you're watching beyond 100 days. theresa may has persuaded european leaders to help her but, will it be enough. the british government confirmed today the vote the prime minister abandoned on her brexit deal, will not be rescheduled until after christmas. the commission says it will clarify the back—up plan but not amend the legal text whatever theresa may may have hoped for. my focus now is on getting those assurances we need to getting those assurances we need to get this deal over the line. donald trump says he made a mistake hiring michael cohen — the lawyer who has just gone to prison for organising hush money payments for the president. also on the programme. russian spy maria butina, who tried to influence the trump campaign through her connections to the national rifle association, pleads guilty to conspiracy against the united states. 50 miles above the earth, virgin galactic takes a giant step towards passenger space flight. hello and welcome.

i am katty kay in washington, christian fraser is in london. after an extraordinary day of blood—letting in the conservative party, theresa may was back in brussels today at a crucial eu summit, trying to get something, anything, that will break the brexit deadlock back at home. she wants a guarantee that any backup plan to keep the border open in ireland, will be temporary. and she needs more than fine words. the bbc has seen the draft conclusions of the summit which suggest the 27 leaders will try to offer mrs may some new assurances. but downing street says it's not expecting any immediate breakthrough. we were told this afternoon a meaningful vote on mrs may's brexit deal will now not be held until after christmas. theresa may made it clear to tory mps last night that she would step down before the next election — though she gave no timetable for her departure. our deputy political editorjohn pienaar looks at what may lie ahead for the prime minister in the weeks to come. it is getting hard to keep up. the

drama yesterday was exhausting enough. how did michael gove see the future? did mrs may have one? former remain amber rudd thought so. i certainly hope so, she has the support of the party behind him and i wish her every success today. but the big questions are piling up. firstly about the brexit the wall. the day after the crisis before, ask who you like, that is a growing feeling the brexit planted will be doomed. this plan is as good as dead. it would take a christmas miracle for her to come back with something that would fly through the house of commons. the prime minister needs to tear up her plan and come

up needs to tear up her plan and come up with the new one that will appeal oi'i up with the new one that will appeal ona up with the new one that will appeal on a cross—party basis. up with the new one that will appeal on a cross-party basis. if the plan fails where is the radical option of a no—deal brexit. the idea splits the cabinet. two of these ministers have quit over brexit and some would back leaving with no deal, but today another minister insists that cannot and will not happen. now they all are simply not an option. bilateral arrangements are not in place, economically it is simply not possible. what about politically in parliament? parliament has now proved that the cause of the amendments we cannot actually move into this without parliamentary approval itself and the voice across the department is clear, no deal was not an option. good a cross-party brexit urge to pledge the political divide? feelings run deep. one seniorfigure says divide? feelings run deep. one senior figure says bringing divide? feelings run deep. one seniorfigure says bringing mps divide? feelings run deep. one senior figure says bringing mps and opposing parties together could become the only option unless the deal wins through? most people think

thatis deal wins through? most people think that is unlikely, then there will have to be some kind of arrangement which different people in different parties can support, which can command a majority in the house of commons because in the end that is what is good to be vital for radio. they have marched and protested and today they sealed their message up today they sealed their message up to parliament. campaigners for a fresh referendum think they may be with them hailing distance to providing an answer to brexit.|j think we are a step closer to having a people sport which is what i want but also a step closer to no deal. essentially we are taking the country on a high wire which we could pull off spectacularly well or fall. any mention of a fresh referendum promotes brexit year cries of betrayal. cabinet is running out of options and time and a nyway running out of options and time and anyway out of the deadlock would be explosively controversial but one has to come through in the end, and

perhaps the only outcome that can be safely ruled out as political peace and stability. our colleague ben brown is in brussels and we can speak to him now. we heard in that report that it will ta ke we heard in that report that it will take a christmas miracle to break the deadlock in london. as one in the deadlock in london. as one in the offing in brussels?” the deadlock in london. as one in the offing in brussels? i don't think they're both and i don't think she is expecting a christmas miracle right now. she said she wasn't expecting an immediate breakthrough. what she is hoping for our political and legal assurances. she might get political assurances about the backstop in particular but whether they would be legal in terms of legally binding commitments, that is something very different. all the other 27 eu leaders stressed time and again as they arrived for the summit, and it sounded like they had ordered the same briefing pack, that

they are not prepared to reopen negotiations on the west tirol agreement, the 585 page document thatis agreement, the 585 page document that is at the centre of this deal. that is not up for renegotiation. there may be assurances in the form of some kind of annex or protocol to the political declaration, we may get that, but whether that is enough orare get that, but whether that is enough or are buying bowling or enough to satisfy the prime minister's opponents in the house of commons and to get the deals through the commons whenever it gets put to the vote sometime in january, commons whenever it gets put to the vote sometime injanuary, that is another question. i got the sense listening to the prime minister going into this summit that she was not entirely confident. we are seeing pictures of the european grandees greeting each other at the summitand it grandees greeting each other at the summit and it was inevitable that they would decide to side with the member staying in the european union, ireland, over the

