this is bbc news. i'm clive myrie. the headlines at 8pm: donald trump has arrived in washington, ahead of his inauguration tomorrow as america's 45th president. martin mcguinness, the former ira commander turned peacemaker, has announced he's retiring from front line politics the sinn fein politician recently quit northern ireland's power—sharing executive, and now says he's suffering from ill—health. the question i asked myself is, you capable, are you physically capable of fighting this election with the intensity of elections needed before? and the honest answer is that i'm not physically capable. dozens are feared dead in italy after an avalanche engulfed a hotel. 35 people are missing. theresa may says britain will be open for business after brexit, as one high street bank predicted london will remain europe's top financial centre despite the uk leaving the eu. also coming up: the local referendum which could fund social care

with a 15% rise in council tax. surrey county council says it's been left with no choice due to government funding cuts. and there is shocked down and, as novak djokovic crashes out to the australian open to a player ranked 117. good evening, and welcome to bbc news. donald trump has arrived in washington, along with his wife melania, ahead of his inauguration tomorrow as the 45th president of the united states. hundreds of thousands of people are expected to attend — some to support him, and some protesting. and the tv audience will run into many millions around the world. a little earlier,

i spoke to our washington correspondent, jane o'brien. the clock is ticking. fewer than 2a hours to go and donald trump will become president of the united states. the celebrations are already underway, the donald trump at least, but a lot of protests are also expected to kick off. including a big march at the weekend, where women from all over the country are expected to converge on washington. there will obviously be a huge security presence, half $1 million a p pa re ntly security presence, half $1 million apparently has been spent on so queue ready around the inauguration site. long non—colla psible queue ready around the inauguration site. long non—collapsible umbrellas will not be allowed, and no selfie sticks? that's right. the service which manages it has made a concession for the rain because it is expected to pour tomorrow. they

are saying that short collapsible umbrellas will be allowed, so you can takea umbrellas will be allowed, so you can take a bit of shelter. security will be tight. we are not sure at the momentjust how many people to expect. there's been a bit of controversy expect. there's been a bit of c0 ntrove i’sy over expect. there's been a bit of controversy over that, this being donald trump, of course, you would expect that. he said hotels were booked solid, but apparently they are not. and he's also of course got less tha n are not. and he's also of course got less than a stella mine up of celebrities, a lot of celebrities refused to appear with him. a bit of ab refused to appear with him. a bit of a b list. of the events. —— for some of the events. his press secretary today said that the inauguration was 20% and the budget and that money would be returned to the taxpayer. he said donald trump is already off toa he said donald trump is already off to a good start. historians pour over presidential inauguration is an school kids read about them in the history books. what are we expecting from president trump tomorrow? that is another very interesting question. sean spicer, his press

secretary, said this, the inauguration speech would not be so much of an agenda as a force of a call document. i'm not sure what we can all take from that —— a philosophical document. it will also be quite short, we think. donald trump hasn't finished writing it, as ofa trump hasn't finished writing it, as of a couple of hours ago he was still making adjustments and edits. we don't know whether it will lay out his priorities. according to mr spicer, it's really about what it means to be an american, what it means to be an american, what it means to be an american, what it means to be a member of congress and what it means to be a citizen at this point in time. this is very important, because the country, according to the very latest polls, is more divided than ever 286% think that donald trump is taking office over a deeply divided nation. —— 86% think that. and you can watch coverage of donald trump's inauguration as the 45th president of the united states here on bbc news.

our coverage begins tomorrow afternoon at 3pm live from washington with katty kay, with the new president due to be sworn in at 5pm uk time. and we'll find out how this story, and many others, are covered in tomorrow's front pages at io:a0pm this evening in the papers. our guests joining me tonight are guardian columnist columnist hugh muir, and dan bilefsky from the new york times. the prime minister says she's confident that britain's financial services sector will continue to prosper after britain leaves the eu. it's a view echoed by the head of barclays, who says he expects the city of london to remain the financial centre of europe. that's despite a number of other banks and financial institutions suggesting they will move thousands ofjobs away from london. theresa may has been talking to business leaders in davos — it's hard not to come to davos

