welcome to bbc news, i'm ben bland. our top stories: donald trump hits back at a prominent civil rights politician who refuses to recognise the result of the presidential election. struggling through freezing temperatures, aid agencies say thousands of migrants in europe need more help. also coming up: spacex resumes operations. after taking ten communication satellites into orbit, it makes a safe return. ahead of his inauguration next week, donald trump has provoked outrage in the united states by criticising a veteran civil rights campaigner. mr trump took to twitter after john lewis, who is a democratic member of congress, questioned the legitimacy of the president—elect‘s victory in a tv interview. in washington, civil rights protesters held a rally at the martin luther king memorial, chanting "nojustice, no peace".

sarah corker reports. another day, and another row on twitter for president—elect donald trump. he sparked outrage after criticising veteran civil rights campaignerjohn lewis, who questioned his election victory. democratic representative mr lewis of georgia said he didn't see mr trump isa of georgia said he didn't see mr trump is a legitimate president. mr lewis told the nbc‘s meet the press... that prompted an angry response from mrtrump, tweeting... his comments came as civil rights

activists in washington kick off a week of anti—trump protests, ahead of the inauguration. we won't he trumped! we won't be trumped! the reverend al sharpton called on all politicians to support equality. we come not to appeal to donald trump. because he's made it clear what his policies are, and what his nominations are. we come to say to the democrats, in the senate and in the house, and then to the moderate republicans, to get some backbone. get some guts. and ina and in a separate development, rodway starjennifer holliday said

she has pulled out of a concert celebrating the inauguration after her gay and lesbian fans describe the forthcoming performance as a betrayal. and with just days to go until capitol hill welcomes president donald trump, politicians and celebrities have once again criticised his latest twitter outburst. andra gillespie is a political scientist at atlanta's emory university, and lives in the district that john lewis represents. so, as one of his constituents, then, what is your experience of mr lewis as your representative? i'm very proud to havejohn lewis as my representative. he is a living legend of the civil rights movement. i've got no chance to meet him. he isa i've got no chance to meet him. he is a lovely person. and i'm very proud to live in the district and i can proud to live in the district and i ca n attest proud to live in the district and i can attest that while atlanta, like many places, has its problems, it is a lovely place to live. my neighbourhood is not horrible. my

neighbourhood, which is gentrifying, is still majority black and even when president trump characterised black neighbourhoods as being extremely dysfunctional, i can't say that my neighbourhood is dysfunctional, though i won't say that it dysfunctional, though i won't say thatitis dysfunctional, though i won't say that it is perfect. so i think many people will take offence to some of the comments that president—elect trump made, even if they wouldn't have, you know, called president trump illegitimate in the way that congressmen lewis did. that being said, ifjohn lewis challenges and questions the legitimacy of a democratic election, through which mrtrump has democratic election, through which mr trump has been elected president, would he not expect some sort of backlash from mr trump? well, i think there are different ways that someone think there are different ways that someone could expect backlash in that question. i think someone can question the strategy of making that kind of statement. one might expect that there would be some type of low back, perhaps criticism, along partisan lines, from members of the

party. —— blowback. but i don't think one should expect that a soon—to—be president would start lashing out at people personally via social media. now, we know that president trump has done this and this is not the first time this has happened, but there is still this question of decorum and civility, and also a recognition that a president of the united states occupies a very important position, one where every word, including every idle word, could have national and international importance. and so if present elect trump continues with this strategy, we will have to figure out after noon onjanuary 20 what the impact of these twitter outbursts will be —— president—elect trump. i think there are some who are concerned that these actions could actually have grave consequences, and could actually cause more trouble than they do in terms of actually helping to address the situation, or even to defend president trump's honour, legacy,

you know, the programme he is trying to put forward. thank you very much. about 100 migrants are feared to have drowned off the libyan coast, after their boat sank on their way to europe. the italian coastguard and aid officials say eight bodies have been recovered. after hours of searching, only four survivors have been rescued. it is thought about 110 people were on board. the search operation is continuing, in darkness and in poor weather and sea conditions. serbia has defended its response to the extreme cold weather that has claimed dozens of migrants' lives. the minister responsible, ivan miskovic, told bbc news that many have refused shelters, fearing they would be deported. 15,000 people are living in tents as far south as greece, including the islands of lesbos and samos. aid agencies warn they are at risk of freezing to death. but it is in the balkans where the situation is far more urgent, as simonjones reports. the cold snap is tightening its grip.

