a very warm welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to our viewers in north america and around the globe. my name's gavin grey. our top stories: keeping it in the family — jared kushner is to be appointed as a senior adviser when the incoming president enters the white house. and as he prepares to leave the white house, we look at obama's legacy as america's first african american president. europe's deep freeze — after temperatures plummet and icy conditions bring misery to millions. and building brazil's mega—dams — we visit the amazon rainforest to assess the impact from one of the world's biggest civil engineering projects. hello and welcome. president—elect donald trump has announced plans

to hire his son—in—law as a senior adviser. jared kushner was part of donald trump's campaign team and helped propel him to the white house during the campaign. democrats immediately called for a review of the appointment, citing nepotism laws and potential conflicts. but members of mr trump's team have argued that a law barring officials from giving governmentjobs to relatives does not apply to white house positions. bill hayton reports. never centrestage but rarely far away, jared kushner was a key figure behind donald trump's election campaign and, since november, behind the transition team. while he's been strategizing in trump tower, lawyers have been working out how a relative of the president, with huge business interests, can work in the white house. mr kushner is expected to step down from his multi—billion dollar property company and put other legal safeguards in place. he has been part of the trump family since marrying the president—elect‘s daughter, ivanka, seven years ago.

a 50—year—old law bans federal officials from hiring relatives to work in state agencies but trump's team says the rule doesn't apply to the white house — that's likely to be contested. ivanka trump will be working in this white house. she won't take an official role, instead she'll focus on looking after the couple's three children, at their new washington home. mr kushner is part of a growing group oftrump advisers. mr kushner is part of a growing group of trump advisers. reince priebus, the outgoing chair of the republican party's national committee, will be chief of staff. steve bannon, once head of the right—wing news site, breitbart, will be chief strategist. trump's spokeswoman, kellyanne conway, will be white house counsellor. and now mr kushner has the vague title of senior white house adviser, working on trade in the middle east. some observers believe mr trump is playing divide and rule, forcing his inner circle to compete for attention. like so many things

about the incoming administration, exactly how it will work remains a mystery. bill hayton, bbc news meanwhile the obama administration has blacklisted five prominent russians, just 11 days before mr obama leaves office. among them are chief federal investigator, alexander bastrykin, and two men wanted in the uk for the murder of russian dissident alexander litvinenko. the sanctions come at a time of worsening ties, including claims russia rana cyber campaign to influence the us election. on tuesday night president obama will deliver his farewell address in the city of chicago. it's where he claimed victory eight years ago in an historic election which put the first african american in the white house. but as his second term comes to a close what will his legacy be? in the first of his special reports the bbc‘s north america editor jon sopel looks at the domestic issues that have defined the president's time in office.

cheering. it wasn't just the hope when barack obama came to office, it was the wild expectation, too. that the country's problems would be solved at a stroke, that the first african—american president would usher in a post—racial era. no more black america or white america, just the united states of america. but the lingering vestiges of that dream disappeared in the summer of 2014, in clouds of tear gas, in a nondescript suburb of st louis, missouri, called ferguson. an unarmed black man had been shot by a white police officer. it was a pattern that would become all too familiar. in charleston, south carolina, walter scott had been pulled over for a minor motoring offence. footage captures the white police officer who stopped him shooting him in the back several times before he dies. gunfire. the policeman claimed self—defence.

at his trial, which ended last month, the jury was unable to reach a verdict. the court, therefore, we must declare a mistrial... another symbol for the black community that things haven't changed. i think his legacy to him is more important right now, to paint a picture that he did a real good job in america. but most black folks are very disappointed, because we feel he could have done more. the issue of race and another of america's great intractable social problems, gun violence, came together in horrific effect inside this famous african—american church in charleston. a white supremacist who, with his string of drug convictions, should never have been able to purchase a gun, walked inside a bible study group and killed eight worshippers and the pastor in cold blood. barack obama had always seemed reluctant to define himself as a black president, preoccupied by racial issues,

but after these shootings that changed, as he came to charleston and showed how he felt the community's pain. singing: # amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved. ..# obama's two terms in office were punctuated by the crack of gunshots. radio: you've dialled 911, what's the location of your emergency? ...i think there's somebody shooting in here. then a series of random mass killings that started with the slaying of 20 children and six of their teachers at sandy hook elementary school. the president's famously cool demeanour was gone after this. every time i think about those kids, it gets me mad. and by the way, it happens on the streets of chicago every day.