member staying in the european union, ireland, overthe needs member staying in the european union, ireland, over the needs of the member leaving. she was never going to get them to choose britain's needs over ireland's needs. that is absolutely right. they will back the country that is remaining, the republic of ireland. at the same time they do not want a no—deal brexit and they want to help her get the no deal through if possible and they have said while other cannot be the negotiations we are prepared to look at whatever they can do politically in terms of offering assurances. and it is whether those warm words were actually be enough to satisfy opponents in the house of commons. there has been talk from austria, who have the rotating presidency, that there will have to be another summit before the commons vote to come up with something confident from the eu leaders. they are speaking to the prime minister after a session earlier on today. the brother rockport moment when they

all have dinner together and then the british prime minister leaves the british prime minister leaves the room, like an awkward dinner party, and they talk about horror and britain and brexit behind her back because she is the leading country and so she leaves the room. wonderfully symbolic, thank you. lots of those european leaders having problems of the overall in that they would like to have time to get on and deal with and they have had to spend so much time dealing with brexit, but everyone in europe having problems of the row at the need the space and energy to deal with that. earlier we spoke to ska heller, a german mep who'll be at the eu summit as leader of the greens—efa group in the european parliament. is there sympathy in brussels for theresa may's political situation orders their frustration with the way she has been handling the negotiations with european counterparts? there's a lot of

sympathy for the people in the uk who have to suffer from the consequences now they quite chaotic situation in the uk, so there is a lot of willingness among the eu 27, and also in the european parliament, but the question is how can that be done? how can that be done in a way that does not undermine the principles of the eu 27 and that is theissue principles of the eu 27 and that is the issue at stake, and it was always said that to maintain peace in ireland and also to keep the interests of ireland recognised, it was absolutely vital for the european union, so there can be no stepping back from that commitment. we saw with the drying up of the political declaration to individual countries tried to use the negotiation to further their own national interests. what concerns me is 100 mps back here in london is that without a legal guarantee on the backstop it could be indefinite

because people will use it as h. -- as h. from the european parliament's point of view it looks like we have been making a lot of concession because it will not concern any changes we might make in the future for example environmental and social law, so although those changes will not be applicable in the uk, there will be the possibility that the uk lowers their standards well still being inside the backstop. from our point of view we have made huge concessions but it is very clear that needs to be a solution for northern ireland. the only thing anyone came up with is this backstop sort is also clear that cannot run out and nobody wants that to be the case. it is only the fallback fallback option but it is clear that if push comes to shove and has to be applied, there cannot be a final date for it. if the 27 leaders were

to signa date for it. if the 27 leaders were to sign a communique spelling it it was temporarily, would that have any legal force and would supersede anything in the withdrawal agreement? could you attach it to the document to give the prime minister of the legal backing she needs? there are always legal possibilities, that is clear, but it also has to go through the european parliament and the european parliament and the european parliament will certainly not sign up parliament will certainly not sign up to anything that would endanger the peace in northern ireland, and the peace in northern ireland, and the backdrop is only four seem to be temporarily, but it will only end when there's an agreement on the future of relations, and we want this to be the case very soon, the backstop will last if this future relationship has not been sorted out already. in the in between phase. it is only coming up in a couple of years, this is how long the backstop will last, so it depends on both

sides to make sure that the backstop would be indeed limited in its timeframe. very grateful for your time, thank you. so you told me you spent a really fun so you told me you spent a really fu n few so you told me you spent a really fun few hours trawling through the history of european union treaties and you have come up with a precedent where this could work? the one or two and the question mark is whether the protocol supersedes what would go in the text. so back in 1992 denmark rejected the maastricht treaty and what they secured subsequent to that were four opt outs on the euro and socialjustice and home affairs and defence policy and home affairs and defence policy and citizenship. they put it back to the vote and this protocol was attached to the maastricht treaty and was enough to get it through, but the problem with this president is when you're trying to get the dup

on board, it is the backstop itself thatis on board, it is the backstop itself that is the problem. they want it out of the west brom agreement because it directs britain and the eu to that arrangement, so that our presidents and precedents with ireland and the lisbon treaty, that one in denmark, but would it satisfy those opposed to the prime minister back at home? i have been looking also through social media and i have found a video that reflect the attitudes, you and me to brexit. you know when i show you a story and you say you don't want to do it and i say you don't want to do it and i say we are doing it anyway. this is as reporting brexit. i thought it summed us up perfectly. you on the left, persevering, if a little fed up. not the backstop again! i cannot do

it any more. doing it under duress. that is me as well, it is the backstop and the fisheries. we could go through an awful lot of those. 200 reporters in brussels going through that as well today! feel enough. shall we move along? we can get me off the stage. either donald trump had affairs with both a porn star and a playboy model and arranged to pay them money to shut them up because he was worried it would hurt his presidential campaign. and in doing so, prosecutors claim, he is implicated in the crime of breaking america's campaign finance laws. or trump didn't have the affairs, didn't know about any hush money, didn't get his fixer to break any laws and just had the misfortune to hire cohen who is weak and pleaded guilty in order to embarrass the president and get a reduced prison sentence. that's the president's account. those — broadly speaking — are the two contradictory versions of events surrounding the story featuring michael cohen, donald trump, stormy daniels