and not look like a member of the global elite. but although the prime minister was here to insist britain was open for business, she was here with a warning. talk of greater globalisation can make people fearful. for many, it means theirjobs being outsourced and wages undercut. it means having to sit back as they watch their communities change around them. and in their minds, it means watching as those who prosper seem to play by a different set of rules. theresa may came to the world economic forum, davos, not so much to celebrate business, but to warn it. yes, she backs globalisation, free trade and a deal with the european union, but she has another message for this rather privileged privileged audience — do more to make globalisation work for everyone. if you don't, she will be willing to intervene to ensure businesses

change their behaviour. it was sunny here today, yes, but the prime minister's visit to davos was overshadowed as a number of international banks including goldman sachs and jp morgan said they were reducing investment or planning to cutjobs as britain plans for brexit. but the city is a big place with different voices. for barclays bank, london is still in the lead. i think the uk will continue to be the financial lungs for europe. we may have to move certain activities, we may have to change the legal structure we used to operate in europe, but i think it will be at the margin, and will be manageable. i caught up with the prime minister later. what have the banks said to you about why they are moving jobs? i've had a good and positive discussion with banks about the benefits of the city of london. what it is that brought them to the city of london, and how we can

build on that for the future. and there are huge benefits for investment in the uk. we have a fendamentally very strong economy, we have a service sector that is important, and valued around the world. i believe that global britain can bring jobs and prosperity to the uk across the board, including in financial services. many are reflecting on one of the big tests of mrs may's clean brexit. keeping the uk's financial services buoyant. hard brexit does london damage, does the country damage, but the point i am making to our european friends, businesses and political leaders, is if businesses decide to leave london, they aren't going to paris, madrid and frankfurt, they will be going to hong kong, singapore or new york. a hard brexit is a lose, lose — bad for london and the eu as well. mrs may said she was an optimist and free trade deal discussions had already started with india and australia. she admitted the journey ahead would be uncertain, but would the right deal, the future was bright.

—— with the right deal. the former northern ireland deputy first minister, martin mcguinness, has announced he is to retire from politics and will not seek re—election to the stormont assembly in march. mr mcguinness says he had been planning to stand down in may, on the tenth anniversary of sharing power with ian paisley. but he says that plan was overtaken by his health problems and the political crisis at stormont. our chief correspondent gavin hewitt has more. martin mcguinness is one of the most controversial leaders in british and irish politics. he has been a centralfigure in both northern ireland's pain and its peace. now he is standing down due to illness. i have to be very honest with myself. the question i ask myself, are you physically capable of fighting this election with the intensity that elections need to be fought? the honest answer is i am

not physically capable. his background lay in the civil rights riots in londonderry, but martin mcguinness chose violent resistance. by the age of 21, he was second—in—command of the ira in derry, talking about the bombing campaign. can you say whether the bombing will stop in the near future in response to any public demand? i always take on the considerations and the feelings of people in derry and these feelings will be passed on to dublin. he served two prison sentences in the irish republic and was convicted of ira membership. he openly attended ira events. he denied he was the ira chief of staff, but said he regarded it as a compliment. we don't bring winning any elections votes will bring freedom to ireland. it'll be the cutting edge of the ira that will bring freedom. today he was asked if he had any regrets about his days in the ira? people have to consider the circumstances that

existed in the city when i did join the ira. we had a city where people were being murdered by the ruc, and they were murdered wholesale, as it were on bloody sunday, by the parachute regiment, and the fact many people like myself, thousands of people in the city decided to fight back. i don't regret any of that. but he was one of the ira leaders who recognised that continued violence would not bring further political gains. in 1994 there was a ceasefire. it laid the foundation for peace talks. sinn fein nominated him as its chief negotiator, leading to the good friday agreement, and eventually power—sharing. bitter foes sat alongside each other in a new assembly. myjourney has been a long journey. i've been over 25 years working on building the peace. his departure from politics comes at a sensitive time for northern ireland.