i refuse to act as if this is the new normal. this is not something i can do by myself. such violence, such evil, is senseless. again and again he wanted tougher legislation on gun—control. but he failed, to his evident consternation when we sat down and spoke. if you ask me where has been the one area where i feel that i've been most frustrated and most stymied, it is the fact that the united states of america is the one advanced nation on earth in which we do not have sufficient common sense gun safety laws. but there have been some legislative successes. millions more americans now have health insurance than was previously the case, although obamacare has created many losers, too. and the economy, which was flat on its back eight years ago,

is starting to boom, and people are spending their money again. we have notjust come back stronger from the great recession, we have actually built an economy that's the envy of the world. that is an important part of president obama's legacy. but it proved to be a voterless recovery where it mattered. they'll be no democrat succeeding him in the white house, and so, one of his final acts was to make a lastjourney to capitol hill, to urge his party's lawmakers to fight off republican attempts to dismantle obamacare, and the rest of his domestic legacy. look out for the american people. jon sopel, bbc news, washington. more than 30 people have died over the weekend as a cold snap from the arctic circle took hold in much of central and eastern europe. temperatures dropped to as little as —30 degree celsius. in kosovo, for example many, areas are without power.

this is the mirusha waterfall, a popular tourist attraction, you can see it's frozen over. in russia, temperatures are below —40 degrees celsius. two people have died in moscow, and nearly 200 people are in hospital suffering from severe hypothermia. and charities are concerned for refugees crossing the continent on foot or living in informal settlements. there are 2,000 of them in the serbian capital, belgrade, where temperatures have been down to —20. 0ur central europe correspondent, nick thorpe, has more. strange scenes in istanbul. the fourth consecutive day of snow here has closed the bosphorous to shipping and given the city's ferry operators alternative work. traffic on another major waterway, the danube, has also been suspended

because of ice flows in serbia, romania, and bulgaria. in the major romanian port city of constanza, the black sea has frozen far out from the shore. most affected by the cold are the poor in each country. the homeless and migrants have been particularly hard hit. in this abandoned belgrade warehouse, several hundred migrants and refugees have been living for months. these are the latest pictures from what was once called "the balkan route. " yeah, actually, the cold is too much and last night, we couldn't sleep, and all the people were around the fire and it was too cold. i think it was —16, —15 last night. until now, we are here because the situation is too bad and the snow is piling outside. there are 13 official refugee centres in serbia with around 7,000 temporary residents. hungary is only allowing in 100 a week. those near the top of the list wait here, in this informal camp at horgos, beside the fence. hungarian police and soldiers

patrol on the far side. meanwhile, in italy, there are christmas card scenes a little after the event. only a few years ago, such images were commonplace in january across europe, but after five years of global warming, many people had forgotten how hard a real winter can be. nick thorpe, bbc news to explain what's caused this icy blast, and for a look at the forecast, here's our weather presenter matt taylor. the current freeze stretches back to december. a pool of cold air developing across northern russia. last week, high—pressure developed to the west of europe, low pressure to the east, and we tapped into that reservoir of cold air and it worked its way all the way southwards towards the mediterranean. now, over the next few days, that pool of cold air is just trapped. we have lost that northerly flow. it slowly starts to ease out a little bit so if you look at the temperatures, still on tuesday, we see the blues daytime temperatures widely below freezing but not as cold

as it has been. as we go through the next few days, certainly into wednesday, across athens, back up to double figures. by thursday, northern parts — germany, poland and the baltic states — should temperatures creep above freezing once agsain but we are not quite yet done with the snow because areas of low pressure spinning across turkey, romania, bulgaria on tuesday will bring more snow and strong winds. another bout of snow across greece and bulgaria for wednesday. and as things turn a little bit milder, we could see a bit of snow for a time across the north too. in other news: the public funeral of the former iranian president, akbar hashemi rafsanjani, will begin injust under two hours‘ time, in teheran, with large crowds expected to attend. the supreme leader, ayatollah ali khamenei, will perform the ceremonial prayerfor the dead. ayatollah rafsa njani's funeral is expected to become a show of force by iran's reformists and moderates who looked to him for direction in recent years.

he died of heart failure aged 82 on sunday. mexico's new foreign secretary says the country will opt for dignified dialogue with the united states despite what he described as the considerable challenge for mexico in us politics. donald trump has promised to build a wall along the two countries‘ border and renegotiate a major trade agreement. he's also threatened heavy tariffs on cars made in mexico. the opposition—dominated venezuelan national assembly has passed a resolution accusing president nicolas maduro of dereliction of duty because of a failure to tackle a deep economic crisis. the symbolic move is aimed at pushing for an early election before mr maduro‘s term ends in 2019. his supporters have dismissed it as absurd. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: how to toss away your christmas tree

and have fun in the process. 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 gavin grey. the latest headlines: jared kushner is to be appointed as a senior adviser to incoming president trump when his father—in—law enters the white house. brazil's government is defending its plan to build dozens of huge hydro—electric dams in the amazon. it argues the project will boost the economy, harness the country's natural resources and provide clean energy. environmentalists say the plan is a disaster for the amazon and will actually result in more deforestation and global warming. wyre davies has visited the first of the mega—dams, called belo monte, and reports on the potential impact. from the heart of the planet's greatest rainforest emerges one of the world's biggest civil

