this is bbc world news today. i'm duncan golestani. our top stories: no brexit renegotiation in brussels but theresa may says the eu will provide further clarification on her deal. after continued brexit discussions mrs may emerged to say that both sides still wanted to secure an agreement. it is in the overwhelming interest of all our people in the eu and the uk to get this done as quickly as possible. it was crystal clear that nobody did the reopening in any way with the withdrawal agreement. also in the programme: strasbourg's christmas market re—opens, two days after a horrific gun attack which has now left four people dead. and donald trump's former lawyer says the president knew it was wrong to order payments to keep two women silent about their alleged affairs with him.

hello and welcome to world news today. after a bruising encounter in brussels, british prime minister theresa may says she still believes she can get extra assurances from eu leaders to get her brexit withdrawal agreement through the uk parliament. eu leaders say they'll offer no renegotiation but will offer what they call ‘further clarifications' on the irish backstop which aims to avoid barriers to trade on the island of ireland. this report is from laura kuenssberg in brussels. a bad omen? a bitter morning, for more than one reason. the prime minister came to brussels hunting concessions from the eu. does the eu like your plan prime minister?

but they did notjust say no, one of their top politicians said she did not even know what she wanted, she was nebulous. leading this private, careful politician to show real anger. did you call me nebulous, she seems to say to jean—claude juncker. he grasping her arm, the microphones may be off, but you can see exactly what went on. the dutch prime minister comes along to try to make peace. later, she had not forgotten the accusation. i was crystal clear about the assurances needed on the backstop, having heard the views of mps in the house of commons. i reiterated that it is in the interests of the eu as well as the uk to get this over the line. eu leaders had said she would not get those concessions on the so—called backstop. she begged to differ.

my discussions with colleagues today have shown that further clarification and discussion following the council's conclusions is, in fact, possible. you looked very angry when you were speaking to jean—claude juncker earlier today, what did you say to him, and did he admit he called you "nebulous"? and secondly, the conclusions suggest the eu is not willing to budge, but you appear to suggest they might, can you tell us more about what they have said to you about their willingness to move? because if parliament will not budge and the eu will not budge, is it time for you to budge? first of all, i had a robust discussion with jean—claude juncker, that's the sort of discussion you can have when you have developed a working relationship and you work well together. and what came out of that was his clarity that actually he had been talking when he used that particular phrase about a general level of debate. we can look at this issue of further clarification, and that has been something i have been discussing with a number of eu

leaders so we will be working expeditiously over the coming days to seek those further assurances that i believe mps will need. you might wonder what exactly has been going on with these negotiations. what are the misunderstandings in the relations between the eu and the prime minister? what has the president of the european commission really been up to since that row? laughter. we were not dancing. she thought that i did criticise her by saying yesterday night that the british position was nebulous. i did not refer to her, but to the overall state of the debate in britain. in the course of the morning, after checked having what i said yesterday night, she was kissing me.

laughter. we have treated prime minister theresa may with much greater empathy and respect than some british mps, for sure. we have to bring down the temperature. these attacks coming from westminster against europe, against the european commission, will not be responded in the same way by the european commission. although i would like to do it. on and off the stage, the message from the eu is clear, they promised they will do a trade deal as quickly as possible so the backstop is never needed. but that cannot mean changing what has already been agreed. we will not renegotiate it, and we do not want to reopen it. but theresa is a tough negotiator, and there is a lot of understanding also for what to the uk wants. but i think we have to find a way to deal with each other. i think the current deal

is a good one for both sides. and hearing what has been said in brussels back in westminster, that just will not wash with mps who are demanding new legal guarantees. to coin a phrase, it was a bit nebulous. she has not provided any new guarantees at all about the withdrawal agreement, or specifically the backstop. so she's been to the european council, she's expressed her concerns, and they've given her absolutely nothing. we know the answer to the question of whether there will be changes, and it is no. what we need is for this vote to be put next week, is to vote on it and for parliament to take control of the process. the prime minister leaves here with a big problem. remember, she kept herjob in part this week because she promised she could get more compromise from herfellow eu leaders. but she's left tonight with assurances that there could be more conversations,

and that simply might not be concrete enough to protect her in a hostile environment at home. expectations even yesterday were of more positive promises, but bumpy late—night talks diluted those. the cold truth is the lack of trust at westminster is felt 200 miles away. earlier i spoke to damian grammaticus in brussels to find out where theresa may's deal now stands. she came here saying that she was going to seek those legal assurances about this irish backstop question, this guarantee that's written into the agreement to avoid at all costs in future any new border controls in

