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discoveries about the first peoples of the americas. >> our history goes back to the begiing of time. >> allhis and more, this season. >> and n, "bbc world news." laura: this is "bbc world news america." reporting from washington, i am laura trevelyan. a gunman opens fire in the christmas market in the french city of strasbourg. as many as four people are dead and several others injured. the suspect was known to the authorities.in fireworkhe oval office as president trump meets with democratic lawmakers over spending for his border wall. pres. trump: i will take the dontle of shutting down and i am going to shut i for -- sen. schumer: you shouldn't shut it down. laura: plus, making her case to rope. britain's prime minister goes on a whirlwd tour to drum up

support despite talk of a no-confidence vote. welcome to ewers on public television in the u.s. and also around the globe. we come on the air with breaking news out of france, where a gunman has opened fe on a christmas market in the city of strasbourg. the gunman has been identified and there are reports of a shootout with police. lucy wliamson reports. lucy: france tonight relived the terror of another attack. on the streets in strasbourg's christmas market, riot police hundred ar fire on the crowds here. the gunshots were mistaken by one witness forks firewor

this t footage shows moment ,ne of the victims was shot t am chaos and panic of christmas revelers. at least two people have portedly been killed, many more injured. >> what i heard shortly after 8:00.m., i should say, were two distinct gunshots and people fleeing the place. i weren't suns these were ts. i went around the corner and i saw a person with apparently two shots in the head lying on the bridge here. we tried to engage in recent sedation activities. we took him into a restaurant, which i'm in right now, and we tried5 forminutes to resuscitate him. lucy the gunman is reportedly security services and is now on the run. police say he was injured after an exchange of fire. the government has told people to stay wherthey are. lawmakers and staff were locked in the europeannuarliament 15

s away from the scene. >> we cannot leave the building. >> the seets are empty. people have been asked to vacate the streets and stay inside di any hotels, restaurants, keeping people inside. and indeed in the european parliament itself. lucy: the president of thess european commin said that strasbourg is a symbolic city of peace and democracy, values that he said we will ways defend. lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. c1 go -- laura: l we can e to the bbc's gavin lee, who was been following the story from brussels. we have been hearing of a lishootout with and at least four have been killed. gavin: french media across tv, radio, the wires, reuters, saying four people have been killed and at least 10 people injured. formation from police an local authorities in strasbourg

is that two people have died and seven people are in critical condition and some of those are in hospital and some are being treated right now in the center of strasbourg, one of the main squares in strasbourg. there is an emergency medical center that has set up and some of the victims are being taken to the hospital, but not all of them yet. there was another four people who received minor injuries. fluid -- it isto say the least, the situation. 8:00 local time, there was a burst of gunfire on three separate streets in a 10-minute window. e security services beliere is one person we had the attack, but three different streets where gunfire wa heard. it is basically the 10-minute window. since then things have gone quiet. the suspect was, according to police sources, briefly stopped by soldiers close to the christmas market in strasbourg.

he was shot in the stomach but managed to get away. in the timein, and now, the focus is on planning this individual. we are hearing reports of an exchange ohegunfire between two. the police and not confirming yet that they have managed to find him, but their concentrated on an ar parliament, 15 minutes, about three kilometers drive outside the christmas market area. isthe european parliamenn lockdown and many of the city center c so mbers of00 or the european parliament being told to stay away from the windows tonight. me message across the city is the operation continues. laura: how are the french authorities responding to this attack, and what kind of resources are they deploying tonight? two things worth saying of the attacker. e th a picture circulating

through french media and local authorities are believed to have been sent a picture of the man balleged responsible for the attack the somebody was on a list of suspects radicalized individuals, amongst tens of thousands of people in france who are suspects. but the reach of trying to monitor them all is simply too wide. there is an operational procedure to monitor these individuals. this was developed in the aftermath of the paris attacks in 2015. on this list of individuals, ere was just reports are also tonight that there was an attempted raid oth man's property in strasbourg this morning and he escaped. swe arting to get a clearer picture potentially of the lead up to the events tonight. he is reported tors be 29 y old and born in strasbourg. laura:e tell us a litt more about the area where the attack

