welcome to bbc news — broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm reged ahmad. our top stories: a partial shutdown of us government will start in just a few hours‘ time — after democrats failed to agree funding for president trump's border wall with mexico. the shutdown spooks us markets with heavy losses in wall street's worst week for a decade. police investigating the drone flights that disrupted will london gatwick airport make two arrests. flights have now resumed after three days of chaos. and thirty years after the lockerbie bombing, a tribute in scotland to the victims of pan am flight 103. but as we go to air, let's bring you some breaking news.

sussex police have just said that two people have been arrested as part of their ongoing investigation into the criminal use of drones, which has severely disrupted flights in and out of gatwick airport since wednesday night. do not disclose the age nor gender of those arrested nor where the arrest were made we know they were made after ten o'clock on friday evening. police have again appealed for anyone with any information to get in touch with them. just to repeat, two people arrested in connection with a string of brougham sightings that have wrought gatwick airport to a standstill. we will have more on that later on in the programme. “— have more on that later on in the programme. —— that have brought gatwick airport to a standstill.

a partial shutdown of the us government is expected to go ahead in just three hours time — after congress adjourned without reaching an agreement on a revised spending bill. president trump had demanded the legislation include $5 billion for the mexican border wall but it failed to gain support in the senate. it now means several key agencies are set to lose their funding leaving hundreds of thousands of employees without a christmas pay cheque. let's go live to the bbc‘s david willis, who's been following the developments. this david, why have they failed to reach a deal? the house of representatives has been adjourned until noon tomorrow saturday and the majority whip in the senate has said that there will be no vote there tonight. we are looking very strongly now at the prospect of a partial government shutdown here in the united states, something that will affect about 800,000 federal

workers, some of whom will be sent home, others will be required, essential workers, required to turn up essential workers, required to turn up and work without pay or at least immediate pay. their pay will be deferred to when this is all sorted out. how long that will be is an open question because president trump has made his agreement on funding for these government departments conditional on an additional $5 billion to fund his signature campaign issue, a wall along the border between mexico and the united states. democrats in the senate a say in no way and they are equally determined to hunt this to decide. president trump is perhaps seeing this as his last opportunity, really, to go into bat on behalf of his right—wing base for the simple

reason that in just two weeks time, democrats take control of the house of representatives. so what happens next? how does the government in this partial shutdown? that is a very good question. we are told that negotiations are going on behind—the—scenes and indeed representatives from the white house we re representatives from the white house were on capital hill today, basically trying to reach some sort of agreement with democrats in the senate. they included the incoming chief of staff, mick mulvany, and the president's son—in—law. precisely how far they got it remains to be seen. we will perhaps know more about that tomorrow but in the meantime, president trump has said that this could be a very long shot down and fuelled by right—wing commentators here and the people who constitute his base, as they put it,

he shows no sign at the moment, anyway, looking to back down. thank you very much for that. the impending government shut down has contributed to the dramatic fall on the us stock markets. the dow jones industrial average suffered its deepest weekly plunge since 2008 and the nasdaq officially entered bear market territory, having fallen 20% from its peak. with me is our reporter kim gittleson. kim, the shutdown has spooked markets. it has and that is to do with the fact that investors really like certainty. 0bviously with the fact that investors really like certainty. obviously this is an uncertain situation and we are not quite when the us government will get tax and running. we are heading into the christmas holiday and that will certainly delay things. comes as part of a broader picture of political dysfunction in washington and that worries investors. additional two other things this week such as the us federal reserve

and the central bank has decided to raise interest rates this week, that did not please investors, even though the central bank said that they would only raise interest rates twice next year instead of three. suggest that they do not think this us economic whom we are in the middle of will last much longer. we hear that this is the worst week since the financial crisis in 2008 but it was not that long ago we were talking about a bull market and things were looking good. over the summer, the s&p 500 had entered the longest bull market in history. a bear market is a 20% decline from a peak, that is what the nasdaq ended today. a bull market is the inverse, a 20% rise from a trough. what happened is that many investors thought that they had been in a great period with tax cuts from donald trump helping corporate profits and we saw a big recovery from the depths of the financial crisis. how long can continue to last? there are storm clouds on the

horizon in terms of global gross. donald trump's trade war with china is one thing they are worried about as well is the slowing chinese growth and the looming brexit negotiations and what will happen here in europe. thank you for that update on what is happening with the us stock markets. well, as we've been reporting, two people have been arrested in connection with the "criminal use of drones" which caused widespread disruption to flights at gatwick airport — that's according to sussex police. flights resumed on friday evening after another drone sighting closed the runway for about 90 minutes. duncan kennedy reports on a day of disruption for passengers. the airport was closed forjust over

an hour this time when reports came through of another drone sighting. they told us that the flight was cancelled and that we had to collect our luggage. but by mid—evening takeoffs and landings began again. after the nervousness of the past three days, flights had resumed this morning, when police gave the airport the all clear. but it was a groggy start to the day for many. flights swapped for floors. virginia goncalves from cornwall is seriously ill and had to spend her night in an airport chair. it's horrible. it goes against your human rights, isn't it? i have stage 4 cancer, spread to the bones. for god's sake! around 600 planes came in and out today and thousands of people did get away. but this woman won't fly until sunday. how would you summarise this experience? it's horrendous. it's a nightmare.

