a cause $z/st artfeed. welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm reged ahmad. our top stories: donald trump's former lawyer says the president was well aware it was wrong to pay hush money to two women during the 2016 election. i gave loyalty to someone who truthfully does not deserve loyalty. he was trying to hide what you are doing, correct? correct. and he knew it was wrong? of course. britain's prime minister vows to keep her brexit plans on track — despite the rest of the eu saying they can't renegotiate the deal. a ceasefire comes into effect in yemen's vicious civil war — but sporadic clashes are still taking place around a vital port city. one of britain's biggest football clubs condemns its own fans — heard singing anti—semitic songs at a match in hungary. donald trump's former personal

lawyer has spoken out for the first time since being sentenced for crimes including campaign finance violations. he claims mr trump told him to pay off two women during the 2016 presidential election, even though he knew it was wrong. that directly contradicts what the president has said. michael cohen, is facing three years in prison. our north america editor jon sopel has more. an alleged one night stand in 2006 and then a payment to buy stormy daniels‘ silence ten years later — just before the 2016 elections. they're still causing donald trump and those around him endless legal nightmares.

the president's long time lawyer and mr fixit, michael cohen, was this week sentenced to three years in prison. and he's now given an interview refuting donald trump's claims that he made the payments to her without the president knowing about it. first of all, nothing in the trump organisation was ever done unless it was run through mr trump. he directed me, as i said, and i said as well in the plea, he directed me to make the payments, he directed me to become involved in these matters. the payment came at a delicate time in the presidential campaign... ..a tape had emerged of donald trump boasting about sexually assaulting women. in the interview today, cohen said the payment was made because the president wanted to avoid fresh scandal weeks before the election. he was trying to hide what you were doing, correct? correct. and he knew it was wrong? of course. and he was doing that to help his election?

you have to remember at what point in time that this matter came about, two weeks or so before the election, post the billy bush comments, so, yes, he was very concerned about how this would affect the election. but donald trump says cohen is a proven liar and his only regret is ever employing him. i never directed him to do anything wrong. whatever he did, he did on his own. he's a lawyer. a lawyer who represents a client is supposed to do the right thing. that's why you pay them a lot of money, et cetera, et cetera. donald trump's account of what happened has changed consistently. first of all, denying that he knew anything at all about a payment to stormy daniels. then admitting he did. then saying it had nothing to do with campaign finance, it was a personal matter. and then saying, "well, yes, campaignfinances, but that's not against the law." and finally his lawyer saying, "nobody got killed, no one was robbed, this is not a big crime." in other words, it didn't really matter what donald trump had done.

jon sopel, bbc news, washington. president trump has named his budget director mick mulvaney as his acting chief of staff. he replaces generaljohn kelly — after days of speculation over who would take the post. for more let's speak to bbc correspondent david willis in los angeles. there was mick mulvany? he is a hardline conservative, a tea party member who was one of the founders of the house freedom caucus. he is

also a former congressman from south carolina and is currently serving as the budget chief or donald trump. a very influential man, particularly at the moment, when the president is facing a possible shutdown of the federal government if agreement can't be reached by the end of next week. he is the third person to serve under donald trump. normally, a very sought—after position but one which seemed to struggle to attract interested parties this time around. we've noticed an donald trump has named him acting white house chief of staff. why is this a temporary appointment? it's a good question. the white house is saying there was no time limit to this appointment so it's possible that mick mulvaney could serve as chief of staff for

quite some time. what we do know with president trump, despite saying that he had a slew of good candidates to these highly prestigious position found himself increasingly going from one person to the next. nick ayres, mike pence's chief of staff turned him down and he couldn't reach agreement with the former newjersey governor chris christie and so it has come down to mick mulvaney who will continue to serve, we are told, is the budget chief as well as being chief of staff so he's going to have a lot of work on his plate, this man. but he's a man who gets on with the president and that is something of course which particularly in the latter of his tenurejohn kelly, the outgoing chief of staff, did not. just briefly, you've told us a little bit about who mick mulvaney is. what kind of chief of staff is

