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: president donald trump nominates neil gorsuch to fill the vacancy on the us supreme court. judge gorsuch has outstanding legal skills, a brilliant mind, tremendous discipline, and has earned bipartisan support. the 49—year—old federal appeals courtjudge is not expected to call into question high—profile rulings on abortion and gay marriage. standing here, in a house of history, acutely aware of my own imperfections, i pledge that i will do all i can to be a faithful servant to the constitutional laws of this great country. there have been protesters at the nomination gathered outside. in just the past hour,

judge neil gorsuch has been nominated to the us supreme court. at a9, gorsuch is the youngest supreme court nominee in a quarter of a century. a conservative, he fill the seat left vacant by the death last year of antonin scalia, who was then the right‘s most powerful voice on the high court. this is how president trump made the announcement. whenjustice antonin scalia passed away suddenly last february, i made a promise to the american people. if i were elected president, i would find the very bestjudge in the country for the supreme court. i promised to select someone who respects our laws and is representative of our constitution and who loves our constitution, and someone who will interpret them as written. this may be the most

transparent judicial selection process in history. months ago as a candidate, i publicly presented a list of brilliant and accomplished people to the american electorate and pledged to make my choice from among that list. millions of voters said this was the single most important issue to them when they voted for me for president. i am a man of my word. i will do as i say. something that the people have been asking for from washington for a very, very long time. today... applause. thank you. today, i am keeping another promise

to the american people by nominating judge neil gorsuch of the united states supreme court to be of the united states supreme court and i would like to makejudge gorsuch and his wonderful wife, louise, to please step forward. please, louise. judge. here they come. applause. so, was it a surprise? was it? applause. i have always felt that after the defence of our nation, the most important decision president of the united states can mr president, mrvice president, you and your team have shown me

great courtesy in this process. you have entrusted me with a most solemn assignment. standing here in a house of history, and acutely aware of my own imperfections, i pledge that if i am confirmed, i will do all my powers permit to be a faithful servant of the constitutional laws of this great country. for the last decade, i've worked as a federaljudge in a court that spans six western states, serving about 20% of the continental united states and about 18 million people. the men and women i have worked with at every level in our circuit are an inspiration to me. i have watched them furiously turning to the law, enforcing our constitution and living out daily theirjudicial oaths to administerjustice equally to rich and poor alike. following the law as they find it and without respect to their personal political beliefs.

i think of them tonight. of course, the supreme court's work is vital not just to a region of the country but to the whole, vital to the protection of the people's liberties under law and to the continuity of our constitution, the greatest charter of human liberty the world has ever known. the towering judges that have served in this particular seat of the supreme court, including antonin scalia and robert jackson, are much in my mind at this moment. justice scalia was a lion of the law. agree or disagree with him, all of his colleagues on the bench cherished his wisdom and his humourand, like them, imiss him. judge gorsuch nominated to the supreme court. let's cross live to the supreme court in washington, and our correspondent, rajini vaidyanathan. the very bestjudge in the country, says donald trump. delivering on a major campaign promise, isn't he? he

is indeed. throughout the campaign, donald trump promised he would appoint a justice to fill the va ca ncy appoint a justice to fill the vacancy arising following the death last year ofjustice antonin scalia. he promised he would nominate someone he promised he would nominate someone who just like justice he promised he would nominate someone who just likejustice scalia had a conservative bent. someone pro life. someone pro gun is. he promised he would do even before this. he even talked aboutjudge gorsuch as a perfect candidate and a perfect fit following scalia's legacy. iron travelled the country during the campaign and many voters told me one of the defining reasons why they would pick donald trump as the candidate was because of this promise he made to appoint a staunch conservative justice. i am talking about people who were evangelical christians. i remember several

sessions with some women in particular in southern states and said they were not particularly enamoured by the language and style of donald trump in the way that he campaigned and in some of the words he used towards women, but said they we re he used towards women, but said they were perhaps prepared to put that aside because of his promise to pick aside because of his promise to pick a conservative justice. aside because of his promise to pick a conservativejustice. someone who would uphold the christian values that they felt, especially when it came to things like abortion. the republican party really does now have its hands on all the levers of power in washington. remind us how important the supreme court is and the political make—up of it is. important the supreme court is and the political make-up of it is. you talk about power. here in washington, it is all about power. yes, president trump in the white house with the executive branch holds a lot of power, as does congress. but the bird institution that wields a lot of power is the us supreme court which is right behind