took place in strasbourg. gavin: christmas markets of strasbourg, there are three streets around their very close by where the shooting was heard. we have one man in a restaurant who tried to save the life of a man shot in the head whose body was still in the restaurant two hours after the attack. he was told to stay in there and it wasn't safe to get him or the body of one of the victims out of the building. that may be why the numbers are ried. the market is the oldest ristmas market in france. it is by far the most popular in france as well. between one 4 million a million people every december, here. it was packed this evening. there are reports of people fleeing for their lives tonight. joi spoke to one famounalist inside the european parliament who has been told that he must state and the press area as well away from the windows and wait

fomore information. it's a good isn't safe to leave. -- it simply isn't safe to leave. we are talking three and half hours after the first reports of gunfire were hurt. laura: definitely in brussels for us, thank you. -- gavin lee in brussels for us now, thank you. joining us is a fellow of the foundation for the defense of democracies. what strikes you about this attack in strasbourg? >> i think a number ofhis. number one is that christmas has become unfortunately a target of tsextrem. we have seen this in the past, certainly in berlin in 2016. we also know that this particular market has been a target of al qaeda, dating back to 2000. i was reminded of an attack that was scuttled by french and german authorities 18 years ago. that is -- both of these are ongoing concerns. we have seen these vehicular attacks and attacks on soft targets across europ

i would say that despite some of the claims that al qaeda or isis are on the wane, we are still seeing these sorts of attacks regularly across the european parliament for the europe -- ropean continent. laura: what do you make of the factth thasuspect was apparently notably's and counterterrorismn -- kn police and counterterrorism has opened an investigation? jonathan: there are a great numberauf individuals orities are tasked with ising to track and it impossible to track all of them. authorities across europe are owning in the number of leads they have. what is interesting is that there may haveeen a raid on this indidual's home and he was allowed to skip the dragnet which allowed him to pull off what we now see is a desperate act. the information is still sketchy, but that to me is a very important point that gavin just pa:nted out. la other attacks we have

seen on the streets of europe -- knife attacks, vigo attacks. this seems to be a gun -- vehicle attacks. fiis seems to be a gun attack and it is more dlt to get a gun in europe than in the united states. jonathan: it is likely that this person hadpo s -- in other words, to get access to guns and ammunition, probably requires a twork of people, people involved in smuggling and this does raise the question of whether this was tied to perhaps a broader network in north africa. the reason why i raise tha' -- still dot know a lot, so i will put that cavt out there but we did see a statement put out by al qaeda of the islamic magreb, the north african affiliate of al qaeda, exhorting followers to carry out attacks in france, and several hours later we see this attack. it will be interesting to learn from a believe this was inspired at least in part why this missive. laura: how much do you think

intelligence agencies in france and belgium have learned the -- since the50? attacks of 2015? jonathan: the threat has remained somewhat static. there was a fear ats one point a isis was being driven out of syria an iraq that you would see a greater number of people moved to europe, the countries they initially came from, and there could have been concerned over that. but overall the threat has been a rather stati one.he we know that t are soft targets and too many people to track. it is possibl to stay on top of all of this. there is always a question of when, not if. it is the same question we have in the united states and around the world. we are vulnerable to these attacks and the best they can do is to try to stay on top of th is, as many of the high-value targets as possible. laura: thank you so much for the analysis there. we will bring you more of the breaking newsrom strasbourg when we have it. w american politics were there was quite a scene at the white house today.

atdemo leaders nancy pelosi and chuck schumer went to the office to talk funding of the border wall with mexico. threatened to shut down the government if t doesn't the money, and here is what happened as the cameras were rolling.cy pres. trump: ni do -- nancy, nancy, we need to border security.u sen. schumer: lled 20 times to shut down the government. you said, "i want to shut down the government." we don't. when the president brags that he won north dakota and indiana, he is in real trouble. rep. pelosi: please don't characterize the strength i bring to this meeting.ec sen. schumer: ons have consequences. pres. trump: i am proud to shut down the government for border security, chuck. laura: y heard chuck schumer say "elections have consequences." if this scene anything to go by, once democrats control the e in january it will be bumpy ride. the search for a new chief of staff is more important. my k colleagty kay spoke about this with leon panetta, former chief of staff to bill

