isunshine around the but a lot of sunshine around the cool feeling of ten or 11. this is bbc news i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at six. police fire tear gas on the streets of paris — as anti—government protestors clash with officers in a fourth weekend of demonstrations. police in new zealand are to charge a 26—year—old man with the murder of british backpacker, grace millane — who went missing in auckland last week. sadly the evidence we have gathered to this point of the inquiry has established that this is a homicide. amber rudd becomes the first government minister to publicly discuss an alternative to theresa may's brexit deal. what happens if it is voted down? and anything could happen. there are lots of different things that could happen. most of which they will not want to happen, so when they think about this deal they need to weigh up the alternatives as well. six people — 5 of them teenagers — have died after a stampede at a nightclub in italy. and mo salah scored a hat—trick to send liverpool top of the premier league

with a comfortable a—nil win over bournemouth. wei a very good evening. france is facing more anti—government protests tonight with riot police deploying water cannon and tear gas to try to disperse demonstrators. thousands of the so—called yellow vest protesters have ta ken to the streets of paris where cars and barricades have been set alight. the yellow vest movement began three weeks ago in opposition to a rise in fuel tax — but ministers say it's been hijacked by "ultra—violent" protesters. from paris, lucy williamson reports. they called it a protest. at times it looked more like a game of urban war.

groups of protesters fanned through the capital's streets today. from the arc de triomphe to republic, boulevards once built to open the veins of the city filled with tear gas, firecrackers and riot police. on the champs—elysees this morning, the mood was largely peaceful — protesters arriving here from across france caught up in a familiar dance of conflict with police. police are just pushing the protesters back down out of this side street onto the champs—elysees, they have been pushing them up and down the street all morning and the tensions is starting to rise. the police were well prepared for this confrontation, with armoured vehicles, new tactics and bag searches, seizing gas masks and helmets and anything that could be used against police. the tear gas, far stronger than usual, took many protesters by surprise. and rapid reaction squads marked out by orange arm bands were stationed

among the protesters to spot trouble and make early arrests. translation: since the start of the demonstrations there have actually been more injuries on the side of the security forces than on the protesters because the idea is to contain things, but that tactic has limits, particularly when we're faced with people who want to behave like it is a war. so today we've changed the tactics so there will be more checks and immediate interventions. despite the violence of previous protests, this movement still has the backing of many voters in france. its members proud of their lack of leadership and the diversity of their support. sylvie is a far left supporter, herfriend christoffe is a fan of the far right. they say the yellow vests have united different people against president macron. translation: that is what president macron does not like, that we are united. he has brought back

solidarity among the french. we are united in combat for now, after that, who knows? but this movement is already splintering into two kinds of protest, one that looks towards a new political programme and a violent wing, opposed to any negotiation that's hard to exclude, even harder to control. luzzi sent us this update. the police had just pushed protesters backed down after a day which we have seen several confrontations between the two sides, but there have also been new security measures in place. police were routinely checking peoples bags to see if they had any gas masks, any helmets, anything that could be used to harm them. there was a rapid reaction force here the crowd trying to target troublemakers and take them out early. some of these measures

have meant that some of the more violent protesters have meant that some of the more viole nt protesters have have meant that some of the more violent protesters have fanned out across the city and we saw several confrontations around central paris today. the government is still left with a political problem when it comes to this movement, but as far as the security operation has gone today, i think the government will be very pleased. that was lucy williamson. police in new zealand are preparing to charge a 26—year—old man with the murder of the british backpacker grace millane. grace was last seen in auckland a week ago. police say there's evidence she's dead but her body has yet to be found. simonjones reports. described by her family as lovely, outgoing, fun—loving. in grace millane‘s hometown in essex, they're trying to comprehend the news that her disappearance is being treated as murder. it is very, very sad. devastating for the family, obviously and friends. many of the young people in our parish knew her, some went to school with her and went on school journeys

