hello, i'm karin giannone, this is outside source. let's look through some of the main stories here in the bbc newsroom. the former boss of exxon mobil rex tillerson has been confirmed as president trump's secretary of state by 56 votes to 43 in one of the most contentious votes in recent history. here in london it's been a landmark day for the brexit process. mps vote overwhelmingly in favour of giving theresa may the power to begin the formal process of leaving the european union. it didn't seem real to me. it didn't seem real. we'll find out how president trump's travel ban led to a us veteran giving away his purple heart award to an iraqi stranger at an airport. and we'll bring you a fascinating report about how some patients left

without the ability to move, talk or even blink have finally been able to communicate. donald trump has told republican party members to "go nuclear" if the democratic party blocks his nominee for the vacant seat on the supreme court. this is who he picked. neil gorsuch, a 49 year old judge from colorado who is favoured by many conservatives for his strict interpretations of the law. he's also the youngest nominee in a quarter of a century. but democratic senators, who can block the nomination, are questioning his attitudes towards women's and workers‘ rights. here's our north america editorjon sopel. forget the humdrum way a supreme court choice is normally announced. this is the donald trump white house and all geared for prime time television. every network taking the

announcement live, tension building through the day. now it was showtime. was that a surprise? politicians come and go but neil gorsuch, a conservative with impeccable credentials has just been handed a job for life to the most powerful court in the land. standing here in the house of history i am acutely aware of my own imperfections. i pledge that if confirmed i will do all that my powers permit to be a faithful servant of the constitution and laws of this great country. last night there were protests against his appointment outside the supreme court. this will become a political dogfight for sure. not least because the vacancy came up a year ago but republicans refused to even meet the barack obama nominee. now democrats are promising to be equally belligerent. i have serious doubts that judge gorsuch is up to the job. in the meantime the supreme court nominee is on a charm offensive,

touring the capital gladhanding, offering reassurance. and donald trump is impatient to get things done quickly. he had this advice for the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. we have had gridlock in washington for longer than eight years, a lot longer in fairness to president obama. if we end up with that, i would say, if you can, mitch, going nuclear. the supreme court gets the vote on all the most contentious issues in american society, gun control, abortion, gay rights and maybe soon donald trump's controversial immigration ban. for many voting republican last november it was not about donald trump, he was a means to an end. the end being keeping the supreme court in conservative control. and it could become even more conservative. two of the more liberal justices are now quite elderly. justice breyer is 78, judge ginsberg 83.

if president trump gets to choose their replacements the political complexion of the supreme court will have changed dramatically. and that in turn could result in massive change to the social fabric of america. let's speak to anthony zurcher, who joins us from the bbc‘s washington newsroom. how fierce a battle is this likely to become over the supreme court nominee? i think it will get ugly. democrats are fielding a lot of pressure from their base across the country. remember what happened last year with barack country. remember what happened last year with ba rack obama's country. remember what happened last year with barack obama's pick a map republicans did not hold a hearing, and they think it is time to get revenge for what they call a stolen seat. and trump's pick to become attorney general, jeff sessions, has had his nomination passed

by a senate committee. it means he'll now go before the entire senate for a confirmation vote. there were some hold—ups. the democrats stalled on the committee that was supposed to approve it yesterday, giving longer speeches than normal. this morning, we reconvene the committee, the democrats showed up and voted against them, but the republicans held the day, so nowjeff sessions‘ appointment will reach the floor in the coming days, and if the republicans stick by him, they have a majority and he will be confirmed. one—woman comedy picture education secretary, the only woman, but she is on shaky ground. she had a very shaky confirmation hearing a few weeks ago for she didn‘t seem all that familiar with some fundamental point of education policy. now we have heard that two republican senators are not going to vote to confirm her. there are 52 republicans in the senate, which

drops her support down to 50, the bare minimum for confirmation. they scheduled to vote on monday and interesting, jeff sessions would not be able to vote in the senate. he is from alabama. that would mean that the education candidate would not have enough support to be confirmed. two other key trump nominations were passed by senate committee votes today. they were steve mnuchin, a former hedge fund manager nominated for treasury secretary, and tom price, a republican congressman nominated for health secretary. on this occasion though, senate republicans threw out the rule book. they held the votes without any democrats present after they had boycotted votes on tuesday. how divisive is this, doing it with the democrats out of the room for already tense relations? exactly, they are camping it up. the democrats will find any procedural means to slow things down and throw

