welcome to bbc news, broadcasting at home and around the globe. 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. success for spacex as it launches its first rocket since an explosion in september. donald trump has prompted the outrage of politicians and commentators after criticising john lewis, a well—respected civil rights campaigner and democratic congressman, who questioned his election victory. mr lewis is the last surviving speaker from the 1963 march on washington addressed

by martin luther king — whose birthday will be celebrated on monday. sarah corker reports. another day, and another row on twitter for president—elect donald trump. he's caused outrage after criticising veteran civil rights campaigner john lewis, for questioning the legitimacy of his election victory. that prompted an angry response from mr trump, tweeting... this supporters have hit back. there

isa this supporters have hit back. there is a question of the coromandel civility and also the recognition that a president of the united states occupies an important position, one where every word including every idle word and have international and national importance. the row comes as civil rights activists in washington kicked off a week of anti—trump protests, ahead of the inauguration. we won't be trumped, we won't be trumped! demonstrators voiced anger over mr trump of my previous comments about muslims and mexicans. 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, in a separate development, broadway starjennifer holliday said she is pulling out of a concert celebrating the inauguration, this after her gay and lesbian fans described the forthcoming performance as a betrayal. rehearsals for the inauguration are in full swing but few big names have agreed to perform for mr trump, and friday's ceremony looks to be dominated by military bands, rather than a—listers. we'll have an interview with congressman lewis, speaking to the bbc a few years ago, about marching with martin luther king, that's a little later in the programme. about 100 people 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's in the balkans where the situation is far more urgent. ivan miskovic told the bbc his government is doing its best: the conditions in those informal sites, the people living here are grappling with harsh conditions, freezing temperatures for the past ten days. so this is completely inadequate place for anybody. we had a campaign to persuade them to go to the centres,

to be accommodated in heated rooms, to prove provided with three meals a day, healthcare. but unfortunately what we have managed so far is to persuade 400 people to be accommodated in our centres. the state of serbia is doing everything we can to provide shelter for these people, and we are providing enough shelter. but they are persisting to refuse to be accommodated in official centres. somehow they are distrustful towards us, because they are afraid of deportation. in reality, there is not a single real reason for them not to be outside of the official centres provided by the state of serbia. in other news: 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's 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 has urged mrjammeh, who refuses to step down, 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 easter front. the troops are part of president 0bama's response to nato concerns about russian aggression. it's 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. on a clear california morning, the spacex rocket company resumed flights, with its falcon 9 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 nasa, who will again use it to fly cargo to the international space station.

falcon 9 performance is nominal, as we head down—range 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. .. and, an hour and 15 minutes after the launch, the mission was complete, with the iridium payload safely in orbit. it was all so different last september, when one of its rockets exploded on a launchpad in florida. a falcon 9 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. investigators believe the explosion was caused by a design problem with the helium pressure tanks. but, after this latest successful launch, spacex has a busy 2017

ahead, with 27 launches planned. earlier keith cowing, editor of nasa watch told me why this was such a significant moment. spacex has been pushing the envelope since the day they started and as such there is a lot of scrutiny on their failures more than their successes. every time they've had a setback everyone wonders if they will bounce back, and so far they have. earlier in the space age things blew up a lot and we got used to that and we were happy when they were successful, now it's the other way round. but with spacex we're looking at a consumer product. these things, it is like an iphone or something. when the end goes wrong there is a bug and they fix it. it was designed to be maintained that way and every time they encounter a problem they seem to be better at fixing them and they do so faster and improve

the vehicle at the same time. so after the successful launch, what does it mean for the company spacex in terms of what they can now do? what can they now achieve? first of all the rocket works fine again, but they've got a very ambitious schedule ahead of them. they will be launching almost every two weeks. on top of that i think they will debut their ability to launch from launchpad 39a, florida. for those who followed the apollo missions, that's one of the places where we sent missions to the moon. so this launch today shows apparently everything is fixed and they will move ahead rather ambitiously. and of course this sort of project is expensive, it is fraught with risk. but they've got the added pressure of time because they've got rivals snapping at their heels, trying to overtake them, haven't they? yeah and in the private sector you've got google and apple