he going to be? he is known to be affable. he is certainly someone who has rapport with president trump and that can mean a lot. we saw that, example, with mike pompeo, the secretary of state and it was clear his predecessor, rex tillerson, did not get along with donald trump but the relationship between mike pompeo an donald trump was much more harmonious, certainly in public, so this is something which counts very much the donald trump and we are waiting to see if mick mulvaney encounters any of the problems of his two predecessors. we will indeed wait and see. let's get some of the day's other news. a fourth person has died as a result of injuries sustained in a gun attack in the french city of strasbourg on tuesday. visiting the city on friday, the french president emmanuel macron laid a white rose in the victims' memory and paid tribute to the french security forces.

the gunman was shot dead last night after he opened fire on police officers. media reports in australia say the government intends to recognise westjerusalem as the capital of israel. the prime minister, scott morrison, is expected to make the announcement on saturday. negotiations at the un climate conference in poland have gone past their official close. australia is to recognise westjerusalem as the capital of israel but will not immediately move its embassy from tel aviv. prime minister scott morrison is also acknowledging the aspirations of palestinians for a future state with its capital in eastjerusalem. israeli sovereignty overjerusalem has never been acknowledged by the international community. negotiations at the un climate conference in poland have gone past their official close. delegates from almost 200 countries are taking part. they're looking for agreement on tackling rising global temperatures. how poor countries should be compensated for the damage from rising temperatures is a sticking point. 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 won't renegotiate but will offer what they call ‘further

clarifications' on the so—called backstop. that's the safety net aimed at avoiding a hard trade border between the eu and the uk on the island of ireland, if no future deal is agreed in time. 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 didn't just say no, one of their top politicians said she didn't 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 microphone 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 accusations. i was crystal clear

about the assurances which we 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, infact, 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 that he had called you nebulous? secondly, the summit conclusions suggest the eu is not willing to budge, but you appear to be suggesting that they might. can you tell us more about what they have said to you about their willingness to move? because if parliament won't budge

and the eu won't budge, is it time for you to budge? well, first of all, i had a robust discussion with jean—claude juncker. i think that's the sort of discussion you're able to have when you've 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, he had been talking 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 with these negotiations. what are the misunderstanding in the relations between the eu and the prime minister? what has the president of european commission really been up to since that row? ta—ta—tum... 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. and in the course of the morning after having checked what i said yesterday night, she was kissing me! we have treated prime minister may with much greater empathy and respect than some british mp5 for sure. we have to bring down the temperature and these attacks coming from westminster against europe, against the european commission will not be responded in the same way by the european commission or the european union. although i would like to do it! on and off the stage the message from the eu is clear — they promise they'll do a trade deal

as quickly as possible, so the backstop's never needed, but that cannot mean changing what's already been agreed. we will not renegotiate it and we do not want to re—open it, but theresa is, of course, a tough negotiator and there is a lot of understanding also for what uk wants. but i think we have to find a way to deal with each other, i think that the current deal is a good one for both sides. and hearing what's been said in brussels back in westminster, that just won't wash with mps who are demanding new legal guarantees. to coin a phrase, it was a bit nebulous! she hasn't 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 have given her absolutely nothing. we know the answer to the question

whether there's going to be changes and it's no. what we need is for the vote to be put next week for us to vote on it and then 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. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, brussels. you can find out more on our webssite.

stay with us on bbc news, still to come: after a terrifying capsize in a huge storm in the pacific, round—the—world sailor susie goodall finally has her feet on dry land. 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. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: donald trump's former lawyer has said the president knew it was wrong to order payments in 2016 to keep two women silent about their alleged affairs with him. the british prime minister has insisted that it's still possible to get her brexit deal through parliament — despite the eu ruling out any renegotiation. sporadic fighting has broken out on the outskirts of yemen's port city of hodeida — the first since a un—brokered ceasefire came