it's just... or how about these men from london whose flight to ghana was cancelled today, meaning they will now miss a family wedding. they've thrown us to the wolves, basically. we are left here. i can't go and see my grandma. i can't go to the wedding. it's just not acceptable. it's deplorable. it's not good enough at all. this bag of chocolates was their airline's gesture of apology. but what about compensation? the insurance industry says people should first contact their airline. they say airlines are not obliged to pay compensation but say any costs incurred and general disruption will be covered by most people's travel insurance. the vast majority of people should be able to make a claim where they have not been able to get any refunds or compensation out of the airlines or travel companies. it is only the cheapest insurance policies that are available on the market that are unlikely to include travel disruption cover. the squeeze at gatwick again fed

the crush at st pancras. these were the queues for eurostar trains today. but others did head to gatwick, hoping that their flight would emerge from the chaos. so they said thatjust go there and see what happens. and then...i wish. but i don't know. flights from foreign airports into gatwick have also been trying to catch up. this family were caught in rome. the fact is with two children, wanting to get back to see my family, that is obviously be sad part about it. but we'll get there. a voice of optimism after days of uncertainty for an airport stopped not by snow, fog, or strikes, but by a drone. duncan kennedy, bbc news, at gatwick airport. 30 years ago on friday pan am flight 103 was blown up in mid—air over the market town of lockerbie in southern scotland. wreaths have been laid and a silence held at a memorial service in honour

of the 270 people who lost their lives. 0ur scotland correspondent lorna gordon reports. bagpipes play. 0n the shortest day, lockerbie remembered its longest night, remembered the 270 people who lost their lives in the deadliest terror attack the uk has ever suffered. this, a day of dignified remembrance of those who died. among the passengers on the pan am flight, helga mosey. she was 19. every year since the bombing, her parents have travelled to lockerbie to remember a life cut short. we miss our daughter, and we wonder how she would have done, what her musical career would have been like. would we have been grandparents to her children? we don't know. we still remember her as she was, lively. and be thankful we

had her for so long. 19 years isn't long, but they were happy years. the transatlantic plane had been en route from london to new york when it exploded in the skies above the scottish town, killing all 259 people on board and 11 people on the ground. the only person to be convicted of the bombing, the libyan man, abdelbaset al—megrahi, died after being released from a scottish prison on compassionate grounds. his family's lodged a new attempt to appeal against his conviction. and there's a separate ongoing criminal investigation, with two other libyans are identified a suspect. for some, like jim swire who lost his daughter flora in the attack, there are still unanswered questions. 0verwhelmingly, the awful thing about lockerbie was the death, needless deaths, i may say, of 270 innocent people, who could have been protected had the government of the day taken appropriate steps. having said that, the refusal

of our government, and the american government, of course, to come out with what they know about the truth, has been a terrible added burden to many. 30 years ago, lockerbie became tied to tragedy. in the decades since with humanity, kindness and compassion. the people here have offered comfort to the victims' families, remembrance and respect. lorna gordon, bbc news, lockerbie. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: there's nothing like a dame. britain's pantomime tradition wows the crowds on broadway. the world of music has been paying tribute to george michael who died from suspected heart failure at the age of 53. he sold well over 100 million albums over a career spanning more than three decades. the united states troops have been

trying to overthrow the dictatorship of general manuel noriega. the pentagon said that it's failed in its principal objective to capture noriega and take him to the united states to face drugs charges. the hammer and sickle was hastily taken away. in its place, the russian flag was hoisted over what is now no longer the soviet union, but the commonwealth of independent states. day broke slowly over lockerbie, over the cockpit of pan am's maid of the seas nose down in the soft earth. you could see what happens when a plane 8 storeys high, a football pitch wide, falls from 30,000 feet. business has returned to albania after a communist ban lasting more than 20 years. thousands went to midnight mass in the town of shkoder, where there were anti—communist riots ten days ago. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: a partial shutdown of us government will start in just a few hours' time after lawmakers failed to agree

