welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: french police kill the man wanted in connection with the attack at a christmas market in strasbourg. ready to help but unwilling to renegotiate, that's the message from eu leaders as theresa may tries to salvage her brexit deal. president trump denies telling his former lawyer to do anything wrong, a day after michael cohen is sentenced to jail. the latest test flight bt sir richard branson‘s virgin galactic makes its most successful mission to space so far. police in france have shot dead the man wanted for the gun attack near a christmas market in strasbourg. the suspect, cherif chekatt, was tracked down to the neudorf area of the city, where he lived. three people were killed and several more seriously wounded in tuesday's attack.

from strasbourg, gavin lee reports. sirens. this is the suburb in strasbourg, where the search for the suspected gunman of tuesday's attack ended with the death of 29—year—old cherif chekatt. this is where the government was last seen on this is where the government was last seen on tuesday night after this is where the government was last seen on tuesday night after escaping full on the attack close to the christmas markets, which killed three people and injured three others. eyewitnesses here say they heard gunfire as the police and military teams moved in. translation: when i left the mcdonald's, i need to go home, and i see the blocked road, and i heard a few gunshots. we have been stuck here sense. i don't know how to get home. we have been stuck here sense. i don't know how to get homem we have been stuck here sense. i don't know how to get home. it was here in the christmas markets in strasbourg where the attack was carried out. police say the man was

carrying a pistol and a knife, shooting and stabbing people in the streets as others run for their life. he is said to have been confronted by soldiers patrolling the markets, who shot him in the arm, although he escaped by taxi, ordering the driver to take into the area 15 minutes south of the city. a second exchange of gunfire with police, though he escaped and have not been seen since. 29—year—old cherif chekatt was born in strasbourg from an algerian family. he had a long and all passed, it would be seven convictions to crimes but not related to terrorism. authorities say he was radicalised in prison and put on a terrorism watchlist, amongst those known for extremist rhetoric. interior minister said the investigation came about after a chance to buy the public. —— chance tipoff. translation: a team of the specialised field the grade spotted

an individual that matched the description of the person wanted. as the police intervened to arrest him, he turned around, faced the offices and started shooting. a then immediately retaliated and neutralised the attack. the police unity are starting to lift the court and move away from the scene but the forensic teams are about 200 yards from here verifying whether the body of the suspect is that of him. here, the police who are waiting to go back inside after the operation, the residents speak of fear, but also speak of sheer relief that the incident and is 48 hour manhunt is finally over. the leaders of the remaining 27 eu countries say they don't want to keep the uk tied to their rules indefinitely, after brexit, through the so—called backstop, designed to prevent a hard border on the island of ireland. after a meeting in brussels they said they'd work to conclude a future trade deal with the uk as soon as possible,

but ruled out any renegotiation of the withdrawal agreement. kevin connolly reports from brussels. the prime minister turned up to brussels in the mood to manage expectations of what could be possible at this summit. on her way into the meeting where she wants to appeal directly to her follow tour fellow eu leaders to help her a deal at westminster, the message was that there is bloody of work still to be done. my focus now is on ensuring that i can get those assurances that we need to get this deal over the line because i generally believe it is in the best interest of both sides, the uk and the eu. the text of her appeal released after talks ended, indicated a rather passionate and personal address. let's get this right, she was reported to have told her fellow leaders, were told nothing in reserve. she stressed the no—deal brexit would be in nobody ‘s interest and said she hoped she

proved that they could trust are in what was right, not what was easy. she told the leaders that they had to change the perception that the irish border backstop was a trap from which the uk could not escape. eu leaders formal response was to emphasise the backstop's temporary nature. at the president of the european commission, jean—claude juncker, warned that westminster was not the only parliament whose approval was a required. not the only parliament whose approval was a requiredlj not the only parliament whose approvalwas a required. i would like to tell our british friends that of course we need the yes of the house, but we need also be yes of the european parliament. both parliaments are important, one is continental, the other is insular. but the two have the same importance. so far at least, there is nothing in that public response from the eu that answers theresa may's call for help, but this negotiation is a course not finished yet. kevin connolly, bbc news, brussells.