with her, so it is... it will have hit the parish really very bad. despite an extensive search, police have now reached this conclusion. the evidence we have gathered to this point of the inquiry has established that this is a homicide. grace's family have been advised of this development and are devastated. police say a 26—year—old man will be charge with her murder when he appears in court on monday. grace arrived in new zealand last month and had been staying at a backpackers' hostel in auckland. she was last seen last saturday night entering a hotel in the city with a male companion who the police they had been with her during the evening. detectives have released pictures of jewellery they believe they believe grace had with her, this necklace and a distinctive pink watch that are both missing from her possessions and could help them find her body. here at a catholic church in wickford, special prayers will be

said for grace at services throughout the weekend, a moment of contemplation to mark a young life cut short. we have been extremely concerned for her welfare. grace's father had flown to new zealand to plea for help in finding her, now he needs to know where her body is. the police say they will do everything they can to return her to the family. joining us now from oxford is the travel safety expert and author — lloyd figgins. thank you very much for speaking to us. thank you very much for speaking to us. new zealand is always regarded as relatively safe. what is the status? new zealand is a safe destination, there are no two ways about that. there's over 3.2 million people who travel to new zealand every year and most of those visits, by far every year and most of those visits, byfarand every year and most of those visits, by far and away, are trouble—free. it has a phenomenal safety record in things outside of the usual things

that backpackers like to do, things like the adventure at travelling district is very well regulated, and evenif district is very well regulated, and even if you have a look at the area where grace went missing, on queen street in auckland, a lot of the bars and hostels have security guards on them so it is a safe destination, and we see what's going on in europe at the moment and actually we have to think that new zealand is not a dangerous place to 90, zealand is not a dangerous place to go, but that does not mean there are not dangerous when you go travelling. i am wondering, in terms of dealing with officials when something does go wrong, when i think back to the case of the 20—year—old who was killed in australia, there were... the family had a lot of problems with getting information from officials on the ground. what is it like in new zealand? in new zealand, if you are a british traveller and you are going to new zealand, then you need to be working with the foreign and commonwealth office. you need to actually be working with your family

at home as well, and there needs to bea at home as well, and there needs to be a combination of different angles that you are going to take if something does go wrong. this is why people need to make sure they have an emergency plan in place, and that needs to take into account if they have not been heard from that a procedure will kick into place whereby others can raise the alarm, and that is not unique to new zealand or australia. it is something people should be doing whenever they are travelling, making sure that first of all they do their preparation before they go, second of all that they are situationally aware once they're in a particular country or region and thirdly that they have an emergency response procedure in case something does go wrong. just give us an idea of what this emergency response procedures should be like? what sort of things should be like? what sort of things should parents or members of the family orfriends should parents or members of the family or friends put in should parents or members of the family orfriends put in place before the student leaves or the person goes off travelling? the first thing has got to be communication, making sure that you have different methods of communication. too often nowadays we rely on high—tech and what i would

say is for every high—tech solution you have, make sure you have a low—tech or a no tech solution in order that if there is any failure within the high—tech, and that could be that mobile phone system goes down or you are out of reception, you have another way of communicating with people, or if you are going to be away from communications for a while let people know. tell them you are going toa people know. tell them you are going to a remote region and you will not hear from to a remote region and you will not hearfrom them, to a remote region and you will not hear from them, but then have a checkin hear from them, but then have a check in time that if you do not make that time they can raise the alarm for you. so, when everything goes wrong you have not heard from a member of family travelling, where is the first port of call for those who are concerned? the first protocol on that is to get hold of the local police, and explain to them what that person's movements were, where they were supposed to be, why perhaps they're not there and let the police do their work locally. don't forget local police have the local knowledge. they are

best placed in order to actually deal with the situation on the ground, but there is also no harm whatsoever in contacting the local embassy, the british embassy or consulate in order to alert them that one of our citizens is missing work could potentially be in danger. we'll leave it there for now but thank you very much for that insight. more now on our top story — and police fire tear gas on the streets of paris — as anti—government protestors clash with officers in a fourth weekend of demonstrations. i'm joined from paris by christian makarian, deputy editor of l'express magazine thank you forjoining us. what do you make of this fourth weekend of demonstrations? how is this being regarded by the french public? a p pa re ntly regarded by the french public? apparently the demonstrations in paris happened in better conditions