into effect on friday. people living there say they could hear artillery shelling and automatic gunfire. the saudi—backed government and the iranian—backed houthi rebels had reached the truce agreement for hodeida after a week of talks in sweden. more food aid has now begun arriving at the port. the un has warned that 1a million yemenis are on the brink of starvation. the bbc‘s chief international correspondent lyse doucet has reported extensively from yemen. here's her assessment of whether that ceasefire can hold. well, the situation is still very tense in hodeida, you have the houthi forces which control the port and the adjacent city, you have the yemeni government and emirati forces massed on the outskirts of the city, this unexpected agreement on a ceasefire is very fragile. it is not surprising, it is regrettable but not surprising, there seems to be this sporadic fighting,

but no—one is saying the ceasefire is dead, it is largely holding. it has to be said, it has brought rare hope and such relief that at last, this is the most significant breakthrough in five years of talks hosted by the un. keeping the port open means keeping yemenis alive. this is a country which has the greatest percentage of its people dependent on food aid. two thirds of yemenis depend on some kind of food aid just to survive and 10 million, the un says, don't know where their next meal is coming from. so they need the port. the port is the lifeline for aid, and also the commercial imports, the food and other essential goods — and prices have been rising, even yemenis who have a little bit of money can't afford to buy them. that is what has created this real fear of the risk of famine. you have the political

delegations who met in the swedish countryside — and it was quite extraordinary to see them, so many yemenis when they saw the image of the head of the yemeni government delegation, the head of the houthi delegation, with the un secretary general antonio guterres in the middle smiling, shaking hands, it was a rare moment of hope. just before i came into the bbc tonight, i got a message from a yemeni woman activist, saying, "did you see that message of hope, did you see that handshake?" even the yemeni foreign minister joked on social media, "the un secretary general said he had to bring us together, i told him you don't, we are brothers." but the reality is there is so little trust, on the battlefield, and now there are other yemeni groups who are benefiting not from peace but from war. and they do not want that war to end. english premier league football club chelsea have condemned fans who were heard singing anti—semitic songs during their europa league match against the hungarian side on thursday night — saying they have "shamed the club". it comes just days after four fans were suspended for the alleged

racial abuse of the manchester city and england player raheem sterling in chelsea's previous match. 0ur sports correspondent joe wilson reports. at their home ground, chelsea present a global welcome. but this is a football club being shamed by a section of its supporters — and chelsea made that clear today. last night's match was a routine european fixture but some of chelsea's fans took the opportunity in hungary to chant anti—semitic words about a rival club in london — totte n ha m. today came a reaction from a man whose previously filmed football supporters making anti—semitic chants. ivor baddiel directed an educational film for chelsea. he is a chelsea supporter. you might think you are making tottenham chants but when you sing, "those are on their way to auschwitz," this is what you are really chanting about. clearly there are people who think it's ok, and maybe they don't really understand what it is they are chanting, and whyjewish people and everyone is so offended by it.

all but the most hardened fascist hopefully would realise now that it was wrong. chelsea today reiterated their abhorrence of race hatred, saying: instances of anti—semitism are especially poignant and hard instances of anti—semitism are especially poignant and hard to comprehend at this club. after all, roman abramovich, who has bankrolled chelsea for so many years, is himselfjewish. but last night's events come hard on the heels of chelsea's game against manchester city and what happened there to raheem sterling. allegations he was racially abused by chelsea supporter provoked an inquiry and a whole debate about football and race.

remember the banana skin which was thrown towards pierre—emerick aubameyang during arsenal's recent game against tottenham. today's focus is firmly on chelsea is just part of big issues for football and society. a british yachtswoman whose boat capsized in a storm in the south pacific two thousand miles offshore has finally set foot on dry land in chile. it's a week since susie goodall was rescued by a chinese cargo ship, while competing in the solo golden globe round the world race. this evening she said she would do it all again. duncan kennedy has more. this is what relief looks like. when you step ashore after surviving the drama, the mid—ocean crisis. a hug from mum, brigitte, and brother, tim, means susie goodall‘s ordeal is finally over. then it was on to a medical check—up