clinton. katty: you were the chief of staff during the clinton administration and i'm sure there was friction between the president and republicans on capitol hill. did it ever come to that in the oval office? mr. panetta: not in my experience. frankly, i have served under nine presidents ofhis country and i've never seen a president engage in a shouting match with the leadership from the congress before the press corps. that simply has never happened as far as i can remember. katty: it great political theater. watched it with our sort of jaws on the floor. does it matter for the country? mr. panetta: i think it isf concern, because when you have the president and the leadership yelling at each other, it is an indication that those who are responsible for governing thefi country aring it extremely difficult to do. i know the president likes that

kind of approach, but it really is not very effective are serious about trying to resolve differenceand be able to govern the country. katty: i guess this would make the imperative of finding a new chief of staff for the president all the more urgent. could a chief of staff in this white house prevent e at kind of scom happening on national television? mr. panetta: well, it largely depends on whether the psident wants to have an effective chief staff or just have somebody that he can boss around while he plays the role of chief of staff. if you have an effective chiefth of staff is an individual that has a relationship of trust with the president, can tsically be very honest with the president, cl him the truth about what he does right and what he does wrong, and also

inrmally presidents are wi to accept a certain amount of discip of staff. strong chief i'm not sure this president wants to develop that kind of relationship with the chief of staff. this is a president who basically likes to be his own chief of staff. d i think he is going to f difficult to get somebody who can be strong in the position that chief of staff is all about. katty: i don't know if the president is going to pick up the phone and call for your counsel, mr. panetta, but wereo he so, even if he doesn't want one, would you advise him to get one given the next two years he faces in washington? mr it would be very important if this president wants to be able to have any kind of agenda accomplished over these next two years, that he really does need a strong chief of staff who can

not on organize and run a disciplined white house that provides the kind of policymaking decisions to the president that he nes, but in addition to that, have a chief of staff who can deal wi the politics of capitol hill, can work with both republicans and mocrats, and can really serve the president in a way that would help the president be abls to accomsome of the things that he should try to accomplish as president of the united states. katty: leon panetta, former chief of staff to president bill clinton, thanks for joining us from california. mr. panetta: good to be with you. laura: you are watching "bbc world news america." still to come on tonight's "time" magazine puts the focus on journalists with the latest person of the year issue. we will hear about two men in myanmar jo are inl for their work.

the father of the murdered british backpacke has visited the place where her body was found on the outskirts of the city he took part in a traditional maori blessingon ceremony ide grace's uncle and a members of the new zealand police force. police are searchi the area fo more evidence will hear his hywel griffith with this report from auckland. a simple, spontaneous memorial for grace on the banks in new zealand'h island, backpackers joining local people for the first of several vigils. among them was joshua, a friend ofce 's brother, who planned to meet with a 22-year-old during her travels grace disappeared on december 1.

sswhat started as a g person's inquiry became a murder investigation. the 26-year-old man from auckland is accused of killing her. her father visited the woodland near auckland where she was found, taking officers for their work and taking part in a maori blessing on the damp soil where grace's body lay. the dense undergrowth may hold ues about how she came to be here. officers have asked thp public to helem find a shovel that they believe is linked to her death. grace's body was found near to hear. although it has been removed, the investigation is activepo. ce are looking for any signs of disturbance anything that was left behind. new zealanders are desperate to family, to show the world how much they care about her daughter who died so far from home.

hy auckland.h, bbc news, laura: britain's prime mister dashed to europe tay, holding talks with leaders as she tried to rescue the brexitl. d she has been to netherlands, germany, and tonight she is in brussels. the president of the european commission says the brexit cannotke be tw prospect of a no-confidence vote that may face her back home. is there a leadership challengeh tofor theresa may? reporter: we don't know absolutely for sure, but it does sound like the drumbeats are getting a bit louder.ha what has ten is 48 mp's in her parliamentary party have tog write to terning body and ask for a vote of no confidence.

