this is bbc news. the headlines at midday. the former us president george bush senior has died aged 94. his son george w bush described him as a man of the highest character. he served as the 41st us president between 1989 and 1993, his term was defined by the cold war and his victory in the first iraq war against saddam hussein. aggression is defeated, the war is over! another resignation over brexit. the universities and science minister, sam jee—mah, the universities and science minister, sam gyimah, resigns calling the prime minister's plan "naive". the deal that is on the table from the pm is a deal in name only. all the big issues are being kicked down the road. police in paris fire tear gas as protesters take to the streets against president macron‘s policy of raising fuel taxes to combat global warming.

alaska is rocked by aftershocks after the powerful earthquake which damaged roads and buildings. and in half an hour, click looks at some amazing projects as it investigates how technology can assist disabled people. the former american president, george bush senior, has died aged 94. he served in the oval office between 1989 and 1993, succeeding ronald reagan, before losing out to bill clinton. his term was defined by the end of the cold war and the first iraq war against saddam hussein. in april, he was admitted to a hospital intensive care

unit with an infection, a week after the death of his wife barbara. his son, george w bush, who also became president, released this statement. he described his father as a man of the highest character and said he was the best dad any son or daughter could ask for. former president barack obama has also paid tribute, he said america had "lost a patriot and humble serva nt". and president trump said he inspired a generation of americans with his authenticity, disarming wit, and unwavering commitment to faith and family. and here, prime minister theresa may said his "ethos of public service was the guiding thread of his life and an example to us all". our north america editorjon sopel looks back at his life. i will faithfully execute the office

of president of the united states... that george herbert walker bush had reached the highest office in the land almost seemed predestined. so help me god. congratulations. he was born into a family of wealth, privilege and politics. his father was a us senator. george attended yale, before volunteering for the navy in world war ii. he was shot down over the pacific, his rescue remarkably caught on film. peacetime took him to texas, where he made a fortune in the oil business, and then came the lure of politics. he was elected to congress, served as an ambassador, and became head of the cia, before pitching to become the republican presidential candidate in 1980. he lost to ronald reagan, but reagan put him on the ticket, and served as vice president. in 1988, he had another

crack at the presidency, this time successfully. but there were new uncertainties notably iraq's annexation of kuwait in 1990. margaret thatcher told him to stay firm, apparently saying, "this is no time to go wobbly, george." he didn't. iraq will not be permitted to annex kuwait. and that's is not a threat, it's not a boast, it'sjust the way it's going to be. a wide coalition was forged, and operation desert storm began. the ground war would lastjust 100 hours, in a decisive victory for american military expertise and superiority. i can report to the nation, aggression is defeated. the war is over. cheering. the 1992 election pitched the patrician bush against the young, charismatic, and hitherto—little—known democratic governor from arkansas called bill clinton. his clear advocacy of a new vision for america swept him to a decisive victory. so help me god.

congratulations. within a decade, there was another bush in the white house, george w. bush senior was the last of america's cold war leaders, and the demise of communism during his period was managed deftly, as former soviet satellites embraced the values of democracy and freedom. george herbert walker bush remained active into old age, even parachute—jumping in his 80s. atta boy! and, of course, the one constant throughout all that, his wife, barbara. they were married for over 70 years. well, george bush senior was us president when sirjohn major became prime minister. he's been speaking to the today programme this morning, reflecting on his early days in downing street when

the gulf war was imminent. within a few days of becoming prime minister, i went over to america to talk to george bush, not least about the day in which the war might start. this would be in december and we were contemplating early january. it was quite astonishing how free and frank the discussion was, often with politicians, particularly heads of governments, there is a reserve, a holding back, a personal position to be held, but he was utterly and completely frank and friendly from the start and it made for a very easy relationship. the war would never have been so successful without the arab members of the coalition and i cannot think of anyone more suitable, any president more likely to have drawn together such a coalition and to make sure it was cemented, he also went to the united nations to get united nations resolution and that meant that it was not a western imperialist, as people might have said, attacking

iraq after their invasion of kuwait, it was an attack by people representing every part of the world and in particular, middle eastern members of the coalition. now, that was a remarkable piece of diplomacy that i think very few presidents would have been able to achieve. we would speak on the phone often. indeed the first phone call i had as prime minister was from george bush. the first phone call i had seven years later when i was defeated was from george, who said, come over, the blue fish are biting, come and spend a few days with us. it did become a personal friendship and of course he did not interfere in british politics but he was certainly concerned with how things were going and was a good friend to having bad days as well as good. with me now is scott lucas, professor of american studies at the university of birmingham. thank you very much for being with