engineering projects. a monolithic monument to progress. the belo monte dam is brazil's answer to its growing energy needs. mired in controversy and allegations of corruption, the $18 billion dam partially blocks the xingu, a major amazon tributary and has flooded thousands of acres of rainforest. there's a human cost too. the local fishing industry has been decimated. thousands of riverside dwellers, or ribeirinhos, have lost their land and livelihoods. forced into a completely alien urban environment. we get angry, says this man, showing us his now worthless fishing licence. we see these corporations making millions from what used to be ours, he says, and we can't even use the river any more. building the dam brought hundreds ofjobs to the riverside town of altamira but it also led to increasing deforestation

and the permanent loss of many low—lying islands. supporters of hydropower admit mistakes were made. but say the rivers and their energy are there to be harnessed for the greater good of brazil. i will definitely defend the presence of hydro, a key technology in our portfolio. in the developed part of the world, almost 70% of the hydro potential has already been explored. in brazil, almost 70% of our hydro potential has not in explored yet. brazil says it wants to build at least 50 hydroelectric dams across the amazon. the government saying it is clean, sustainable energy, but the impact of so many of these structures on the world's greatest river system, its environment and its people, will be immense. next in line for development,

the tapajos — described as the most beautiful river in the amazon region and home to the munduruku indigenous peoples. a plan to build several dams along its length would transform this wide shallow river into it navigable water highway. but it would flood forests and islands used by the munduruku for centuries. tribal chiefs say they will resist any attempts to build dams on the river. translation: the government always comes here with its lies. there's not one place one of them has been built that has turned out good for locals and for our tribes. there is only misery and complaints. these tattooed warriors of the amazon are taking on powerful business and political interests that want to weaken environmental legislation and fast track the building of hydroelectric dams. clean energy and the promise ofjobs versus the rights of indigenous tribes and whether to exploit or protect this fragile ecosystem.

newspaper editors in britain are warning that hundreds of local newspapers could be forced to close — if new proposals on press regulation become law. victims of press intrusion say change is essential — but newspaper editors say the freedom of the press is at stake. our media editor amol rajan has the story. britain has had robust and raucous newspapers free of state control for more than 300 years, but now the majority of the industry believes that a form of government interference is set to return. ian murray is the editor in chief of the southern daily echo and other titles on the south coast of england. we've got files that goes back to 1776, the time of the american war of independence. that's how long we've been around... like many editors, he fears centuries of press freedom are now at risk.

this is a principle, the principle of free speech — a free press, which has existed for 300 years. this paper was founded, as a weekly paper in 1823, and those founders would be absolutely horrified to think that we were now being bullied, bullied by the state to giving up the freedom that they basically founded. their concern is over new proposals for press regulation. at the heart of it is section a0 of the crime and courts act 2013. this says newspapers would have to pay legal costs of anybody who sues them, unless the newspaper joins an approved regulator. but editors fear that any such body would ultimately be controlled by government. it's getting harder for newspapers to keep the presses rolling, but while bob battle for press freedom is often cast as a fight between big newspaper tycoons and victims of newspaper mischief, there are hundreds of publications who see this legislation as a threat to their very existence. —— while the battle. one publication that knows

all about legal action is the satirical magazine, private eye. its editor believes section a0 would be fatal for investigative journalism. i mean it is completely mad, as a proposition. anyone looking at it from outside would think, what is this about? i mean dictators will love it, it will be very popular in turkey. i'm sure syria will incorporate it any day now, but really is a punitive attack on the freedom of the press. this proposal came out of the leveson inquiry five years ago. madeleine mccann‘s family gave evidence, so did the parents of murdered schoolgirl milly dowler. and the businessman max mosley, whose private life was exposed on tabloid front pages. mr mosley‘s family trust is now funding the approved press regulator. we need this new section 40, to give access to justice. the problem at the moment is unless you're rich, if you are turned over by a big newspaper, there's nothing you can

do, because the lawyers say to you, well, you have a good case, you can sue, but you do realise if you lose, we don't think you will lose, but if you do lose it will be several hundred thousand pounds. protesters today calling for tighter regulation. but the newspapers are digging in for a bitter fight and leveson‘s recommendations, which aimed to bring back trust, are still causing division nearly five years on. amol rajan, bbc news. a fund for the family of the polish truck driver killed in the berlin christmas market attack has reached nearly $240,000. fellow lorry driver david duncan was so shocked by what happened that he set up the online campaign. mr duncan was personally thanked by the polish ambassador to london — as kasia madera reports. when dave duncan heard about lukasz urban‘s killing in the attack on the christmas market in berlin, he felt compelled to help the deceased man's family in some way.