competing with each other, which seems to produce better products and it drops the costs. is there a lot of pressure? yeah. so far it seems to be working in a productive way. i suppose their aim is to make touristic space travel a norm for us. how far off do you think they are from doing that? the word tourism... let's just say, elon musk is looking at two things. first, he wants a company that makes money for his investors, which he's on the way of doing, but second of all he has a bigger vision of larger, more reusable rockets that could take people first to the international space station, which he will apparently be able to do towards the end of next year, but more ambitiously they are looking to go to sending many more people to mars. you have to drive down the cost of launching rockets, so that's embedded

in everything he does. he didn't need to recover that first stage today. launching the satellites provided him a profit. but to get that rocket back and reuse it is part of the bigger plan. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: why these russians definitely believe four legs are good and two are bad when trying to get through the snow. 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 has become embroiled in a row with one of the country's most distinguished civil rights campaigners. the democratic congressmanjohn lewis has said that he does not consider mr trump "a legitimate president." 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. his comments came ahead of a major summit in paris on sunday — seen as one of the last chances to save the so—called two—state solution to the israeli—palestinian conflict. 0ur 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 is 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 mayor represents an influential settler organisation. we're 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 the palestinian authority is completely corrupt, completely bankrupt. but many in the international community say that settlement expansion is also what is 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 is 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. so 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. 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 kyshtym, in russia's chelyabinsk region, 15,000 kilometres east of moscow. winter brings a five—month freeze, and plenty of snow. but a lack of steep slopes has left the skiiers feeling a little flat. riding to the rescue of those with a need for speed, a stallion called vulcan. having tried to achieve the same effect with a car, a motorbike and a snowmobile,

it was horsepower that fully opened up the area's forests and frozen lakes. translation: i want something new all the time. it's like a drug, when you've tried one thing, and then you want more and more. we can't find any nearby mountains bigger than here, and we can't change that. but we can change the pulling force. horseboarding pioneers insist four legs is far more fun than traditional skiing, but don't plan to commercialise their innovation just yet. one of america's largest and most celebrated circuses — billed as ‘the greatest show on earth' is to close after 146 years. the show — run by ringling bros and barnum and bailey — will face the final curtain in may. 0perators say it's because of a fall in audience numbers and high operating costs — along with changing public tastes.

last year, the circus elephants and some other animals were pensioned off after drawn—out battles with animal rights activists. in a statement kenneth feld, whose family has run the circus for nearly 50 years, said ticket sales have been declining, but the transition of the elephants off the road last year led to an even greater drop. this, along with high operating costs, made the circus an "unsustainable business for the compa ny". he added... "the circus and its people have continually been a source of inspiration and joy to my family and me, which is why this was such a tough business decision to make." 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. so, i have been doing a bit of kite shopping in old delhi.

the narrow lane behind me is full of little shops selling kites. but specifically, this is what i was after, the glass coated kite string, supposedly banned, but all it took was a little persuasion for one of the shopkeepers to go to the back of the store and sell me one. kite—flying can very well be done with a plain cotton thread. so you can enjoy the sport using a plain cotton thread instead of a very sharp object that may kill a human or might kill hundreds of thousands of birds. so a sport should not be enjoyment for one and bring grief and sorrow for the others. the kite festival is this weekend in delhi. as we reported earlier us congressmanjohn lewis is the last surviving speaker from the march

on washington in 1963. as a student activist, he spoke on the steps of the lincoln memorialjust before martin luther king delivered his famous i have a dream speech. in 2013 - the 50th anniversary of the speech — he spoke to the bbc about how he was inspired by dr king. when i was growing up, we would go downtown, and we'd see those signs that said, "coloured waiting room." white men, coloured men, white women, coloured women. we'd go to the theatre, and all of us black children had to go upstairs, to the back. and i would come home and ask my mother and my father, my grandparents, why. they would say, that's the way it is. don't get in the way, don't get in trouble. when i first heard martin luther king jr, it inspired me, it moved me. this man spoke to my soul. i think in some strange way he was saying to me, you can do something. you can make a contribution. i wanted to go and attend troy state college. it was a school that had never admitted black students. so i wrote a letter