and karen mcdougal. let me tell you, i never directed him to do anything wrong. whatever he did he did on his own. he is a lawyer who represents clients and he is supposed to do the right thing, thatis is supposed to do the right thing, that is why you pay them a lot of money. he is a lawyer and he represent a client. i never directed him to do anything incorrect or wrong. with me now is our political analyst and former advisor to george w bush, ron christie. i really want to ask you about the backstop and the fisheries arrangement but i instead i am going to ask you about a porn star and former playboy model. are we right to say there are two very contradictory versions of events, the president's version where he did nothing wrong and maybe michael: did

something a little but wrong but he never asked her manager and have hired in the first place, and then thatis hired in the first place, and then that is the prosecutor's version which is very different. that is the prosecutor's version which is very differentlj that is the prosecutor's version which is very different. i would rather go back to the dancing bears but i have to answer the question! i actually take the president's said on this. the president didn't in my opinion break our americans campaign finance laws, because he is allowed asa finance laws, because he is allowed as a private citizen to direct his attorney to pay out an arrangement for what i think is an unsavoury relationship he may have had with a porn star randy playboy model, but it was not a direct campaign contribution. that is what happens when you hang out with unsavoury people and individuals who then represents you in a court of law. but if he made those payments or ask michael: to make those payments in order to hush up a story that would have a negative effect on his campaign asa have a negative effect on his campaign as a candidate for the

presidency, wouldn't that be a violation of campaign finance law? only if the money came out of the donald trump for president campaign. let's go back to efforts, the disgraced former senator. the decency was indicted and went to trial was because he was using $1 million of money to hush up an affair he had with an individual who later fathered his child. donald trump, if he was using his own personal money, would not have run file of campaign finance violations in my legal opinion. i am going to put the case for the prosecution here. that would all be well, what do you say, about the fact it was a personal matter, but then we hear about the catch and kill story that american media paid for. nothing particularly illegal, but what they told prosecutors was that its principal purpose in making the statement was to suppress the story so as to prevent it from influencing

the election, which backs up the story that michael cohen is telling. what you need to convert the president or those around him is what is called specific intent in american law. we do not have it on a factual basis that donald trump specifically intended for this third—party group to buy the story and hush it up, and even if it weren't the case that he had that intent, you would have to say, did he direct michael cohen to do it. michael cohen has been proven to be a liarand all michael cohen has been proven to be a liar and all the allegations dealt with have not had their time in court, they have not been cross—examined, so in this particular case it is he said, she said, and the presumption of innocence goes, unfortunately for democrats, the donald trump. and having a witness seem to be a lawyer is always a problem for the prosecution. it is interesting. if

donald trump had run during the campaign asa donald trump had run during the campaign as a candidate who had the highest moral standards, always followed exactly the letter of every kind of rule when it came to his business dealings and personal life, then all of these things that have come out during the course of the investigation in the southern district of new york investigation, all of those would have an impact. but because he ran and the american public pretty much knew what his approach was to business and women before they are elected him as president, then politically at least this seems to be having almost no impact on donald trump. this was barack obama, if he was accused of any of these things, if this was george w bush, it would be a huge problem and consume their presidency, but because he ran as the sort of man he is, it is sort of accepted. what did he say after the access hollywood takes? i could

shoot someone dead on fifth ave and they would still elect me. he is teflon when it comes to his supporters. a woman accused by the us of being a russian agent has pleaded guilty to conspiracy at a court in washington. maria butina was accused by prosecutors of trying to infiltrate the national rifle association in order to influence american policy towards russia. butina, who had developed close ties to the republican party, has been held in a jail in virginia since her arrest in july. let's get more with our correspondent gary o'donoghue. what do we know about maria butina's story? maria butina came to the us backin story? maria butina came to the us back in 2015 and she started developing links at that stage with the national rifle association. she isa gun the national rifle association. she is a gun rights advocate in russia. prosecutors say she was doing that in order to peddle influence not just with the nra but with other political figures in the just with the nra but with other politicalfigures in the republican party. she befriended a republican campaigner, paul erickson, involved

in the early 1990s and pat buchanan's in the early 1990s and pat bucha nan's run for in the early 1990s and pat buchanan's run for president and they developed a relationship. prosecutors said he helped her get in contact with people. there was an occasion in 2015 when she asked a question at a press conference whether or not donald trump would consider lifting sanctions against russia if he was to become president. eventually prosecutors decided to charge her and she did this injuly decided to charge her and she did this in july and decided to charge her and she did this injuly and has been in custody ever since and she pled guilty, not guilty initially to acting as a foreign agent and is now pleading guilty on the basis she will cooperate and tell them more about paul erickson and the man inside russia. the man thought to be directing her operations. so remind viewers how all of this does or does not tie into allegations of collusion between the russian government and the top campaign and the miller investigation. it is

