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. 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 campaigner john lewis, who questioned his election victory. democratic representative mr lewis, of georgia, said he didn't see mr trump as a legitimate president. mr lewis told the nbc‘s meet the press... that prompted an angry response from mr trump, 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 be 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, in a separate development, broadway starjennifer holliday said she has pulled out of a concert celebrating the inauguration, this after her gay and lesbian fans described the forthcoming

performance as a betrayal. the in full swing but you beat names have agreed to perform for mr trump, and friday's ceremony looks to be dominated by military bands, rather than a—listers. 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 is 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. we had a campaign to go to the centres, to be accommodated in heated rooms, to prove provided with three meals a day, healthcare, but 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. 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. 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 0bama'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. 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 bloodbath in the gambia. four months after one of its rockets blew up on take—off, spacex has successfully launched a falcon nine rocket from california. nine minutes after blast—off, engineers cheered as the rocket‘s first stage touched down successfully on a barge moored in the pacific ocean.

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. gps are being warned they could face funding cuts if they don't keep their surgeries open for longer. the prime minister says many people are going to accident and emergency departments, who are already hard—pressed, because they can't get gp appointments. doctors say they are being made scapegoats, and have accused the government of failing to address a deepening nhs funding crisis. 0ur health correspondent robert pigott reports. hospitals have faced a winter crisis like none before. unprecedented pressure in the new year led almost half to declare a major alert, with doctors warning that patient safety was being compromised.

today, the government said gps‘ surgeries were partly at fault, failing to provide the access for patients in need, forcing them into emergency departments instead. the government wants gps‘ surgeries to open from 8am in the morning until 8:00pm in the evening, seven days a week, unless they can prove there is no demand. they say they will withhold extra funding unless its compliance. i have worked for many years in the nhs and every winter is difficult. this winter in particular has seen the highest number of people ever attending a&e. we need to use our resources to the best they can. funding is tight, and if gps aren't going to be open when the public

needs them to be open, then that funding can be directed to other areas. but doctors say they are being made scapegoats for the failure of the government to fund the nhs efficiently. if our practices were expected to open seven days a week, using five days‘ worth of funding and staffing, all that would happen is that we would undermine the quality of care that we can provide the vast majority of our patients, and we would stretch an already—overstretched service more thinly. some health experts have supported claims by doctors that congestion in a&e departments has been caused more by problems finding beds for seriously ill patients than it has by overflow from gps‘ surgeries. they say that medically fit patients are clogging up badly needed beds because of a shortage of money for looking after them at home. today jeremy corbyn announced a new labour proposal for easing pressure on social care. we would give social care the funding it needs and give a firm commitment to take a failed private care homes into public ownership,

to maintain the social care protection that our people need. research suggests that three in ten people in a&e would be better treated elsewhere, and the government insists that gps are vital to stop them from going there. it is now ready to employ tough measures to see that they do. a man has died after the clifftop where he was believed to have been walking his dog collapsed onto the beach below. police were called to the beach at thorpeness, in suffolk, after reports that a man was trapped. despite efforts by the emergency services to locate and free him, he died at the scene. the east coast of england was largely unscathed after a tidal storm surge in the early hours of saturday. thousands of people were advised to leave their homes, but the high tide failed to breach most flood defences. one area that did experience flooding, though, was the east yorkshire town of hornsea, asjo makel reports. the destructive force of last night's waves is now all too clear.

shutters and sandbags were not enough to keep out the sea. the staff at this amusement arcade at hornsea said they didn't stand a chance. there were sandbags all along there, everything was down. and the waves just took the shutters through, the doors through. just completely start again, really. the whole place will be gutted. lots of people rely on this for money, you know. a lot of us. so, sorry, i'm really very upset, as you can see. 0n the seafront last night, a grandmother and two children had to be rescued from this car, moments before it sank. and the latest count is that ten homes and businesses flooded. people and pets had to be rescued. she's been under the water, the little ‘un. we evacuated a man who was a serious

diabetic, and we had to use the boat to take him to safety. by this time they were waist—deep in water. in the houses, there is a lot of damage. poor families, our thoughts are with the families who have all of this to clean up, and we will certainly — our rescue will certainly be there to help them clear up. right, let's see what the palace looks like... 0k, um, it's a bit of a mess, to say the least. this was the first time cathy has been back to her house, but she knew what to expect. it is the second time she has been flooded. i know what i have got to do, but it's just where do i start. until it has dried out, you can't shift anything. until the insurance people have been, you can't do anything. and there was relief, too, to find her pet house rabbits, who she had quickly put upstairs before evacuating. the environment agency was in hornsea today to help residents, and also assess the flow

and spread of the floodwater. all of that information after any flooding event is taken back to our flood defence engineers to work out how to better manage flood defences in the future. and council workers were out to begin the clear—up. but, for those whose houses and businesses were directly affected, there will be months of work ahead. one person is being treated for burns in manchester, after an explosion caused a serious fire in a cafe. three fire engines have been dealing with the blaze, which engulfed the cafe on rochdale road, in the harpurhey area of the city. the fire service are urging people to avoid the area, and a section of road has been closed. 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 a transitional agreement with the eu, to give the economy time to adapt. our business correspondent joe lynam reports. for months, britain's largest employers have been calling

for clarity on what type of deal will emerge post—brexit. many want a transition arrangement with the eu, so they can plan ahead for the future. today, mps on both sides of the brexit argument piled more pressure on theresa may, by calling for exactly that. we think that any return to tariffs or bureaucratic obstacles would not be in the interests of british business, and the committee believes that traditional arrangements will be needed to smooth the process as we leave the european union, particularly if there were to be any changes to the way we trade, or the way we sell our services. this group of mps and business want to know whether britain wants to remain within the single market, and they want to give mps a vote on the final deal. and, if a deal can't be reached within the two—year timeframe, they want a transitional phase to smooth the process out of the european union.