let's get some of the day's other news. the irish prime minister, leo varadkar, has hailed as a historic moment for women the passing of a bill to legalise abortion in ireland. it's been approved by both houses of parliament and will come into effect injanuary. there's been a second night of protests against new hungarian laws on working conditions and thejudiciary. there were some clashes between demonstrators and police outside parliament, which had approved the measures on wednesday. the electoral commission in the democratic republic of congo has confirmed that 8,000 electronic voting machines have been destroyed in a blaze at one of its buildings in kinshasa, two thirds of the number needed for the capital. it comes ten days before presidential elections. perhaps for the first time in his presidency, there was a surprising degree of caution in donald trump's tweets, as he rowed back from the earlier vitriol he had flung at his former attorney michael cohen, now sentenced to three years injail. he said that cohen did nothing wrong with respect to campaign finance laws, even if they did apply.

perhaps he could feel the dementors of robert mueller‘s investigations swirling around. john sweeney assesses where michael cohen's conviction leaves trump. for 12 years, michael cohen was not just a lawyer for donald trump, he was his pick all. —— pitbull. now he has done a deal with the fbi and tonight, the president is exceeding. i never directed him to do anything wrong, whatever he did he did on his own. he is a lawyer. this week michael cohen were sent to three yea rs michael cohen were sent to three years injail. he told the michael cohen were sent to three years in jail. he told the court his wea kness years in jail. he told the court his weakness was a blind loyalty to donald trump and that he felt it was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds. trump must now fear his old watchdog. he is vulnerable on three fronts. the first, his contacts with

the russian mob. drop was cosy with this man, a former gangster in early 2016. he tempted donald trump of the possibility of russian finance for a trump tower in moscow. michael cohen told congress that the moscow project died in early 2016. that was at big fat lie. he has now admitted that the moscow project ran until the summer of 2016 and that he lied to congress. on this, calen could potentially destroy his old master. it is really significant because trump isa it is really significant because trump is a front runner in the summer trump is a front runner in the summer of 2016 for the republican nomination, yet at the same time, he and his entourage are conducting negotiations to secure a prime piece of property in downtown oscar moscow

and such properties cannot be approved without high—level approval from from. the second front, what he knows about trump and an agent —— agent of the gr you, the russian military intelligence. the fbi say this man is edgy are use by. he has been charged in absentia obstructing justice. in 2016, he worked with paul manafort. paul manafort was running trump's campaign. here again. michael cohen could cause his old boss no end of stage. he was formerly a member of the russian military security services. but in russia nobody is ever formerly a member of the security service, they are always attached to the service and he had close relationships with paul manafort while paul manafort was serving as a campaign adviser to trump. therefore, these relationships between paul manafort and the intelligence service of russia look highly suspicious. the

third danger is what michael cohen knows about trump's women. the president denies having affairs with both pawn stars stormy daniels and former playboy model karen. the prosecutors say that michael cohen ponied up $130,000 for stormy daniels and fixed a $150,000 payoff to karen to gag their mouths with gold. they say michael cohen did so on the half of individual one, trump. michael cohen says trump ordered the hush money and he would ta ke ordered the hush money and he would take the calls. colluding with all the kremlin‘s men, that they not ring down trump, but gagging a porn star and ring down trump, but gagging a porn starand a ring down trump, but gagging a porn star and a model, watch this the fuss was that staying with mr trump, and there are reports that federal prosecutors are investigating whether his inaugural committe mis—spent some of the tens of millions of dollars it raised from donors.

they‘ re examining whether some of the committee's donors gave money in exchange for policy concessions, influencing administration positions or access to the incoming administration. our correspondent dan johnson is in washington. tell us more. yes, it sounds like the white house, donald trump's presidency could face another investigation, this time into the celebrations, the events that were built up around his inauguration back at the start of 2017. this was the committee that was put together to organise the parties, the dinners, the concert, everything that was around the official inauguration celebration. they raised more than $100 million. that is more than twice what barack obama raised for his initial inauguration parties, so there is the questions about who was giving that money, what they were giving out money for and what they would have expected in return. was just an and what they would have expected in return. wasjust an invite and what they would have expected in return. was just an invite to the dinner, did they expect favours back from the president once he was in