than one week ago. there were police forces, and there was a very strong preventative action, but the question now is not in the street. it is at the head, at the summit of the power in france. emmanuel macron is personally targeted by the demonstrators. what do they want? do they want the president to resign? it is not stated clearly, but you can feel that through the demonstrations. the protesters are extremely angry against macron, and we are waiting for the personal a nswer we are waiting for the personal answer from the president. a p pa re ntly answer from the president. apparently he should say or do something next week, maybe monday or tuesday. the question is now what is going to happen to the president himself. and what is likely to happen to him? is he likely to bow? we have seen this concession with

the fuel tax. how far would emmanuel macron go, do you think? he already backed down. he already cancelled the taxes he wanted to create, so there is nothing else to do on this field. is he going to reshuffle the government, to change the prime minister? it would not be enough to calm the crowd. the question now is personal, and all the problem is there. it is the third phase of the movement. there was a social phase, a political phase, and now it is an institutional phase. the president himself has become the problem. many people are pointing out that a lot of these problems that are being put on emmanuel macron's shoulders, macron resign is what protesters are

saying, they were already simmering away before he came to power.m saying, they were already simmering away before he came to power. it is true, but now we have experienced his first year of mandate. he has only two choices, one choice would be to deny himself, his personality, a lot of people see him as a very arrogant character. is he going to show that he can be more humble and less disdainful to the people? i'm not saying it is true, i've just described the main feeling of the people. and the second possibility is to renounce some prerogatives of the function. whether he denies himself or he would change the

permit of the president's function. anyway, he is in a very complicated debt and. i am quite interested to look at some of these symbolic nature of what we have seen on the streets of paris today. we have heard some of the protesters singing, and we have also seem off the protesters this weekend kneeling. kneeling, it is complicated, because the movement is not homogenous. you have far right protesters, far left protesters, and a big centre. this centre is the most interesting part for macron. if he wants to take back control on the situation, he has an interest to crack the yellow vest movement and

to separate those who are politically radicalised from those who are just humble people wanting, looking for more justice. if he is able to describe the people's suffering, and to show that he is ready to organise a new dialogue and all the levels of the country institutional, unions, all of the powers, it must be something extremely significant, or the movement will carry on. so when france, when paris wakes up tomorrow morning, what sort of mood, what sort of support to those protesters have from the french people who have not taken to the streets? according

to the polls, more than majority of the french supported the movement. there are more than io%, which is very high. i'm not sure, especially after this relatively calm weekend, iam not after this relatively calm weekend, i am not sure that the yellow vests are going to lose the support of the rest of the population. a lot of people disapprove of what they do, but they think they have the right to express their need forjustice and fora to express their need forjustice and for a better social dialogue. there is no social dialogue in france around the future, especially of what we call the middle—class and there are a lot of trouble coming from this part of the population, so

this middle—class must be taken in consideration. that is emmanuel macron's deal, that is his challenge. thank you very much indeed. you're watching bbc news. the time is 18 minutes past six. amber rudd has become the first government minister to openly discuss an alternative brexit strategy if the prime minister's deal is rejected in the commons on tuesday. she said she still supported theresa may's withdrawal agreement but it could be chaotic if mps didn't back the plan. she said a so—called "norway plus" option or another referendum would both be possibilities in such a situation. our political correspondent iain watson reports. you know what it's like in the run—up to christmas. you will be told that great deals are available, but you're tempted to wait for the january sales. and one cabinet minister is telling

