the irish times says european union leaders have rejected theresa may's plea to redefine the border backstop, insisting the guarantee of no hard border in ireland cannot be renegotiated. the european council last night refused to give the british prime minister the legal assurances she sought that the backstop will only be temporary. the independent has a series of articles highlighting the huge increase in people sleeping rough on the streets of britain. according to new figures, levels have doubled in five years with more than 2a,000 people currently sleeping on the street. the ft reports the european central bank is to halt its 2.6 trillion euro programme of bond purchases this month, despite the deepening economic slowdown in the eurozone. there are now concerns over the lack of any safety buffer against a deflation shock. and, finally, time is being called on sexism in tv advertising. beginning soon, adverts showing a woman struggling to park a car,

or a man refusing to do housework while his wife cooks dinner, will be banned as part of an industry—wide crackdown on sexist stereotypes. orlight or light love? orlight love? 7 or light love? ? don't worry, i am going to crack the whip. with me is alpesh patel, ceo of praefinium partners. he ceo of praefinium partners. is a fiery one. let's sti yemen, he is a fiery one. let's start with yemen, four years of civil war, 10,000 people dead, 1a million people displaced, a huge humanitarian crisis. on the seventh day of talks, a peace of sorts. 70,000 have died because of famine. 50,000, largely children, have died, a saudi — uae coalition bombing children as we have reported on this

programme and others. the us senate passed a resolution telling the us armed forces to withdraw under the war powers act, for the first time that ever happened. the us senate resolution, doesn't make it law. the british parliament need to follow that but they seem distracted sadly, pa rt that but they seem distracted sadly, part of a wider blockade with the uae and qatar as well, in packing human rights, taken to the un commissioner. we have peace allsorts in parts of yemen, not throughout. at least the americans have taken the lead to stop the war might not to start one in the middle east, stop the war, and they deserve credit for that. the senate at least. and i hope the uk follow. 50,000 famine, i know that people switch off at dead people outside your own country, instantly switch off and we switched on at brexit. this is more important. 50,000! the

un secretary general has said this is just the un secretary general has said this isjust the beginning of peace across yemen. is he right? should we be optimistic? we have to be optimistic. is it going to end? the world is watching and the americans are taking action. without that american pressure on saudi arabia to say it, stop the bombing, we are withdrawing support, partly because they killed, and the crown prince saudi arabia has been accused through another resolution in the us senate of being instrumental in the journalist of the killing of chamakh assured n'jie, because of that lend without american involvement we should have had optimism ——jamaal khashoggi. we haven't had the same force from the uk side for obvious reasons. they are focused on brexit. this is what happens. saudi are one of the major allies. we need to tell them to stop this war and start the

peace and end the blockade in the region of other countries like qatar because you are destabilising the region and you are causing death and famine. on both sides. let's talk about the irish times focusing on the border problem which is the focus of negotiations and the sticking point between theresa may, her parliament and also the eu as well. the ec refused to give theresa may the reassurances she was looking for. we are frayed cuff met with the pm we understand in advance of this meeting —— leo varadkar met with the pm we understand in events of this meeting. where do we go now? let me look at my crystal ball. i wish. we have one third of the people saying ha rd have one third of the people saying hard brexit, a third saying let's go with the pm and a third saving second referendum. three groups who think they are all unreasonable. these are reasonable people with different views. that is the

situation. let's dispute those figures, we don't know if it is a third, you are making it up. you don't want to be accused of fake news figures. what i mean is the impression you get from this is roughly that there isn't one conclusive winner saying we should definitely do this or that. that is what i mean. roughly this is what it feels like. there is no clear answer on whether we go. what i know is... we have stories about homelessness, stories about business, the people going to work right now, that has to carry on regardless of what's going on over there. there doesn't seem to bea on over there. there doesn't seem to be a solution. no one knows what will happen going forward. what we are hoping for, paving our salaries and doing our jobs, are hoping for, paving our salaries and doing ourjobs, hoping it will be stable as possible and we can continue to still be in work and create employment and the rest of it. when we start getting worried about that, the consumer, people watching this, when we see the slowdown, that is when we will have a problem. at the moment we are not