ireland, she did not get that, the eu leaders were absolutely clear that they will not renegotiate the deal that's taken two years to put together. even more than that, although theresa may said that she was confident that they would address this in the coming days, there are no talks planned, there is no new summit of eu leaders planned, and infact no new summit of eu leaders planned, and in fact the idea that the eu leaders considered at this summit to look at ways to address this question, they showed that idea because they sat and talked to theresa may for an hour last night, they asked her direct questions, asking her what she was looking for, and how she could get that through whatever conditions they might give her through parliament and they said that they will not convinced all her a nswe i’s we re that they will not convinced all her answers were not clear enough and i think the irish prime minister sums it up when he says the eu side that

they had at this summit even clearer assurances that they would seek never to use that irish provision and they would try to negotiate a trade deal to make sure it doesn't come into force but he said they simply could not conduct international relations by agreeing something two weeks ago and then having the other party, theresa may come back two weeks later seeking more concessions. this has not been booked with the uk parliament so i think the eu side saying they are open if the uk comes forward with new ideas, that will not involve anything that changes the legal so far which leaves theresa may in a very tight spot because of course parliament at home for her has said it doesn't like what's on offer at the moment. how much appreciation is there in brussels for the difficult position that theresa may is in back in westminster? not only in parliament but particularly with her own party of coarse? yes, i think there is a great deal of

appreciation, these leaders who do with their own parliaments they can be difficult at times. what they are very well aware of is that the agreement has not been put to a vote in london but there is deep position expressed by mps that the difficulty i think they feel is that the uk has not in many ways asjean—claude juncker has addressed is not confronted with questions and that was one of the issues they put to theresa may, what future relationship the uk wants with the eu. in terms of trade relations, how close or how distant, that's actually at the heart of all of this dispute, and that's why the eu is insisting on this backstop insurance measure being written in there because it's not clear what the future holds, so they need that guarantee now and while the

situation remains that way, they show no signs of budging on that red line because they had pledged to stand by ireland. the christmas market in the french city of strasbourg has reopened, after an horrific gun attack two days ago. french president emmanuel macron visited the market a short while ago, laying a flower at a memorial to victims of the attack. the number of dead in the shooting has risen to four, with several more seriously injured. the suspected gunman, cherif chekatt was killed on thursday night in a shoot—out with police. from strasbourg, gavin lee sent this report. strasbourg, in lights once again after two days of darkness, the main square where people fled for their lives on tuesday night wasn't considered safe during the search for the gunman, but these famous christmas markets, the oldest in france, have now reopened, the manhunt over, there's a "keep calm and carry on" spirit here. everyone comes back, because i think they want to show that we are living. we are still alive, and we have to enjoy the moment, you know, we have to take some hot wine!

do you feel generally safe here now? yes, relieved, yes. i'm from paris, and my family was worried, and they didn't want me to come here, but finally it feels safe here, and i don't regret, because even if it was a little sad yesterday, today it's ok. translation: the fact that i came here is to show that you don't need to be afraid of a certain minority, the majority is not like that, not at all, and being a muslim, it's not the side that we want to show. it was on this street in the strasbourg suburb of neudorf where the gunman, cherif chekatt, was found and killed. bullet holes in the doorway marked the moment he was confronted

by patrol officers who he fired at. they fired back and shot him dead. the 29—year—old, born in strasbourg to an algerian family, the islamist cell is claimed he was working on orders, although french authorities say he had been acting alone with no support network behind him. a major focus of the police investigation will now look at what went wrong in french surveillance methods after the suspect was added to a list of those being monitored for extremist behaviour. but for now, in the city that promotes itself as the capital of christmas, it's slowly moving on and returning to normal. gavin lee, bbc news, strasbourg. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: and, moh saleh wins the bbc‘s african footballer of the year award, for the second year running. this is bbc world news today. the latest headlines: theresa may has said it's still possible she can get enough assurances from europe, to convince her own mps to back her brexit deal.

strasbourg's christmas market re—opens, two days after a horrific gun attack which has now left four people dead. donald trump's former lawyer is insisting the us president knew making hush money payments during his 2016 presidential campagin was wrong, but ordered they be made anyway. michael cohen has been sentenced to three years jail for campaign finance and fraud crimes, and must start his prison term by march. he's the first of donald trump's inner circle to be jailed following special counsel robert mueller‘s investigation into alleged russian meddling in the election. the president says he never directed michael cohen to break the law, but in an exclusive interview with abc news' george stephanopoulos, mr cohen said nothing in the trump organisation is done without the president knowing. he directed me to make the payments, he directed me to become involved in these matters.