claiming more than 65 lives across europe. causing traffic chaos, power cuts and travel delays. this is sarajevo. the balkans have been particularly ha rd—hit. temperatures have been as low as —15 for several days. there is major concern about the plight of refugees, particularly in serbia. some are being sheltered in reception centres. but 1,200 are living in a derelict warehouse in belgrade, according to the unhcr. it's very cold, and we are just making fire. but still we can keep warm ourselves. we need to have certainty, but we don't like to stay here. we're trying to leave this country and go to european countries, but we are stuck because of the borders. there are calls for governments across europe to do more. it will only take one more snowstorm, or another cold snap, and we're going to see some children,

you know, in a very dire situation. children are particularly prone to respiratory illnesses at a time like this. we do not want to see this happen. it's about saving lives, not about red tape and keeping to bureaucratic arrangements, at the moment. river traffic along the danube, one of europe's main waterways, has largely been suspended in eastern europe, due to the ice. and the warning is that more bad weather is on the way. let's round up some of the other main stories: turkey and russia have decided to invite the united states to peace talks on syria. the negotiations are due to be held this month in the kazakh capital, asta na. but the turkish foreign minister said turkey remained opposed to the inclusion of the syrian kurdish militant group the ypg. iraqi state television says government forces have taken control of the university of mosul, but military officials say some clashes are still continuing. the battle for the strategically important site began on friday. it has been one of the main bases of the so—called islamic state group.

the political crisis in the gambia has been centre—stage at a summit of african heads of state. adama barrow, who beat yahya jammeh in last month's presidential election, was referred to as the gambian president at the meeting. the president of mali urged mrjammeh to leave office, to prevent a blood bath in the gambia. poland has officially welcomed 3,500 us troops, as part of a nato military build—up on the bloc‘s eastern front. the troops are part of president obama's response to nato concerns about russian aggression. it is the biggest us troop deployment to europe in decades. russia has criticised it as a threat to security. four months after one of its rockets blew up on take—off, spacex has launched a falcon nine rocket from a launchpad in california. there were cheers as the first stage touched down successfully on a barge moored in the pacific, nine minutes after launch.

richard forrest reports. ona clear on a clear california morning, the spacex rocket company resumed flights with its falcon nine blasting into the blue sky. it was launched from the vandenberg air force base, carrying ten spacecraft for one of its main customers, iridium. it now has 70 planned missions, worth more than $70 billion, including for nasser, who will again use it to fly cargo for the international space station. falcon nine performance is nominal as we head done rage over the pacific ocean. just minutes after the launch, the first stage of the rocket landed successfully on a platform in the pacific, prompting huge applause at mission control. spacex founder and entrepreneur elon musk tweeted. .. spacex founder and entrepreneur elon musk tweeted... and an hour and 15

minutes after the launch, the mission was complete, with the iridium payload safely in orbit. it was also different last september, for one of its rockets exploded on a launch pad in florida. falcon nine was about to go through a routine engine ignition test when fire ripped through it, destroying both the rocket and a $200 million satellite it was due to carry into orbit two days later. the investigators believe the explosion was caused by a design problem with the helium pressure tanks. but, after this latest successful launch, spacex has dizzy 2017 ahead, with 27 launches planned. —— busy. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: pull the other one. why these russians definitely believe four legs are good, and two are bad. day one of operation desert storm to force the iraqis out of kuwait has seen the most intense air

attacks since the second world war. tobacco is america's oldest industry, and it's one of its biggest, but the industry is nervous of this report. this may tend to make people want to stop smoking cigarettes. there is not a street that is unaffected. huge parts of kobe were simply demolished as buildings crashed into one another. this woman said she'd been given no help and no advice by the authorities. she stood outside the ruins of her business. tens of thousands of black children in south africa have taken advantage of laws, passed by the country's new multiracial government, and enrolled at formerly white schools. tonight sees the 9,610th performance of her long—running play, the mousetrap. when they heard about her death today, the management considered whether to cancel tonight's performance, but agatha christie would have been the last person to want such a thing. this is bbc news, i'm ben bland.

