this is bbc world news. i'm reged ahmad. our top stories: a us federaljudge rules president obama's healthca re reforms are unconstitutional. preparing for protest in paris — the yellow vests are expected to demonstrate despite the concessions announced by president macron. 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. one of britain's biggest football clubs condemns its own fans heard singing anti—semitic songs at a match in hungary. hello and welcome to bbc news. a us federal court in texas has ruled that barack obama's signature

healthcare reforms are unconstitutional. judge reed o'connor in fort worth says obamacare had been invalidated by a change in tax law last year which eliminated a penalty for not having health insurance. president trump says the ruling was great news for america. the bbc‘s david willis is following events from los angeles. what we understand is that this federaljudge in taxes has ruled —— texas has ruled in favour of representatives from republican—leaning states who contends that a change in the tax laws here, about a year ago, basically render the provision of the affordable care act, which mandates that everybody get healthcare and health insurance in this country, unconstitutional and therefore that the affordable care act itself is, as a result, invalid. what we are likely to see, i think, is a lot of measures fielded

by representatives of democratic—leaning states basically opposing this ruling and, ultimately, it will go once again, it seems, all the way to the highest court in the land, the united states supreme court. there have been so many challenges to obamaca re, or the affordable care act, can you tell us a bit more about why it might have been successful this time around, at least at this level in the courts? you are absolutely right. there have been a lot of challenges to it. republicans have sought to overturn this law. they have struggled to do so. and they have struggled to come up with anything coherent to replace it.

part of the reason for that is that it is highly popular, not least the provisions in the affordable care act, which ban insurance companies from denying coverage to people who have pre—existing conditions, as they are known here. before the affordable care act came into law it was quite possible for insurance companies, health insurance companies here to either deny coverage to people with pre—existing conditions, orjack up their premiums. well, the affordable care act did away with all of that. it sought, of course, as well to bring healthcare across the board to the bulk of americans. and the fear is, the fear on the part of americans is that we could go back to a system where about 20% of the population here in america had no health insurance at all. donald trump has tweeted about this

and he is rather pleased. yes, he is. he said it is good news for the american people. in a statement, the white house called on congress to come up with a healthcare system, an alternative to obamacare, if you like, that is affordable and does not discriminate against people with pre—existing conditions. that's all well and good, but as i have just been saying, there have been problems with that in the past. and that's why this is likely to be a battle that will run and run. fresh protests are expected across france by the so—called yellow vests, despite president emmanuel macron promising a minimum wage rise and tax concessions in response to weeks of violent demonstrations. people first took to the streets over a rising fuel tax, which has since abandoned by the government. however, the issues raised by protestors have now become broader, as hugh schofield reports. once again in paris, the riot police

will be out in force on the sean sowerby is a weren't number of luxury goods shops say they will be shut. some museums will be closed but the louvre and the eiffel tower will stay open. the authorities are taking no chances but they have the number of protesters today will be significantly down on previous weekends after the president's offer to open the state's offers on monday with 10 billion euros help to people on low wages and tenses —— pensions, some in the yellow vest movement have said that is a major state forward. others fear the violence of the last to saturday protests, much of it caused by young opportunists rather than burnt by the protesters, has damaged the cause but there are still yellow vests around the country who feel now is not the time to ease up the pressure. they feel that if emmanuel macron has given

once, he can give again. let's get some of the day's other news: president trump has named his current budget director mick mulvaney as his acting chief of staff. he replaces generaljohn kelly — after days of speculation over who would take the post and some high profile names pulling out. the president made the announcement on twitter. the australian prime minister, scott morrison, says his country now recognises westjerusalem as the capital of israel. but mr morrison said australia remained committed to a two—state solution as the only way to resolve the conflict between the israelis and palestinians. he said australia also recognised the aspirations of the palestinians to a future state with a capital in eastjerusalem. 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. negotiations at the un climate conference in polandare continuing well past their official close. delegates from almost 200 countries are taking part. they're looking to find agreement on tackling rising global temperatures. how poor countries should be compensated for the damage from rising temperatures is a sticking point. 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. there have been sporadic clashes on the outskirts of the yemeni port of hudaydah, despite a un—brokered ceasefire coming into effect on friday. the saudi—backed government and iranian—backed houthi rebels agreed to withdraw their forces from the centre of the city, following a week of peace—talks in sweden. a rare moment of warmth in this most bitter of disputes. yemen's foreign minister, on the left, and envoy to the houthi rebels on the right. was this the beginning of the end of years of brutal war and the world's worst humanitarian disaster?

