a very warm welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to our viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's mike embley. our top stories: america's top intelligence chief says there's no doubt russian cyber—hackers tried to interfere in november's presidential election. i don't think we've ever encountered a more aggressive or direct campaign to interfere in our election process than we've seen in this, in this case. a car bomb has killed two people in the turkish city of izmir. officials say kurdish militants were behind the attack. charged with hate crime — four people from chicago accused of torturing a man after broadcasting the attack live on facebook. more than 600 arrests in mexico after demonstrations over rising gasoline prices lead to looting and violence. and letters from a princess to a palace steward — diana's hand written notes sold at auction for thousands more than expected. hello.

american intelligence chiefs have given their most explicit warning yet about the threat, as they see it, from russian cyber attacks to the united states and beyond. they insist there's no doubt russia tried to interfere with the us presidential election, although they've stopped short of calling it an act of war. they will brief donald trump on friday. the president—elect is unconvinced, so far, about moscow's involvement and the kremlin denies it. washington is investigating what could be the biggest political break—in since watergate. in the ‘70s, it was the building belonging to the democratic national committee that was burgled. in 2016, it was the computer system at the party's present headquarters. a robbery in cyberspace, rather than in person. and us intelligence believes

it was orchestrated by vladimir putin, from the kremlin, to help donald trump win the election. i want to welcome all our members back to the committee. today, those allegations were aired publicly on capitol hill at this republican—controlled congressional committee. every american should be alarmed by russia's attacks on our nation. there is no national security interest more vital to the united states of america than the ability to hold free and fair elections without foreign interference. that's why congress must set partisanship aside, follow the facts, and work together to devise comprehensive solutions to deter and defend against and, when necessary, respond to foreign cyber attacks. america's director of national intelligence, james clapper, said he stood more resolutely by a statement released in october, before the election, that moscow was interfering to help donald trump. he was asked if that was an act of war. whether or not that constitutes an act of war, i think,

is a very heavy policy call that i don't believe the intelligence community should make, but it would certainly carry, in my view, great gravity. the president—elect has repeatedly rubbished the notion that he achieved a kremlin—assisted victory, and has publicly poured scorn on america's spies. he's also spoken approvingly ofjulian assange, the founder of wikileaks, who released the hacked e—mails and claimed the russians weren't involved. that's enraged senators from both parties. who actually is the benefactor of someone who's about to become commander—in—chief trashing the intelligence community? i think there's a difference between scepticism and disparagement. director clapper, how would you describe mr assange? i don't think those of us in the intelligence community have a whole lot of respect for him. then, this blunt and direct message for president—elect trump

from a senior member of his own party. i want to let the president—elect know that it's ok to challenge the intel, you're absolutely right to want to do so, but what i don't want you to do is undermine those who are serving our nation in this arena until you're absolutely sure they need to be undermined. and i think they need to be uplifted, not undermined. trump tower these days has its own micro climate of twitter storms, and today was no different. the president—elect took to social media to complain thatjournalists were being dishonest in saying he agreed withjulian assange, and that he was a big fan of the intelligence community. the president—elect will receive a briefing from james clapper at trump tower tomorrow and that has the potential to be a very frosty meeting. earlier i discussed the impact of the hacking allegations both within the us and internationally with kristen eichensehr, who is assistant professor of law at ucla and a specialist in cyber security.

the leaders of the intelligence community again stating the unanimous view that russia is responsible for hacking into democratic national committee. what's troubling about the response so what's troubling about the response so farfrom donald what's troubling about the response so far from donald trump what's troubling about the response so farfrom donald trump is what's troubling about the response so far from donald trump is that he seems to be denying that attribution is possible, both in this specific case of the dnc hack and even more specifically and growing —— going forward it risks destroying the credibility that president trump will have to turn to a tribute, credibly, future attack in a way that both domestic and foreign audiences will find to be credible and trustworthy. i suppose in case we get too holier than thou about this, it is not as if the us or western general hasn't interfered in other elections overseas. we also have to say that mr clapper has been on the savings that were true.” think what we are seeing overtime,

