this is the briefing. i'm victoria fritz. our top story: the eu rejects a bid by theresa may to put a time limit on the irish border backstop as she tries to salvage her brexit deal. praise for french police and their efforts to fight terrorism, as the hunt for the strasbourg shooting suspect comes to an end. the race to space continues, as a virgin galactic rocket comes the closest it has ever been to leaving the earth's atmosphere. coming up in the business briefing — the brexit deadlock takes its toll, as companies scale back uk spending and investors pull billions out of britain. also coming up, asian shares tumble as the latest figures from china confirm a further slowdown in the world's biggest economy. we'll bring you the details injust a moment. a warm welcome to the programme,

briefing you on all you need to know in global news, business and sport. and you can be part of the conversation. here in the uk, new rules governing adverts are due to come into force next year. they'll ban gender sterotypical behaviour, like a man who can't change a nappy or a woman who can't do diy. authorities say harmful stereotypes can restrict the aspirations and opportunities of children. agree? tell us what you think, just use the hashtag #bbcthebriefing theresa may's last ditch effort to salvage her brexit deal with the eu has suffered a severe setback. the eu last night refused to put a legally binding time limit on the irish backstop, which is designed to prevent a hard border on the island of ireland. this has been the biggest obstacle in her attempts to get the withdrawl agreement passed in the british parliament. kevin connolly reports from brussels. the prime minister turned up

to brussels in the mood to manage expectations of what might be possible at this summit. on her way into the meeting where she was to appeal directly to herfellow eu leaders to help her sell the deal at westminster, the message was that there is plenty 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 mrs may's appeal released after talks ended, hinted a rather passionate and personal address. "let's get this right", she was reported to have told her fellow leaders, "let's hold 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 couldn't escape. the eu leaders formal response was to emphasise the backstop‘s temporary nature. but the president of the european commission, jean—claude juncker, warned that westminster was not the only parliament whose approval was required. i would like to tell our british friends that of course we need the yes of the house of commons, but we need also the 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 go live now to brussels

and the bbc‘s kasia madera. we be surprised by this, nothing seems to have changed from either side is? —— should we be surprised by this. we have heard this porous such a long time now, there will be no negotiating —— negotiation on the withdrawal agreement and the eu has said there will be ripped no renegotiation. what theresa may was hoping for was some kind of legal declarations that would help her get back contentious issues of the backstop through british parliament but she has not got that either. in terms of what she has got, is not really anything, to be honest. she has words which are just reminding reddish parliamentarians that the backstop is meant to be temporary,

but arguably we knew that anyway and the backstop is something that nobody really wants to put into play, but again, we knew that as well. initially there was talk about this possibility of putting a time limit on the backstop, but arguably that would make it null and void, no point of having it in the first place. there was also talk about having some kind of a time limit about negotiations, trade negotiations starting, if the backstop should be put into place but again theresa may did not get that. what she did get was rather, a european union which had jean—claude juncker say that the uk needs to decide what it wants. backing it back to westminster, which is not going to please anybody because it now means that it goes back to the uk and we could potentially have another stalemate. in terms of coming here, pleading her case, the british prime minister certainly did that. she appealed to the eu. they we re that. she appealed to the eu. they were listening, we heard the mood

music at donald tusk said earlier on in the week but this is her second trip to brussels, saying the eu wa nts to trip to brussels, saying the eu wants to help but the question is how was back how have they helped following the conclusion notes following the conclusion notes following yesterday ‘s extended meeting, well arguably, not very much. thank you very much. 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 police ended the 48 manhunt and killed cherif chekatt. this quiet district of neudorf is the same place the suspected guman was last seen on tuesday night, after escaping following the attack close to the christmas markets, which killed three people and injured twelve others. eyewitnesses here say they heard gunfire as the police moved in. translation: we left the mcdonald's,

i wanted to go home because it was late, but when we arrived at the train we were stopped by the police station and we heard gunshots — tat tat tat. we have been stuck here since. i don't know how to get home. it was here at the christmas markets in strasbourg, the oldest and most famous in france, where the attack was carried out. police say cherif chekatt was carrying a pistol and a knife, shooting and stabbing people in the streets as others run for their lives. chekatt 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 him to the neudorf area, 15 minutes drive south of the city. there was a second exchange of gunfire with police, though he escaped and hadn't been seen since. 29—year—old cherif chekatt was born in strasbourg, from an algerian family. he had a long criminal past,