as news of the un brokered ceasefire filtered to residents back home, relief was tempered with a large dose of scepticism. translation: the negotiations, unfortunately, from my point of view and the view of many yemeni people, are disappointing. i believe the talks will fail because the enemy, saudi arabia, does not want us to live in peace. translation: i think the talks with the leaders of the houthi coup will not have any effect on the ground. what was decided with regards to the hodeida port won't be implemented by the houthis. the port of hodeida is the main entry point for humanitarian aid in a country where 75% of the population are in need of support. so far, this fragile truce appears to be holding. though on friday there were already reports of further sporadic fighting on the outskirts of the city. more aid has now started to arrive, but the un says a robust monitoring

system is urgently needed to oversee the agreement. that's because this move is not only about ending a conflict, it's also about keeping millions of people alive. carolyn rigby, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: this might look like china — but it's new york. the city turns on its first festival of chinese lanterns. 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: a federaljudge in the us has ruled the affordable care act — also known as obamacare — is unconstitutional. the ruling will go to the supreme court on appeal. businesses and public sites in paris are preparing for another day of protest by the so—called ‘yellow vest‘ movement going ahead despite concessions announced by president macron. 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?"

and, 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 misunderstandings 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. 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. 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. a baby has defied the odds and survived an ebola infection in the democratic republic of congo. the little girl, whose mother was also infected, has been dubbed a miracle baby. she‘s made a full recovery following five weeks of treatment in the city of beni, near the ugandan border. it comes as the country experiences its second—worst outbreak of the deadly virus. georgina smyth has the story. the tiniest of patients survives the deadliest diseases. this is benedicte, and atjust five weeks old, she is the youngest ever survivor of ebola. her mother was infected with the highly contagious virus and died during childbirth. benedicte was showing symptoms days later, and despite a very slim chance of survival, she has made a full

recovery and is now home with her father. translation: i really did not want to lose her. she is my hope. ebola is a very contagious and deadly infection, causing severe fever, vomiting, diarrhoea and internal and external bleeding. hazmat suits and isolation wards are crucial to containing it. it kills 50% of the people it affects, and shot to the headlines in 2014 after an out—of—control outbreak in west africa killed thousands of people over two years. but ebola is still affecting the region — this year the drc has suffered the world‘s second worst outbreak. according to the health ministry, there have been over 500 cases. the world health organization says the situation is concerning, and there is still a very high risk of the outbreak spreading further. 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. our 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 who‘s 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‘re making tottenham chants but actually,

when you sing, "those are on their way to auschwitz," this is what you‘re 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 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 a 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 butjust part of big issues for football and society. when you think of new york, one thing that may come to mind is its iconic skyline. a city of concrete, glass and steel lit up like a christmas tree. but despite being no stranger to spectacular illuminations, new york has never played host to a chinese lantern festival — that is, until now. the bbc‘s tim allman has more. in this particular part of new york,

the command went forth — let there be light. a 2000—year—old tradition brought halfway around the world. usually we celebrate the chinese new year during january or february, this year we are bringing the lantern festival from china to new york city, to give the best wishes to all of the new yorkers here. # oh, you look so beautiful tonight...# it took 200 chinese artisans more than a month to create the 3,000 or so handmade lanterns. #..of blinding lights...# this festival will also see cultural performances including a spot of lion dancing

and some martial arts. it really lights up the evening and it makes you feel kind of warm inside. it is absolutely amazing, the lighting, the spectacular acting, and dancing, it was fabulous. # city of blinding lights...# the festival runs until early january, a carnival of light and music and movement. a spectacle even new york has never seen before. britain‘s royal family have revealed the photos they‘re putting on their christmas cards this year. don‘t worry 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. but more coming up especially now top story of a federal court in the united states 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: a us federaljudge in texas has ruled that barack obama‘s signature healthca re reforms are unconstitutional. thejudge said obamacare had been invalidated by a change in tax law last year which removed a penalty for not having health insurance. president trump said the ruling was great news for america. cities across france

are preparing for a fifth consecutive weekend of anti—government protests. the so—called yellow vest movement began as opposition to fuel duty rises but has grown into protests against president macron‘s administration. he has announced a series of tax and other concessions in a bid to end the unrest. britain‘s prime minister has insisted talks with the 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 the debate was nebulous and imprecise.