the latest headlines: donald trump sparks outrage after criticising a veteran civil rights campaigner who questioned his election victory. aid agencies warn that thousands of migrants in the balkans risk freezing to death in tents and temporary shelters. as we have been reporting, spacex says it has successfully launched ten satellites into orbit during its first flight since an explosion meant they had to abort the mission in september. my guest is a journalist for space news. he joins me from washington. good to see you. why was there so much riding on this? it is they have successfully carried out launches before, haven't they? yes, good evening. they have successfully carried out launches before but this was the first one

since that explosion that you mentioned in your earlier report, more than four months ago. and i think a lot of people were waiting to see if spacex had in fact corrected the problems that had caused the earlier explosion, and we re caused the earlier explosion, and were able to get back on track. and as we saw earlier today, they were able to do just that. so what we know about the satellites that they say they have successfully put into orbit? what are they for? these are the first of the next generation of satellites for iridium. iridium has satellites for iridium. iridium has satellites which were launched in the 1990s to provide a global telephone service. those satellites, though, are ageing. they are reaching the end of their life and the country has been waiting patiently to get those next generation of satellites launched. so they have ten of them in orbit now, they have 60 more waiting for six more launches like spacex over the next year or 18 months. it is an expensive business, this. especially when it goes wrong, as it did the last time. what is their ultimate ambition? well, the long-term goal

of elon musk, the founder of spacex, is to make humanity into planetary. he wants to expand human presence beyond earth and he has laid out a vision for sending people to mars and establishing a permanent human presence there —— interplanetary. that is their long—term vision. to get there you need to get into the business of launching satellites and lodging people and eventually developing your own fleet of communication satellites, which spacex has talked about doing, and eventually get to the point where you can start sending people to mars. of course, is not the only one who has got his sights, ? ?macro1, he is not the only one who has got his sights set on space travel becoming a regular thing for humans, is he? there is competition in this field. absolutely, there are established companies that have been launching satellites for a number of years, like united launch a lions here in the united states. you also notably have the founder of amazon .com, who has his own spaceflight company,

which also has visions of developing rockets and spacecraft for sending satellites and people into space. so there is a lot of interest in this field. thank you for your thoughts on that. the palestinian president mahmud abbas has warned that moving the us embassy in israel tojerusalem would deal a huge blow to remaining hopes for middle east peace. meanwhile, a major summit is being held in paris, seen as one of the last chances to save the so—called two—state solution for the israeli—palestinian conflict. our middle east correspondent yolande knell reports from jerusalem. jerusalem is meant to be a shared capital for israelis and palestinians. living peacefully, side—by—side, in two nations. that's how many see the two—state solution to the conflict. but today, israel controls most of the west bank and eastjerusalem which the palestinians want for their state. and over 600,000 israeli settlers

live in these areas, captured in the 1967 war. the settlement‘s mary represent an influential settler organisation. —— mayor. we are going further away from the two—state solution. i think the palestinians were given an option to set the palestinian state and we know today for a fact that palestinian authorities are completely corrupt, completely bankrupt. but many in the international community say that settlement expansion is also what's undermining a two—state solution. the issue of the settlement, compromises were made in the past and unfortunately none of these attempts have brought peace up until now. but there are new international efforts to push for peace and a palestinian state to neighbour israel. it's all happening just before donald trump takes office. could this be the site of his us embassy in jerusalem? he is promising to move his

ambassador from tel aviv. many israelis welcome the idea because it recognises a united jerusalem as their capital, but palestinians believe it will kill the two—state solution. they say their presence in the city is already threatened. first of all, i'm considered a permanent resident and not a citizen, as any israeli jew living injerusalem. since 1967, more than 111,000 residency cards were revoked by israeli authorities and the main purpose is to minimise the number of palestinians living injerusalem and to ensure a jewish majority. how do you think the next us president donald trump could change things? trump's move of the embassy would be in violation of international law, but it would also be legitimising israel's occupation of eastjerusalem by recognising

israel's exclusive sovereignty over jerusalem. recent opinion polls suggest most israelis and palestinians do still support the idea of two states but only by very narrow margins. on both sides, there are fears that chances for a peace deal are fading. yolande knell, bbc news, jerusalem. this weekend, the skies above india will be filled with kites as the country celebrates one of the harvest festivals. kite—flying is often part of major religious festivals, but, as sanjoy majumder reports, the country's passion for kites also has a tragic side. i've been doing a bit of kite shopping in delhi. apparently these shops are full of kites, but

specifically this is what i was after. glass—coated string. a p pa re ntly after. glass—coated string. apparently banned, but all it took was a bit of persuasion for the shopkeeper to go to the back of the store and sell me one. kite flying should be done with plain cotton thread, you can enjoy the sport using that. instead of something that might kill hundreds and thousands of birds. the indian kite festival's this weekend. russian thrill—seekers living in the shadow of the ural mountains have invented a new extreme winter sport. horseboarding is like snowboarding, but with a four—legged feel. andy beatt reports. it gets pretty cold here in this