totally frea ked a problem. at the moment we are not totally freaked out, we not slowing down consumer spending. businesses are slowing down a little bit. i am not worried at the moment with this. 0k, not worried at the moment with this. ok, and for viewers who are watching. if you are interested in more detail in terms of brexit, some of the big issues, one of the biggest issues is the irish border backstop, the brexit backstop, what does it mean, well, john campbell has and explain. what it means and why it seems to be such a sticking point. go to the website to talk about that. let's move on from brexit, let's talk about some of the domestic issues which, to be honest, seam behind. the independent talking about the issue of homelessness. i am not sure we can show it, but the article coming up here, it was accompanied by this picture here, you know, front doors not so dissimilar to number ten at worlds

apart. the number of homeless has doubled in five years, number of children living homeless at a 12 year high. the government says it will try to eradicate rough sleeping. is it too little too late? 20% increase in one year. we hear these statistics and people switch off. it has doubled over six years off. it has doubled over six years of cording to academic studies and places like crisis, and shelter, which arejust as places like crisis, and shelter, which are just as shocking. the prime minister had said £120 million to eradicate it. in england. yes, the problem i have is that this sum is minuscule by a government standards. why is it 2027? there is a ministerfor standards. why is it 2027? there is a minister for homelessness. standards. why is it 2027? there is a ministerfor homelessness. it is standards. why is it 2027? there is a minister for homelessness. it is a question of political will. why is it 2027? why can't the pm, when the brexit thing stops, for god sakes, soon, why can't the pm use the same

energy to make sure that homelessness is eradicated in 12 months, 2a months? homelessness is eradicated in 12 months, 24 months? in scotland they have changed the law. if you are homeless through no fault of your own, you are entitled to accommodation. the numbers are falling. absolutely. we can learn a lot from other parts of... in terms of political will, the same energy you see from the pm, flying around europe to get this to happen. that is the energy we need to solve this problem a lot sooner. if we can, let's try to get the story on the guardian about gender stereotyping being banned, it is at twitter question, so get in touch what you think, the advertising standards authority, so the watchdog, if you will, they say gender stereotypes are harmful, they will affect children in terms of their interests and what they understand growing up. do you agree, do you think this is the snowflake generation? there is a serious element because it can reinforce perceptions and cause all

sorts of damage. it is usually to women, by that way. we hardly suffer from anything, we earn more and find it easier to getjobs. it is women they are talking about who will be suffering. there is a very serious element to this. it reinforces that. on the flipside, stereotypes sometimes exist because they happen to be the gender differences. for that to one side, it has got to the stage where it is so serious through some of these adverts that it has to be challenged. good luck to them. just don't tell my wife that men can change nappies. we actually can. and you can do the washing up. change nappies. we actually can. and you can do the washing uplj change nappies. we actually can. and you can do the washing up. i do, i do! no, idon‘t. you can do the washing up. i do, i do! no, i don't. stay with us here on bbc news. so much more to come. 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. it 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 too. perhaps just one or two showers around this exposed eastern coasts, particularly for eastern scotland, north—east england, could even be a wintry flurry towards east anglia and the south—east. but for the vast majority of people, 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. so a bit of a change in conditions as we head through into the weekend. as a 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 over the higher ground, 2—5 centimetres across parts of northern england. now, it will turn back to rain further south across the country, where we've got some slightly mild airworking in, but you'll really notice the strength of those winds. it will feel around —4 degrees there in hull. for northern ireland, you've got the slightly milder air moving in, so any early snow turning back to rain. but 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. good morning welcome to breakfast with charlie stayt and tina daheley. our headlines today: a severe blow to theresa may's hopes of making her brexit deal more acceptable to mps — eu leaders tell her they will not make changes to the agreement. it is not open for red negotiation. the man french police track down and kill the man wanted in connection with the islamist attack on a christmas market in strasbourg. the first manned flight to the edge of space by a commercial rocket — sir richard branson celebrates the success of his virgin galactic space ship