us thank you very much for being with us to reflect on both george bush ‘s life and his career. it is remarkable now looking back to see just how qualified he was to become president. he had held some of the most seniorjobs in public life. president. he had held some of the most seniorjobs in public lifelj think in terms of his public service and as you heard from john major, in terms of his personal approach with people from a wide range of views and parties and his pragmatism. he will be given justify tributes for the fact he went into congress, the first american ambassador to china, head of the cia, vice president for eight years and then president. i think however amidst all the public service, the legacy really both at home and abroad was one of uncertainty, we will mark for example that war in iraq in 1991,

which did not resolve the issue and was followed by crippling sanctions. a lot of people were hurt in iraq and saddam hussein remained in power. and it was very much 12 years tied together with the ronald reagan era. the cold war may have supposedly ended but in 1992, you we re supposedly ended but in 1992, you were talking about recession in the united states and the unrest in los angeles, to the point where that really wounded george bush when he lost the election. no matter how well prepared and qualified you may be for holding the highest public offices, you are partly determined by events and the events that george bush was dealing with were very unsettling ones. i think this may have been true for many politicians, america was trapped are most in the myth that it had won the cold war.

when in fact there were many conflicts around the world that went beyond the united states and the soviet union. you can think about africa, for example, somalia, rwanda, they would become key conflicts at the end of the administration. latin america, where we had a whole range of issues with that continent. and you can think of the legacy of eastern europe. we hadn't quite resolved everything from the fall of the soviet union. the issues were ukraine versus russia and 25 years later, it is unresolved. in terms of his domestic agenda, he had been quite disparaging, but they had a very sta ble disparaging, but they had a very stable period towards the end of the ronald reagan years. he makes this pledge, no new taxes and then breaks it. to what extent was that broken

pledge the catalyst for the kind of movements we subsequently have seen in the republican party?|j movements we subsequently have seen in the republican party? i think far more thanjust in the republican party? i think far more than just revoking the pledge. those years were years where you had a wide increase in income to power —— disparity between the richest and poorest in america. many at the bottom suffered from the fact they did not get trickle—down benefits from those cuts and from cuts in social programmes. that enlarged reason was why bill clinton, who famously said george bush was born with a silver foot in his mouth, famously said george bush was born with a silverfoot in his mouth, won the election in 1983. the issues became even more pertinent. it has led to the situation we have today with the current occupier of the white house. he epitomises what

donald trump has been so disparaging about in the past, the republicans in name only, these people who have been too willing to have consensus and build bridges with the democrats and build bridges with the democrats and sold out of the principles they believed in low taxes. will there be people in the states now thinking, no desert —— respect to an old man who did many things, but he was not good for the republican party. he was a single man, a man who believed in dialogue, a man who believed indecency. that, in these years where politics may be far from decentin where politics may be far from decent in the united states, let's just say i would be quite happy if he was the man in the white house, rather than the man who currently holds the position. who i think he

described as a blowhard! thank you very much forjoining us. mr gyimah said he felt that he had to leave the government because he felt the prime minister's deal allowed the eu to put its own interests first, at the expense of the uk. i had to make a decision in the national interest and be able to look myself in the eye. in leaving the eu, we will surrender our voice, our veto and our vote and we will become rule takers, not rule—makers. the deal that is on the table from the prime minister is a deal in name only. all the big issues have been kicked down the road. we are in for several years of negotiations, at the point which we have no leveraging the eu has

all the control and they will hammer our interests and triple our country, making it less secure, poorer and weaker in the pursuit of our national interests. earlier, our political correspondent jonathan blake said this latest resigntation cast further doubt on theresa may's ability to hold onto control of the commons, which could destabilise her plans for brexit. there is no way round this. it is another blow to the prime minister, for sure. a ministerial resignation is never a good thing. he is the tenth to quit the government since their brexit plan was agreed back in the summer but perhaps more importantly, it is another mp off the list of those who she and the conservatives can rely on to support her brexit deal in parliament and as you heard, he set out some fairly broad criticisms of the agreement but she has reached with brussels and i think the nub of it is that tracy use, a deal in name only and that is how others see it.

phrase he used, a deal in name only and that is how others see it. suddenly the second part of the deal, the poetical declaration agreed with the european union on the future relationship still needs to be negotiated in detail and that is what will happen supposedly after the 29th of march next year. sam gyimah is one of many who has concerns about whether firstly what the two sides have set out and whether that can be achieved and secondly the direction it is going in the first place is not a good one for the united kingdom. what has been the government reaction? very little in terms of anything coming from downing street. they thanked sam gyimah for his service last night but there will be an announcement on monday, we understand, about his replacement. there was an exchange of letters and this is ending of a well trodden path and a routine that downing street has been going through over the last couple of weeks. we have had the culture secretary speaking this morning, responding to the criticism and let's have a listen to what he had to say in response.