we are seeing both the settling of opinion across the entire tea. but evenif opinion across the entire tea. but even if government activision isn't credible, this has also been confirmed by numerous cyber security companies. so really we are seeing both private and public actors saying that the evidence they've seen saying that the evidence they've seen on saying that the evidence they've seen on these issues is credible. so even for those who might be sceptical of the government there are other private companies as well and that's of course how this started. the washington post is reporting that american officials have intercepted communications showing that russian officials congratulated themselves on the outcome as a geopolitical win for russia. what do you make of that? i think it will be interesting to see what comes out of the intelligence community report that we are expecting will be briefed to president obama today and president—elect trump tomorrow, and a more gentrified version on monday. we may have more details as mr clapper said today about the

motivations and other intelligence that the us has about russia, although there's obviously always be issue of protecting sources and methods, the evidence like that may oi’ methods, the evidence like that may or may not be included in the declassified public version. that was an assistant professor at ucla. a car bomb has exploded in the turkish city of izmir killing a police officer and a court official. police shot dead two militants in a gun battle outside the court but a third escaped. the turkish government says weapons found at the scene suggest a much bigger attack had been planned. catriona renton reports. cctv cameras captured the moment of the explosion. we cannot hear it, but we can see the scale of the damage in izmir. amateur video from nearby shows smoke billowing upwards in the aftermath. and this is the wreckage. people say the bomb was detonated after officers attempted to stop a vehicle in front of izmir‘s courthouse.

a police officer and a court employee were killed, others were wounded. translation: i was at the security cabin and a black car approached and crashed into a policeman. he got out of the car and exploded the bomb he had in his hand. i ran into the market and lay down on the floor. a second car was blown up in a controlled explosion. police killed two of the attackers following a shootout involving officers and a number of men carrying machine—guns. a third person is reportedly still being sought. some believe a larger attack may have been prevented. translation: based on the preparation, the weapons, bombs and ammunition seized it's understood a big atrocity was being planned. protesters gathered at the scene of the attack. some shouting slogans against the kurdish separatists, the pkk. the governor of izmir has already said he believes they are behind the attack. the group, however, has not claimed responsibility.

39 people were killed in a terror attack at new year in a nightclub in istanbul. so—called islamic state claimed to be behind it. speaking at the opening of a metro line in turkey's capital, ankara, the president said the country would not be divided by terror. translation: they couldn't destroy our unity and won't be able to do so. they couldn't harm our unity and solidarity and they won't be able to. now it is the normally peaceful seaside town of izmir that is in mourning as once again turkish people are left with a sense of fear for their safety in their own country. catriona renton, bbc news. it was the stuff of terrible dreams or a terrifying movie, but the torture session shown live on facebook for hours was real, and four people in chicago have now been charged with hate crime and battery. the reaction to it has been

particularly charged because the victim is a young, white mentally disabled man, the suspects are black. they face charges including aggravated unlawful restraint and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. police describe the video as "sickening". i spoke to rob el—gus from abc 7 eyewitness news, who told us a viewer alerted them to the disturbing video. we received a clip of the video yesterday from a viewer and as we looked at it in the newsroom our initial response was, could it be a hoax? we needed to confirm with the chicago police department that it wasn't a hoax and then we started to put the pieces together. chicago police found the alleged victim wandering the streets of the north—west side of chicago. they saw the video that went viral on facebook and then the puzzle pieces began to come together. and this victim, according to the police, was from a suburb in chicago and he knew one of his alleged attackers and was with them for about 2k hours before

they started to assault him in an apartment in chicago. he managed to escape, according to police, by running out of an apartment after two of the women now charged with hate crimes pounded down a neighbour's door. he got out and then police found him. it was a disturbing story and as you mentioned in that video, it was hard to stomach. we have to talk about this head on but briefly, the white supremacists in the alt—right have been suggesting a link to the black lives matter movement. is that being given significant consideration? it is and the superintendent was asked about that yesterday, before the hate crime charges were put forward. black lives matter issued a tweet saying they did not condone this and were not a part of this. but if you listen to the unedited clip, trump's name comes up a lot in that video as well as several profanities.

