only a week ago, mr mcgurk raised fears of an early end to the campaign in a bbc interview.e military commitment doesn't end there. that's absolutely right. and there's no timeline on it. no timelines. washington is preparing for a short christmas break, but goodwill is in short supply. and with a government shutdown and questions about presidential policy, this seems like a less—than—happy holiday for donald trump. chris buckler, bbc news, washington. let's get some of the day's other news. the main opposition party in sudan says 22 people have been killed in four days of protests over a rise in the cost of bread. the leader of the opposition condemned what they had been the armed repression of the demonstrations. the protests had been muted on saturday after the authorities closed universities and shut down mobile internet services. a car bomb has killed at least 12 people in the somali capital, mogadishu. the explosion happened less that 400 metres from the presidential palace. the militant islamist group al sha bab says it was behind the killings. hundreds of people in m

only a week ago, mr mcgurk raised fears of an early end to the campaign in a bbc interview. end there. that's absolutely right. and there's no timeline on it. no timelines. washington is preparing for a short christmas break, but goodwill is in short supply. and with a government shutdown and questions about presidential policy, this seems like a less—than—happy holiday for donald trump. chris buckler, bbc news, washington. as we were hearing earlier, the top white house official in the fight against the islamic state group has quit over president trump's decision to pull us troops from syria. in brett mcgurk‘s resignation letter, leaked to the media, he said the militants were on the run but not yet defeated. it comes just a day after the us defence secretary, jim mattis, handed in his resignation, with the syria withdrawal thought to be a bone of contention there too. earlier i spoke with kamran bokhari, director of strategy and programmes at the centre for global policy based in washington, dc. i began by asking why brett mcgurk made the gesture of resignation when he was

brett mcgurk is the us special envoy to the global coalition fighting the so—called islamic state groupignation letter, he made clear his concern is that the presidentposmac claims that ifa being defeated were premature. 0nly a week ago, he raised fears of an early end to the campaign in a bbc interview. the point is that military commitment doesn't end. that is absolutely right. there is no timeline on that. no timeline. washington is preparing for a short christmas break. goodwill is in short supply. with the government shut down, this seems a less than happy holiday for donald trump. chris butler, bbc news, washington. it was the biggest factor in his decision to go. earlier, i spoke to andrew tabler, from the washington institute for near east policy. i asked him about what effect that departure would have. mister mcgurk was quite controversial in the us system because he aligns the united states with the democratic forces, an offshoot of the pkk, which is the archenemy of turkey and is designated as a terrorist organisation. it was a bit like playing with fire, but it was a strateg

only a week ago, mr mcgurk raised fears of an early end to the campaign in a bbc interview.nd with the end of the caliphate. that is absolutely right. there is no timeline on it? no timelines. washington is preparing for a short christmas break but goodwill is in short supply, and with a government shutdown and questions about presidential policy, this seems like a less than happy holiday for donald trump. chris buckler, bbc news, washington. president trump has announced that the deputy secretary of defence, patrick shanahan, will replace his former boss, jim mattis on an acting basis from january 1st. general mattis resigned last week over mr trump's plans to withdraw us troops from syria, but had said he would stay in office until february. mr trump did not explain why his departure had been brought forward, but he has reacted angrily to the criticism provoked by his change of policy in the war against the islamic state group. when donald trump announced that he was withdrawing us troops from syria and afghanistan, it caused grave concern amongst some allies. there are fe

only a week ago, mr mcgurk raised fears of an early end to the campaign in a bbc interview.es not end with the end of the caliphate. that is absolutely right. there is no timeline on it? no timelines. washington is preparing for a short christmas break but goodwill is in short supply, and with a government shutdown and questions about presidential policy, this seems like a less than happy holiday for donald trump. chris butler, bbc news, washington. emperor akihito of japan has broadcast his last birthday message before he steps down next april. the emperor, who turned 85 on sunday, appeared to be overcome with emotion when he thanked the people of japan and empress michiko for having supported him throughout his life on the throne. he said he was relieved that his reign was coming to an end withoutjapan having been drawn into fighting in a war again. they're two of some of our most famous sporting heroes. torvill and dean became british, european, world and olympic champions, cheered on by huge tv audiences. now a christmas day one—off drama tells their story from early chi