including the one with mcdougal, which was really between him and david pecker, and then david pecker‘s council. ijust reviewed the documents. in order to protect him. i gave loyalty to someone who truthfully does not deserve loyalty. he was trying to hide what you were doing, correct? correct. and he knew it was wrong? of course. did you know what you're doing? i'm angry at myself because i knew what i was doing was wrong. i stood up before the world yesterday and accepted the responsibility for my actions. the actions that i gave to a man who — as i also said in my elocution — i was loyal to. i should not be the only one taking responsibility for his actions. so he's still lying? let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news: a 7—year—old guatemalan

girl who illegally crossed the us—mexico border with herfather has died hours after being taken into custody. the washington post is reporting the girl suffered seizures after she was detained, and died of dehydration and shock. china has bought us soybeans for the first time since the trade war between the two countries started injuly. china is by far the world's biggest importer of soybeans, with the purchase being hailed as a "great step" by us officials. sri lanka's former president mahinda rajapa kse has decided to step down from his disputed recent appointment as prime minister. the announcement comes a day after the sri lankan supreme court ruled that mr rajapaksa's appointment was unconstitutional. in a surprise move in october, president maithripala sirisena dissolved parliament and sacked the then prime minister ranil wickruh ma—singer. a ceasefire agreement in yemen's main port of hodeidah

has come into effect, allowing the delivery of essential humanitarian aid to millions of starving people. but there are reports, quoting residents, that fighting has now broken out on the outskirts of hodeidah. joost hiltermann is middle east and north africa program director at the international crisis group. this is the first time that we have a cease—fire and it's really remarkable that it has come to this point because when the parties went into the talks a week ago, the expectations were very, very low and maybe that was wise because now we can look back and say well, a lot was accomplished, sees fire is critical because this can delay and hopefully cancel the possibilities

ofa hopefully cancel the possibilities of a major humanitarian catastrophe in yemen. so there's gonna be violations, that's inevitable, there's going to be some skirmishes here and there, hopefully it will be limited to that, we have to see, i'm hopeful. in practicalterms, what do we know about how it will work on the ground ? we know about how it will work on the ground? well, the idea is that the ground? well, the idea is that the houthis will withdraw from the board and headed over to you in control, the un itself will not be handling the operations it's believed people who have been handling the board since forever as democrats under whatever leadership of the government or rebels, and so the un will be overseeing it. there will be diverted to write his own we hope around the city and the janelle, the supply line from the port to the northern highlands including the capital said —— should be open and protected. how it will work out who will have to see, there will have to be some withdrawal of

forces from the amorites he backed side, the yemeni fighters but also the houthis into the city, so there's a lot of details that still need to be worked out and there's still much that can go wrong. of course, those supply lines need to be reopened on there? because the humanitarian situation is so desperate. that's right, at the moment there are still 19 open along the coast to the port inland but the main supply line from whole data directly eastward into the northern highlands of the capital, that needs to be reopened and the storage facilities that are there also needs to be reopened and rendered functional again. all the sport. thank you mohamed salah has won the bbc african footballer of the year award for a second year running, he saw competition from four other players.

mohamed salah winning back—to—back bbc african —— african footballer of the year award. the only other player to have done that is nigerian football legend back in 2004, more than 650,000 people voted to crown him the king of african football. now he beat several players, early oni now he beat several players, early on i went to meet him at melbourne training ground and to give him the award. last year when i presented you with the award you said you would like to win it again this year, you've than it's, what does it feel like being the first player since 2004 to win this back—to—back? i think it's great feeling, i would like to win it also next year, looking forward from now, but you know it's a great feeling to win another award two years in a row so happy to win it. when you look back at your 2018, what have been for you

some of the individual moments where you feel you were the top of your game. i think there were many moments in 2018, i can say the game against tottenham was top, and game against tottenham was top, and game against rome was unbelievable, each moment i feel scoring goals, helping the team to get the points to be top in the league, that's always a great feeling. anything you have been looking forward to in the coming yearfor looking forward to in the coming year for you overall? i think i want to win something with the club, so eve ryo ne to win something with the club, so everyone is excited and everyone is happy about that so i'll also try to push myself every day, this season everyone, i do want the same motivation but everyone wants to win something so i think we will carry

