welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories: president 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 federal appeals courtjudge is not expected to call into question high—profile rulings on abortion and gay marriage if his nomination is confirmed by the senate. standing here, in a house of history, 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 to the constitutional laws of this great country. president trump has fulfilled a major election campaign promise

and nominated a conservativejudge to fill the vacancy on the us supreme court. neil gorsuch, from the denver federal appeals court, is 49. he's the youngest supreme court nominee in a quarter of a century, and could now sit for decades to come. he fills the seat left vacant for a year by the death of antonin scalia. president obama's nominee was blocked last year by the republican—controlled congress. sarah corker reports. there was a hint of reality tv drama. president 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 court justices 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 religious rights. judge gorsich has a tremendous mind and tremendous discipline. he has earned bipartisan support. what do we know about judge 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 court of appeal since 2006 and used to work in george w bush's justice department. he is most noted for his strong defence of religious freedom. the supreme court's work is vital to the protection of people's liberties and law. the continuity of our constitution. the greatest chart 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. the ninth seat has sat empty

since the death of antonin scalia nearly a year ago. judge neil gorsuch has been described as straight talking. he says what he means and 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. let's hear more of what judge gorsuch had to say. 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 concerned 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 the 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 the traditional 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. our correspondent, rajini vaidyanathan, is at the supreme court. she explained president trump's pick. throughout the campaign, donald trump promised he would appoint a justice to fill the vacancy arising following the death last year ofjustice antonin scalia. he promised he would nominate someone who just likejustice scalia had a conservative bent. someone pro life. someone pro gun rights. he has picked someone

to fill the mould. he even talked aboutjudge gorsuch as a perfect candidate and a perfect fit following scalia's legacy. i travelled the country during the campaign and many voters told me one of the defining reasons why they would pick donald trump as their 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 were perhaps prepared to put that aside because of his promise to pick a conservative justice. 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. 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 third institution that wields a lot of power is the us supreme court which is right behind me. it is very influential in terms of deciding the final say, really, on laws. a case will start in the lower court but might eventually 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 a proponent of strictly interpreting the constitution. the democrats are saying in the past few minutes there are serious questions about whether he believes the constitution protects everyone or just the wealthy. he has a history of representing corporate giants. there are people who are not happy. that is right. this pick is not a surprise in terms of why donald trump chose him. he has been a corporate lawyer. he has also served on the court of appeals 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 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 rights organisations. you ask me about the balance of the supreme court. there are ninejustices. before scalia's death, he was a conservative. there are four conservative and four liberals on the bench. anthony kennedy is seen as a swing vote. now we have a slightly conservative leaning court. if any of the three justices nearing their 80s retire anytime soon, president trump could also pick their replacements, and make it even more conservative. but the role of the

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, it is worth pointing out. we have already heard from people like paul ryan, the speaker of the house, who said this was a phenomenal choice. other republicans are supporting that view. there are others on the other side, like senator charles schumer, who have raised concerns about this appointment, notjust when it comes to corporations, but whether judge gorsuch will uphold things like women rights. kevin russell is a supreme court practitioner and writer of "scotus," a supreme court blog. it is good to talk to you. thank you for your time. we were talking about what this might do to the political make—up of the highest court in the land. there is a history ofjustices not always heading in the direction

of the presidents who appointed them. that has happened in the past. there have been some conservative judges who turned out to be liberal. but that hasn't happened in a while, to be honest. the republican establishment has been very insistent on no more surprises of that sort. that is why we are seeing the selection of someone who has served for a good while on a court of appeal who has a paper trail. he isa of appeal who has a paper trail. he is a proponent of strictly interpreting the constitution. what does that mean in this context? what it generally means is trying to understand what the words of the constitution meant to those people who wrote it or ratified it. that has important consequences with things like gay rights and abortion. somebody who thinks the constitution only means what the people who wrote it would have thought or amend would not be amenable to be claimed that