they urged this victim to denounce trump, to denounce black people, even white people, but as far as the chicago police are concerned, there's no connection to any of that, there's no connection to a politically motivated assault, they are trying to piece together exactly why these four suspects, three of them, mike, just 18 years old, the fourth suspect 2a years old. these are young people in chicago. why they did such a heinous act is still unclear, the motive has not been decided. all of this in the context of chicago as an extraordinarily violent city. what is it — 57 shooting incidents this year so far, one of the biggest gang trials in recent yearsjust finished i know and the president clearly concerned about his hometown. unfortunately, mike, we make national headlines for these disturbing numbers. more than 700 murders in this cityjust last year and, you're right, 57 shootings in the first five days of the new year.

but i think it's important for people not familiar with the city of chicago, this is no war zone by any stretch. there are millions of people living in the metro area and many more like myself living in the suburbs. these are small pockets of crime areas in the city of chicago. you mentioned the hobo street gang, a verdict reached yesterday — a clear message from the police department and federal authorities that they will crack down on violence in chicago, especially gang violence. that's where the majority of these shootings are coming from, mike. they're coming from gang members and unfortunately in the crossfire of these shootings there are many innocent victims too. and president obama for the first time in eight years made himself available to chicago local media stations to talk about this. rob elgus, thank you. thank you. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: growing up with a future president.

arik obama's half sister tells us about how they're a ringing prepared him for office. —— barack obama's. the japanese people are in mourning following the death of emperor hirohito. thousands converged on the imperial palace to pay their respects when it was announced he was dead. good grief. after half a century of delighting fans around the world, charlie brown and the rest of the gang are calling it quits. the singer paul simon starts his tour of south africa tomorrow, in spite of protests and violence from some black activist groups. they say international artists should continue to boycott south africa until majority rule is established. teams were trying to scoop up lumps of oil as france recognises it faces an ecological crisis. three weeks ago, the authorities confidently assured these areas that oil from the broken tanker erika would head out to sea. it didn't. the world's tallest skyscraper opens today. the burj dubai has easily overtaken its nearest rivals. this is bbc news.

i'm mike embley. the latest headlines: america's top intelligence official warns russian cyber attacks pose a major threat to the us. he insists there's no doubt russia tried to interfere with the presidential election. a car bomb in the turkish city of izmir has killed two people. police say they shot dead two militants thought to be behind the attack. a third is still on the run. police in mexico have arrested more than 600 people in the wake of violent protests over a 20% increase in the price of gasoline. officials say the unrest has resulted in the death of a policeman and a bystander. will grant reports. in mexico, they call it the gasolinazo, in part it refers to the government's overnight fuel price hike, which took effect on the first of january. it also refers to this. at least 250 shops have been

ransacked in response with hundreds of looters and protesters arrested amid the chaos. the eastern state of veracruz saw some of the worst of the looting with some stores emptied of clothing and food. others of electrical goods and flatscreen tvs. the protests quickly spread to other areas of the country to two, including hidalgo in mexico state. in the capital, mexico city, traffic ground to a halt as those most affected by the price rises, truck drivers and transport union workers, set up blockades along the main thoroughfares. meanwhile, in the very centre of the city protesters turned out to call for president enrique pena nieto to stand down. translation: i'm marching because i'm angry about all of this corruption, the mishandling of things by the government and by congress. mexico can't take this anymore.

translation: i want this government to stop overburdening us, to stop putting a rope around our necks with taxes that we don't understand clearly. for his part, the mexican leader continues to defend the price rise as a necessary measure. translation: there's no greater cost to a society than that of being irresponsible in looking after the stability of our economy, and that is why we must all take on this challenge so we can continue moving forwards. with the first wave of protests and looting, a new sense of fear has taken hold in parts of mexico, with thousands of shops choosing to close for the day. rumour and counter rumour about the scale of the disorder is rife on twitter, sometimes using images from unrelated protests in different countries to sow fear. the gasolinazo is part of a year—long price liberalisation programme and with president—elect