only a week ago, mr mcgurk raised fears of an early end to the campaign in a bbc interview.the caliphate. that is absolutely right. there is no timeline on it? no timelines. washington is preparing for a short christmas break but goodwill is in short supply, and with a government shutdown and questions about presidential policy, this seems like a less than happy holiday for donald trump. chris butler, bbc news, washington. as we've been hearing, senior politicalfigures have been remembering the former liberal democrat leader, paddy ashdown who died yesterday. lord ashdown, who was 77, had been diagnosed with bladder cancer in october. someone who worked with him for many years was fellow liberal democrat baroness shirley williams. she has been speaking to the bbc about the man she knew. i knew him quite well as a fellow campaigner and in a small party like the liberal democrats you are battling all the time. he was brilliant at that. he and i met quite often on the campaign trail in britain and outside it, in particular the occupation of kosovo. that was rather unusual. we s

only a week ago, mr mcgurk raised fears of an early end to the campaign in a bbc interview. end of the caliphate. that is absolutely right. there is no timeline on it? no timelines. washington is preparing for a short christmas break but goodwill is in short supply, and with a government shutdown and questions about presidential policy, this seems like a less than happy holiday for donald trump. chris butler, bbc news, washington. now it's time for a look at the weather with philip avery. hello again. if you've got travel plans for the next few days, it looks like christmas week isn't going to get in your way. settled, fair, thanks to an area of high pressure, although really rather dull and grey for many of us. it doesn't look particularly settled for the rest of the day and overnight, simply because we have this weather front close by to the southern counties of england. at least that helps to keep temperatures up there. elsewhere, under clearing skies, it will be a cold start to the new day on monday. that's christmas eve, of course. and there will be some fog in the fore

only a week ago, mr mcgurk raised fears of an early end to the campaign in a bbc interview.e end of the caliphate. that is absolutely right. there is no timeline on it? no timelines. washington is preparing for a short christmas break but goodwill is in short supply, and with a government shutdown and questions about presidential policy, this seems like a less than happy holiday for donald trump. chris buckler, bbc news, washington. now it's time for a look at the weather. hello. the forecast for christmas week is a pretty quiet one. the weather is settling down thanks to a building area of high pressure but the high will trap underneath it quite a lot of cloud so some quite grey prospects in the coming days. for the remainder of today, some slightly brighter fortunes through the afternoon for northern england and northern ireland, still saying very cloudy to the south and further rain to come across southern england. scotland gets the best of the sunshine but temperatures are struggling after the frosty start. more rain pushing into southern counties of england and southern

that led to the resignation of brett mcgurk, the us envoy to the global alliance fighting against islamico said the group had not been defeated yet. and we'll be speaking to our correspondent in washington, about that visits to american troops injusta about that visits to american troops injust a few about that visits to american troops in just a few minutes. there's been international criticism ofjapan‘s decision to resume commercial whale hunting. the government of australia described it as regrettable and new zealand said killing whales was unnecessary. japanjoins iceland and norway in defying the moratorium on commercial whaling, which was introduced in the 1980s. our science correspondent victoria gill's report contains some distressing images. they are the ocean's gentle giants. they are now at the heart of an international dispute. it's all about the bloody business of commercial whaling. business that japan says it will resume in the summer of 2019. translation: at the international whaling commission meeting in september, it became obvious that it is not possible for states with

only a week ago, mr mcgurk raised fears of an early end to the campaign in a bbc interview. military commitment doesn't end there. that's absolutely right. and there's no timeline on it. no timelines. washington is preparing for a short christmas break, but goodwill is in short supply. and with a government shutdown and questions about presidential policy, this seems like a less—than—happy holiday for donald trump. chris butler, bbc news, washington. the head of the un observer team has arrived in yemen to observe a ceasefire. the retired dutch general arrived in the countryjust hours after the mission was unanimously approved by the united nations security council. for the first time in years, a glimmer of hope for peace in yemen. the un team deployed to oversee it arrived on saturday. added by retired dutch general, these group of observers were tasked with helping to implement and monitor the ceasefire. the fragile truce which came into force on tuesday holding talks in sweden between delegations from the yemeni government and hootie rebels. a precursor to more significan

only a week ago, mr mcgurk raised fears of an early end to the campaign in a bbc interview.ith the end of the caliphate. that is absolutely right. there is no timeline on it? no timelines. washington is preparing for a short christmas break but goodwill is in short supply, and with a government shutdown and questions about presidential policy, this seems like a less than happy holiday for donald trump. chris butler, bbc news, washington. when donald trump announced that he was withdrawing us troops from syria and afghanistan — it caused grave concern amongst some allies. there are fears the president's decision may have a negative impact in the fight against the so—called islamic state — and militants in afghanistan. the bbc‘s martha kearney has been to kabul — where she spent time with british forces — who may now have to work without us help. british helicopters over a military base in kabul, but how much longer can they rely on us allies, after reports that 7000 american soldiers are to be sent home in the coming weeks? especially since it seems the security is worsening.