office, or extra access to him either at the inauguration or during his time in the oval office. this has all come out in a wall street journal report that has been published this evening, but there are conflicting reports back from the people involved in the organisation committee. the committee has issued a statement that says it was in full compliance with all applicable laws and that it is not aware of any impending investigations and has not been contacted investigations and has not been co nta cted by investigations and has not been contacted by persecutors. the organisers on that committee say they are simply not aware of any evidence of an investigation. sarah sanders, the white house spokesman was asked about this, she put distance between the committee and the president and said it had nothing to do with the president. at that time, his focus was on the transition and had nothing to do with the arrangements of the celebrations. it is reported that this enquiry arises out of material seen from michael cohen's opposite. one journalist pointed out today, and it investigation is the trump

campaign, the transition, the administration, the trump organisation, the trump foundation and now the inauguration as well. this is not what the businessmen signed up for when he decided to run for president. no, it doesn't exactly sound like draining the swamp when there are so many investigations into so many different issues. president trump again and again repeats on twitter, especially in relation to robert mueller‘s investigation into allegations of russian collusion, witch—hunt, that is the presidents of repeated message and he has deflected time again all of these investigations at these questions but they keep coming. there are more and more issues to be examined and moora or people that turned against the president, like his former lawyer michael cohen, who are now cooperating with prosecutors. how much evidence are they able to give? we know that this latest investigation, if it goes ahead, has come out documents and recordings that michael cohen had kept, secret recordings we expect the president

would not have known about. how much evidence is that, where does it lead, how many more investigations could that spark and where are these investigations going to lead eventually? stern have a conclusion to robert mueller‘s investigation, and there are so many questions to be answered. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: it could be a film set, but these women are being put to a very different use to capture the history of england's most famous river. after eight months on the run, saddam hussein has been tracked down and captured by american forces. saddam hussein is finished, because he killed our people, our women, our children. the signatures took only a few minutes, but they brought a formal end to three and half years of conflict, conflict that has claimed more than 200,000 lives. before an audience of world leaders, the presidents of bosnia, serbia and croatia put their names to the peace agreement. the romanian border

was sealed and silent today. romania has cut itself off from the outside world in order to prevent the details of the presumed massacre in timisoara from leaking out. from sex at the white house to a trial for his political life. the lewinsky affair tonight guaranteed bill clinton his place in history, as only the second president ever to be impeached. the latest headlines for you now from bbc news: french police say they've killed the gunman who shot dead three people near a christmas market in strasbourg. the eu says it won't renegotiate the brexit deal as theresa may seeks assurances in brussels over the controversial backstop plan. the us senate has backed a resolution to end military support

for the saudi—led war in yemen. the vote is likely to prove largely symbolic but defies president trump and underlines the anger in congress over the murder of the saudi journalist jamal khashoggi. senators also supported a joint statement holding the saudi crown prince responsible for the killing. here's our state department correspondent, barbara plett usher. the fact that the senate has voted doesn't mean that military support for the yemen war will end, because it is just the senate, it would have to go through further hurdles to actually become law and then the president could ultimately veto it but the point of the resolution is that it but the point of the resolution is thatitis but the point of the resolution is that it is the first time that the congress has invoked what is called the war powers act, which means it is the first time they have voted to withdraw us forces from a foreign conflict on the ground that it is congress who should approve the

move, the president doesn't really have the authority to do so. that is an historic moment actually any shows how angry senators are about the human cost of this will add it also shows that they are quite angry with the saudis who are the ones who are leading the campaign. ahead of that senate vote, the warring parties in yemen agreed a ceasefire for the port city of hodeidah. it will take effect on friday and could prove a lifeline for nearly two—thirds of the population. yemen is in the grip of the world's most serious humanitarian crisis. and the pause in fighting has raised hopes that the deal, sponsored by the un, could lead to a wider peace agreement. this report from our special correspondent nawal al—maghafi. these are the faces of the world's worst humanitarian crisis. in this makeshift camp in northern yemen, civilians have escaped the violence, but not its consequences. without any money, this is what ths woman will feed her family today. a handful of leaves. "we have nothing else to eat", she says. "no aid agencies have come here." her husband told us they've lost everything in the fighting.