trump's policies already showing signs of hurting the mexican economy, this may only be the start of a difficult period at the gas pump for millions of ordinary mexicans. will grant, bbc news. in other news: the united states has added osama bin laden‘s youngest son, hamza, to its anti—terror blacklist. the state department says hamza bin laden, now in his mid—twenties, has become active as a leader of al-qaeda. it's alleged he's called in audio messages for attacks on western capitals, and threatened to avenge his father's death. scientists are predicting that a giant iceberg 50 times the size of manhattan is ready to break off from antarctica. a long rift in the larsen c ice shelf grew suddenly in december. now just 20 kilometres of frozen material is keeping the huge piece from floating away. when it does break off, the iceberg is likely to be one of the biggest ever recorded. donald trump has said the car

manufacturer toyota will have to pay high import duties if it builds a new factory in mexico. the president—elect tweeted that toyota should "build the factory in the us or get prepared to pay big border taxes". the new factory is due to be built on mexico's baja california peninsula, producing corolla models for the american market. israeli police have detained two people over comments posted on social media threatening the judges who convicted a young soldier of manslaughter. officers accuse the two of inciting violence. one has appeared in court injerusalem. on wednesday, three judges found sergeant elor azaria guilty of a revenge attack. he fatally shot a wounded palestinian attacker lying in the street. six handwritten letters from princess diana to a former royal steward have sold at auction for more than £15,000, or $18,000. the notes include some insights about the then young princes william and harry —

with one revealing that prince harry was constantly in trouble at school. sarah campbell reports from the auction house in cambridge. are we finished now? no, we're not. £3,000, £3,200. all done this time, the hammer is up, and it's going to go at £3,200. estimated values were quickly exceeded, as the world snapped up a little bit of royal memorabilia. as expected, it was diana's heartfelt letters to palace employee cyril dickman, the head steward at buckingham palace, which fetched the most. she was a mother who obviously cared about her children. and she was very generous, and she wasn't afraid of putting her thoughts down on paper. and that was shown in some of the lots we sold today. september 1984, and prince william's eagerness to see his new baby brother was plain to see. five days after the birth, diana wrote, "william adores his little brother and spends the entire time swamping harry with an endless supply of hugs and kisses, hardly letting the parents near."

that letter sold for more than five times the guide price... selling this time... ..at £3,200. bids are coming in online and on the phone from across the world, i'm told particularly america, japan and australia and all the lots so far have easily exceeded their reserve price. another letter, this time from 1992. alluding, perhaps, to the troubles in her marriage, which were about to be made public, she thanks cyril for thinking of her at this "difficult period" and writes that the boys are well and enjoying boarding school a lot, although harry is constantly in trouble. again, this sold for more than £3,000. cyril died in 2012. today, his grandson watched nervously as the family collection went under the hammer. it means a great deal. i mean, it's a good thing my grandfather's name's been spread, and, again, my family. and, again, itjust raises the profile of what a great royal family we have. the royal family is a source

of fascination around the world and, almost 20 years after her death, it appears the interest in diana and her life has barely lessened. sarah campbell, bbc news, cambridge. his days in office are numbered, and this week barack obama has been working hard to try to save his political legacy. but for the outgoing president's half—sister, the end of his administration is as much about family as policy. she grew up with him in hawaii, and has been talking to the bbc about their younger days, and what he'll do when he leaves the oval office. growing up, mum certainly gave us a wide range of tools to become the people who we are. that being said, my brother was kind of a regular guy who loved his friends, who bodysurfed and who played basketball. i think that hawaii has given my brother a sort of laid—back attitude and an ease within himself. he wasn't a candidate for school president or anything like that,

he didn't have at least vocalised aspirations for that level of civic engagement, and it wasn't until later that he became a little more serious, he became aware, after moving to la and then new york, i think of the challenges that we face as a country, as a people and community, and sought to find remedies and think about his place in his community and the country and the world. election night was surreal. i will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. it belongs to you. that night i could see all the faces looking at him and they were inspired, excited, it was quite awesome to just recognise and understand how palpable their hopes and aspirations for his presidency were. i do think that he has changed.