i regret very much he is leaving the government. he has done a good job in a number of roles but i don't agree with him on this and i think that you need to look at the deal, as i say, as a compromise but as a balance between two things. first of all the british public have said very clearly to us in the referendum outcome that they wanted to leave the european union, that they wanted to get back control of their borders, they wanted to stop spending billions of pounds sent overseas to brussels every year. this deal achieves those things. talking of money, confirmation from the government giving epitopes of remaining in the galileo project. yes, that may have been the immediate trigger it to sam gyimah‘s announcement. this is the satellite system which the eu is developing as a competitor to the gps system developed by the us military some years ago and used

by all of us in our cars. the eu is developing its own system and britain has been a significant part of that. paying in something in the region of £1 billion worth of funding. some of the satellites and infrastructure was being built in the uk. the eu made it clear that the uk would not have access to it in the meet immediate term after brexit. the prime minister has announced the uk will develop its own project to rival galileo. but it is a very clear indication of when tangible impact of the uk leaving the eu. for the second weekend running, police have fired teargas to disperse protesters in central paris.

at least 16 people have been arrested so far. the protestors are part of the growing nationwide yellow vest movement. they have a variety of grievances, chiefly the french president emmanuel macron's policy of raising fuel taxes to combat global warming. a little earlier i spoke with our correspondent hugh schofield in paris. the arc de triomphe, as you can see, is shrouded in smoke. the champs elysees over to our right. that is eerily empty. everyone has been capped of it. instead you what you will see is crowds of people converging on the arctic triomphe.

there is no particular call to go anywhere but word has got out that the arc de triomphe is the place to be. some of these people have masks on, they are clearly ready for a confrontation. they seem to be pretty good—tempered. if they were macro we were french media, they would not be good—tempered. they haveitin would not be good—tempered. they have it in for the french media. we are keeping our voices very loud so they are aware we are foreign media. what is driving this last remark? it has sustained itself despite every attempt by the government to pacify the protesters. well, the government has not actually done very much, other than say that it understands their motivation. that is what president macron said the other day. there has been no change of policy. this is the 50% of the french population we do not see very much. this is not the thriving in the big cities, not the impoverished people, this is the other 50% to live out in small towns around the country. people who feel they are completely forgotten economically, culturally,

politically and feel they have to bear the brunt of taxes, which they say have been going up constantly over the last few years and this fuel tax that is now coming in is the kind of straw that has broken the camel's back. that is it for them. but if you ask any of them, they say it is not just the fuel tax, it is everything, it is the way their way of life has been crushed. this is the scene live in paris now... these are shots coming in live. that isa these are shots coming in live. that is a small vehicle fire. a lot of this is about constructing barricades, which is a traditional way of organising protests in paris. last weekend, some of the protesters we re last weekend, some of the protesters were ripping up paving stones. the

police want to ensure there are no barricades. this is the arc de triomphe, shrouded in gas from those tear gas canisters the police have fired. we have about 100 people now been arrested. lastly, it took some time for the protests to dissipate. riot police are on standby. three policemen and several protesters have been injured. and there has been condemnation of thugs, described as a minority, but nonetheless some people the authorities have accused of hijacking the protests. the prime minister has cancelled a planned speech he was going to make up the rally for president macron ‘s party.

instead he will be monitoring developments in paris. several hundred yellow vests are down under the arc de triomphe, singing the anthem and chanting president macron, resign. we will bring you more on our customers we get it. —— we will bring you more on that as soon as we we will bring you more on that as soon as we get it. the saudi crown prince, mohammed bin salman, has been meeting world leaders on the sidelines of the g20 summit in argentina. theresa may urged the crown prince to hold the murderers ofjamal khashoggi to account, while russia's vladmir putin gave the saudi leader a much warmer welcome. french president emmanuel macron warned him he was "worried" and called for international investigators to get involved. today the focus will be on the meeting between donald trump and chinese president xijinping. tim willcox is in buenos aires.