only a week ago, mr mcgurk raised fears of an early end to the campaign in a bbc interview.y commitment doesn't end there. that's absolutely right. and there's no timeline on it. no timelines. washington is preparing for a short christmas break, but goodwill is in short supply. and with a government shutdown and questions about presidential policy, this seems like a less—than—happy holiday for donald trump. chris butler, bbc news, washington. there have been violent clashes in paris during a sixth successive weekend of yellow jacket demonstrations. 0fficials estimate that around 2000 people joined the protests across the city — a smaller number than in previous weeks, after president macron had reversed some of his planned tax increases. yellow jacket protests have also been taking place elsewhere in france — notably near in the south western city of perpignan. one man was killed when his vehicle was in collision with a stationary lorry at a roadblock which had been put in place by the demonstrators. there have now been a total of ten deaths linked to the protests since they

brett mcgurk had planned to leave his role in february but brought his departure forward.uncement he had insisted that the us would continue working against is in syria. our washington correspondent, chris bucklerjoins us now. first of all, on the partial government shutdown, senators have been trying to come to an agreement. any sign of a resolution? yes, judging from the first comments that have been made in the senate in the last hour or so we have heard the republicans basically saying this is a matter between the president and the democrats, and that they need to find a solution between them and the democrats have said if you really wa nt to democrats have said if you really want to stop this government shutdown and reopen the parts of government that have been closed down, then frankly, mrtrump, government that have been closed down, then frankly, mr trump, you had to abandon your wall. it gives you a real sense that if anything they're you a real sense that if anything they‘ re really far apart, you a real sense that if anything they're really far apart, and there i

brett mcgurk is making a specific point here. bridge this administration and allies in terms of tackling the islamic state group, and it is clear that he does not believe that isis has been needed and that still a lot of work to be done. 0k. many thanks. the headlines on bbc news: police investigating the drones at gatwick search a house in west sussex, following the arrest of a man and a woman from crawley. meanwhile, the airport has so far run a full service today — but passengers continue to suffer delays and cancellations. a row over the money for donald trump's border wall — results in a partial shutdown of the us government. surgery to repair the spinal cord in unborn babies is to become routinely available on the nhs from next spring. nhs england says carrying out the procedure during pregnancy — will help correct spina bifida —— a condition where bones don't form properly, leaving the spinal cord exposed. our medical correspondent fergus walsh has more. i might not go too much deeper, frank, because we might need membrane

charles mcgurk said racism is disgusting, he doesn't want his name to be used in any anti—black livester protests. a russian driver who back in russia it was kneeling and times, and it seemed like a sign of submission or reserved for national instances. lots of different reasons why people haven't taken the knee. rugby league, basketball, it's been the case. how much emphasis has there been on clu bs to much emphasis has there been on clubs to make some sort of stand? when it comes to basketball, that's very interesting. the nba is one of the pivotal organisations in fighting back against things, they've donated millions of dollars, their players are active. jonathan isaak became the first nba player did not kneel for the national anthem. but he was back by his organisation and members of the league as well. his reason is he's a devout christian and naturally believes that kneeling should be reserved for god and god only. he also wanted to make it clear that he supports black lives matter, he just doesn't want to take the knee. supports black lives matter, he just doesn't want to take

only a week ago, mr mcgurk raised fears of an early end to the campaign in a bbc interview.for a short christmas break but goodwill is in short supply, and with a government shutdown and questions about presidential policy, this seems like a less than happy holiday for donald trump. chris buckler, bbc news, washington. a rescue effort is under way in indonesia to try and locate any more survivors from a tsunami that‘s already known to have killed more than 200 people and injured nearly 900 others. the islands of java and sumatra were affected by the giant wave, thought to have been triggered by underwater landslides from an erupting volcano — anak krakatau. steve mcandrew is from the international federation of red cross and is injakarta helping with relief efforts. thank you for speaking to us here on bbc news. telles some of the challenges that rescuers are facing at the moment after this tsunami. right now, with the rescuers, we are working through the night. it‘s a lot more difficult. people cannot see. there‘s debris everywhere. it‘s dangerous to work in these areas whe

