might be pushing for some sort of meeting as well, because of course it's turkey which is kept at the international pressure on the saudi prince following that murder, and indeed, as for some sort of movement on the yemen war. pretty bullish about china, but i wonder whether it is suitable for him politically to press the button on these tariffs. press the pause button. we've had these gm plants closing this week.

visited him to find something for the time being? he has reiterated his belief that tariffs are good for american workers. i think... i think ta riffs american workers. i think... i think tariffs for a lifetime habit one of the things president trump has been consistent about, a few of his worldview of economic policies. he's relu cta nt to worldview of economic policies. he's reluctant to give that up and he does believe with his base, there is still a belief that tariffs are the right way to go in getting tough on china is the right way to go. you don't know what president trump. you don't know what president trump. you don't know what president trump. you don't know if he's feeling under pressure on russia. does he want to ta ke pressure on russia. does he want to take some kind of tough action against china? he doesn't like to be seen on the losing side. i think i wa nt to seen on the losing side. i think i want to play either wait.” seen on the losing side. i think i want to play either wait. i expect something in the next few days to shift the attention. he's very good with that. right, let's look at some

of the day's other news. the german chancellor, angela merkel, has blamed russia for the latest upsurge in tension with ukraine. she said she would raise the recent seizure of ukrainian naval vessels and their crew with president putin at the upcoming g20 summit in argentina. ukraine's president has announced that restrictions will be placed on russians living in the country. police in frankfurt have raided the headquarters of deutsche bank, as part of an investigation into alleged money laundering. around 170 officials are involved in the searches at offices across the german city. the bank says it's cooperating with the authorites. an imprisoned murderer is being investigated after confessing to 90 killings across four decades in the us. samuel little is currently serving life in prison after being sentenced in 2014 for the murders of three women. the fbi believe the 78—year—old may be among the most prolific serial killers in us criminal history. when you have something stolen, the last thing you expect is for the thief to apologise for their actions. but that's apparently what happened to the flatmate

of one twitter user called stevie valentine from birmingham. in the email, the culprit wrote he was "very very sorry" for taking the man's laptop, and even offered to forward any university work the student might have had saved on it. he could've offered to make it better and corrected and help him out! which somebody had done that when they stole my bike recently. i would have been very helpful. scientists examining the impact of climate change say 20 of the warmest years on record have come in the last 22 years. and that research by the world meteorological organization says four of the hottest years have been in the past four years alone. the news comes as scientists calculate that reducing our emissions of greenhouse gases won't be enough. we've got to work out how to remove more gases. 0ur science editor, david shukman, investigates. every hour, all over the world, more and more carbon dioxide is being pumped into the air, and scientists say we have got

to find a way of doing this — pulling the carbon dioxide back out again. in south wales, ijoin researchers who believe they may have found an answer. this is a slag heap, a mountain of waste left over from an old iron works. what they have found here is that this stuff actually draws in carbon dioxide. phil renforth and his student sarah gore show me how this works. adding some slag to a bottle... and then giving it a blast of carbon dioxide. in the space of a few minutes, the gas binds to the minerals inside and the bottle starts to collapse inwards. so could this be done on a worldwide scale? globally, we produce about half a billion tonnes of slag around the globe, and that could capture something along the order of a quarter of a billion tonnes of c02, so it's not going to do everything but it might do something relevant. just sitting here, the material

doesn't absorb much of the gas, so a new process will have to be devised to make it useful, but that is technically feasible. this is just one tiny fraction of the legacy of the industrial age, and it's an amazing thought that the iron and steel industries which produced all this stuff and generated so much of the carbon dioxide that's been warming the planet, they now have a role in helping to limit the rising global temperatures. newsreel: sheffield, capital of steel, part of a great industry... in the boom years of steel production, what mattered was the volume of output. no one back then worried about all the carbon dioxide being released into the air. but now, at sheffield university, that's what they're trying to deal with. in an underground laboratory, plants are grown in carefully monitored conditions. instruments keep track of every detail, and mixed into the soil is a powder.