its power—sharing assembly has collapsed, and brexit poses difficult questions about the future of the border with ireland. many people struggle to forgive an man who played such a key role in a violent campaign. but he earned grudging respect for his commitment to peace and the gunmen who turned politician had the authority to make compromises. i can now speak tojon tonge — professor of british and irish politics at liverpool university. this is turning into a nightly chat, there is so much going on at stormont at the moment. how much of a boss is this for sinn fein and nationalist politics? it is a big loss for sinn fein. they have been engaging in succession planning for quite a long time now. but even so, someone quite a long time now. but even so, someone of the stature of martin mcguinness politically, his departure will be a big loss. the people like conor murphy and michelle o'neill who are being groomed to follow him, but the

passing of the bat and still a challenge for sinn fein. it is perhaps ironic that martin mcguinness has stood down at the time when sinn fein have not had a better chance of providing notjust the deputy first minister but a first minister, sinn fein could finally become the largest party in northern ireland. that shows the journey they have travelled from, you know, and armed campaign under the ira, prudish in vain as a fully fledged political force these days. martin mcguinness was instrumental in that transformation. i'd highlight not just the in that transformation. i'd highlight notjust the good friday agreement, which was a big change for sinn fein, but also martin mcguinness leading former ira members and sinn fein into supporting the police service of northern ireland, for example. that was a seismic change for the republicans. that sets the big figures of northern irish politics, ian paisley, david trimble, martin mcguinness, they are leaving the scene or have left the scene. is there a real sense that perhaps the

future could be even more unstable because these giants from the past are no longer around? we are heading very much into a post—conflict adoration politics in northern ireland. the question begs from that is whether the electorate will change their views. the views of martin mcguinness this evening will be different in the unionist community to the nationalist community, where martin mcguinness was a revered figure. as we move beyond the conflict, the question is whether the electorate will come out of those two communal how are to use and begin to choose the political parties on a different bases —— communal paula reto is. history will no longer inform political decision—making. the election on march the 2nd will be the first test of that. conor murphy, give us a pen portrait, he could be the next guy 7 portrait, he could be the next guy e portrait, he could be the next guy up? he comes from the entrepreneur but in tradition as well, in the sense that some of his family were involved in the iras ogilvie and republican tradition. he would be a form of hardliner who represents compromise. he has been a senior

figure and an mp at wrestlers. conor murphy is perfectly capable. i think that generation of republicans —— an mp at westminster. they are quite competent in office, if you talk the northern ireland civil service about martin mcguinness, he was held in high esteem by the northern irish civil servants. conor murphy is of that goal, he is seen as highly competent and a plausible leader. we can't be certain it will be him. michelle o'neill, it is possible that sinn fein may have a woman leader. thank you. thank you for joining us. let's go back to theresa may's speech. let's speak to our business correspondent tanya beckett in davos. how well did this speech go down? she was certainly broadcasting to a

business audience, so one has the expect the content will be different. she put a strong narrative across a question people are asking themselves, what is it that voters want and how can we as companies and governments deliver that? what voters are to be saying in many cases is that globalisation has not delivered equally. it is not an incoming tide that has lifted all boats, quite clearly. they would like to see more spreading of wealth. there is a dramatic and increasing income gap that needs to be addressed in order to voters to begin to be satisfied, and democracy to be satisfied, too. she used brexit as an opportunity to say, we are not relieving the eu because we offered up with the eu, we are using it as an opportunity to look more broadly, yes, to continue free trade, but on terms that make sure that everybody benefits from the profits that it yields. thank you, tanya beckett in davos. the headlines on bbc

news: donald trump has arrived in washington, ahead of his inauguration tomorrow as america's 45th president. martin mcguinness, the former ira commander turned peacemaker, has announced he's retiring from front line politics. he is retiring due to ill—health. dozens are feared dead in italy after an avalanche engulfed a hotel. 35 people are missing. a shock down under. olly foster has the details. we are going to start with the big tennis news. the reigning champion, novak djokovic, is out of the australian open after being stunned by a wild card in uzbekistan, dennis is the man. the serb's five set defeat in the second round in melbourne is his earliest exit from eight grand slam in nine yea rs. exit from eight grand slam in nine years. in mixed day for the british