—— the claim that abortion and gay rights should exist because that wasn't in contention when it was written. president obama tried to make a nomination famously with merrick garland which was blocked. the democrats savour will try to block this. watch until they have? —— say they. it will be difficult to do that. if they try to filibuster there is, they would just get rid of there is, they would just get rid of the filibuster altogether. that will bea the filibuster altogether. that will be a blow to them if donald trump gets another appointment which will be much more important. thank you very much indeed. my pleasure. thank you for staying with us. much more to come, including this. britain voices its loudest opposition yet to

the donald trump muslim country band. —— ban. in other news: the head of france's far—right party, marine le pen, says she will not pay back more than three—hundred and 50,000 dollars to the european parliament, which says she's misused the funds. the money was used to pay an assistant whose work should have been in the parliament. but she spent most of her time working in the national front‘s headquarters. there have been protests in romania after the government pushed through an emergency decree which will decriminalise official misconduct for smaller sums of money. ministers also want to pardon to thousands of prisoners convicted of offences in which the financial damage was valued at less than 50,000 dollars. the czech foreign ministry says hackers have stolen thousands of e—mails from its servers. the foreign minister said no confidential material had been compromised as that was sent via a separate system. but, czech media quoted unconfirmed reports that the e—mails included sensitive information on the country's nato and eu allies. this is bbc news.

the latest headlines: president donald trump has nominated the conservative neil gorsuch to fill the vacancy on the us supreme court. there's been a mixed reaction in a divided country. the nomination needs to be confirmed by the senate, some protesting outside the court in washington. 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. 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. let's stay with that story. michaeljohns is a co—founder of the national tea party and a conservative policy analyst. he's in philadelphia right now. you will have heard that the democrats are suggesting there are serious questions about whether neil

gorsuch believes that the cost and protects everybody, rather than just the wealthy. he is a proponent of strictly interpreting the constitution. what do you think?” think unfortunately we've got into such a politicised confirmation process in the united states that we literally have anti— nominee rallies organised here before the nominee was even announced. i organised here before the nominee was even announced. i think he is an exceptional nominee, is being confirmed by the senate 11 years ago unanimously. many of the same senators are still there today. did a greatjob on the 11th circuit. he is an original list very much, in the style ofjustice scalia, who was an icon. and he is exactly what trump campaigned on and what he promised the american people and thatis promised the american people and

that is to get the court back to interpreting the law, not making it, and this is in keeping with that. you will know that there were people who voted for president trump for whom abortion is about the most important issue in the world. we know that president trump and vice president pens are keen to overturn the case that established legal abortion in the. —— vice president pence. would you expect milk wars each to be part of a move towards that? i think it would be, but i don't think there's any imminent threat at the moment. —— neil gorsuch. maybe with anotherjudge, it would tilt the balance potentially at that point. the 1973 case was very educated in very bad ways. not with abortion in the us, but the way it allowed the state to determine the position themselves. i

don't think there is an imminent threat, with his confirmation, but i think if it does get to that point he will likely be an opponent of it. i think he would subscribe to the conservative position. thank you. we may well be talking to you again as things develop. 0utside washington donald trump's supporters are quite pleased that the president is fulfilling his promises. hazleton, pennsylvania is one of those towns that helped put mr trump into the white house. we've gone back to see how those who voted for him feel now. 0k. he is not your conventional

president and he's not a politician, so president and he's not a politician, so he is attacking it more like a businessman would attack it. lights, camera, action, it is all happening andl camera, action, it is all happening and i really admire that about him. it was an outstanding win, there we re it was an outstanding win, there were so many it was an outstanding win, there were so many voters that supported him. and he really is coming through on his promises. he is checking them off one after the other.” on his promises. he is checking them off one after the other. i never expected mexico to give us a cheque right from day one. i think the mainstream media framed it that way for people, but that is not how i took it to mean. i think the most important thing right now in his cabinet is to make our country, our community is, our cities safe. i know that mr trump doesn't have an

exact plan, you know, to put on the table. he has repealed it and now they need to work on putting something together. but 0bamacare came in and it wasn't perfect on day one either. rome wasn't built in a day, so it will take him a little while. my premium this year went from $1921 a month to $2765 a month and that's just unbearable. i would stay with my agenda and keep pushing that forward. the crowd size doesn't matter. this isn't a testosterone contest, this is what's right for america. i love the fact that he tweets. i get his tweets as he does them every day and it is such fun waking up in the morning and knowing that at 1am, 3am, he sent out a tweet and i got it first the morning. it hasn't changed his downs. i think he is doing fantastic andl downs. i think he is doing fantastic and i think after four years everyone will look back and do what he has done and i think he will get

another four years in office because he will do a fabulous job. voices for president trump from hazelton, pennsylvania. thousands of meteorites fall to earth every year, but there's something puzzling about the ones which have been found in antarctica. experiments show they contain very little iron, making them different to ones collected elsewhere. now a team of scientists is setting out to find out why. rebecca morelle went to meet them. lighting up the sky, a space rock hurtles towards the earth. it exploded over central russia in 2013... explosion ..causing widespread damage. the huge meteorite was later recovered, thousands strike each year around the world. the great wilderness of antarctica is a prime space rock hunting ground, but, despite extensive searches, one kind of meteorite, made from iron, is surprisingly scarce. now, though, a new hunt is soon to begin.