it's rock that's been ground up. this is a major project to see if agriculture can help tackle climate change. these plants look normal enough but they're part of a highly unusual experiment that could prove incredibly useful. that's because the scientists here have worked out that adding powdered volcanic rock to the soil massively increases the amount of carbon dioxide that is drawn out of the air. and because that's the gas that's driving the rising temperatures, anything to help get rid of it could make a difference. on an experimental farm in the american midwest, the powdered rock is being tested on the fields. already, the scientists have seen that it acts as a fertiliser. they don't yet know whether, at this massive scale, the process also traps carbon dioxide. but they're convinced that it's worth trying. the world needs to wake up to the fact that we need to reduce our emissions and

combine it with technologies for removing c02. and at the moment, we have no idea how to remove billions of tonnes of c02 from the atmosphere. maybe the answer will lie with the plants and the powdered rock, or the minerals in the slag heap will prove to be useful. in any event, there's now a frantic effort to find out, and all the time, the more carbon dioxide builds up in the air, the more urgent it becomes to somehow get it out. david shukman, bbc news. that is a lot of smog. that is the fourth, by my reckoning, fourth big climate change report in the last four reeks. a little boy who wrote a note to the postal service, royal mail, asking them to deliver a birthday letter to his father "in heaven" has had a reply. jase hyndman, from west lothian in scotland, was sent a note in which the company said they had had a "difficult challenge avoiding stars and other galactic objects on route to heaven" but assured the 7—year—old that his father had received it.

posting the heartwarming letter to facebook, mother teri copland said: "i actually cannot state how emotional he is knowing his dad got his card... royal mail you've just restored my faith in humanity." what a lovely story. i've been thinking about that story all day. so touching. it did remind me of another story. i was asking him are redoing christmas cards this year? —— on monday. she said, don't do that. i don't want you sending any parcels. i did not say that! you did say that. you are watching beyond 100 days from the bbc. coming up for viewers on the bbc news channel and bbc world news, theresa may and jeremy corbyn are unable to agree plans for a televised debate on brexit after they back bids from rival broadcasters who want to host it. and we'll get reaction to the chinese scientist who claims to have created the world's

first gene—edited babies. that's still to come. troublesome day for some of us today with the gales sweeping across the uk causing all sorts of problems, power outages and a bit of damage here and there. one storm moved across southern parts of the uk. this is actually another one. there are two here. another one approaches colvin tonight. we're not done with the severe gales just yet. to the course of the night, into tomorrow, this next area of very strong winds, this next area of very strong winds, this next area of very strong winds, this next low—pressure, will be swooping in. for the severe gales to come across scotland. the good news is that further south across the uk, we are not going to get those severe gales that we have recently had. through the course of tonight, heavy showers and increasing winds across western parts of scotland. by the end of the neck, guests will be in excess of 60 miles an hour in the

western isles. further south, breezy, their spells and showers. this is where the worst of it will be. through the early hours of friday morning. gusts of wind in the and easy, but around some of these exposed coast, it could be around 65 or so. southern areas here would just be getting a strong breeze during the morning in the afternoon. a blustery day, still some big ways around these coasts, but not the sort of 60—70 mph gusts of wind we saw in some western and southern areas airing thursday. friday afternoon, temperatures 12 in london, eight in the north but is going to feel colder because we've got that strong gale force wind. there's one low—pressure moving out of the way. friday night into saturday. there's another one and it's going to be a succession of low pressures that are making a beeline for us for this weekend. saturday

morning was wet and windy across the south and then saturday afternoon, the weather improves. 0n saturday's, todayis the weather improves. 0n saturday's, today is split into two. the acting is looking much better with sunshine of the way. sunday is looking similar. a little mix with sunshine and showers and also a brisk wind. whichever way you look at it, the weekend will be very, very changeable. we will need our at one point. that's the weather. this is beyond one hundred days. with me, katty kay in washington, christian fraser is in london. our top stories: michael cohen, the former personal lawyer for president trump admits misleading lawmakers about a trump real estate project in russia. theresa may agrees to take part in a bbc televised debate on the brexit deal. but the opposition labour party is unhappy about the format and is in favour of a proposal from rival channel itv. coming up in the next half hour:

2018 is set to be the fourth warmest year on record, we look at the science of capturing and storing carbon to help reduce emissions. plus, the fake social media accounts of real world leaders. a vladimir putin imitator is the latest to get the chop from twitter. the evidence is mounting that special counsel robert mueller is moving toward further indictments, with an end—of—year flurry of activity. today it was donald trump's former attorney michael cohen who admitted to a federal court he lied under oath to congress to support the president's line on russia. there have been over 30 indictments filed so far, the majority against russians. ahead of the mid term elections mr mueller went quiet but last week president trump turned in long—awaited written answers to the prosecutor. those answers, made under oath, are now locked in. lets talk to nick bryant who is outside the courtroom

where michael cohen appeared today. he's in the new york studio. look at that. still nice to see unique. but of talk about what went on in court today. what we learned was that president trump was briefed while he was the nominee and there were discussions even of donald trump going to moscow to look at this business deal that was in the office. a couple of crucial things came out in court today. it's freezing outside by the way. that's why i stepped inside. i was going to be blown away. i got a bit soft in my old age. a couple of things happened today in court. 0ne my old age. a couple of things happened today in court. one was that we learned that michael cohen had lied to congress about how long these discussions about the trump tower the heart of the russian capital moscow had gone on. he told congress that those discussions

endedin congress that those discussions ended in january, congress that those discussions ended injanuary, why is that significant? it before the political primary season begins. but before iowa and new hampshire but in fact those discussions went on much longer, they went on on tilljune 2016. we also learned that donald trump us but involvement in this discussion was more extensive as the court documents put it that michael cohen had previously told congress. and also as you say there is possibility that donald trump would travel to moscow in connection with this real estate project and other then idea —— tantalising details as well. michael cohen admitted to talking to a senior figure well. michael cohen admitted to talking to a seniorfigure in well. michael cohen admitted to talking to a senior figure in the per talking to a senior figure in the peeradimir talking to a senior figure in the per vladimir putin's spokesman, dmitry pascoe, so that was another very significant development. and michael cohen said himself in court, he did this out of loyalty to individual number one, and to be consistent with the political message and of individual one, who

is individual one? of course is president donaldj is individual one? of course is president donald j trump. is individual one? of course is president donald] trump. the president's reaction to all of this is nothing wrong here, i was told to be legitimate in pursuing my business interests what i was president, candidate for president of the united states, everybody knew that i was looking at a possible deal with russia. i mean, you are a student of american history, how unusual is it for a president to brave the lines like this between their business dealings and running for the presidency? obviously this isa for the presidency? obviously this is a huge conflict of interest, normally you divest yourself of these kind of potential conflicts way before you run for the presidency but of course donald trump sort of rewrote the rule book about campaigning in america. he believed he could continue to be the head of trump organisation at the time he was the head of the trump presidential campaign as well. he does not see any at illegality there. he does not see any problems with it. and that's one thing he said today, he was trashing michael cohen of course. i mean michael

cohen of course. i mean michael cohen was donald trump's mr fix it, he was the man that made donald trump's problems go away. of course now he poses this huge problem for the president. as his lawyer said outside court, he is cooperating with robert mueller, but with significant today. michael cohen has been prosecuted by investigators in new york, this is the first time he has been charged by robert mueller, the head of the russian collusion investigation and crucially, the lawyer said he has not only cooperated with robert moller, he also put it in future tense that he would continue to co—operate with robert mueller, so that is the concern for the trump right now. which means a bigger threat to trump is what he could provide to the district of new york, perhaps less about collusion in the russian probe of war about everything else what cohen did for him because as you say, he's the long—time fixture, he knows where the proverbial bodies are buried. , yes that's right. there are skeletons and michael

cohen, b knows which door they are behind and potentially he can open those doors for robert mueller to help him find them if there are skeletons there. 0bviously that's a big if. it's also significant ip because there's been so much talk about the possibility that donald trump us ‘s acting attorney general whitaker would fire robert mueller your member he got rid of the former attorney generaljeff sessions after the midterm elections, the day after, that was still probably the prelude to a move on robert mueller but i becomes much harder now that mueller is talking to michael cohen. the brand there for us in a nice warm studio. thank you. i think it's worth pointing out there's the issue here of legal jeopardy we worth pointing out there's the issue here of legaljeopardy we do not know. and the perception which christie talks about which gets to this interest issue, i guess for the support is the conflict of interest stuff won't make much difference to