players in melbourne. dennis istomin, i2 players in melbourne. dennis istomin, 12 years into his career, 415 hours into the match of his life. the world number 170 from uzbekistan wasn't just trying life. the world number 170 from uzbekistan wasn'tjust trying to stay with novak djokovic he was trying to break him, to find something more than he had ever located before. inspirational! jealousy suggested shakespeare is the green eye monster. denis istomin's spectacles represent his poor eyesight, notjust... istomin's spectacles represent his poor eyesight, not just. .. to begrudge him this moment of glory would be unfair. djokovic has learned in recent times to deal with defeat. he has had to. there is not much i can do. of course i was not pleased with my performance overall. but, you know, i have to congratulate my opponent. well,

djokovic's departure should benefit andy murray more than anyone else, considering andy murray only ten —— tends to lose to him. heather watson was defeated by a little—known american, jennifer brady. 10—8 in the third set, and watson had five match points. but in dark blue, britain'sjohanna match points. but in dark blue, britain's johanna konta won match points. but in dark blue, britain'sjohanna konta won in straight sets. §57 for straight sets. save the shocks for another court, this one wasjohanna konta's. england's cricketers have lost the one—day series against india. eoin morgan won the toss and put india in to bat, they were wobbling on 25—3 but yuvraj singh made 150 and ms dhoni hit 134 in cuttack as they reached 381 for six. that set up what would have been a record run—chase for victory, morgan hit a century and there were 50's from jason roy, joe root and moeen ali, but england fell short. india winning by 15 runs to go two up in the series with one to play. sale

have terminated the contract of their wing tom arscott after claiming that he passed on team information and tactics to his brother luke, a bristol player, on the eve of their match on new years day. bristol, who won the match, say the brothers did meet but that nothing of any sporting value was passed on. tom, seen here kicking, was suspended a few days later by sale and sacked after an internal disciplinary investigation and hearing. the rfu are conducting a separate investigation. defending champion ronnie o'sullivan is through to the semi—finals of the masters snooker at the alexandra palace but he was far from his best. the six time winner was up against neil robertson in the pick of the quarterfinals but o'sullivan needed a lot of luck and a couple of flukes to pull clear — this in the eighth frame was when he moved 5—3 up// the standard was rather poor, lots of fouls from both players in the last frame and eventually it was the rocket who pulled clear — 6—3 the

final score. he spoke to hazel irvine and the bbc tea m he spoke to hazel irvine and the bbc team o'sullivan will face the winner of tonight's match between marco fu and mark allen. fu knocked outjudd trump earlier in the week. fu has the early advantage with a 3—1 lead. allen just nicked the last frame before the mid—session interval. when it resumes, you can that watch on the red button or via the bbc sport website that's all sport for now. i'll have more in the next hour. thanks, olly. dozens of people are feared dead after an avalanche buried a hotel used by skiers in central italy. at least three people have been killed, and rescue teams are searching for up to 35 people still trapped inside the building. the avalanche happened after a series of powerful earthquakes struck the area of abruzzo yesterday, 150 miles from rome. the three—storey hotel was pushed almost ten metres downhill as the huge wall of snow hit it directly as it raced down the gran sasso mountain. it's the third in a series

of earthquakes in the region since last summer killing almost 300 people. our correspondent james reynolds is in the nearby village of penne. at night, the quickest way through the wall of snow was on skis. these rescuers are among the most experienced in europe. even they struggled to move forward. step—by—step, they shovelled their way up towards the rigopiano hotel. shouting. finally, they made it. the hotel was silent. inside, rescuers found this man. they went further in, and came to where the avalanche hit. a six—foot—high wall of snow and rock broke

through the building's walls. several miles away, a father waited for news of his daughter up in the hotel. straight after yesterday's earthquakes, they texted each other. "stay calm" he wrote. "you can come down tomorrow." "calm, that's hard" she replied. "i think the worst has already happened", he reassured her. "what's going on? " he then asked. he got no reply. his daughter and many other people, may be trapped underneath these tonnes of snow. these pictures, filmed after daybreak, show the rigopiano hotel swept away by the avalanche. do you think it's possible to find more people alive? for sure, yes. sure, yes. in the past, we found people after three days or something like this. and especially in this case, there could be some room under the snow.