what is the bigger picture at the 620 this what is the bigger picture at the g20 this weekend? what are they meant to be talking about? well, they are meant to be talking about quite easy things. the environment, jobs, the future ofjob creation around the world. but the whole event has been overshadowed by the escalating tensions between russia and ukraine, also president putin is year—round president trump cancelled that bilateral with president putin because of that. there is also the matter of the crown prince, as you say, over the killing ofjamal

khashoggi. and i think the trade war between china and washington is what eve ryo ne between china and washington is what everyone really is looking ahead to. there is a dinner this evening between president xi and president trump, by which most time —— most of the world leaders will have left. and then we will wait to see if there is any truce in that trade war, head of america, washington, wanting to impose yet more tariffs on chinese goods on the 1st of january, raising tariffs from 10% to 2596. i january, raising tariffs from 10% to 25%. i have been speaking to the chilean president. he said this was a nonsensical trade war, and it needed to be stopped now. i asked him ifa needed to be stopped now. i asked him if a communique would be signed at the end of the summit. many people think there will not be. he said if that was the case, this summit will have been a disaster. and a failure. is there a sense that this is going to in any way improve

relations between the americans and the chinese? donald trump has often talking about his warm personal chemistry with the chinese president but the policies seem to be pointing ina but the policies seem to be pointing in a different direction. the chinese negotiators are desperate for radio and donald trump ‘s white house is divided. the treasury secretary wa nts house is divided. the treasury secretary wants a deal. he thinks that this is going to be bad for american workers. but others say, we have china over a barrel, keep on pushing. president trump was asked ifa pushing. president trump was asked if a deal is likely to be signed, but he said i'm not sure i want a deal at the moment. we have so many billions of dollars coming into the economy because of these tariffs and i'm not sure if it is worth doing a deal. that is the main issue, i think of this summit and as you

mentioned, the saudi crown prince, mohammed bin salman, and how international leaders have been reacting to him. his first appearance on the international stage since the murder ofjamal khashoggi in istanbul. police searching for a couple missing after their car was found washed up on a beach in south west scotland have found two bodies. james and susan kenneavy‘s empty vehicle was found by workmen clearing debris on drummore beach, near stranraer, on thursday morning. police say formal identification of the two bodies found this morning at port william, near newton stewart, will take place in due course. search teams are now entering challenging terrain including dense woodland in the quest to find a 16—year—old from aberdeen who has been missing for two weeks. liam smith caught the 202 stagecoach bus from aberdeen on 17 november and is thought to have got off at crathes. police said a subsequent credible sighting of him in the crathes estate area that afternoon had offered further information to lead searches. a series of aftershocks have rocked the us state of alaska

after a devastating earthquake struck its biggest city, damaging buildings and forcing people to run into the streets. the quake was centred about seven miles north of the city of anchorage and there are no reports of serious injuries. our north america correspondent, james cook, is in alaska. you can see some of the damage caused by the earthquake. this was a drainage pipe that was mashed up when the tremor ran through here, shaking the road and causing this very serious damage to the road. this is a slip road very near the airport. they are already out here working hard, trying to fix it. the earthquake struck just working hard, trying to fix it. the earthquake struckjust before 8:30am and many alaskans were on their way some of them on this road. one car was right in the middle of it. others were heading to school, heading to their businesses, when the earthquake happened. and then a very short time later, just as

people work beginning to take stock of what happened, a very powerful after—shock shook this region as well, even closer to the city of anchorage, which is home to some 300,000 people. now, they are beginning the process of trying to assess the damage. this place is well used to earthquakes. and they seem well used to earthquakes. and they seem to have been well prepared. there is not a great deal of very serious damage to buildings and that is because there are strict building codes here, restrictions in place, regulations in place to make sure that buildings survive earthquakes. there are thousands every year in alaska but even by those standards, this was a big one. it was frightening for the people involved. it want on breaking considerable period of time and because this is now the beginning of winter, repairs may be hampered by a lack of daylight and freezing temperatures. although, as you can see, they are already getting on with it. now time for the weather forecast.

hello there. a lot of this around today. quite a lot of cloud and there has been some outbreaks of rain, and that is sweeping its way into the north sea as we speak. the heaviest of the rain this morning has been across the channel, stretching up through the midlands, northern england and northern ireland, with gusts of wind is of 35 to a0 mph. but it will continue to sweep its way eastwards, allowing skies to brighten behind. the best of the weather in terms of sunshine perhaps reserved for the far north east of scotland. after a chilly start, here we keep some sunny breaks. scattered showers into the north west. six or seven degrees into the north. mild but breezy with it further south. 11 to 1a degrees. that rain will continue to sweep its way east. it is going to be replaced by another through the night to night. some of it a bit heavy across central and southern england. and then we will see rain lingering first thing on sunday morning across northern ireland and scotland and that rain, potentially, is going to be there for much of the day on sunday. so it does look as though it stays cloudy and received but brighter for many on sunday. more rain to come on monday. hello this is the bbc news.

sport and for a full round up from the bbc sport centre. could it be the greatest sporting comeback ever...well tyson fury thinks it will be, if he can, win the w.b.c world heavy weight crown, off the american deon—tay wilder, tonight. he has lost 10 stone to get to this point, having spent over 2 years out of the sport. adie ada—doyan reports from los angeles. tyson keary at an thing to do what he does best. get under the skin of his opponent.