me. “— supreme court which is right behind me. —— third. it is very influential in terms of deciding the final say, really, on laws. they start in the lower court but always end up in the us supreme court. just to give you an idea of what kind of decisions they make, we are talking about legalising abortion, legalising gay marriage, and ending segregation in schools during the civil rights era. rajini, almost everyone seems to say whether they are for or against him. he is simply interpreting the constitution. the democrats are saying in the past few minutes there are serious questions about whether he believes the constitution reflects everyone or just he believes the constitution reflects everyone orjust others like corporate is. there are people who are not happy. —— corporates. that is right. this pig is not a surprise in terms of why donald trump chose him. he has been a

corporate lawyer. —— pick. he served on the court of appeal in colorado. he made some decisions that made conservatives very happy, like upholding religious freedom and making it right for police to use force. but it is a divisive appointment. donald trump says he wa nts to appointment. donald trump says he wants to pick someone pro life. that will make abortion rights and pro—choice activists unhappy. some of the people are gathering outside the us supreme court right now and these are pictures. they are women rights activists and pro—choice groups as well as lgbtq writes organisations. —— rights. you ask me about the balance of the supreme court. there are ninejustices. before scalia's death, he was a conservative. there are phaedra ——

five conservative and four democrat. now we have a slightly conservative leaning court. if any of the three justices nearing their 80s retire anytime soon, donald trump could make it even more conservative. but the wallaby supreme court is trying to make a stand and divisive issues. that is why we are seeing some protesters gathering outside the supreme court. many people will be absolutely delighted with this, we should point out. we have already heard from people like paul ryan, the speaker of the house, he said this was a phenomenal choice. other republicans are supporting the view. there are others on the other side, like senator charles schumer, who has raised concerns about disappointment, notjust has raised concerns about disappointment, not just when has raised concerns about disappointment, notjust when it comes to corporations, but whether

judge gorsuch will uphold things like human rights. thank you very much for that. as we've been hearing, mr gorsuch‘s nomination will have to be confirmed by the senate, where democrats have threatened to block any candidate seen as too conservative. sarah corker looks at the evening's events. there was a hint of reality tv drama. president donald trump's nominee for the supreme court revealed during a prime time televised address. today i am keeping another promise to the american people. by nominating judge neil gorsuch. supreme courtjustices are appointed for life. president trump's choice, a staunch conservative judge who will help shape law for years to come on things like gun control and human rights. he has a tremendous mind and tremendous discipline. he has earned bipartisan support. what do we know

aboutjudge neil gorsuch? he is 49 and lives in denver, colorado. a graduate of columbia university and harvard law school. he served on the 10th us circuit since 2006 and used to work with george w. bush and his justice department. he is most noted for his strong defence of religious freedom. it is vital to the protection of people's liberties and law. the continuity of our constitution. the greatest art of liberty the world has ever known. the us supreme court is hugely influential, the highest court in the nation. decisions made by it include legalising abortion, legalising gay marriage, and ending school segregation in the civil rights era. tonight seat has sat empty since the death of antonin scalia mary leigh a year ago. ——

ninth. —— nearly. judge neil gorsuch has been described as straight talking. he means what he says. he comes down typically on the conservative side of the agenda. the president's choice must now be approved by the senate. given the huge impact the supreme court has on american society, judge neil gorsuch is likely to face tough questions. sarah corker, bbc news. niall sta nage, associate editor at the hill newspaper, joins us from washington. thank you very much for your time. we say he will face tough questioning, but there is little the democrats can do about this. there is in the sense of derailing judge neil gorsuch if he gets to the stage of voting. where democrats have the power is the ability to filibuster his nomination. they could theoretically do that and overcome a

filibuster. but it is a fairly rarely used tactic when it comes to supreme court nominations. just a bit, democrats are particularly incensed because barack obama's nominee was barely considered. there has been a vacancy for a whole year. exactly. that is what complicate the political dynamic. garland was not considered a liberal choice by obama, but the senate basically immediately said he would not proceed with giving that nominee hearings, or certainly not confirming. the democrats have bad feelings with that. they may frankly try to get back at them now. we talked about the make—up of the court. if he is concerned, there will be four liberal leaning justice

and five more conservative. but anthony kennedy will be like a swing vote. none of them can be relied on. justices have been known to go all kinds of ways. they have indeed. one of the most famous verdicts in recent yea rs of the most famous verdicts in recent years was the verdict that upheld president obama's healthcare law as constitutional to the surprise and consternation of conservatives. john roberts, the chiefjustice, took conservatives. john roberts, the chief justice, took the conservatives. john roberts, the chiefjustice, took the lead in that opinion, upholding obama's healthcare law. that goes to show there are unexpected twists in the supreme court, even though the current justices do fall supreme court, even though the currentjustices do fall into the camps that you mentioned more often than not. just briefly, this is a big moment, but of course, the really big moment will come when there are three justices around the age of 80. that next appointment could really decide the shape of the court and country for a very long time to come. if the shift happened