mps that if they don't like the prime minister's brexit deal, then a different one could come up. amber rudd supports theresa may's deal. she says it is the best option but if it is defeated... at the house is not going to support the deal any to come forward with an alternative deal. and i have seen that there is a lot of support for norway plus in the house of commons, there is a certain amount of support for a people's vote, nobody knows what would happen. people should think very clearly if they are not going to vote for the government's withdrawal agreement whether they would prefer those alternatives. so what does she mean by norway plus? like norway, the uk be outside the eu but with access to the single market, we would have greater control of our agriculture and fishing industries and the plus bit — unlike norway we would be inside the customs union or something very like it to avoid the hard border in ireland. but there would be fewer restrictions on freedom of movement

and we would pay into eu budgets. you don't need me to tell you that we are living in extraordinary political times, and here is another example. cabinet ministers are expected to sing from the same hymn sheet, and notjust at this time of year. yet amber rudd is speaking openly about the defeat of her own government and setting out her preferred plan b, now she doesn't want the prime minister to resign but theresa may's authority is looking less deep rooted. but some senior conservative figures say we don't have to be like norway or have another referendum if theresa may's deal is defeated. instead, we could leave the eu without a fully fledged deal. we should seek to put in place some ad hoc temporary arrangements with the agreement of the european union which would minimise and indeed perhaps even eliminate any disruption at the border on the 30th of march next year. there is not much festive cheer at westminster. the prime minister and amber rudd say the brexit deal would bring

certainty but some sceptical conservative mps believe pushing on with next week's vote would simply be a gift to the opposition. iain watson, bbc news, westminster. china's foreign ministry has called on canada to release an executive employed by the telecoms giant huawei or warned it would otherwise face consequences. meng wanzhou, the company's global chief financial officer, was arrested in vancouver last weekend and faces extradition to the united states. she's the daughter of huawei's founder and is accused of breaking american sanctions on iran — as our asia pacific editor celia hatton has been explaining. it is fascinating that they decided to come out with this today after days of relative silence, not saying very much at all. i think really that beijing at the moment is trying to appeal to china's domestic audience. there have been a lot of calls inside china, lots of people writing on chinese social media platforms saying that ms meng is effectively a hostage in the us, china trade war,

that this arrest was political, that canada should not have carried out this arrest on behalf of the united states. a lot of shock and accusations against canada, and so i think really beijing feels the need to show that it is trying to do something, and that is why it has come out with this. it is really not going to help matters in the fact that huawei, the world's largest network equipment banker has been arguing for years now that it has no strong ties with the chinese government, that it's not a proxy for the chinese military, so the fact that the chinese government have come out with such strong words, urging for ms meng to be released kind of goes against that argument. it is complicated, but basically some huawei equipment still uses us microchips, us technology, which is proprietary, so it violates us unilateral sanctions against iran. for that, for those chips, which are put in huawei equipment to then be sold on to iran.

for a long time, huawei has said we are not breaking any rules, we are not violating sanctions, we are not concerned about this, but what ms moan is accused of, she's accused of defrauding us banks. she's accused of assuring them that another company called skycom, which was selling equipment to iran, we believe, she was telling them they're two different companies. she sat on the board of skycom, she was the cfo of huawei, but what us prosecutors are arguing is that the two companies are one, and because she's the one who assured us banks that they were separate, she is the one who is really on the hook for this. six people have been killed in a stampede at a nightclub in northern italy. the crush happened in the early hours of this morning in the town of corinaldo near ancona on the adriatic coast. james reynolds reports: the blue lantern nightclub in the town of corinaldo was packed.