rescuers are helped by the fact that conditions here have improved. we haven't felt any more earthquakes or tremors. relief workers a few miles up the hill, will hope the snow holds off, allowing them to keep digging. and those rescuers continue on their path to and from the destroyed hotel, searching for survivors or bodies. james reynolds, bbc news, penne, central italy. a local authority is to hold a referendum on whether to increase council tax by a whopping 15%. it claims cuts in government funding and the crisis in social care have left it with no choice if good services are to be maintained.

surrey county council — a conservative controlled authority — says it has a huge gap in its budget and wants the extra money to fund improved social care for the elderly, services for people with disabilities and for children. our deputy political editorjohn pienaar reports from esher. you don't get a choice about getting old but how to pay the huge bills for care. councils pay most of it, and now one authority's had enough of government cuts, and paying for more and more with less and less. surrey‘s asking council tax—payers — yes or no, to a 15% increase for social care. i think it's important that politicians stand up and tell the truth and be honest with the rest of us, tell us what it costs to run these services. we have to pay for these services. it's not easy finding people here who are keen to pay what will be nearly £200 a year more on an average home, though no—one could call surrey hard—up. good afternoon, the council want 15% increase... i heard it on the one o'clock news today. how about more of that money for the council for social care? certainly not. totally obscene. there's lots of money in surrey, but that doesn't mean to say we'll accept a 15% rate increase, it's not on. i think it's a very bad idea.

i can't afford to pay, because my pension is frozen. more council tax to pay for social care, do you fancy that, yes or no? i'm up for it. i think we live in a very affluent area. i think we can all afford it. i know lots of people around who need it more than we do. absolutely, i think that's right. clearly it's a national cost. the sign of a civilised society is one that looks after and cares for its older people responsibly. i think it's a problem that's going to escalate over the years, it's not going to go away, and we have to address it. the labour leader also agrees all taxpayers should bear the rising cost of social care. it's not right that we should thrust the social care crisis on local authorities, all of whom have different levels of income all over the country. it's a central government responsibility, and central government should face up to its responsibility. local voters have been asked to vote on a council tax rise just once in england in the last five years —

the answer was no. john pienaar reporting from surrey. a strike by conductors on the southern rail network will go ahead next week after the rmt union said it was barred from talks. the strikes planned for next week by the train drivers' main union aslef have been suspended to allow the talks to take place. but the 24—hour strike next monday by the rmt union will still go ahead. the founder of the wikileaks website, julian assange, says he stands by his offer to go to the united states, now it's been announced that the american soldier chelsea manning is to be released. julian assange has spent the past 4.5 years in the ecuadorian embassy in london. mr assange had expressed concerns about being tried in the us, because his website published classified documents leaked by manning, although he has not been formally charged by the american authorities.

mr assange is still wanted for questioning in sweden concerning rape allegations. the inauguration of gambia's new president has taken place in neighbouring senegal. adama barrow won recent elections in gambia, but the man he defeated, yahya jammeh, refused to stand down. the standoff caused a political crisis, that led to thousands of tourists, including many britons, being told to flee. some have been arriving back at manchester airport today. the foreign office has confirmed that six britons have died, after a road accident in saudi arabia. several more british nationals were injured. the victims are all thought to have been on pilgrimage, when their minibus crashed while travelling between mecca and medina. two of victims were from last ago, the glasgow central mosque paid tribute to them as popular members of the community was survived by their five of the community was survived by theirfive children. the headlines coming up. but now,

time for a look at the weather with helen lewis. good evening, very little changes in the next 24 hours. what you have now is probably what you will have again tomorrow. we have a zone of cloud giving a few spots of the result of the south and north, plenty of sunshine by day. that is where we will have the frost. a hard frost in the south, —5 or —6 against. some fog across the north—east, and east anglia on friday morning. one full—screen thing the ice of the cars again. beautiful sunshine follows, and any fog will live. there will be a settled change tomorrow. sunshine will become more abundant. brighter prospects than we have had for the past couple of days. it is not going to be warm. the dizzy heights of 5-7dc. not to be warm. the dizzy heights of 5—7dc. not getting any warmer at the

weekend. for most of us it should be dry and usable weather. you are watching bbc news. the top stories: donald trump is hosting a lunch in washington for his cabinet and key staff ahead of his or inauguration tomorrow as america's 45th president. thousands are expected to travel to the city to