ina more time to come. if the shift happened in a more conservative direction then we would have a conservative court, inbuilt conservative majorities and that would help repercussions —— have repercussions to american life for decades to come. thanks for an much. thanks for being with us. still to come: britain voices its strongest criticism yet of president trump's immigration ban. home secretary amber rudd says it's "divisive". the shuttle challenger exploded soon after liftoff. there were seven astronauts on board, one of them a woman school teacher. all of them are believed to have been killed. by the evening, tahrir square, the heart of official cairo, was in the hands of the demonstrators. they were using the word "revolution". the earthquake singled out buildings, and brought them

down in seconds. tonight, the search for any survivors has an increasing desperation about it as the hours pass. the new government is firmly in control of the entire republic of uganda. moscow got its first taste of western fast food, as mcdonald's opened their biggest restaurant, in pushkin square. but the hundreds of muscovites who queued up today won't find it cheap, with a big mac costing half the day's wages for the average russian. this is bbc news. i'm mike embley. the latest headlines: president donald trump has nominated neil gorsuch to fill the vacancy on the us supreme court. there's been a mixed reaction to the nomination, which needs to be confirmed by the senate. there are already protests outside the court in washington. we can speak to a professor at brown

university. we do talk to you. president trump says he has found the bestjudge in the country. how do you feel? he is prone to hyperbole. we have to ask a lot of questions if he gets to the confirmation hearings and we have to hear lots about his news. he has written a lot, he has a book about assisted suicide, we should talk about that, and his decision with hobby lobby and how far he wants to extend it out and there's a lot to learn. president trump and the vice president have made much of their wish to overturn the issue of legal abortion. what do you think west it's a very serious issue. his book is about the dissertation regarding assisted suicide, which he is

opposed to, but he doesn't discuss abortion. i think it is likely that he would not uphold the right for women to choose and i am more worried about a radical step that i wa nt to worried about a radical step that i want to know if he would take, which is to outlaw abortion nationally if it is decided the speakers has a constitutional right to live. he is known to strictly the constitution. how does that factor into your concerns? his view is that helped by just scully and it favours a very strict reading of the constitution. it applies to the right to privacy. ——justice it applies to the right to privacy. —— justice scalia. many, it applies to the right to privacy. ——justice scalia. many, like justice scalia, don't like the right to privacy because they don't find it in the text of the constitution. thank you very much. forgive me, i didn't mean to interrupt you. thank you. pleasure.

senior members of the trump administration have continued to defend the temporary travel ban. john kelly, the homeland security secretary, said the policy was wholly justified and was not a ban on muslims. the extreme vetting policy has led to widespread confusion around the world, as our north america editorjon sopel explains. four days since president trump signed the extreme vetting policy, and the administration is trying to clarify whether it was a ban or a pause, who was consulted, who will be affected, and what the executive order is and is not. it was left to the secretary of homeland security to offer reassurance. this is not, i repeat, not a ban on muslims. the homeland security mission is to safeguard the american people, our homeland, our values, and religious liberty is one of our most fundamental and treasured values. donald trump was today meeting leaders from the pharmaceutical industry after last night delivering a lethal injection to the country's most senior law officer, the acting attorney general.

it's already being dubbed the "monday night massacre." the offence of sally yates was to issue this memo to her staff at the department ofjustice. she said she wasn't convinced that the executive order was lawful, and went on, consequently, "for as long as i'm the acting attorney general, the department ofjustice will not present arguments in defence of the executive order." this is what america looks like! this drama was unfolding as once again protesters had taken to the streets to oppose the ban on refugees coming to the us. that she was fired for defying the president was hardly surprising, but the language used by the white house was: the word "betrayal" is more usually reserved for spies, for people who have committed acts of treachery. sally yates would say she was doing what she thought was right and upholding the law, but what this episode shows us is how the trump administration sees

dissent, and how it's going to deal with it. in essence, you're either with us or against us. but look at this from her confirmation hearing back in 2015. the man asking the question is none other than donald trump's choice as attorney general. if the views the president wants to execute are unlawful, should the attorney general or deputy attorney general say "no?" i believe the attorney general or deputy attorney general has an obligation to follow the law and the constitution and to give their independent legal advice to the president. what this episode shows us is how the trump administration sees this and how he will deal with it. in essence, you are either with us or against us. the british government has made its strongest criticism to date of the new trump administration, with a warning from the home secretary, amber rudd, that america's controversial immigration ban could be used as propaganda by the islamic state group. she said the ban was "divisive" and she'd raised her concerns at the weekend with