funding for president trump's border wall with mexico. with what you remind you of that breaking news. we have been hearing that sucks ex— police have been telling us two people have been arrested as part of the ongoing investigation of the criminal use of drives which has severely disrupted flight drives which has severely disrupted flight in an out of gatwick since wednesday night. the airport and run may have been reopened and if people ‘s sites drives again, the airport gets shut down again. those arrests we re gets shut down again. those arrests were madejust after ten gets shut down again. those arrests were made just after ten o'clock on a friday evening and the police have appealed to anyone about information —— with information about the incident to report to them. let's

get more on the top story, the shut down in the us. we can speak to steven 0likara who is the founder and president of millenial action project, which describes itself as a post—partisan leadership organization. he joins us from washington. thank you very much for your time. first of all, who is to blame for these partial shutdown? festival, thank you for having me. both parties are to blame for the fundamental problem which is that congress has a government from crisis to crisis passing these resolutions. we see this as the new normal but this is not normal. congress should be passing by partisan projects. this goes back a number of years where congress has not been doing itsjudiciaryjob. because we are in this crisis mode, we have to act on these continuing

resolutions and the parties in power can use this moment to extract their legislative goals and that is what president trump is trying to do and trying to extract a $5 billion funding for this border wall. ultimately, how the politics player, i believe president trump will find this shutdown and ultimately they will be some compromise in the next week or so. has donald trump played into the democrats hands who we heard characterised this as a trump shutdown? both sides will characterise this as the other side's shutdown and that always happens. it happened a couple of yea rs happens. it happened a couple of years ago, it happened in 2013, trying to place the blame on the other side. if we look at this one,

probably the majority of american people will see this as a trump shutdown but ultimately the american people are not interested in playing the blame game but in solutions. a legitimate budget that offers stability to the market and, u nfortu nately stability to the market and, unfortunately today, with this level of instability the markets continued to decline and a lot of american family did not have a basic sense of security heading into the holiday season. this crop of lawmakers in the white house are clearly not doing theirjob and i believe the american people deserve better. we will have to continue monitoring the situation. thank you very much. in the us, the supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg has had two cancerous nodules removed from her left lung. there is no evidence of any further disease, but it's the latest health scare for the liberaljudge who has become a cultural icon. this christmas a new movie will open about her early career starring felicityjones. it comes on the heels of the wildly popular documentary about the justice's life.

tom brook has been looking at this somewhat unlikely star. these are laws written by man who think we are privileged to be excused from men's obligations but it is not a privilege, it is at catch and these laws are the buzz. felicityjones plays catch and these laws are the buzz. felicity jones plays ruth catch and these laws are the buzz. felicityjones plays ruth bader ginsburg, a fictionalised accounts of the justice's early career. felicity james is a of the justice's early career. felicityjames is a big fan. of the justice's early career. felicity james is a big fan. she is someone felicity james is a big fan. she is someone in a position of power who has huge integrity and has got to where she got the because of that integrity and we do not have many people like that to look up to. ruth bader ginsburg a bill is exceptional. millennial several responded to her. the generation of feminism and admire her. known by her initials, rbg, her popularity

has given rise to notorious rbg, a play on a rapper. there is even a notorious rbg video. it is not usual for someone who is famous for their work in the law to become a celebrity, it is not usual for a woman in her 80s to start rocket into stardom but that is what has happened with just as ginsberg. ruth bader ginsburg it is a polarising figure. a large part of appeal is that she is seen as a foil to the fired up voices to the right.|j that she is seen as a foil to the fired up voices to the right. i feel we have to continuously, as ruth bader ginsburg das, persuade with an argument that this is not destroy people but that connects people and i think she is rocky, what can i say. some conservatives think much

of the adoration is misplaced. ruth bader ginsburg is a small, slight woman, like an elf, and is seen as kind of funny to betray her as this mighty force the change. —— per tray. maybe she was mystified by the p0p tray. maybe she was mystified by the pop culture adoration at first that she has embraced it. her nephew who wrote the screenplay for the new film argues she sees advantages to the celebrity appeal. she is growing use of the public eye. dissent in the supreme case is you are speaking to future generations and she is smart enough to recognise that being such a powerful force smart enough to recognise that being such a powerfulforce in smart enough to recognise that being such a powerful force in the smart enough to recognise that being such a powerfulforce in the media makes that voice louder. there is every sign her celebrity appeal will continue. a few months ago, she said she plans to spend at least another

five years on the supreme court, by which time, the notorious rbg will be 90—years—old. what an icon! for many in the uk, the christmas holidays aren't complete without going to a pantomime. but now this peculiarly british tradition, with its raucous singalongs, audience banter and often risque jokes, is being exported to america. jack and the beanstalk is currently playing in new york and it turns out, the crowds — young and old — can't get enough. america has never seen anything like it. new yorkers have taken to it like, gosh, like a fish to water. amazing. i love it. the show was really funny. oh, no, you can't. audience: oh, yes, i can. a pantomime is a family form of entertainment that's around