around 1,000 people, many of them teenagers, had gone to see a concert by one of italy's leading rappers. at around one in the morning some reports say that a pepper spray—like substance was used, provoking a stampede. translation: we were together. we started seeing everyone rush towards the emergency exits. at the beginning we didn't understand why, but then we started to cough and thought there might be a fire or something, so we decided to leave. one of the emergency exits was blocked. in the crush to get out of the club, a railing collapsed causing dozens of partygoers to fall. translation: since three this morning we were very close to the bodies and to the relatives. and then we've accompanied them here to the morgue. you can imagine it's been a very sudden thing. you cannot believe that it's true. the government has named the dead as teenagers

between the ages 01:14 and 16, and the 39—year—old mother of one of these victims was also killed. italy's interior minister, matteo salvini, says the authorities will find those responsible for turning a party night into a tragedy. james reynolds, bbc news, rome. one of the uk's biggest outsourcing companies — interserve — is reported to be in rescue talks to avoid its collapse. interserve employs 115,000 people here, providing services in key sectors including schools and hospitals. most of its income comes from government contracts. a british sailor whose yacht was crippled by a ferocious storm during a round the world race has been rescued. susie was sailing along when she ran into trouble 2000 miles

off the coast of chilly. anymore reports. safety at last. the cargo ship that rescued susie goodall used its crane to winch her on board. she's reported to be uninjured and in good spirits. it was an ordeal that began 50 hours earlier with this distress call in the teeth of a ferocious storm. her yacht had lost its mast and water had to be pumped out. in one of the remotest places on earth, she had a long wait for help to arrive. she was tossed about, seasick, in a disabled boat, in heavy seas. it was a difficult rescue right to the end. the engine on susie's yacht kept cutting out as it manoeuvred alongside the rescue ship, the tian fu. and then the first news of success in a brief tweet. "on the ship", she wrote, followed by three exclamation marks. in the time waiting to be rescued with a broken cooker,

she said she'd been longing for a cup of tea. so it was no surprise that in the second message she said she had enjoyed a very good hot drink. her friends welcomed the good news after an agonising wait. it was an absolutely huge relief, a massive relief, and i think everybody in our sailing community was just absolutely overjoyed by the news. susie is now on her way to chile. her dream of sailing solo around the world is over, for now, but at least she's safe. andy moore, bbc news. is some breaking news coming to us here from reuters news sources. in the past two minutes president trump has reportedly told correspondent that his chief of staff, john kelly, will be leaving his post by the end of the year. there've been a number

of the year. there've been a number of rumours surrounding mr kelly and his future relationship with president trump. there had been pressure for him to go. in fact only four hours ago mr trump had tweeted that i'm pleased to announce my nomination of the 4—star general mark miley, chief of staff of the united states army as the chairman of thejoint chiefs united states army as the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff replacing another generaljoe dunford who will be retiring, so there has been a lot of movement within the staff surrounding mr trump, but the latest chief of staff to lead is mrjohn kelly. more on that from seven o'clock you're right on bbc news. in the meantime, here is the weather with louise. good evening. it has certainly been an unsettled week. things will quiet down for the second half of the weekend. we still have some showers to clear and strong winds, plenty of isobars across the chart through the night and isobars across the chart through the nightand in isobars across the chart through the night and in fact the strongest of

the winds with likely to be across wales, southwest england and channel coast, gusting in excess perhaps 65-70 coast, gusting in excess perhaps 65—70 miles an hour. real rush in showers for the next few hours. they drift their way steady south, clear skies into the far north of the country. here we could the temperatures in the low single figures, so a touch of light frost not out of the question. we start off early birds with showers around, but they will use pretty quickly so by copy time on sunday morning clear skies, the wind are coming from the northwesterly, so a cooler source and on exposed coast you'll notice it'll field chilly are generally across the country. 6—80d brass into the north, highest values of 11—12 in the southwest. —— 6—8d in the north. hello this is bbc news.

the headlines. in the last few minutes — president trump has announced that his chief of staffjohn kelly is to leave the white house at the end of the year. police have fired tear gas on the streets of paris — as thousands of anti—government protestors stage more demonstrations against the french president, emmanuel macron. police in new zealand say they're set to charge a 26—year—old man with the murder of a british backpacker. grace millane, who's 22 and from essex, was last seen earlier this month. the work and pensions secretary, amber rudd, has warned the country would be in "uncharted territory" if mps reject theresa may's brexit deal. six people, including five teenagers, have been killed and more