interesting because this case was not prosecuted by robert mueller or the special counsel at all, and it is to do with the general attempt by russia to influence us politics in a wider sense. it is part of the mosaic of alleged russian influence on us politics but not directly connected to that question of collusion with the trump campaign. the interesting thing about her case is when you think about robert mueller he has indicted dozens of russians already, and she is the first russian to come before the us court on anything connected with us politics, and of course she has now got a conviction to go with it. thank you. the united nations secretary general, antonio guterres, has announced that the warring parties in yemen have agreed a truce in the vital port of hodeidah. government troops and houthi rebel forces are to be withdrawn within days to allow for humanitarian aid deliveries. speaking at un—brokered peace talks in sweden, mr guterres said the ceasefire

was crucial to getting aid to millions of people. the authorities in turkey say nine people have died and almost 50 are injured after a high—speed train crash in the capital, ankara. the train was on its way to konya in central turkey when it hit a locomotive that was carrying out routine track inspections. search and rescue efforts are continuing. protests have broken out in hungary after the country's parliament passed new labour laws, which have been labelled "slave labour" by opponents. new rules mean companies can demand up to 400 hours of overtime a year and delay payment for it for three years. police used tear gas against crowds on the steps of the parliament building last night, and opposition politicians tried to disrupt the votes inside the long—running copyright case over hit song blurred lines has finally ended, with robin thicke and pharrell williams told to pay five million dollars. the ruling concludes a legal battle that began when marvin gaye's family claimed blurred lines copied gaye's 1977 hit got to give it up. gaye's family initially won the case, but thicke and williams appealed. a young seal found "lounging"

in a plant pot has been reunited with its family. the pup was discovered on tuesday morning. the dehydrated seal was given fluids and moved closer to the sea where it found its way to its family. there is one clear benefit of a dad having the same initials as the sun. yes indeed — you can easily give any unwanted monogrammed gifts back to your offspring. even america's first family is at it. in an interview with a us entertainment show, donald trump's eldest son said dad is a "regifter" and once gave him the same gift he had presented to his father the year before. nothing wrong with a bit of frugality, eh?

i have actually done that myself with a tie but i haven't given it back to my father who gifted to me. it is christmas so i have a gift for you. the philadelphia fanatic. you have never seen it before and i'm certainly didn't see it in philadelphia when ron christie gave it to me, and it has the tag on it so it even looks new! it was bought with lots of care and thought, not on my behalf. i have left ear is upstairs! i will go and get it later. i will send upstairs! i will go and get it later. iwill send it upstairs! i will go and get it later. i will send it in the post! this is beyond 100 days from the bbc. coming up for viewers on the bbc news channel and bbc world news — a second canadian citizen is detained by china — marking the latest unspoken retaliation by beijing over the arrest of a huawei executive in vancouver. good evening. it was cold and windy

but for many today was spent with blue skies overhead but clear skies by night with a lower the temperature to drop and we're expecting a widespread frost during tonight. some exceptions, out west this old weather fronts bringing cloud and patchy rain for northern ireland. north sea coastal counties seeing extra clouds and a few showers, perhaps mentally over high ground, but a zone of cold weather, some squats in the countryside down to “11, but have the cold started will be another beautiful day tomorrow with the a lot of sunshine tomorrow with the a lot of sunshine to be had. still the odd shower feeding into north sea coastal areas and still some outbreaks of mostly patch early on in the west. the temperatures don't look impressive but the winds will not be as strong as today so it might feel better. friday ends on a chilly note for

most but we stuck to see a change in the west and rain pushing its weight in and we have a wedge of milder air in the atlantic associated with the set of weather fronts. during friday night and saturday the frontal systems will move north resorts across the uk bringing wind and rain but the fronts running into some cold here so for some of us, likely to be some snow. a combination of snow and strong winds brings the potential for travel disruption as we start of the weekend. earlier on, asked about any of us could temporarily see some snow, but turning back to rain quite readily because here, it will be turning much milder, 12 in plymouth butjust two in newcastle. we cling onto this cold air across northern and eastern areas and with this brisk wind it will feel subzero for many eastern areas. also quite a lot of snow

across scotland, not only on high ground but to low levels. could be a disruptive covering and even blizzard conditions when it is coupled with some strong winds, so not a great saturday. sunday pushes the worst of the weather away and we are the worst of the weather away and we a re left the worst of the weather away and we are left with the relatively mild westerly winds of the temperature climbing for all of us on sunday with a mixture of sunshine and showers. this is beyond 100 days, with me katty kay in washington, christian fraser is in london. our top stories... theresa may says she doesn't expect an "immediate breakthrough" from talks in brussels designed to allay mps fears about her brexit plans. a woman accused of acting as a russian agent to influence american politics pleads guilty to charges of conspiracy around the time of the 2016 presidential election. coming up in the next half hour... trouble at the top for france's president macron — he's defeated a no confidence vote, but still faces unrest from the yellow vest protesters. and — a ticket to ride — fee—paying space traveljust got one step closer, after a test flight

from virgin galactic. donald trump's legal issues appear to grow almost daily. today, the president tweeted that the sentencing of his former lawyer michael cohen to three years in prison had no impact on him. but over the past year his story surrounding the hush payments to a porn star, that landed mr cohen with a prison sentence, has changed significantly. the wall streetjournal first reported in january that michael cohen had arranged a payment of 130,000 dollars to porn star stormy daniels — to keep quiet about an extra marital affair. there were denials of sorts from various trump staffers — and then on the 5th april — the president said this. but a few weeks later — michael cohen's offices were raided