to martin luther king jr, and told him i needed his help. he wrote me back, and sent me a round—trip greyhound bus ticket. so, in march of 1958, by this time i am 18 years old, and i saw martin luther kinng standing behind a desk. i was so scared. and dr king spoke up and said, are you john lewis? are you the boy from troy? and from that day on he started calling me the boy from troy. we became friends. the first arrest of me occurred in nashville. i was sitting there in an orderly, peaceful, non—violent fashion, waiting to be served, and a waitress put up a sign that the lunch counter saying the counter is closed. and we continued to just sit and wait. i was beaten, arrested, and taken to jail. when i was arrested, i felt so free, i felt so liberated. you arrest me, you beat me,

put me in jail, but what else can you do to me? you can kill me, but dr king said it was better to die a physical death than to die a spiritual or psychological death. 0n the morning of 28 august, 1963, when it was my time to speak, looking out over that crowd. i saw hundreds and thousands of young people, fresh from the jails of the south, fresh from the struggle, the frontline there. and when it was my turn to speak, i spoke. i did my best. when the march was all over, when dr king had finished speaking, we all were invited to come down to the white house and to meet with president kennedy. he was like a proud father. he said, you did a good job, you did a good job.

and when he got to dr martin luther king jr, he said, and you had a dream. we were ready, we were prepared to go back to the american south, to fight the good fight, and to never, ever give up. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter, i'm @ben m bland. hello there, good morning. we are turning things milder from the west overnight tonight and into tomorrow. but, before the milder air gets to all, there is still snow on the leading edge of this weather system, at least for a time, in the eastern side of scotland, the north—east of england. but for many places it is just a pretty wet night. with the air coming in from the west, we are going to get temperatures getting up to around 8—9 in some western parts. still pretty chilly further east, and on the leading edge of the weather system,

still a chance of wintry weather to be had in some parts of yorkshire in the morning. and that drifts down through lincolnshire, on into east anglia and the south—east as well. so just be aware there could be some slippery conditions, some ice on the roads first thing in the morning. but it is wet in london, and cold, four or five degrees. but those temperatures do creep up further west. so it is eight or nine to start the day across cornwall, devon, much of wales too, but with a lot of cloud and some rain. some of the cloud in northern england is really quite low, so quite a grey look to things. eight or so degrees there in the north—west of england. and into northern ireland, 9—10 degrees to start the day, so relatively mild, but cloudy with some outbreaks of rain. and lots of low cloud in scotland, and outbreaks of rain. relatively mild out west, eight or nine degrees, but still quite chilly further east, particularly the north—east, only 3—4 degrees to start the day. the north—east of england, chilly for some, 3—4 degrees towards the hull area. then, through the morning, any wintry weather slowly fizzles out from east anglia, and then most of us will be pretty cloudy. sunshine will be in short supply

on sunday afternoon. but there will be a fair bit of cloud, and some rain to be had as well. quite a dull and damp sort of day, really. and a range of those temperatures, into double figures for many western areas, ten degrees or so here. but some eastern areas still quite chilly, maybe only two degrees there in norwich. quite a raw feel to things. and then as we go through the evening, we keep this line of rain from the isle of wight, through the midlands, up into wales, and northern england, scotland too. and that line of rain is still with us as we get into monday. a bit chilly towards the east of that, but relatively mild towards the west of it. monday afternoon, again out west we've got temperatures into double figures. the south—eastern corner looks like it will see the lowest temperatures, 5—7 here on monday afternoon. and monday afternoon, on into tuesday, high pressure is in charge of our weather. it will keep it pretty quiet for most areas. a bit of patchy rain out west, most of any rain will be in the north—west, where it is going to 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, with a risk of frost. there may be some morning fog to contend with as well. whereas further north and west, it will be that bit milder, but with some cloud and some rain at times. the latest headlines from bbc news. i'm ben bland. 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 afterjohn lewis, who's 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. now it's time for a look back at the week in parliament.