them. they know a lot about this president and they have about the president and nothing seems to change their view about the president. it will be the legal issue in the end of the president has to deal with. that we won't know until we get more from mueller report. it may be that there is nothing there then that the president wasjust nothing there then that the president was just surrounded by all these sort of people, that you know he had a lot to say and a lot of them told lies. 0r, he had a lot to say and a lot of them told lies. or, maybe this is like politicaljanko, them told lies. or, maybe this is like political janko, pulling them told lies. or, maybe this is like politicaljanko, pulling out bits every time and eventually the whole thing comes down. we just don't know because we don't know what robert mueller has. and we don't know what we are going to know either. it's less than two weeks until uk mps vote on the prime minister's brexit deal, and nobody‘s quite sure what will happen if it's voted down. but christian has had a go with some of the parliamentary arithmetic to see how things are stacking up for theresa may. we don't know what will be in the minds of mps when they come to vote on theresa may's breaks a deal. it will be five days of debate ahead of

the votes, no end of warnings about the votes, no end of warnings about the risk no deal might bring and you can't how many might dock of the decision altogether and end up staying. right now anyone seems to agree that getting a commons majority will be an almighty struggle. so let's remind you of the numbers that we do know about in the house of commons. the conservative party has 315 mps. not enough to command a majority. but in this parliament, it has a right of course on the confidence and supply agreements with the dup who's ten mps support the prime minister in key votes. now over here, on the opposition benches, labour has 257 mps, scottish national party has 35, the liberal democrats have 12, there are eight independence, for mps and the green party has won. that's a grand total of 317 mps but as we know, brexit has divided the two

main parties. some mps won't do what their whips tell them. so, main parties. some mps won't do what theirwhips tell them. so, let's look at who does not like the deal. first, there is the dup, all ten of them, they can't vote they say for a deal that includes the irish backstop so let's put them down here in the no column for now. then there are the 80 brexit support of conservatives were on the record as opposing the deal and also the tory remainders to say they will rebel. there are at least 12 of them. so the total number of conservatives against this deal now stands by our estimates at 92. now next comes labour. and all the other opposition parties, and altogether, that could be 312 votes against the prime minister. who is going to vote for the deal? well, the best estimate from bbc research is 225 conservatives will fall in behind her and one lib dem which means on these calculations, the prime

minister will be short by 95 boats. now again, we don't know how many of this group might abstain. during this group might abstain. during this overall total, we don't know how many labour mps might back video have not yet made a decision. but if the dealfails have not yet made a decision. but if the deal fails it's have not yet made a decision. but if the dealfails it's important to know by what margin because if it's big the prime minister and her government may fall with it. there are some in number ten who remain confident that right now this looks even harder than it was securing a deal in brussels in the first place. with me in the studio dr hannah white from the think tank, the institute for government and katy balls from the spectator. welcome to you both, nice to have you with us. let's talk about the debate first of all because when you look at those figures there, i'm not really sure how i televised debate the team leader and opposition is going to change to mathematics.” don't think this debate. theresa may's problems and i don't think there is a right way here. the debate is a problem, we don't know

which broadcaster is going to hear it and we don't know who is opening to be on it right now because there's so much indecision. but when you look at it, given today we had 100 tory mps who can't back this deal, even a speech is not going to save theresa may here, what number ten think it might do is reduce that tory rebellion because if they can't make it a partisan issue, party politics, tories versus labour, when brexit is a cross party issue, if they can make it a bit more partisan it might be that some tory mps think i'm going to get behind theresa may and ultimately i want to stopjeremy corbyn. today the prime minister was in committee answering questions about her plans, and she was asked whether she was taking no deal off the table and she sort of stopped the table and she sort of stopped the answer which i suspected because she wants to maximise pressure on those who vote it down. let's take a look. i don't believe you're the kind of person who put contemplating

no deal even if you don't get this deal, i don't think you'll do it, i think you'll take action to avert it. am i wrong in myjudgement about you? i have a number of questions now about what happens if, what i'm saying is very simple. my focus is on the boat that takes place. because i negotiated what i believe truly to be a good deal for the uk. —— the vote. truly to be a good deal for the uk. -- the vote. perspective of what she says there, what is she really doing if it goes down with mack” says there, what is she really doing if it goes down with mack i think it depends on how much it goes down by it because that will affect her calculation on also if it was debated and voted on she will be inclined to see where the balance of opinion is in the house. 0bviously, she can't wait and see what happens of the market and she can wait and see how people respond, if there is a vote against her as people start to get very worried about the prospect of no deal which is why she's leaving it on the table, then potentially she might try to bring