— tapes and documents were confiscated and suddenly, mr trump's story was shifting. like with this crazy stormy daniels deal, you represented me. in may, the official version of events changed again. this time a clarification from mr trump's lawyer rudi giulliani. that money was not campaign money, sorry, i'm giving you a fact now that you don't know. it's not campaign money. no campaign finance violation. so they funnelled through a law firm. funnelled through a law firm and the president repaid it. the next day — trump tweeted... maybe... but when michael cohen plead guilty in august — he told prosecutors the money was paid to help trump's campaign. that allegation has been backed up by the publisher american media inc, owner of the national enquirer, who told prosecutors its principal purpose in making the payment

was to suppress the woman's story so as to prevent it from influencing the election." today came a different rebuttal. i never directed michael cohen to break the law, he said. it is called "advice of counsel," and a lawyer has great liability if a mistake is made. with us now to discuss the legal implications of michael cohen's sentencing and where the mueller probe may go next is criminal defense attorney, caroline polisi. she joins us now from new york. caroline, please can you clear something up for us? if donald trump paid money to hush up stormy daniels, and that money was his own money and not from the trump campaign, does that mean that legally he is not liable? no, that's not what it means. however, it doesn't mean that it's a clear—cut case. there are a lot of variables here, ithink case. there are a lot of variables here, i think ultimately this will bea here, i think ultimately this will be a fact specific enquiry. when you talk about a federal commission violation, there are two different levels of prosecution, civil and

criminal, and what gets you over that hurdle to the criminal liability ultimately is intent. this crime carries with it a really high bar, in terms of the knowledge requirement there. you have to know both that it was going to influence the election, which i think we're pretty much there at this point, but also that it was a violation of the law, and in front's tweets he is using an advice of counsel defence which is in fact a viable defence in this area, and it goes something like i employed a lawyer specifically for the purpose of telling me what was legal and what was not legal and i relied on his knowledge. so we'll see. i would leave people over here are talking a lot about trying to compare this case to the john edwards case. of course prosecutors there never ultimately got a prosecution for john edwards. there are similarities, there are differences, but i think we need to know a little bit more about the story, whether or not we can say for sure if it is criminal on the part of donald

trump. certainly it is criminal on the part of cohen. yes, and he will be going to prison, so clearly the legal issue around this and the president's legal liability is up for debate and it is compensated. but it is sort of all a moot point because presidents under american law can't be indicted anyway?” because presidents under american law can't be indicted anyway? ijust make a slight distinction there, not necessarily under american law, but it isa necessarily under american law, but it is a office of legal counsel memoranda, sort of guidelines, two separate memos that stayed in this context not necessarily but in general that it is best practice that a sitting president can't be indicted. so constitutional law scholars will debate whether or not thatis scholars will debate whether or not that is the best call. people have talked about potentially prosecutors filing a seal indictment to be brought forward after potentially trumped leaves office, but i think you're right, ithink trumped leaves office, but i think you're right, i think politically speaking there is no chance we actually see an indictment of the

president while he is in fact the president. the one minute tape we have not played as the one that was seized, caroline, by the feds in new york, which shows them discussing it. they were discussing bese payments, so he definitely knew about it, and lied about it on air force one, that is pretty clear. what about his claim that if he was talking about the payment to his lawyer, and he has this defence of clay attorney privilege, should his attorney have said to him, no, that's illegal, and is that, for him? do you see what i mean? should he have got better advice, and is that a defence? 0h, absolutely, to be clear michael cohen stood up in federal district court and said i committed a crime, i knew it was a crime, and! committed a crime, i knew it was a crime, and i did it in direction of individual one, who we know is donald trump. so there is a crime, and the senator district of new york believes this was a crime. you can

call individual one and an indicted co—conspirator, he is not technically that, as the rules of the southern district thereby, but certainly whatever attorney—client privilege that they may have been at the time has been ever serrated, because michael cohen released the tapes of this, session. but, look, it is sort of a morass at this point was it is sort of a morass at this point was that so caroline, briefly, take us was that so caroline, briefly, take us to 50,000 feet, if this is not necessarily legal jeopardy for the president, is the president facing any legal jeopardy president, is the president facing any legaljeopardy on president, is the president facing any legal jeopardy on any front president, is the president facing any legaljeopardy on any front at the moment? yes, to some extent, i think that the hush money payments, the stormy daniels issue, the caroline mcdougall issue, and not be ultimately what is giving the president most criminal exposure here. there are more elements of the story here, remember michael cohen also cooperated. the biggest extent of his co—operation was in fact with the special counsel's office. the