brett mcgurk, the us envoy to the global coalition to fight isis says he is quitting as a direct responselans. it's fair to say this isn't the christmas that donald trump would have hoped for. chris buckler at the white house. retailers hoping for a last—minute rush of christmas shoppers on so—called super saturday have been left disappointed. footfall on the high street is down again this year, to its lowest level since the 2008 recession. sarah corker has more from leeds. # joy to the world, the lord has come... with three days to go until christmas, millions of us are hitting the high street to bag those last few presents. in leeds today, shoppers were certainly getting into the festive mood. so we tried to get things online, but then you can't feel it and touch it, so we've come into leeds because you get the atmosphere, and to me the two days before christmas, where everyone is running around getting shopping, are kind of like a nice atmosphere, it's quite nice to come out and see everybody. it's actually quite stressful, i'm in such a bad mood. i can't find anything i want, i should

brett mcgurk submitted his resignation over the president's decision to pull us troops from syria.shut down over christmas after politicians in the senate failed to resolve their differences over the budget, during a special session. democrats oppose donald trump's plans to use federal funds to build a wall along the us—mexico border. now it's time for a look at the weather with susan powell. 0ur forecast for christmas is pretty quiet, settling down thanks to high pressure which will trap quite a lot of cloud, so bleak prospects in the coming days. for the remainder of today's slightly brighter fortunes through the afternoon for northern england and northern ireland. still cloudy to the south. further rain across southern england. scotland getting the best of the sunshine but temperatures struggling after a frosty start. clearer skies sinking down from the north will set of that for quite a widespread frost for christmas eve morning. mild to the south with a covering of cloud and rain. that cloud will continue to push your way through monday morning and for many areas we are lookin

simone mcgurk those results will bring them to you. —— so results will bring them to you. —— so whene a look at some of the other stories making the news. the us ambassador to panama has quit saying he no longer feels able to serve president trump. in a letter to the press, john feeley said he would leave his post in march. according to the us state department feeley notified them of his decision in late december. a number of catholic churches have been vandalised in chile ahead of a visit by pope francis. police said homemade bombs were used to damage two churches in the capital santiago. the attackers left messages threatening the pope, saying the money for the visit could better be spent on the poor. women in saudi arabia have made history by watching a football match pakistan has deployed paramilitary forces to suppress riots in the eastern town of kasur, following the rape and killing of a 6—year—old girl. protesters are angry at the police for failing to find those responsible for a series of child murders over the past two years. officials say the situation is tense but has be

frankly there should be a global approach to tackling these issues, something he shared with brett mcgurkwas the us special envoy to the global coalition to fight islamic state, who has also put forward his resignation, again criticising donald trump in saying that he does not believe in the policies president trump is pushing. —— and the same. at the moment we do not get the sense from the white house that they are prepared to back down on that sudden, surprising announcement from donald trump that he is going to pull us troops out of syria. there is concern in washington, and that includes among very senior republicans in congress. chris buckler in washington. president macron of france has said he regrets mr trump's decision to pull us troops out of syria, saying that an ally should be dependable. he's reported to have called mr trump last week warning him against the decision. with more on that and the mobilisation of turkish forces towards the syrian border, here's david campa nale. heightened turkish military activity close to their border with syria. according to local media, turke

the us middle east envoy, brett mcgurk, who is here in israel today, is understood to have told mr netanyahue extent or the details of that softening but, clearly, the government heard enough today to think that it is worth sending the mossad boss and other top security chiefs to paris for those talks. so that is a small sign of the possibility that these talks could yield something. this comes on top of remarks yesterday by benny gantz, a senior member of mr netanyahu's government, suggesting that there were cautious signs of progress. i don't think we should get ahead of ourselves. there is no sense of a deal being imminent. but clearly, the americans are pressing extremely hard, and they have made it plain that they want to see a deal in place before the start of ramadan — and that is in less than three weeks�* time. earlier, my colleague caitriona perry spoke to richard haass, president emeritus, council on foreign relations. he spoke about the change in stance from israel. thanks for being with us on bbc news, richard. if we can start with this breaking news that the israelis are to sen

and then the us has got the white house most senior person on the middle east present there, brett mcgurk talks broke up, that started earlier in the day, has just come out saying that both sides, the palestinians and the israelis, are committed to de—escalating further violence. they have committed to maintaining what's known as the status quo rules regarding the holy sites injerusalem. and that's very important because, going forward, we're looking at in april having the islamic holy month of ramadan coinciding with the week—long holiday of passover forjews and that will put a lot of pressure on the contested holy sites, particularly injerusalem, meaning the al—aqsa mosque, as it's known to muslims, temple mount as it's known tojews. in addition to that, we're hearing that the palestinian and israeli sides have committed to stopping what are being called unilateral measures. now, from the palestinians, we understand that means that they will not go to the un and other international forums at this stage to press for action against the israelis. israel is committing specifically, we under