before she gave her first insight to the trauma she faced 2,000 miles from land. if you ask me if i'd do this again, now knowing what it's like, i would say yes in a heartbeat. but as i said to the chilean navy captain who brought me ashore from tian fu, i created so much work for everyone involved in the rescue, to which he responded, of course you must do it again. you may ask why. some people just live for adventure, it's human nature, and for me, the sea is where my adventure lies. it was the wild seas of the southern ocean with its 7m waves that triggered the emergency last week. in sailing terms, susie's yacht pitch polled, meaning it somersaulted forward, end over end, smashing the mast and leaving her stranded for more than two days. it took a crane from a passing freight ship

to hoist her out of danger. susie, who's 29, was the youngest competitor in this golden globe race before she hit the storm. but she trained here at the uk sailing academy on the isle of wight. this afternoon, we showed her friends the moment she made it back to shore in chile. oh my god. amazing! gives you goose bumps. really pleased for susie, and especially her family. she's been through a real ordeal and experience and adventure over the last few weeks. so pleased she's made it back safely. susie goodall is the third sailor to be rescued in this year's race, but now she's safe and heading home for christmas. britain's royal family have revealed the photos they're putting on their christmas cards this year. if you're not on their list — we can show you 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. stay with us on bbc news, much more to come, including much more at our top story about theresa may who has said it is still possible to get assurances that mps need to back her brexit deal, despite eu leaders ruling out any renegotiation, and of course on our website you can get an explanation of all the jargon to do with brexit and also the details of that withdrawal deal, the contentious details as well. hello.

after a fairly quiet day on friday, the weather is about to turn much more lively as we head through the course of the weekend. we've got a named storm, storm dierdre, it's been named by met eireann. that is bringing some very disruptive weather this weekend with warnings, amber warnings from the met office for ice and snow, and there will also be freezing rain which will bring widespread ice on any roads and untreated surfaces too. here is where we've got the amber warnings out through saturday and early into sunday as well. ice warnings across much of northern england and southern scotland and we'll also have snow and freezing rain here. heavy snow across many central parts of scotland, mainly to the north of the central belt. the reason for all this disruptive weather is milder air moving in from the atlantic, with these weather fronts which are which are packing in and bumping into this cold air, so a cold saturday dawn, temperatures sub—zero for many of us. that milder air works in from the west along with the rain, the freezing rain and ice and snow too. notjust the rain, freezing rain, ice and snow, but also some strong

winds which will cause some disruption too. so you can see the rain edging its way gradually eastwards across the country, bumping into that cold air in place, and it will be turning to snow, mostly over the higher ground for the north of wales, the pennines too but even to the south we could get one or two flakes of snow earlier on before it turns back to rain, i think, during the middle part of the afternoon. could be about 2—5 centimetres of snow, even to low levels across northern england to the north of the central belt, 10—20 centimetres of snow and the freezing rain really will be quite dangerous. that's rain droplets that willjust freeze instantly on impact with the cold ground, bringing a real instant ice rink effect. so some pretty disruptive weather through the course of saturday, all down to storm dierdre. it's going to cause disruption to travel through saturday night and on into sunday too. with that mix of freezing rain, snow and ice and strong winds too, your bbc local radio stations will keep you up—to—date with any

disruption to travel. so heading on into the second half of the weekend, we start off sunday still with some rain and snow to the north—east which should slowly clear away. it will be a drier day compared to saturday, not as windy. more sunshine in the east but there will be some lying snow and still the risk of ice. further rain showers then packing in from the west later on in the day. it won't be quite as cold, so those temperatures starting to nudge up about 6—10 degrees through the day on sunday and then things turn a bit milder into the new working week, still unsettled with further showers for monday and tuesday too. bye for now. this is bbc news, the headlines: donald trump's former lawyer says the us president knew it was wrong to order payments before the election to keep two women silent about their alleged affairs with him. mr trump has denied asking michael cohen, who's been sentenced to three years in jail, to break the law. britain's prime minister has

insisted talks with rest of the european union will continue over further clarification of arrangements for the northern ireland border. theresa may said she had held robust talks with the european commission president, jean—claude juncker, after he had complained her requests for clarifications were imprecise. there've been sporadic clashes on the outskirts of the crucial yemeni port of hodeida, putting at risk a ceasefire that came into effect on friday. the un's special envoy for yemen said a robust monitoring scheme was needed to ensure the truce could take hold.