he has gotten wiser, he has become i thinkjust a deeper version of himself. he obviously knows challenges with greater nuance and depth. he has seen a lot of suffering and sorrow, whether it was through international disaster or the result of shootings in our country, and those were for him the most terrible days. so, our hearts are broken today for the parents and grandparents, sisters and brothers of these little children, and for the families of the adults who were lost. he often has said sandy hook was for him the worst day of his presidency. but i would say that he hasn't changed in any fundamental way. in terms of his relationships, who he is as a man, how

he communicates, the things that he values, i think that he has remained remarkably unchanged, actually. looking back and forward for the obama family. and before we go, let's take a look at these pictures. a five—month—old baby elephant has been taking a dip in a swimming pool in thailand as part of a lengthy rehabilitation process to heal her injured foot. ba by farjam's front left leg was caught in a trap set by local villagers in november. but although the wound and her health improved significantly, she refused to put any weight on her injured leg. the treatment, which is being undertaken so she can avoid having to use a prosthetic leg, could take up to two months. that is it for now. thank you so much for watching. hello there, good morning.

yesterday morning we saw the lowest temperature so far in england this winter. we got to —8.1 in rural oxfordshire. this morning, the frost is nowhere near as widespread. there'll be some across the south—eastern quarter of the uk, but the further west you go, a lot more cloud, and that cloud is bringing at least some rain with it. but it's also helping to keep the temperatures up, seven or eight degrees to start the day in glasgow and belfast. but it'll be quite widespread in the western side of scotland. the eastern side faring a little bit better. still cloudy, and it's quite wet in northern ireland first thing this morning. some rain fringing into the western side of england and wales. not quite into cornwall and devon at this stage, so it's largely dry here. head further east and it's not just cold and frosty, there'll be some patches of fog, and some of the fog will be slow to clear. it could be quite dense in places, so do bear that in mind if you're heading out on the roads. some fog in east anglia. it'll be a chilly old start here. chilly here across northern england, but a fair bit of cloud and just a little bit of rain first thing.

now, our main area of rain will topple its way further southwards and eastwards through the day, so it'll eventually get down to the midlands. some light and patchy rain here into the afternoon, but it never really gets to east anglia and the south—east. here it'll stay fairly cloudy into the afternoon, but there'll be some breaks, but it's also where we see the lowest temperatures. further west, mild air coming from the atlantic, could get into double figures. and that milder air, the less—cold air, comes in from the atlantic on the westerly breeze, pushing a little bit of patchy rain across some parts first thing on saturday but, actually, into the weekend a lot less cold than what we've seen recently, but a lot of cloud across most places through the weekend and a little bit of patchy rain and drizzle, but certainly not a wash out, just pretty grey skies. so, we do see a lot of cloud on saturday, a little bit of rain here and there, maybe a few breaks in the cloud, with top temperatures around about ten or 11 degrees. so something a lot less cold coming into the united kingdom, but we've got this cold northerly wind down across central and eastern parts of europe, and it really will be a very cold weekend through the balkans.

it could go as low as —10, and that'll be daytime temperatures, so a big contrast across europe this weekend. second part of the weekend, back on our shores, looks like the first part of the weekend, a lot of cloud, not much rain, but there will be some, and temperatures peaking at around about nine or 10 degrees. and then on into the early part of the coming week we start to see something a bit more unsettled developing, a weather front making its way south and east across the uk, and note on our isobars on the chart, it'll be quite windy, with the rain starting in scotland and northern ireland and then a steady progress south and eastwards across the rest of the uk. the latest headlines from bbc news. three senior american intelligence chiefs have told congress there's no doubt russian cyber attacks tried to influence last year's race for the white house. russia denies ordering the hacking of democratic party emails and the production of fake news. donald trump, who's been unconvinced so far, will be given a briefing on friday. two people have been killed

and least five wounded by a car bomb in the turkish resort of izmir, outside the city's courthouse. two attackers were shot dead by police and a third is said to be on the run. police suspect a bigger attack was planned. prosecutors in the us city of chicago have charged four people with hate crimes over a video live—streamed on facebook, in which a bound and gagged man was tortured. police believe the victim, who's described as mentally disabled, may have been kidnapped for up to 48 hours before the attack. let's have a quick look at some of the front pages of the morning's papers.