it back eventually in the same form quite quickly and see if people have changed their minds. 0r, she could go to the next european council which is december the 13th quite shortly afterwards and try to associate something that at least looks a little bit to enable people to vote for the deal. katy you have laid out by different scenarios for what might happen next. i want you to pick the two top ones. the tool you think are the most likely for me. i think one of the most unlikely right now is that she gets this deal through the first attempt. i think the one at number ten is hoping will be the case is that she does not lose it by too much in this idea of losing it by 90 votes isn't quite that high, perhaps there are 50 then she can argue that she should bring it back to the house a second time. and in that time the market starts to go, the pound dropped, and without it's a bit of pressure and some clarification from brussels, and mp5 are coerced into voting it

through. that is one option. the other option is the no deal option where it voted down by a massive margin and it's very hard to suggest this is something that's going to get through, second attempt, third attempt, or even been a few mps get through, second attempt, third attempt, or even been a few mp5 from going home for christmas they will not vote for it. i think in that point you have got questions about whether theresa may can stay in place and although people will look to different options, the default is still no deal so people will suggest that the second referendum, e a model, norway, the clock would take and we would be leaving with no deal. ok, it's very tense at the moment, there was a moment of levity in the hearings today. when the prime minister was asked how intimate she thought the relationship between britain and the european union would be in the future. i'm not sure our remarriage is the correct analogy for the relationship in the future. we will be very good friends working closely together. friends with benefits?

sorry? friends with benefits by minister? as we go through... this isafamily minister? as we go through... this is a family programme, we don't need to explain what friends with benefits mean. anna, six months ago, we said there was no chance of a second referendum, is the question i'm always out here in washington, is there going to be one? do you think the chances that the second referendum have increased substantially in the course of the last few weeks? i did the prime minister has been really clear that she doesn't think it's on the table but then the prime minister has been very clear about other things in the past like not having an election and changed her mind on that. i think the important thing to bear in mind about a second referendum is that we can't do it within the current timeframe, so if the house of commons gets the point where it agrees that there should be a second referendum, then there will definitely need to be an extension

to the article 50 process and that we can't do unilaterally, the eu would have a say in that and they would have a say in that and they would have a say in that and they would have to agree unanimously so that would be, it would not happen quickly enough to do it, then the current article 50 timeframe. there is some news breaking about cross party group of mps using one of these amendments that you were talking about to put something in place against a no deal option and a p pa re ntly place against a no deal option and apparently it commands cross party support and all onboard, that something that would channel number ten post was thinking in a different direction. currently our law says we are going to be, and the article 50 process says are going to be, and the article 50 rocess sa s we're are going to be, and the article 50 process says we're going to do so it would have to be legislation to change that which is quite a bit asked i think between now and... you are asking me yesterday about a second referendum, katie has written an article saying brexiteers think they could win a second referendum is that right? i think as we are getting to a scenario where it really is that these are the worst

options from many mps viewpoint it's interesting speaking to some of the mps they are beginning to think actually a second referendum could solve some of their problems. because if you want to get pure brexit and i know they will disagree on what that means but fully leaving the e on what that means but fully leaving theecj, on what that means but fully leaving the e cj, being able to do free trade across the world, they can do that with this current compromise of brings it, i know deila brexit, not actually happen. and so if you were to actually go for a second vote and run on a true brexit platform, you could win that and finally have the mandate a second time to actually do it. in more detail this time and i think it a feeling that actually brexit portrayal manifesto could land quite a lot of voters. interesting. thank you very much indeed. there is some thought. where do the polls stand on that on what katie has been suggesting?”