southern district officers were not quite pleased with his cooperation. it was the special counsel's office that said he gave some really important information about matters, the words they used was like core matters associated with the russian investigation, but they didn't disclose that information, so yes, i think there is potentially some information there that we are not privy to that michael cohen provided to the special counsel's office that obviously could implicate trumped. 0k, obviously could implicate trumped. ok, thanks, caroline, for going through all of that for us. the row over the telecoms giant huawei shows no signs of abating — after the detention of a second canadian man accused of harming national security. businessman michael spavor is being held in addition to the former diplomat michael kovrig. it follows the arrest by canada of one of meng wanzhou — one of the heads of huawei — at the request of the united states. dave lee is following events for us from san francisco. soa

so a second canadian, dave, this puts the canadiens in a bit of a fix, because clearly from a chinese perspective it is easier to arrest canadians than americans? yes, certainly. i think when we heard that meng wa nzhou certainly. i think when we heard that meng wanzhou would be given bale this week, it would ease tensions between america and china because china, as you mentioned now, a second canadian national arrested in china, fora rather a second canadian national arrested in china, for a rather unspecific reason, we are told the chinese have held both of these people on account of them being a threat to national security, but haven't said a great deal more than that. so of course this is being seen, as is quite understandable by canada, as a retaliation for the arrest of meng wanzhou. michael spavor is a

businessman and he does have a sort of curiousjob, it businessman and he does have a sort of curious job, it was arrested close to north korea, he seems to have cartridge change with north korea so he is an easy figure to pick up on a security basis. yes, thatis pick up on a security basis. yes, that is fair to say. he has very close ties to north korea, he even has reportedly had cocktails on the yacht belonging to north korean leader kim jong own, and he is also said to be the bridge between north korea and that famous visit by dennis rodman, so he seems a very well—connected person in a country thatis well—connected person in a country that is not very well connected, but of course it is an ally of china, north korea, so the threats to national security could be disputed, but as you mention, having that connection to that secretive country, they do make the compelling case tojustify his country, they do make the compelling case to justify his detention. dave, what is your understanding of how the chinese are handling the huawei

case in relation to trade negotiations. i have been hearing that china have so far compartmentalised this, they are dealing with the talks and the 90 day live it on those separately with how they are dealing with this judicial issue. yes, i think that is the feeling, but i think there may bea the feeling, but i think there may be a time limit on that. right now, those two things are being seen as separate issues, because i think it is mutually beneficial for both countries to separate the trade war with this criminal investigation. but i don't think that mood will la st but i don't think that mood will last forever. today, just in canada's newspaper, global mail, the ambassador to china called it a premeditated action, so there is definitely a feeling in china that this is politics and not all about criminal activity. so i think if we get beyond that 90 day truce period and this hasn't been solved or moved

along in a way that satisfies china, i think they will start to bring the two issues together and we could perhaps see some more retaliation of the nature we have seen so far. but yes, as you say, at the moment, both china and the us with canada kind of stuck in the middle, think it is in everyone's interest to keep those as separate issues. this is beyond 100 days. still to come — what's the most exotic place you've ever been? a tropical island? thejungle? well, soon you could have bragging rights far beyond those. virgin galactic‘s passenger spacecraft has made it up to space — we'll be talking to the company's founder sir richard bramson. there are serious concerns about how the nhs is going to cope this winter, as the latest figures show that hospitals are already overcrowded — and that's before the cold weather and flu have taken hold. some fear it could be as bad, if not worse, than last year. last week, more than 94% of beds in england's hospitals were being used — that's above what is considered

to be a safe limit. our health editor hugh pym reports. this is emily — she stepped on glass, came to a&e in london this morning and had to wait just one hour. it has been an amazing experience especially at this time of year i think. doctors do an incredible job. but damien, who also hurt his foot, had to waitjust over four hours, more than the official target. there were a lot of doctors around and nurses like running around and sitting there waiting and don't know when you're going to get seen. it's a bit frustrating because basically you just want to get seen and get out there. two experiences of the nhs on the front line, under pressure even before winter kicks in. this week a health minister toured a major hospital to assess their preparations for winter. he said more money had been made available for parts of the nhs. i am pleased to see that that money is now getting to the front line where it needs to be and i am pleased to see that although this is going to be a challenging winter i am convinced that we will be able to put in the right preparations

but no—one is complacent. but, with hospitals close to full already before winter's really set in, there have been warnings the service could be stretched to the limit in the months ahead. a&e waiting times in england and got worse in november and were behind scotland though ahead of wales and northern ireland. one health leader said the latest set of figures was deeply troubling. hugh pym, bbc news. how much would you pay to fly to space? a few hundred — a few thousand? well, for a cool $250,000 you may one day be able