it does look increasingly the case that that threshold of 48 letters has been breached. are told that the man w might oversee this vote of no confidence has asked to see the prime minister tomorrow after her weekly aearance in the house. laura: how does a leadership challenge to the prime minister affect brexit and the vote thath hopes to hold on that brexit deal?om it really does throw a spanner in the works, because as you may know, britain is due to quit the eu at the end of march, and the time is ticking away to the deadline. if theresa may were to lose a vote of no confidence, she would have to stand aside and the conservative party would have to elect a new leader in her place. all that could take valuable time.

for her, the best-case scenario would be that she would win by a simple majority. ay that case, she gets to and she cannot be challenged for another year. she will be hoping that in the end, her mp's swing behind her. laura: what is the mood of people in britain as they look all of this uncertainty over theresa may and brexit? naomi: there is increasingly a sense of political dysfunction here. many people, whichev they voted, assumed that brexit would happen quickly, that it would be rather an easy, seamless process. we are discovering that british politicians don't know how to deliver on the verdict of the british people back in 2016. laura: naomi grimley, thank you. this year "time" magazine has chosen to name a group of journalists for the person of the year.

the publication chose what they called the guardians for their efforts to battle the war on truth. among those names are jamal khashoggi, the murdered "washington post" columnist, the staff of the capital newspaperlo colleagues to gun violence, and two reuters journalists being held of the last crime two was investigating the deat ofohingya muslims. reporter: it is a special moment baby reacheseany 100 days old. it is the proudest of days. isn't is a party her dad allowed to come to. he is behind bars, a journalist who says his only crime was doing his job. wa lone and his reuters colleague kyaw soe oo were about to expose a massacre by the buese army, and it is widely believed that is why they were set up and then convicted. picious andan a

supposedly happy day for my daughter. i am trying to smile. but deeps down i just m husband so much. all the time i have been hoping he will be released. reporter: for exactly a year now, the two have been locked up inside this prison. during that time they have received calls from around the world for them to be freed. the cilian government in myanmar, led by aung san suu kyi, has the power to order their immediate release. but so far, e nobel peace ize winner has refused to do so. journalists' wives have begged her to intervene. >> husband is innocent. my has been absolutely would never harm his country -- my husband absolutely would never harm his country. ms. aung san suu kyi, my husband

respects y so highly. he is always proud of you. my husband always defensive when you are criticized -- defends you when you are critized. reporter the jailing of these journalist has raised deep concerns for the media, free speech, and democracy in myanmar. it seems this is still a country were speaking the truth comes with a heavy pri. laura: before webro, more on the king news we have been covering tonight from strasbourg in france. local media repos as many as four people have died in an attack in the city's historic christmas market. the reuters news agency reported that police cornered a gunma and the shootout occurred. details are scarce. e suspect is thought to be 29 years old, and in some was search morning.ce on tuesday he managed to avoid arrest. the french prosecutors office

has opened a counterterrorism investigation into the incident. those are live pictures tonight from strasbourg.n you nd much more of all the day's news on our website. i am laura trevelyan. thanks for watching "bbc world news america." >> with the bbc news app, our vertical videos are designed to work and your lifestyle, so you can swipe your way t the news of the day and stay up-to-date with the latest headlines you can trust. download now from selected app stores. >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, and kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. >> a new chapter begins. >> now you can access more of your favorite pbs shows than ever before, with pbs passport, a member benefit that lets you binge many of the latest shows and catcup on your favorites. >> we really are living in the modern world.

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captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening.dy i'm oodruff. on the newshour tonight: >> i'm going to shut it down for border security. >> but we believe you shouldn't shut it down.n >> woodruff:traordinary exchange in the oval office. president trump spars with nancy pelosi and chuck schumer over a government shutdown and fundingr the bord wall. then, the trump administration proposes to rolls back clean water rules designed to protect streams and wetlands. and, we go behind the scenes of a new broadway play offering a unique look realities of raising a bi-racial child. >> there was so much about the that i'd never seen or heard before, that i thought, "yes, this has to be part of our country's theatrical tradition."