and one of the key sectors in all of this is the city of london, which provides more than a tenth of uk tax revenues. critics say that is what the government should be protecting. we should spend the two years of negotiations on the financial services and ensuring the city is ok. we do not need a transitional arrangement. and the eu's chief negotiator, michel barnier, gave his warning today as well. responding to newspaper reports that he wanted the special deal with the city, mr barnier said non. on tuesday, the prime minister gives a key speech on her plans for brexit negotiations. it is farfrom certain, though, that she will be able to provide the detail that many on both sides are now demanding. this is bbc news. the headlines: donald trump sparks outrage, after criticising a veteran civil rights campaigner who questioned his election victory. letter to the story.

earlier i asked andra gillespie, a political scientist at atlanta's emory university who lives in the district that john lewis represents, whether mr trump's comments about the congressman are accurate. i'm very proud to havejohn lewis as my representative. he is a living legend of the civil rights movement. 0n i've gotten a chance to meet him, he is a lovely person. and i'm very 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 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 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 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 blowback, perhaps criticism along partisan lines, from members of the party. 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 president—elect trump continues with this strategy, we will have to figure out after noon on 20 january what the impact of these twitter outbursts will be. 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. as we mentioned earlier spacex, has successfully launched a falcon nine rocket — the first time since an explosion aborted a mission in september. 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 for 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, for one of its rockets exploded on a launchpad in florida.

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. the 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. keith cowing is editor of nasa watch. he's in reston, virginia, right now, just outside washington. thank you forjoining us. one of our science correspondent tweeted earlier that every launch of matters but there is more than usual riding on this one. why is this one so significant? spacex has been pushing

the envelope since the day they started. as such there has been a lot of scrutiny on their failures more than their success. every setback they have makes people wonder if they will bounce back. the difference here, however, is that early in the space age things that blew up a lot. we were happy when things were successful. now it is the other way around. and now looking at a consumer rocket. something like an iphone. when something goes wrong they fix it. it was designed to be maintained that we and every time they encountered a problem they seem to be fixing the problem they seem to be fixing the problem and they do it faster and improve the vehicle at the same time. after a successful launch, what does it mean for the company, spacex, in terms of what they can achieve? their rocker works again at achieve? their rocker works again at a harbour have a very ambitious

schedule ahead of them. they will be launching almost every two weeks. and they will, i think, their ability to launch from kennedy space centre centre in florida, the same launch pad that the apollo ones, the apollo launches went to the moon from. this launch today says that everything is fixed and they will move ambitiously ahead. of course this kind of project is expensive and it is fraught with risk. but they have the added pressure of time could they have rivals snapping at their heels will stop ——. competition produces better projects and it drops the cost. is there pressure? yes. so far it seems to be working in a productive way. pressure? yes. so far it seems to be

working in a productive waylj suppose there aim is to make tourist space travel and norm for us. how far off space travel and norm for us. how faroff are space travel and norm for us. how far off are they from doing that? with tourism... they are looking... the founder has two things he wants to do. he wants to found a company that will make money. secondly, he wa nts that will make money. secondly, he wants larger reusable rockets that can take people to the international space station which he will be able to do near the end of next year and then, ambitiously, they want to send people to mars. you must start somewhere, you must drive down the cost of launch. he did not rate need to recover the first stage today. launching the satellite made him a profit. but to get the first stage back and reuse it is part of his bigger plan. of his bigger plan.

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 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 all the time. it's like a drug. when you try one thing, 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. let's have a quick look at some of the front pages. first, the weather. 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 the north—east of england. but for many places it is just a wet night. air coming in from the west, temperatures will get up to 8—9 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 there could 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 further west. eight or nine to start the day in cornwall, devon, much of wales too, but with lots of cloud and rain. some of the cloud in northern england is low, so quite 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 quite chilly further east, in particular the north—east, 4—5 degrees. the 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, so most of us will be pretty cloudy. sunshine will be in short supply on sunday afternoon. but there will be a bit of cloud and some 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. and then as we go through the evening, we keep the line of rain from the isle of wight, through the midlands, up 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—eastern corner likely to see the lowest temperatures, 5—7 here on monday afternoon. monday afternoon and on 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. a risk of frost and maybe morning fog. further north and west, milder, but with cloud and rain at times. the latest headlines from 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 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 9 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 on bbc news, dateline london. hello and welcome to dateline london. does the trump presidency promise a new golden age