to buy a ticket to ride on virgin galactic. because today the company's passenger space plane, the vss unity, ignited its rocket engine longer than it has ever done before soaring above the mojave desert, in california to an altitude of 51 miles. that is the line that the us air force defines as the beginning of space. it is a giant step forward for virgin galactic. sir richard branson joins us from there now. iam very i am very pleased to say. many congratulations. were you pleased with how it went, tell us all about it. well, look, it's been 14 long years, we all shared fears here, we had thousands of us watching it, tears ofjoy, because it's been something that, you know, everyone out in the mehari, we have 800 wonderful engineers that have been working on it, all these wonderful test pilots who have been putting their lives on the line to test this

craft, and it wasjust magnificent to see it go into space today. it's the first time i think that any spaceship has been into space from american soil since about 2011, and it's the first time that a commercial spaceship company has actually put people into space, so a day to celebrate. but sir richard, tell us what the passengers will see when they have made it up there, 51 miles above earth? what will they actually be able to see? well, i talked to our astronauts, and they we re talked to our astronauts, and they were looking at mexico in one direction, canada in another direction, canada in another direction, and they came with big, big, big lies, andjust direction, and they came with big, big, big lies, and just said direction, and they came with big, big, big lies, andjust said it direction, and they came with big, big, big lies, and just said it was absolutely and utterly awesome. and i'm really looking forward to going up i'm really looking forward to going up myself sometime next year to experience it, and then obviously we hopein experience it, and then obviously we hope in time to enable thousands of people who are watching this

programme to go up. initially, as you say, it's not going to be cheap, and we have invested a lot of money into this programme. the initial people will help us get that money back, and then in time as we build more and more space ships, we will be able to bring the price down, so that hopefully a lot of people watching this programme one they will become astronauts. how exciting. explain to our viewers, sir richard, however works, exciting. explain to our viewers, sir richard, howeverworks, because ifi sir richard, howeverworks, because if i understand it properly the rocket bit of the spacecraft is taxied up to a certain outerjute, and that is the point, is it, when the rocket is fired? so the spaceship, which is right behind me, i don't know if you can see it, is attached to a mothership, which is a giant aeroplane that we build. it is taken up to about 40,000 feet. the spaceship is then dropped from the mothership. it fires its rocket, it goes from zero to 3000 miles an hour

in seven to eight second straight up, and we all had the most fantastic view of this happening here from the mojave desert today. and then when it is in space, it's suddenly not moving any more, and people unbuckled their seats, and they float around, and they look out of these windows that are in the spaceship, and after they have checked out mexico, and checked out canada, the then can buckle back in again, and they come back into the earth's atmosphere at 2500 mph, and then the spaceship becomes a glider and glides back down and lands in its wheels, and people will have had the trip of a lifetime. in 2014, of course, spaceship two crashed, you have the tragedy of losing a pilot. he said at the time that space is

ha rd he said at the time that space is hard but it's worth it. do you feel that the success you've had today vindicates your determination to stick at this? i do. obviously one needs to acknowledge, and because the very brave test pilots that have made all this possible, but i think all those test pilots know the risks they are taking, the time that a space ship is in its greatest danger is when it's going through its first tests. the g 650, which was the most successful commercial aeroplane in the world, it crashed and lost seven pilots on its first flight. that is the dangerous time, and once these aeroplanes or spaceships have done a numberof aeroplanes or spaceships have done a number of flights, you can iron out theseissues number of flights, you can iron out these issues and make sure that you

can make them safe for future people. sir richard, on a much more mundane issue but vitally important to our planet as well, you just recently launched a competition to find a cleanerair recently launched a competition to find a cleaner air conditioner, which doesn't sound very exciting, but of course air conditioning units pump outan but of course air conditioning units pump out an awful lot of emission, and in hot countries they have a lot of them. what are you trying to do and what are you hoping to achieve with it? competitions are a great way of incentivising people to come up way of incentivising people to come up with great ideas. this spaceship behind me would not have existed, if it was not for the expert is and a $10 million prize for a commercial space line to be able to take people into space. and so we are trying to do exactly the same for air conditioning. air conditioning is, as you say, damaging the environment

almost more than anything else, and therefore if we can put people's minds to it, hopefully they can come up minds to it, hopefully they can come up witha minds to it, hopefully they can come up with a clean air conditioner for future years. sir richard branson joining us from the mojave desert there, thank you very much. thank you. think you would have to pay me $250,000 by the way to get up into space. you could pay me to go. i know you'd like it, i'm scared. in the midst of a massive police search in france for the suspect in tuesday's strasbourg attack, the french government has called on the so—called ‘gilets jaunes' demonstrators to call off their fifth round of protests this weekend. so far, some of the demonstrators say they will protest, but will wear black armbands in honour of the three victims of the strasbourg attack. we're joined now by french commentator and journalist christine ockrent. christine, lovely to see you, that is firstjust talk christine, lovely to see you, that is first just talk about the profile of this man they are searching for in france at the moment, might be in germany. it is a familiar profile,

because it is a petty criminal, someone who had been indoctrinated and radicalised inside prison. yes, that's very much what it sounds like. that man, who is 29, has already spent a lot of time in prison, both in germany and in france. strasbourg, as you know, being very close to the german border. and the probability is that indeed he was radicalised in prison. it isa indeed he was radicalised in prison. it is a phenomenon that we have witnessed in france, and in other european countries, as well as in britain, now, for many years. and this guy is still running. and so there is obviously massive police and armed people looking for him, and armed people looking for him, and that is the major concern about