do the polls stand on that on what katie has been suggesting? i will quote from katie's article i should get her to do it. apparently the numbers aren't as in favour of remain has remained think they are. 0bviously there's been a shift because some people, older voters have died and the numbers have shifted a little but you get around the country and you talk to people as we did and you ask them whether they do want to support brexit and many of the brexiteers do and then you would have some remainders to say look we have gone all the way down the line with this, how do we go back out —— that's the message the prime minister is putting out there. i'll understand that google strongly disagree with me.” there. i'll understand that google strongly disagree with me. i think it'd be interesting to see see what the polling is on this. still to come on the programme. this is beyond one hundred days. still to come: spot the difference, we delve into the world of online bots, even our very own christian fraser has one. thomas cook, one of britain's biggest tour operators, says it made a loss of $163 million in the year to september. the company says the summer heatwave here is partly to blame. 0ur consumer affairs correspondent

colletta smith has more. it's been a bad year for thomas cook, and they say the barbecue summer here meant fewer people booked those last—minute sunshine getaways. overall, the company made a £163 million loss in 2018. their biggest problem was their package holiday department, which made a £88 million loss. the boss couldn't guarantee that there wouldn't be branch closures down the line. we are monitoring closely the profitability of every shop, and the shop manager, they know that they are managing their own profit and loss account. nearly half of all thomas cook's bookings are now made online, but with a branch network right across the uk of nearly 600 stores, they say that physical shops are still important to them. i do usually book with thomas cook. i just like the face to face, you know, and looking at their experience, and you know.

never been away with the little one. we didn't know what to expect. so, again, just having someone to chat to is good. the elderly, definitely, they prefer to talk to somebody and, you know, if there's any problems, they can iron it out for them. down the road at this independent travel agent, fortunes have been different. in general, it's been a lot busier. i've had my busiest year in six years. karen's been in the industry for more than 30 years and yvonne used to work for thomas cook. people tend to book eight to 12 months in advance, because they know now that flight prices go up. and the further in advance they book, the better price they're going to get. i don't think the weather had anything to do with it. even if it's not another sizzling summer, relying on last—minute sales will still cause thomas cook problems ahead. colletta smith, bbc news, in manchester. chinese authorities says a scientist who claims to have

created the world's first gene—edited babies is in blatant violation of the country's laws and have called for his work to be suspended. the reaction comes after hejianku announced he altered genes of embryos to protect against hiv. it's a revalation that drew a quick and sharp response from the scientific community. a brief time ago i spoke with leading bioethicist arthur caplan who is at new york university's school of medicine. so doctor caplan, doctor hayes university has not announced this project, is that appropriate action for the institution to have taken? absolutely. this experiment is a textbook of what not to do in human experimentation. violations, poor conduct, secrecy, denying, are all over the experiment so i think the

institution had really no choice but to condemn it and threatened to go after the investigation. to be clear, gene editing clinical trials are taking place in the treatment of some genetically inherited diseases, cystic fibrosis, haemophilia for example, what is the difference between the use of gene editing in those cases and creating gene edited babies? there are really two strategies to deal with the disease using this technique of gene editing which is like a scissors cutting out bad genes and putting in newjeans. you can try to fix the problem in a person who has the disease, if you have cystic fibrosis, or you have theseis have cystic fibrosis, or you have these is in the eye that are causing you to go blind, you try to sniff out the bad genes, put in the good ones and see if it will grow and repair. that is not passed on to future generations. what the experiment that took place in china did was to say we're going change genes in embryos and they will

affect children and their descendents, that's called gene that line engineering and that's a whole other step first of all we have not done much of that or consecutive of all there is no ability to consent to it by children yet to come. to be clear it's a whole other is that because we don't yet know what the risks associated with this would be? correct. you might say i'm going to try and do an experiment in a person to see if i can fix cystic fibrosis cells that are wrong and if it doesn't work we stop. you alter the genes of an embryo, there's no turning back, there's no saying oh my goodness, we sniff out something we should not have or the genes we try to put in went the wrong place, and they are causing a birth defect. there is no reversibility. are you concerned i guess that doctor hay might be the canary in the coal mine on this one but it's almost inevitable that the science is going to move quicker than the ethics and

some rogue scientist somewhere is going to do this again? i'm concerned, i've been writing about it for a few years now that we have to get international agreements with penalties and teeth in them on germline engineering, let me be clear i'm not against it, i think the right target is to take the disease like huntington's which is hereditary and horrible and engineer it out of the embryo so it does not infect those children and future generations. it would be great to find ways to eliminate genetic disease. i'm all for that. find ways to eliminate genetic disease. i'm all forthat. but, find ways to eliminate genetic disease. i'm all for that. but, you have to do it in a way that says the scientific community believes we are ready to go, science makes sense, we understand the tool you're using, and you better get agreement on the informed consent. thank you for joining us doctor caplan. that's the issue, the technology is moving so fast that there will be rogue scientist that, but stop without the ethical community having