the holidays, is interactive with the audience, that has a lot of slapstick and humour and brings community together, laughing and singing. i knew nothing about pantomime, nothing. when she sent me tapes of what the pantomime actually was i was oohhh. every time we get to five we want you to help us count... 1, 2, 3, 4... it was funny for me that we got a new york times glowing review, thinking to myself, the guardian would never reverentially view a panto, so—called low art. would never reverentially review a panto, so—called low art. the hardest point for me it is the vocal aspect of it all. (high pitched voice)

as the pantomime we are talking like this. and then i go very low and sing. # always look on the bright side of life!# the interactive tradition of panto, all these things that in britain we think of as hackneys and cliched and old fashioned, they are thrilling to this audience. they love interacting. these american guys and women are coming out of the show with their minds blown, and i'm thinking but it's just panto. i like that some boys play girls, some girls play boys, and there are people of all sizes, big and small, small and tall. we need to have that kind of perspective and make fun of things happening in the real world. i'm english and i would love to see this become a tradition over here every year. it looks like a lot of fun. a

reminder of the breaking news of this hour, sussex police havejust said that two people have been arrested stop it is part of their ongoing investigation into the criminal use of the drones. we have been seeing those trans severely disrupt flights in and out of gatwick airport, that has been happening since wednesday night. we have had the runway opened, shutdown and opened a gang asjones are sited and opened a gang asjones are sited and disappear again. and opened a gang asjones are sited and disappearagain. —— and opened a gang asjones are sited and disappear again. —— drones. the arrests were made just after ten o'clock on friday evening and police are appealing with anyone with information on the incident. more on that, due to stay with us. ——do

stay.. hello there. the weekend is upon us now it's looking like being a tale of two halves. saturday is expected to be the drier day of the two, with many places staying dry, with sunshine. a few showers in the north. for sunday, another weather system moving in. it will bring rain and more of a breeze for many areas. early on saturday, lots of showers around. these tending to become more confined to western scotland, northern ireland and north—west england by around dawn, with some clear skies for the south and east. now, it will be a mild start to the day across the south. one or two chilly spots for the north—east of scotland — subzero values and one or two spots of frost. for saturday, this is the ridge of high pressure which should bring most of us some fine weather. this is the area of low pressure i was talking about which will bring sunday the wetter and breezier weather. so this morning starts up dry for many. lots of sunshine across the south and the east. after that chilly start, temperatures will rise. there will be though a few showers pushing through western scotland, northern ireland and north—west

england and that light to moderate west or north—west breeze. it'll be fairly cool here. temperatures pretty typical for the time of year. further south it's going to be fairly mild again for the time of year, with 11—12 degrees. this next weather system moves in for sunday, brings outbreaks of rain initially to northern ireland, then in towards parts of england and wales. some of the rain is going to be heavy, quite slow moving as well, through the northern ireland, into parts of wales, the midlands and northern england. it will eventually become confined to the eastern side of england, into the afternoon. meanwhile, much of scotland will have a dry but quite a chilly day. temperatures in mid—single digits. further south, though, it's going to be mild again — 12—13 celsius across southern england and south wales. this weather front lingers on across southern parts of the country as we head into monday, of course, that's christmas eve, but with a big area of high pressure expected to establish itself over the country, it will tend to squeeze that weather front out so conditions will become dry here later on christmas eve. so we could see some cloud and rain across the far south of england, eventually becoming confined to the far south—west. devon and cornwall will hold on to the milder air — 12 or 13 celsius. further north, drier, brighter,

with some sunny spells but cooler and certainly much cooler across scotland. for christmas day, or for the christmas period, that's into boxing day as well, with high pressure nearby, it looks like it will be dry for most. the morning starts off quite chilly, particularly across northern areas. and we should see a little bit of sunshine, but there will be quite a bit of cloud too. so this is christmas day's weather. quite a chilly start, north—east scotland, maybe north—east england, a touch of frost. 0therwise most places will be dry through the day, with quite a bit of cloud around. and those temperatures close to the seasonal normal, even fairly mild in the far south. this is bbc news. the headlines: a partial shutdown of us government will start in just a few hours' time police investigating the drone flights disrupted gatwick have made to arrest. the airport reopened on friday following a sadistic fowler closure which soared nearly a thousand flights counselled and 120 thousand flights counselled and 120 thousand passengers stranded.

a partial shutdown of us government will start in just a few hours' time after lawmakers failed to agree funding for president trump's border wall with mexico. democrats are opposed to the plan which could cost more than $5 billion. fears about the shutdown led to sharp falls on the stockmarket, with the benchmark dowjones index finishing its worst week since the 2008 financial crisis. facebook and twitter were hardest hit — their value tumbled more than 6%, while amazon shares dropped more than 5%. now on bbc news — westminster in review.