region of russia, 15,000 kilometres east of moscow. winter brings a five—month freeze and plenty of snow. but a lack of sleep —— steep slopes has left the ski is feeling a little flat. riding to the rescue of those with a need for speed, the stallion called vulcan. having tried to achieve the same effect with a car, a motorbike and a snowmobile, it was hp that fully opened up the area's forests and frozen lakes. translation: i want something you all the time. it is like a drug. when you try one thing, you want more and more. we can't find any

nearby mountains beget mai here and we can't change that, but we can change the pulling force. horseboarding pioneers insist for legs is far more fun than traditional skiing, but don't plan to commercialise their innovation just yet. as we've been reporting, the day after donald trump's inauguration a mass protest is planned. it is expected to be one of the largest demonstration seen in washington. among them, a group of people who have a colourful twist. here is their story. a pussycat is a gift. it doesn't

cost money. you can get it from someone who needs or crochet is. —— knits. you can reach out on social media and someone might send you one. a reminder of the top story: the us president—elect donald trump has prompted the outrage of politicians and entertainers after he criticised john lewis, a well respected civil rights campaigner and democratic ombudsman. john lewis had said it ——

said he would not attend the inauguration because he did not consider mr trump illegitimate president. in response, mrtrump said john lewis was all talk, no action and advised him to focus on the needs of his district. how other main story is that about 100 migrants as we do have drowned off the libyan coast after their boat sank on the way to europe. this is bbc world news. plenty more on the website, bbc.com/news. you can get in touch with me and most of the tea m in touch with me and most of the team on twitter. i'm @benmbland. headlines in a couple of minutes. hello there, good morning. we are turning things milder from the west overnight tonight and into tomorrow. but before the milder air comes to all, there is still snow on the leading edge of this system. at least for a time in the eastern side of scotland and north—east of england.

but for many places it is a wet night. air coming in from the west, temperatures will get up to eight or nine degrees in western parts. still pretty chilly further east and still a chance of wintry weather to be had in parts of yorkshire in the morning. that drifts down into lincolnshire and east anglia and the south—east as well. just be aware they will be some slippery conditions and ice on the roads first thing in the morning. it is wet in london and cold, four or five degrees. but temperatures could creep up though. eight or nine in cornwall, devon, much of wales too, but with lots of cloud and rain. some of the cloud in northern england is quite low so a grey look to things. eight or so degrees in the north—west of england. into northern ireland, 9—10 degrees to start the day. relatively mild but cloudy with outbreaks of rain. a lot of low cloud and outbreaks of rain in scotland. relatively mild out west, eight or nine degrees, but still chilly further

east, in particular the north—east, 11—5 degrees. north—east of england, chilly for some, 3—4 degrees in the hull area. through the morning, wintry weather slowly fizzles out from east anglia, then most of us will be pretty cloudy. sunshine will be in short supply on sunday afternoon. there will be a bit of cloud and rain to be had as well. quite a dull and damp day, really. temperatures into double figures for many western areas, but some eastern areas still quite chilly, maybe only two degrees in norwich. quite a raw feel to things. as we go through the evening, we keep the line of rain from the isle of wight, the midlands, into wales and northern england, scotland too. that line of rain is still with us in monday. chilly to the east of that. but relatively mild towards the west of it. monday afternoon, again out west, temperatures into double figures. the south—western corner likely to see the lowest temperatures, 5—7 here on monday afternoon. into tuesday, high pressure is in charge, keeping it pretty quiet for most areas. patchy rain out west and most of any

rain will be in the north—west, where it will be relatively mild in comparison to what we will see in the south—east. for tuesday and wednesday, it will stay pretty chilly in the south—eastern corner. the risk of frost and morning fog. further north and west, milder, but with cloud and rain at times. the headlines on bbc news: ahead of his inauguration, donald trump has provoked outrage in the united states by criticising a veteran civil rights campaigner. mr trump took to twitter after john lewis, who is a democratic member of congress, questioned the legitimacy of the president—elect‘s win. serbia has defended its response to the extreme cold weather that has claimed dozens of migrants' lives. the minister responsible told bbc news that many have refused shelters, fearing they would be deported. aid agencies warn many across europe are at risk of freezing to death. four months after one of its rockets blew up on take—off, spacex has launched

a falcon nine rocket from a launchpad in california. after putting ten satellites in orbit, engineers cheered as the first stage touched down successfully on a barge moored in the pacific, nine minutes after launch. the committee of mps overseeing the brexit process has called on the government to reveal details of its plans by next month. the all—party group of mps also says the government should reach