27 convictions for crimes, but not related to terrorism. authorities say he became radicalised in prison and put on a terrorism watchlist, amongst those being monitored for extremist rhetoric. the french interior minister said the investigation came about after a chance tip off from a member of the public. translation: a team from the specialised field brigrade composed of the national police spotted an individual that matched the description of the person wanted. as the police intervened to arrest him, he turned around, faced the officers and started shooting. they then immediately retaliated and neutralised the attacker. the police units here are starting to lift the cordon and move away from the scene, but the forensic teams are still about 200 yards from here, verifying whether the body of the suspect is that of cherif chekatt. and here, the people 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 this 48 hour manhunt is finally over.

gavin lee, bbc news, strasbourg. let's brief you on some of the other stories making the 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 the judiciary. 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 eight thousand 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. let's go back to that top story, the

deadlock over the brexit deal. on thursday, uk business lobby groups wa nt of thursday, uk business lobby groups want of a deepening economic crisis and the damage that was being done over the continued uncertainty over brexit. investment from companies has been falling and financial institutions have been pulling money out of the uk for three quarters in a row now. we have not seen that since 18 —— 1987. ijoined now. we have not seen this since 1987, we saw something similar in 2008, hausa b is the economic challenge that is being faced by britain in terms of investment? let's put more colour into this. uk companies themselves and when there is uncertainty we hold back. we might hold back on investment, it doesn't mean we are

denying it because that money to sit ina denying it because that money to sit in a corporate account until we have clarity and as we saw in 2008, once the uncertainty goes you start reinvesting. i have to send a report later to the department of international trade about companies, technology companies setting up their global headquarters in the uk. i have noticed at a micro level, a 10% increase of those technology companies setting up in the uk. it is helped by the pound but the reason they give us, the size of the uk economy, and they emphasise the uk economy, and they emphasise the uk us relationship. that would be a key channel. the brexit thing is not something which i am seen come up, which surprises me because all i hearin which surprises me because all i hear in the uk press is about brexit. when you go outside the uk,

the inward investment i am seen coming in at the micro and macro level. looking at the soft banks, googles and facebook. looking at the big industries, the car industry for example, investment is down by a0%. i suspect it is holding down until more clarity. it isjust as damaging. in the short term, absolutely. brexit in the short term, don't get me wrong i am not saying that we have this uncertainty, isn't it wonderful, what i am saying is that when we we nt what i am saying is that when we went through this level of uncertainty, what tends to happen is you have this short—term annoying pain that is not good for business and then you get the release of the capital coming in and that is what i am expecting because in the end we wa nt am expecting because in the end we want to grow, we want to start reinvesting. i can see you are fired up reinvesting. i can see you are fired up this morning. good. we have a lively paper review to do later on, see you soon. a virgin galactic rocket—plane blasted to the edge of space

on thursday, capping off years of difficult testing to become the first us commercial human flight to reach space since america's shuttle program ended in 2011. eliza philippidis reports. it looks like something from a sci—fi movie. pilot: rolling to the right. this is vss unity — virgin galactic spaceship that could soon be ferrying passengers out to space. it took off out of the californian desert attached to an aeroplane. once it reached around 13,000 metres, the pilots fired the rocket motors, taking the craft to an altitude of 82 kilometres. the company's boss couldn't have been prouder. well, we've been to space, and that's something that we've been looking forward to for 1h years, since we started virgin galactic. it's a historic day. i think it's the first commercial space ship company to actually put people into space. and, yeah, we're on top of the moon at the moment. virgin say they have more than 600

paid—up clients wanting a trip into space. those tickets currently sold for $250,000 for a 90—minute trip. while the flight marked a milestone for virgin galactic, the firm's rivals, including tesla's elon musk and amazon'sjeff bezos, have already ventured further, though that's without people on board. meanwhile, virgin galactic say, in time, as they build more and more spaceships, thousands more people will have the opportunity of a trip into space. eliza philippidis, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: a voyage to the world's most remote island. we find out what scientists are hoping to learn from studying ice. 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 a 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. you're watching the briefing.