their children are hungry, they have no money, and he can't see how things will get better. nearby, a mother holds her son up. critically ill, she can't get the medicine he needs. this is what the people here fled from. for months, fighting around the city of hodeida has intensified. bombs dropping almost every day, hundreds have died. it's severely damaged the port that's been controlled by houthi rebels since 2014, and is a lifeline for food supplies for the whole of yemen. the coalition say the rebels have been using it to off load arms, but the blockade and fighting around this port has crippled the entire country, with millions facing famine. but today, in sweden, a glimmer of hope. the warring parties shake hands, after agreeing to a un proposal that

could bring the battle for the port to an end. you have reached an agreement on hodeidah port and city, which will see a mutual redeployment of forces from the port and the city and the establishment of a governorate—wide ceasefire. the un will play a leading role in the port and this will facilitate the humanitarian access and flow of goods to the civilian population. back in yemen, news of the deal was greeted with celebration by the houthi rebels. but after months of intense fighting in hodeidah and many broken ceasefires, the question is whether this time the warring parties really will put down their weapons. but with international pressure from the uk and its allies, along with the united nations playing a leading role, there is more optimism. optimism and hope that the people

of yemen are desperate for. nawal al—maghafi, bbc news. a russian woman accused by the us of being an agent for the kremlin has pleaded guilty to conspiracy. prosecutors say maria butina tried to infiltrate the national rifle association in an effort to influence american policiy towards russia. she initially denied the allegations but has now agreed to work with investigators looking into rushing attempts to interfere in us politics. gary o'donoghue has more. maria butina first came to the united states back in 2015. she is a gun rights activist from siberia. and she started to develop her connections with the national rifle association here. she also defended and then, paul erickson, who is a republican operative, pretty well connected and they started a relationship together. and what the prosecutors say is that, after that, maria butina started to develop a plan to make connections with

influential people in american politics in order to further rush hour's national interest. she used to pull erickson‘s help to do that and she made a number of meetings and she made a number of meetings and arrangements to do just that. —— russia. she actually asked a question of president trump at a press c0 nfe re nce question of president trump at a press conference back in 2015, asking him whether or not he would lift sanctions against russia if he became president. now, up until now, she has pleaded not guilty to the charges she has faced, which is working as a foreign agent and conspiracy charges, but now she has changed that plea to guilty. she will be sentenced at a later date and she has agreed to co—operate with investigators. this is not part of robert mueller‘s investigation into russian collusion, a alleged russian collusion with the drum campaign but it is part of this mosaic that intelligence services and prosecutors here believe the russians have been putting in place to try to influence american politics —— trump. gary o'donoghue for us. the latest test flight by sir

richard branson‘s virgin galactic has reached 82 kilometres above the earth — the closest it's got so far to the edge of space. here's video from the vss unity. for ten years, the british entrepreneur has been trying to introduce a commercial civilian astronaut service. if it's eventually cleared to carry passengers, it's likely to be competing with the amazon billionaire jeff bezos. test flights by his rocket system are already reaching the altitude of space. still, it's a milestone for the branson programme. so, the spaceship, which is right behind me, i don't know if you can see it, is attached to a mothership, which is an 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 3,000 miles an hour in seven to eight seconds straight up, and we all had the most fantastic view of this happening here from the mojave today. and then, you know, when it's in space, it's suddenly not moving any more, people unbuckle

their seats and they float around and they look out of these big windows that are in the spaceship. very much down to earth. for centuries, artists and photographers have used the river thames in london as a subject of their work. one artist is now recreating specific moments in the history of the thames in striking images. wendy hurrell explains all. it could be a whimsical oil painting, but look again — this is actually a photograph. the artist is recreating historical stories from the river thames. my work is very cinematic, it is very lit. i use a lot of special effects like haze and smoke machines to create the smog that used to exist in london. and they are not manipulated and doctored in postproduction. this is how she does it. huge scenes are set