her us counterpart. james robbins has more. hey—hey, oh—oh, donald trump has got to go! refugees are welcome here! days of protest across britain focused first on president trump's travel bans, then on the early state visit offered to him by theresa may. the government calls the travel bans divisive and wrong. now, the home secretary has gone further, suggesting the president's actions might play into the hands of the extremists, so—called islamic state or daesh. isil and daesh will use any opportunity they can to make difficulties to create the environment that they want to radicalise people, to bring them over to their side. so, it is a propaganda opportunity for them, potentially. and the home secretary told a committee of mps that, seen from britain, the countries which are the subject of president trump's travel ban are not the main problem. the difficulties to the uk over terrorism are not caused by people largely coming from the sort of countries that the us has named, but from people becoming radicalised here. downing street tonight seems to be distancing theresa may from her home secretary's remarks.

number 10 is saying that the extremists will twist any policy from any government for their own propaganda purposes. but unease in britain about president trump's visit is the more than matched by stark warning from mainland europe. the president of the european council listed as key threats to europe assertive china, russia's aggressive policies towards neighbours and radical islam. he said the united states risked catastrophe in europe by weakening transatlantic ties. particularly, the change in washington puts the european union in a difficult situation, with the new administration seeming to put into question the last 70 years of american foreign policy. we should, today, remind our american friends of their own message. "united we stand, divided we fall."

all this anxiety seems to be fuelling protest against theresa may's early invitation to donald trump for a state visit, delivered personally only seven days after his inauguration. president obama only enjoyed the ultimate british accolade in his third year of office. no president has ever been asked so speedily, but the government says the invitation to donald trump stands, dismissing criticism from a former head of the foreign office and national security adviser. the petition against the state visit is steadily gaining support, and has now triggered a parliamentary debate next month. the wider doubts about the president's policy raised by the home secretary makes the government balancing act between wooing donald trump and warning him of risks all the harder. bbc news. much more any time on the bbc news website. thank you for watching. it is really soggy outside right

now, especially in eastern areas of the uk. many of us had the worst of the rain hours ago, but through the early hours of wednesday it is just going to stay damp wherever you are across the uk. talking a little bit about the future, we'll see more storms forming across the atlantic, coming out of the us and moving across the atlantic and heading in our direction. lots of cloud, lots happening and i think towards the end of the week that's when we are a little bit concerned that there is some severe weather heading our way. in the short term we have the rain across eastern areas, so this is 6am—8am. notice how some northern and western areas brighten up a little bit later in the afternoon and then it will probably go downhill again, a second time, across the south—west and wales. but in southampton, oxfordshire, around here, birmingham, into manchester, the north—west, a little bit of sunshine. the far east again cloudy again, with rain.

little bits and pieces of rain in northern ireland and then brighter, a little bit drier and brighter, across scotland. so a real messy picture across the uk on wednesday. be prepared for sunshine, well, be prepared for the rain, but expect a little bit of sunshine. how is the rest of europe doing compared to us? well, it will turn very unsettled from spain, into france and the uk. all these weather systems will be piling into western parts of europe, quieter across the mediterranean and certainly quieter across central parts of europe, the east as well. here is a closer look at the nasty weather system. this will probably bring windy weather to ireland and western parts of the uk. southern coasts have gales in many areas and some outbreaks of rain. so a blustery, wet day. this is the first big low. quite mild, but it won't feel like it in the wind. once the big low starts pulling away, another smaller but more intense weather system

is going to develop. this one could do one of two things. it could either be quite nasty still and move into france. this will probably be less severe for us. and the other scenario is that this will probably affect south—western areas and track towards the north. this is the more likely one, because of the distinguish between the two tracks. right now this is what it looks like. rain and severe gales in the south—western areas, but stay tuned to weather updates. the latest headlines from bbc news. president trump has nominated judge neil gorsuch to fill the vacancy on the us supreme court. he is 49. if confirmed by the senate he could sit for decades. donald trump said he had impeccable qualifications and would strictly uphold the constitution. he will bring into

question abortion and gay marriage. mixed reaction to the nomination. some have been protesting outside the court in washington. the new head of homeland security has defended president trump's executive order temporarily banning certain was in countries. he said that it was in countries. he said that it was necessary. “— was in countries. he said that it was necessary. —— muslim. it has led to widespread confusion around the world. it is time for tuesday in parliament.