our headlines: the eu has rebuffed theresa may's attempt to get greater assurances over the brexit irish border issue. the suspect in the strasbourg christmas market shooting is killed by french police. the president praises their commitment to stopping terrorism. when the russian navy opened fire and seized three ukrainian military ships off the crimean coast last month it escalated tensions between the two countries. the fate of the arrested ukrainian sailors on board is now at the centre of the dispute. russia claims they violated its territorial waters and will be tried. theirfamilies, however, hope that all the sailors will return home soon. the bbc has spoken to the family of one of the detained officers. translation: my life has turned 180

degrees. it was a shadow trip. we didn't know where he was travelling. we only knew that it was a work trip, but where, what kind of trip, we didn't know. translation: untilthe last moment, i hope that my husband was not on the ships. i had many thoughts. if he was on the ship, then somewhere else, maybe turkey, anywhere, but not there. i can't

describe my emotions. my husband was there and i didn't know how serious his injury was. translation: we have just discovered that the consul that the sailors. this is the first news we have got for a very long time, as we have got for a very long time, as we didn't know anything. the lawyers we re we didn't know anything. the lawyers were not allowed to see him. i've just received a letter from him. i can't read it and i can't retell it either. my son is used to greeting his dad at the door every evening. you can imagine how hard it is for me when he runs to the door and wait for his father. when he picks up the phone, i ask him, "who are you

talking to? " he says, "to my daddy. " i talking to? " he says, "to my daddy." i pray talking to? " he says, "to my daddy. " i pray to got to give talking to? " he says, "to my daddy." i pray to got to give all politicians a solution to, with this problem so that the boys can return home and we all have peace. the the story of the soroka family in ukraine. hello, i'm tulsen tollett, coming up in your friday sport briefing: the nba eastern conference leading toronto raptors look to build on their win over golden state when they take on the portland trailblazers later. and the wait is over, with the bbc african footballer of the year set to be announced. toronto are on a roll in the nba. the raptors beat golden state in california on wednesday for the first time in 1a years. the eastern conference leaders play the portland trailblazers later — that's one of 9 games. the indiana pacers — seen here — are in action against third—placed philadelphia 76ers. the pacers are a team in form — they're victory over the milwaukee bucks was their 5th straight win.

the wait is finally over — the bbcs african footballer of the year will be revealed later on friday. these pictures shows last year's winner, mo salah — he's nominated along with medhi benatia, kalidou koulibaly, sadio mane and thomas partey. the result will be announced just before 18 gmt on bbc world news, and you can find more details on our website, that's bbc.com/sport. in case you missed it, chelsea say fans who sang an anti—semitic chant in the europa league game with mol vidi have, "shamed the club". a vocal minority chanted offensive songs about tottenham fans early in thursday's 2—2 draw in hungary. that came days after four fans were suspended for allegedly racially abusing manchester city's raheem sterling. uefa said it will await the referee's report before deciding on whether any action will be taken. matt mcgeehan of the press association was at the match and says the club have

understandably had enough. chelsea have a jewish owner, roman abramovic, they have been very strong on anti— feminism and discrimination of any type, and they are set up, basically. they are a minority of their supporters are not getting the message. so chelsea are basically telling them that they are not wanted, they do not want them involved with their club. all blacks coach steve hansen has announced he'll leave the job after next year's rugby world cup injapan. by that point it'll be 15 years with new zealand for the 59—year—old who originallyjoined as assistant coach under graham henry. they won the 2011 world cup together after which hansen took over and they became the first team to retain the trophy four years later. while i know i still have the support of rugby union, and i

appreciate that, and i still have the backing of the players, and i appreciate that, we have always said that it appreciate that, we have always said thatitis appreciate that, we have always said that it is about the team first and not the individual. and for me i think it is right for the team to have someone knew after this world cup. i think some fresh eyes, some fresh thinking. whether that is within or without, you know, whoever the replacement is, it will be fresh. that will be great to enhance the legacy of the jersey and that's the legacy of the jersey and that's the most important thing. for most of us, when we go on holiday the last thing we want to do is work. for kotaro tokuda, this is work, despite the fact that he's having a break in mexico. the 2012 street style world champion couldn't resist posting this video on instagram. an injury ended any chance of a professional football career, but instead he turned to freestyle and is now one of the biggest names in the sport. you can get all the latest sports news at our website at bbc.com/sport.