thoroughly disgusted beforehand. talking of technology moving very fast... twitter has banned a fake vladimir putin account for impersonating the russian leader. but in a bizarre turn of events, the real putin had been following his imitator for the past several years. the now—removed @putinrf—eng was pretty convincing. it had a profile pic and a cover photo of the kremlin. it also had over a million followers and was active for some six years before it was taken down. and many of its followers believed the account to be putin's english—language presence on twitter, in fact, hands up, it had even featured in reports by the bbc. mr putin isn't the only world leader to have engaged online with fake accounts recently. just yesterday donald trump retweeted a n accou nt purporting to belong to vice president mike pence, but which actually turned out to be a fake as well. there is one other ‘world renowned' figure whose account has been copied and immitated. can you spot the difference. here's christian authentic feed with the blue tic on the left,

and there's christian's bot on the right. with just 6 followers. actually i had to check for a second which account was the false one. you could just quit now.” you could just quit now. i like to think it was a sleeper cell, asleep sleeper box that was going to activate when you needed it. i noticed when you show that there are six followers i could do with and they have close the account now but where are those of its followers? i wa nt where are those of its followers? i want them adding to my tally. you can get them back next week, we will back next week as well. troublesome day for some of us today with the gales sweeping across the uk causing all sorts of problems, power outages in a bit of damage here and there. one storm moved across the ramparts of the uk, this is another one, there are two here. 0ne around here and another one

approaching scotland tonight. actually, we are not done with the severe gales just yet in fact, through the course of tonight and into tomorrow this next area of strong winds. there's another one that's approaching scotland tonight, so actually, we're not done with the severe gales just yet. in fact, through the course of the night into tomorrow, this next area of very strong winds, this next low—pressure, will be swooping in. further severe gales to come across scotland tonight and especially early tomorrow morning. the good news is that further south across the uk, we are not going to get those severe gales that we've recently had. so, through the course of tonight, heavy showers and increasing winds across western parts of scotland. in fact, by the end of the night, gusts will be in excess of 60 miles an hour in the western isles. further south, breezy, clear spells and occasional showers. but let's concentrate on those winds again across scotland, because this is where the worst of it will be probably through the early hours of friday morning. gusts of wind inland, easy, in excess of 50 miles an hour, but around some of these exposed coasts, it could be around 65 or so. that's the centre of the low pressure. it's quite far to the north, so that means southern areas here willjust be getting a strong

breeze during the morning and the afternoon. so, yes, a blustery day, still some big waves around these coasts, but not the sort of 60—70 mph gusts of wind that we saw in some western and southern areas during thursday. so, friday afternoon's temperatures, 12 in london, eight degrees in the north but it's going to feel colder because we've got that strong gale force wind. there's one low—pressure moving out of the way. friday night into saturday, there's another one, and this is going to be a succession of low pressures that are making a beeline for us for this weekend. so, saturday morning looks wet and windy across the south. and then saturday afternoon, the weather improves. on saturday, the day is split into two. the morning is wide. the afternoon is looking a lot better, with some sunshine of the way. sunday is looking similar. could be some morning rain, and then the afternoon looks a little mixed, with sunshine and showers and also a brisk wind. so, whichever way you look at it, the weekend will be very, very changeable. we will need our brollies at least at one point or another. that's it from me.

this is bbc news — i'm martine croxall. the headlines at 8:00. two brothers whose mother and sister were killed by theirfather, call for a better understanding of psychological abuse. from the outside in, it looked like we were a close—knit family, we were always together, we had a nice—looking house. and i think we put on a face as well. we didn't want anyone to know what was going on almost. but on the inside we were terrified, we were fighting every single day. donald trump's former lawyer pleads guilty to lying to congress about contacts with russia — prompting an angry reaction from the president. because he's a weak person and not a very smart person. what he's trying to do is end... and it's very simple —

he's got himself a big prison sentence and he's trying to get a much lesser prison sentence. also this evening — a cross—party group of mps will use the brexit vote in parliament to try and ensure the uk can't