scientists at the university of manchester are developing high—tech metal detectors, based on landmine technology, to track down the meteorites. if the weather's going well, the technology's going well, it may be say once a day we find these, if we're lucky. so it's going to be an extremely exciting experience when we first find this. it's like the ultimate fishing trip, if you like. antarctica's missing iron meteorites have been a mystery for years, but now scientists think they've cracked it. the idea is that there are lots there, but they're buried in the ice, and as the ice sheet flows, so does the meteorites, but when they hit this mountain range, they're forced upwards. meteorites made of rock, the most common kind, do come all the way to the surface. but a meteorite made of iron, like this, conducts heat from the sun, so it melts the ice below and sinks back down. scientists think these missing meteorites are sitting only 30 centimetres, so a foot, below the surface, just waiting to be dug up. it has some rocky bits and some metal bits, but this beautiful large iron

meteorite here is really what we're after. iron meteorites are particular valuable to science. the iron meteorites provide us with this snapshot into the earliest part of when planets were first forming. so they tell us about how early planets would have formed, a number of early planets, and that's really exciting because it can provide us with an indication about what our early solar system looked like back then. the scientists will start testing the technology by the end of the year. the mission to antarctica will be a gamble, but the team hopes it's one that will pay off. the secrets of our solar system could lie just beneath the ice. rebecca morelle, bbc news. that's it for now. thanks so much for watching. the weather is very ugly outside right now.

we've had rain all through the evening and overnight and rain at times expected on wednesday as well. there will be some sunshine, but take a brolly in case, because rain may arrive almost at any time. over the next few days storms track from the us, across the atlantic in our direction. it looks like friday could be the day when it may turn quite nasty, especially across south—western areas of the uk. for now it's a mild start to wednesday. there is some rain around, you can see where it is. western areas through the morning will probably brighten up. some sunshine in central parts of the uk. notice that by the time we get to the middle of the afternoon a little bit more rain moves into south—western parts of england. these areas, from central, southern england, through the west midlands and into the north—west of england, some sunshine. further east, cloudy, misty and murky.

again, bits and pieces of rain. the weather is a real mess on wednesday. it's almost anywhere, these blobs of rain. so be prepared with your brolly, but expect a bit of sun too. through wednesday evening and into thursday yet more rain. this here, this rain, is the beginning of some very unsettled weather, heading our way on wednesday and into thursday. this is thursday. a huge area of low pressure. it one could be a player as well. but on thursday this big low will send gale force winds across many western areas of the uk, impacting ireland as well. very mild, rain at times. then there's another low we're watching. so that's the one on thursday. and this one, thursday night and into friday, almost like a baby low, but it is nasty. a lot of uncertainty as to where the winds may go. there's one track, this blue one, maybe takes it into france,

then there's the possibility that the storm will swing further northwards and affect south—western areas. this is more likely. the colours are just differentiating between them. this is the swathe of worse wind. the thinking is that by friday, at this stage, and it may change, it's south—western areas that get the worst on friday. the latest headlines from bbc news. i'm mike embley. president trump has nominated neil gorsuch to fill the vacancy on the supreme court. he said the 49—year—old federal appeals court judge had impeccable qualifications and would uphold the constitution. president trump said he had impeccable qualifications and would uphold the constitution. there has been mixed reaction by protesters outside the court in washington. the

head of homeland security has defended president trump's executive order. john kelly insisted the vetting policy wasn't a ban on muslims and has led to widespread confusion and protest around the world. now it's time for panorama. nobody knew who this man was. we have got no identity documents, no indication where he's from. and any family. until we identified him from an old high school picture. that's roger. are you sure? no question about it. so how did an american with dementia, end up lost in england? this is a big, burly macho man, in tears, saying, "who does this to their parents?" we uncover the shocking truth.

kevin, we need to find out what happened to your dad. did you dump your father in england, kevin? of how an elderly man was dumped on the british care system by his family.