next saturday, as you just pointed out, the zhilei zhang, some of them, at least, the most radical, have bashed —— the gillette 's gilets jaunes. does this change the political equation for mr macron, these attacks? does it rally the country at all together? yes, it does, to a degree. but this isjust a few days before christmas, so you have a huge segment of the french economy which is being hurt, of course, not so much by the demonstrators themselves as by the hooligans and looters, and the vandalising and the violence, which has been going on now for four weekends ina has been going on now for four weekends in a row. politically, most

political parties are now asking the giletsjaunes, political parties are now asking the gilets jaunes, except for the political parties are now asking the giletsjaunes, except for the most radical, but even the far right, even marie le pen has said now terrorism, islamist terrorism doing such a great danger again in our country, it is time for the gilets jaunes to understand there may be other priorities. thank you for joining us. we will watch what is happening this weekend over the course of those. there will be inching to see whether this does unite, emanuel macron clearly had a bad couple of weeks so this will be interesting to see if it breathes hull buys him some breathing time.” have been listening to sarah sanders, the press secretary, if i ever get into a tight squeeze i will

employ her to look after me, but she has been talking about how she has two balance her life between the demands of the oval office, which are considerable, and the demands of her children. she has three children under the age of six, and she says that all she does all morning is a nswer that all she does all morning is answer e—mails and messages not from donald trump, but from preschool. and i thought everybody will recognise that, because that's all i do as well. there is a list going round on social media at the moment, shall show you this? this is my life as well. cani can ijustjump in there, because you are about to take the next week off, and we will not see you until next year, and i'm very sad about that, but actually i'm kind of happy because next week, look what happens. we get katty kay, and christian fraser, goodbye, who is he? clive myrie comes along for the

week, he is very nice, very polite, he listens to what i say, let me finish my sentences, he never interrupts, is very articulate, he isa interrupts, is very articulate, he is a great person to have on the programme. by, christian. that's because of schooling. clive myrie, ta ke because of schooling. clive myrie, take the batten and run with it. we will see you next week, christian word, but i will. yes, it was cold, yes it was windy, but for many today was spent with blue skies overhead. but of course clear skies by night will allow temperatures to drop, and we are expecting quite a widespread frost during tonight. some exceptions. out west, this old weather front still bringing cloud and patchy rain to northern ireland, the far south—west finland. north sea coastal county seeing simic to cloud and a few showers, perhaps wintry over high ground inland. in between a zone of clear starry skies and cold weather, some spots in the countryside down to —4 minus five degrees. where we

have that cold start it will be another beautiful day tomorrow, a lots of sunshine to be had, still the odd shower feeding into north sea coastal areas and still some cloud and outbreaks of mostly patchy rain in the west. these temperatures don't the healer liam posted by the winds would be as be as strong as they have been today so it might feel just a little they have been today so it might feeljust a little bit better. friday ends on a fine chilly note for most, but we start to see a change in the west, some rain pushing its way in, and with that we have got a wedge of milder air in the atlantic, associated with a set of weather fronts. during the atlantic, associated with a set of weatherfronts. during friday night and saturday, those frontal systems will move north eastwards across the uk, bringing some rain and wind, but those fronts running into some cold air, so for some of us into some cold air, so for some of us there is likely to be some snow. accommodation of snow, rain and strong wind does bring the potential for some travel disruption as we start of the weekend. early on during saturday, just about any of us during saturday, just about any of us could temporarily see some snow

but tanning bradley dack to rain across southern and western part of the uk, because here it will be turning much milder, 12 degrees in plymouth, but just two turning much milder, 12 degrees in plymouth, butjust two in newcastle. we cling onto this cold air across northern and eastern areas and we add on the strength of this brisk south—easterly wind, it will feel subzero for many of these eastern areas. also you will notice quite a lot of snow across scotland, not only over high ground, even to low levels that could be a disruptive covering of snow, and even blizzard conditions when we couple that's no woods and strong wind. so not a great saturday. by sunday, we pushed the worst of the weather away and we are the worst of the weather away and we a re left the worst of the weather away and we are left in a westerly wind, a relatively mild westerly wind, temperatures climbing fall of us on sunday with a mix sunshine and showers. —— climbing fall of us. —— for all of us. this is bbc news. the headlines. theresa may heads back to brussels

to seek new assurances on the irish border, but eu leaders say there is no room for renegotiation, only clarification i'm ben brown in brussels — i'll be bringing you all the latest analysis on the concessions the prime minister has been looking for since she survived last night's vote of no confidence we'll have all the latest from ben in the programme — the other main stories at eight... a russian woman accused in the us of acting as an agent for the kremlin to infiltrate political groups has pleaded guilty in a deal with prosecutors a former cheshire police officer has been jailed for 25 years for the rape and sexual assault of a 13—year—old girl local authorities are set to recieve an increase in funding