on and see. congratulations mohammed, the winner for the 2018 bbc african footballer of the year. thank you very much. very delighted, mohamed salah, liverpool are top of the table and i was hoping to have —— mo salah is hoping to have a good year ahead, hopefully winning some titles and is well for club and country for egypt, they have the africa cup of nations coming, last time that egypt one it was back in 2010. so mohamed salah is hoping for an even better year ahead. mo salah is likely to be lining up for liverpool and a big year for the premier league this weekend, they host manchester united adam hose marino, liverpool are 16 points clear of their rivals afterjust 16 games and although they spent £100 million more than united in the summer, what seems to be the problem? it's notjust about

spending money and reinforcing the squad, a football team is more than that, a football team is notjust about spending the money, a football tea m about spending the money, a football team is like a house as well. my houseis team is like a house as well. my house is not just team is like a house as well. my house is notjust about buying new furniture, you have to do work in the house and when the house is ready then you buy the furniture and you spend money on the best possible furniture and then you are ready to live in an amazing house. yes, he says the first hour on the second morning in perth will be crucial to decide the outcome of the second test against australia, the hosts will resume on 277—6 in a couple hours' time. they will hit 50, a mini collapse for — 36 in the afternoon session. study beginnings although both of them felt later. that is all i was born for now. britain's royal family have revealed which photos they're putting on their christmas cards this year, and it's notjust those who are on their yearly list who get

to see what they've picked. the duke and duchess of cambridge have chosen a picture of their family at their norfolk home, while harry and meghan are seen watching fireworks at their wedding reception earlier this year. the duke and duchess of cornwall, meanwhile, are seated on a bench in the grounds of clarence house. perfect for your mantelpiece. you are watching bbc world news today. goodbye. after several days of quiet weather, saturday could not be more different, it's hard to overstress how hazardous some of the weather will be for some of us on the saturday into early sunday. met office amber warnings and forced for ice and snow, in terms of ice that

comes from freezing rain, really unusual almost unheard of the have such a high level of warning for it as well, the rain freezes instantly on contact with frozen services, it's a greater risk here for part of the midlands, northern england and scotla nd the midlands, northern england and scotland through this zone on saturday and early sunday and north of the central belt in scotland, snow drifting in the central belt in scotland, snow drifting into strengthening winds piling up in the hills and mountains. we had cold air coming in with moisture into the cold air. overnight, we see outbreaks of rain pushing into northern ireland and wales in southwest england ahead of that increasing crowd breeze but it's cold and frosty once again. remember, all of this cold air, this freezing surfaces ready for the moisture to fall on above them freeze instantly causing ice rink conditions in phases later on saturday. now during saturday for northern ireland, wales and up with england we see rain turning heavier, plenty of standing water, 50 to 60 mile an hourwinds plenty of standing water, 50 to 60

mile an hour winds developing across the uk, the winds will be strengthening but a big range of temperatures into the afternoon, milder with the rain in the west but quite cold elsewhere across the uk, we have this moisture moving in over the frozen ground parts of the midlands, northern england and scotla nd midlands, northern england and scotland again, that freezing rain has the potentially very dangerous, some sleet and snow especially to the hills and north of the central belt in scotland, a prolonged period of heavy snow on the snow really blowing about and the strengthening winds with blizzard that times two. all of that makes for extremely messy travel set up on through saturday into early sunday. we have the freezing rain and ice, risks, heavy rain in places and snow elsewhere and across the uk strengthening winds do keep in touch with the latest situation near you through bbc local radio. we see further snow affecting parts of scotla nd further snow affecting parts of scotland into sunday morning, eventually that clears away further showers coming towards the west and south on sunday, elsewhere it looks dry and bright and nevertheless cold

as well. that's the latest forecast. hello. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines. the british prime minister theresa may has insisted it is possible to get further clarification from the eu to win support for her brexit deal. but the eu said there could be no renegotiation of the withdrawal agreement. a truce agreed by the warring parties in yemen has come into effect in the country's main port. there are however unconfirmed reports that fighting has broken out on the outskirts of the city. stroudsburg's christmas market has reopened amid tight security three days after a deadly attack there by an islamist gunmen. the suspect was shot dead by police after a two—day manhunt. donald trump's former lawyer has insisted that the president knew it was wrong to take make hush money payments during his