up how she does it. huge scenes are set up on the shore, complete with period costumes, props and professional hair and make—up. period costumes, props and professional hair and make-up. you can't just turn up professional hair and make-up. you can'tjust turn up on the foreshore and just create a shoot. i need permission from the port of london authority, there is a lot of health and safety issues, ‘cause you can get lines disease if you touch the water, there are syringes in the water, there are syringes in the water, there are syringes in the water, the tide is a huge problem. the thames is awash with intriguing stories, like the beluga whale that sparked huge public interest recently. or the northern bottlenose that created almost a hysteria 12 yea rs that created almost a hysteria 12 years ago. but sadly died in our attem pts years ago. but sadly died in our atte m pts to years ago. but sadly died in our attempts to set it free, a little like one ofjulia‘s subjects. attempts to set it free, a little like one ofjulia's subjects. the way of the world in wartime is very strange and it might be said that the ways of women are strange too. she is also interested in a untold stories. it was only recently that waterloo bridge has been thought of as the ladies‘ bridge. the project

started one weekend when she and her family went mud larking on the thames shore. my first scene that i actually created was of mud larker children, because in the victorian era of the poorest of the poor would actually go mud larking at low tide to find coal, metal, anything they could sell to just survive. there are more photographs being planned. the next is a re— creation of the frost fairs, when the tens used to be covered in ice. for that one, though, she will be sticking to her studio. sounds like we will be back to that story. much more on all of the news any time on the bbc news website. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter, i‘m @bbcmikeembley. thank you for watching. hello. thursday brought us a cold

and a frosty day across many parts of the country, but there was some blue sky and some sunshine. this picture was taken by one of our weather watchers in wiltshire and i think friday morning will dawn on a very similar note. again, it will be a cold and a frosty start to the day with subzero temperatures first thing. plenty of spells of sunshine for many of us through the course of the day to compensate for that fairly chilly start. but temperatures fairly widely will be below freezing, won‘t be quite as cold in the west, particularly for northern ireland where we have more cloud first thing friday morning, keeping temperatures around 4—5 degrees. after that cold, frosty start for many of us it will be a decent, dry looking day, always a bit more cloud for northern ireland with a chance of a few showers at times. and just one or two showers around this exposed eastern coasts, particularly for eastern scotland and north—east england, could even be a wintry flurry towards east anglia and the south—east. but for the vast majority, you‘ll miss those showers. and temperatures for most of us around 4—7 degrees. then, into friday evening,

we see the cloud bringing more outbreaks of rain parts of northern ireland and the west of scotland too. eastern areas keeping in that cold air. so you can see blue colours later on through friday and then on into saturday. but some milder airjust waiting in the wings here out towards the south—west, that will be drawn in on this weather front. a bit of a change in conditions as we head through into the weekend, as the frontal system works in from the west, it will bring not only the milder air but also some outbreaks of rain which will for some of us turn to snow. so for saturday, things are turning pretty wet and windy. some fairly heavy snow and also some ice across scotland and northern england combined with some strong winds too. so there could be some travel disruption through the day on saturday as this weather front bumps into that cold air. you can see snow across parts of northern england and scotland too. could be about 10—20 centimetres across central parts of scotland, even more of the high ground, 2—5 centimetres across parts of northern england. now, it will turn back to rain further south across the country, where we have got some slightly mild air working

in, but you will really notice the strength of those winds. it will feel around —4 degrees there in hull. for northern ireland, you‘ve got the slightly mild air moving in so any early snow turning back to rain. some heavy snow across scotland could be quite problematic through the day on saturday. that rain—snow mix slowly easing away towards the east as we head through into the second half of the weekend, but we keep that pretty chilly wind coming in from the west. so, although things will turn milder through the day on sunday, most of those heavy and wintry showers should ease away too. bye— bye. this is bbc news, the headlines: french police have shot dead the gunman who killed three people at a christmas market in strasbourg earlier this week. officers came across cherif chekatt on a street in the city and killed him after he opened fire. he had been on the run since the shooting on tuesday evening. british prime minister theresa may has urged eu members to help salvage her brexit deal, but they say they won‘t renegotiate. ms may has been seeking assurances over the controversial irish border backstop after surviving a no—confidence vote earlier this week.

president trump has denied directing his former personal lawyer to break the law, and says he had no ties to his crimes. michael cohen was sentenced to three years in prison earlier this week for crimes he claims the president told him to commit. now on bbc news, thursday in parliament.