thankfully in the last few weeks you have seen brett mcgurk working hand in glove with president trump'svoy. i think everybody deserves some credit for getting to this point. the israeli people are exhausted and anxious to get hostages home. the israeli government has really run the string on how much it can pound gaza. hamas has been decimated. anybody has a reason to try to make this work now. ben: just very briefly, do you think the trump administration will give as much attention to the middle east as the biden administration has? glen: i think so, but in a different context. president trump clearly wants to move beyond a hot war in gaza, but he definitely wants to pick up his earlier activity under secretary pompeo with the abraham accords, normalization of relations between saudi arabia and israel, a much broader effort, and quite frankly he has an opportunity here with bringing aid into gaza to try and earn goodwill with the arab world and accelerate this rapprochement between israel and other members of the arab world. ben: great to talk to you, glen. glen johnson, senior advisor

talks to "move forward as planned" with cia director william burns and us middle east envoy brett mcgurkritical to de—escalate tensions in the region. the resumption of talks on thursday is an important step. an important step to continue that. we need to release the hostages, as you will know some of those hostages are american hostages. we need to make sure that lasting relief delivered to the palestinian civilians in gaza and lower the tension in the region and we have said this many times before. the hostage deal come the ceasefire deal will help to lower tensions in the region. mohamed taha from bbc arabic is with me in the studio. good morning. a push they are from the white house to see success today but thomas is not sending anyone to these talks. what is the hope? there is not much hope, to be honest. hamas is insisting that there are only proposals from president biden that was endorsed by the un resolution 207 — 8275. and there is nothing else, that we have to dear to the resolution council also endorsed by the g7 but israel apparently wants additional requests which are to st

he has bill burns and brett mcgurk in the region as well.hey perhaps trying to find a beachhead, maybe a two-month pause from which they can extract cease-fire? jeremy: i think the hope not just from the americans, but from lord cameron, was been talking the perspective of the british, that if there is a two-month, 60-day pause, it will be hard to start shooting again. from the political side in israel, netanyahu, he has a what victory looks like, destroy -- he has stated what victory looks like, destroy hamas, get the hostages back. where does that leave them if they do a deal effectively with hamas and hamas is still there? none of the key men in hamas have been captured or killed, as far as we know. he will be under pressure from the right-wing parties that sustain his government not to make those kinds of compromises. and in theory they could pull the plug upon his government. in that case israel will go to elections and will be in political turmoil, even more so than it is at the moment. there is a whole other new road which is opening

today another resignation, brett mcgurk, the us special envoy to the global coalition to fight isis hasrink—driver. two vehicles collided on the lincoln bypass in the early hours of this morning. the occupants of a blue ford mondeo were pronounced dead at the scene. one man is being questioned by police. retailers hoping for a last minute rush of christmas shoppers on so called super saturday may be disappointed. footfall on the high street is down again this year, with figures showing trading this festive season may have already peaked. sarah corker reports from leeds. # joy to the world, the lord has come # with three days to go until christmas, millions of us are hitting the high street to bag those last few presents. in leeds today, shoppers were certainly getting into the festive mood. so we tried to get things online, but then you can't feel it and touch it, so we've come into leeds because you get the atmosphere, and to me the two days before christmas, where everyone is running around getting shopping, are kind of like a nice atmosphere, it's quite nice to come out and see every

but mcgurk, biden�*s middle envoy, has been involved in the entire time, they have been working togetheren briefing, they have all been briefing, they have all been fully briefed on this. this has been a joint effort. so the... president biden himself has said that he worked to keep the donald trump team fully involved, because in his words, that is what american presidents do.— words, that is what american presidents do. andrew, there were some — presidents do. andrew, there were some suggestions - presidents do. andrew, there l were some suggestions coming out ofjerusalem earlier that the timings on the start of the implementation might sleep possibly moving into monday before those first hostages were released, but as far as you are hearing there in the us, someday is what we are expecting —— sunday is what we are expecting? expecting -- sunday is what we are meeting?— are expecting? based on my conversations _ are expecting? based on my conversations with _ are expecting? based on my conversations with officials, | conversations with officials, they are still looking to sunday to be