so he set up an online fundraising campaign to raise money. it was just something i'd seen on the tv or something and thought "why not? why not me?" actions speak louder than words, so they say. that's why i did it. are you surprised by the response? obviously, yeah. it's been incredible, absolutely amazing that people responded to it, yeah. it's been brilliant. the campaign has been welcomed by mr urban‘s family and the wider polish community. please accept my gratitude for your remarkable work. thank you very much. today, the polish ambassador arkady, rzegocki, met up with mr duncan to express his thanks. here are some polish products, just for you. the money raised by mr duncan will go to lucasz urban‘s widow and teenage son, and he hopes to visit them in poland in the not too distant future. kasia madera, bbc news, at the polish embassy in london. i hate to break it to

you but christmas is over and a problem many people face is how to get rid of their christmas tree. well, in a town in southern germany they may have found a novel solution. an athletic championship where you can throw them away, literally. the bbc‘s tim allman explains. in weidenthal, they were signing up to compete. a world championship no less, in throwing christmas trees. a complicated business where you can throw the tree as high as you can 01’ as far as you can. translation: the knutfest is an old tradition that originates from scandinavia. saint knut was the king of denmark. he was killed and was a matyr. in sweden, the knutfest and christmas tree throwing has a long tradition. we adapted it and are now throwing our own party. there are a number of approaches. some swing the tree

round like a hammer, others pretend it's a javelin. yelling cheering the women's event was won by alexandra koepper, with a throw not far off 16 metres. cheering the best male throw, more than 23 metres, a new world record. not bad for an amateur. translation: yes, the current world record holder was a bit weak today and i took my chance despite the lack of training. but a lot of mulled wine... a smile, a wave, and a title to defend next year. tim allman, bbc news. good morning.

there's certainly some chilly and wintry weather on the way but today, it will get that bit milder as we go through the day. lots of clouds spilling in from the west after what will be a cooler start than recent mornings. even a touch of frost and ice around in southern and eastern parts of england with clearer skies at the end of the night. start the day with sunshine, a much brighter day than we have seen for the past few. in the west, already patchy rain and drizzle and a bit of a breeze across devon and cornwell and west wales. a bit of rain pushing into northern england, mainly to the west of the pennines, going through the night. the further north we go, a blustery start and strong winds through the night in northern scotland. already here, the cloud is spilling in. western scotland and northern ireland, occasional rain. cloudy conditions with occasional rain and drizzle in the west, pushing its way eastward. winds strengthening throughout across the northern half of the county, gales in particular to the north—east. temperatures steadily on the rise. by the end of the day, into double figures in the west but a bit cooler further east. it sets us into a mild enough start

through the night with a bit of cloud but strong winds and severe gales spreading across the north of scotland through the night. the wind is picking up elsewhere as we go into wednesday morning. a weakening weather front works its way southwards. temperatures into double figures overnight in the far south. notice we are starting to open the door to arctic air. into wednesday, not only will it get colder but we will have strong winds to contend with. bear that in mind if you are on the move on wednesday. wind gusting 50—60 mph through parts of wales and northwards. frequent showers in the north and west turning into sleet and snow as the colder air digs in. slowly getting colder across the south but temperatures still holding up by the afternoon, 7—9. plenty of cloud and one or two rain showers. the big change comes into thursday. open the door to arctic air. this little feature, pushing in to the south as we go through the day.

how far north that goes, it will be crucial as to whether we see any snow into thursday across southern counties. at the moment, it will stay in the english channel, mainly rain, but maybe a bit of snow. frequent snow showers across northern and western parts of the country, giving coverage to some places. eastern areas, dry and brighter. one or two flurries. for all, the wind will be noticeable, makeing it feel subzero, a real arctic blast with a bitter wind chill. the cold winds continue into friday. again, we will see snow flurries work their way southwards. at this stage, we have to be careful of severe gales down the north sea. here we can see some rough seas around the coast as well. bye for now. the headlines on bbc news: the us president—elect, donald trump, is to appoint his son—in—law, jared kushner, as a senior white house adviser. democrats immediately called for a review of the appointment. mr trump's team argued that a law barring governmentjobs being given to relatives does not apply to white house positions. more than 30 people have died as a cold snap from the arctic circle takes hold in central and eastern europe. temperatures dropped to as little as —30 degree celsius.

charities are concerned for refugees crossing the continent on foot or living in informal settlements. brazil's government is defending its plan to build dozens of huge hydro—electric dams. it argues the project will boost the economy and provide clean energy. environmentalists say the plan is a disaster for the amazon and will actually result in more deforestation and global warming. stay with us. coming us next, reporters.