but from me and the rest of the team that is your friday sport briefing. amazing pictures. scientists have been exploring what's become known as the "world's most remote island". bouvet is a small volcanic rock in the south atlantic, more than 1,000km from the next piece of land. researchers are taking samples of its ice. they believe it will hold clues to the past behaviour of the winds that blow around the antarctic. jonathan amos has more. bouvet island is this extraordinary place in the south atlantic. it is literally in the middle of nowhere. it isa literally in the middle of nowhere. it is a volcanic rock that comes out of the ocean. it is quite small, only about 60 square kilometres. but it is far, far away from anywhere. you would have to sail 2500 kilometres to get a cape town. if you went in the other direction trying to get to the antarctic, that's another 1500 kilometres. but

if in that's another 1500 kilometres. but ifina that's another 1500 kilometres. but if in a really interesting spot in the south atlantic, because it sits in the middle of the westerly winds. these wins that circulate around the antarctic continent. and because of that, scientist think that, in the ices that sit on the top of the volcanic rock there is a climate record that can tell them about the history of the wins. so they have just recently dropped onto the island on a helicopter, it is the only way that you can get on, and they have drill down and they have taken those ices back to the lab to look for markers in the ice that might tell them about the action of wind, so you get the dust that goes into the ice layers when it is very windy, you get other stuff blown into the surface of the sea when it is very, very windy. now they have discovered that the ice that they drilled only goes back about 2001, but if they go again to the island they think they might be able to find a place where they can get a record that is hundreds, maybe thousands, of years old and here is why it is important. these winds are changing in the antarctic, they are

getting stronger, and as they are getting stronger, and as they are getting stronger, and as they are getting stronger they are pulling up deep warm water up to the surface and that warm water is getting under the glaziers of antarctica and it is melting them. and so we want to know what is the history of these wins. are they just what is the history of these wins. are theyjust doing this because they do it every so often, they get stronger? or is there a human impact, are humans causing these winds to get stronger and therefore driving climate change in the antarctic? this is the purpose and this is why bouvet island, as strange as it is, is a fascinating place to be. i was waiting for that, as to why we wa nted i was waiting for that, as to why we wanted to know what was going on with the winds of antarctica. let's try and find out whether they are being changed from human intervention and potentially climate change. that is the answer. stay with me. i'll be back with the business briefing in just a few moments. i will see you very soon. hello. our wintry theme to the weather

continues to end the working week. it was a cold and frosty start to thursday. this picture was taken by one of the weather watchers thursday morning. friday morning begins on a similar note. cold and frosty first thing for many. a lot of dry and fairly sunny weather to compensate for those low temperatures. so what we have is temperatures below freezing for much of the country first thing friday morning. a little bit milder in the west, especially northern ireland, 11—5 first thing. in most places it is a cold start. dry weather on the cards, more cloud in the west for the south—west of england, northern ireland, one or two showers. the odd isolated shower for eastern england and scotland. for most of us you will keep the blue skies. temperatures around four to seven. won't be quite as windy as it was on thursday. less of a wind chill. things change a little bit on friday evening. the cloud moves in from the west. that is ahead of some

mild air. you can see the yellow colours indicating the mild air on the way through into saturday. it is this why the mild air. also increasingly wet and windy weather as we look to the weekend. and on saturday it won't just as we look to the weekend. and on saturday it won'tjust be wet and windy. the weather could cause some disruption. we have some rain increasingly turning as no for scotla nd increasingly turning as no for scotland and northern england. combined with ice and strong wind, there could be some disruption to travel through the day on saturday. we start in central and eastern areas dry. look at the snow developing across northern england, scotland. further south across the uk, most of it will be falling as rain. it will turn back to rain late in the day with the mild air working in. still bitterly cold in the east on saturday. add on the strength of the wind and it will feel minus five degrees in hull, some rain and snow for northern england, 2—5 centimetres likely. 10— 20

centimetres likely. 10— 20 centimetres likely. 10— 20 centimetres likely across central scotland, with disruption likely through the central belt if you have plans to do shopping on saturday. overnight into sunday the worst of the rain and snow should ease, but blustery showers on sunday, although it won't be quite as cold as it has been over recent days. goodbye. this is the business briefing. i'm victoria fritz. the brexit deadlock takes its toll, as companies scale back uk spending and investors pull billions out of britain. plus, the slowdown in china continues. shoppers and factories feeling the squeeze from a weakening global economy and the trade war with the us. and on the markets, asian shares tumbling as those economic figures from china come in much weaker than many were expecting — raising fears about the extent of the damage being done by that us china trade war.