sand into the gears of the nomination process. they surprised a lot of people yesterday by not showing up at a boat. according to committee rules, one democrat had to be present. republicans strategised overnight, and when the democrats we re overnight, and when the democrats were not there in the morning, they changed the rules, voted and it was unanimous. they will reach the floor of the senate, where they will almost certainly be confirmed in the next few days. tell us about the piece you have been working on online about all of this. the democrats are in an interesting fix. on one hand, they are getting a lot of angerfrom on one hand, they are getting a lot of anger from their base. 1000 peoples showed up at a town hall this weekend to complain about the senator showing support for donald trump nominees. on the other hand, there are democratic senators who have to run for re—election in states that donald trump carried, and they don‘t want to cross in hourly for fear of upsetting the voters in their home states and they

might need to balance things out. there are other senators who are concerned about possibly prompting republicans to do away with the filibuster, their one means of blocking a supreme court nominee, so they are being pulled in several different directions. they have to ta ke different directions. they have to take that into consideration. anthony, thanks for taking us through those processors, some held up through those processors, some held up more than others. —— those processes . fighting is flaring up in ukraine, and our correspondent is in the town at the centre of conflict between government forces and pro—russian rebels. let‘s get a bit more analysis of tonight‘s vote in the house of commons, which passed the bill that would trigger article 50, the formal process to leave the european union. well, my colleague ben brown has been speaking to the former leader of the snp alex salmond and the conservative mp

dominic raab, who begins here by saying he feels it‘s time to move on with negotiations. the truth is, i don‘t want to continue the haggling at home. i wa nt to continue the haggling at home. i want to start the serious diplomacy abroad. what this shows is that we can go into this negotiation with some self confidence and ambition, andi some self confidence and ambition, and i think, from my point of view, i want to bridge some of the gaps and heal some of the wounds, because we need unity of purpose. the country we need unity of purpose. the cou ntry votes we need unity of purpose. the country votes as one country, not different constituencies, not different constituencies, not different nations. i‘ll —— we need to get behind these negotiations and get the best deal we can. this is why they only have one mp in the whole of scotland. he thinks scotland is a county of england. it isa scotland is a county of england. it is a country, not a county, and is entitled to national rights. is a country, not a county, and is entitled to national rightsm is a country, not a county, and is entitled to national rights. it was auk entitled to national rights. it was a uk wide referendum. and scotland

voted to remain. the majority in the polls is even higher now. nicola sturgeon has put forward a compromise position which allows theresa may to let scotland stay within the single market, a huge compromise. it is not remotely credible. that is total nonsense. the next time you meetjean—claude junker, have a conversation like the one i had the week before christmas. he has more sympathy and support across the continent for scotland than there is for brexit. the spanish would not allow that. the proposal is to have scotland in the single market as part of efta. the spanish government's formal position, as opposed to how it is sometimes presented on the bbc, is agreed within the uk —— if something is agreed within the uk constitutional format, spain has nothing to say about it. none of the

european countries would agree. there are examples. i would say to the people of scotland, i understand, like others that voted remain, other quarters, other regions and nations, let‘s come together because they‘re right huge opportunities for scottish exporters, for trade, and let‘s get the right deal. this is outside source, live from the bbc newsroom. our lead story is: the us senate has voted to confirm rex tillerson, the former chief executive of exxon mobil, to be donald trump‘s secretary of state. coming up shortly on bbc news: if you‘re outside of the uk, it‘s world news america next where you can watch katty kay‘s exclusive interview with former us defense secretary, chuck hagel. here in the uk, the news at ten is next, with a report on britain‘s housing crisis from the bbc‘s economics editor kamal ahmed. fighting between government forces

and pro—russian rebels continued overnight in eastern ukraine map shelling is reported in the industrial town of avdiivka, and further south near the city of mariupol. the latest flare—up in the conflict is the worst in months. our correspondent tom burridge is on the front line. so we‘re on the road on the way into avdiivka, a small city where there has been recent heavy fighting between russian backed separatists and the ukrainian military and you can hear in the background there is a heavy battle not farfrom here. we can hear a lot of outgoing firing from the ukrainian side. in the two years of covering this conflict i‘ve rarely known the situation to be this unstable and volatile. we‘ve come into avdiivka, this small city, and you can see the coking plant there. coke is a material used in the process of making steel. it‘s a huge feature of this small city, right close to the front line. what is striking is when you come into avdiivka, you can hear the artillery, you can hear

the mortars going off in the background, down towards the industrial zone, which is right next to the front line. essentially the front line between ukrainian military on this side and russian backed separatists on the other. what is striking here in avdiivka, though, is the signs of everyday life. a large group of women just waiting for the bus. probably about a five—minute drive from the war‘s front line. so we‘ve come up to the far end of avdiivka. we are not far from the prom zone, an industrial area just on the edge of the city. you can see these flats here have been shelled in the past. there are a lot of ukrainian soldiers here. they are much more busy than they have been when i‘ve been in the conflict zone in the past. there is a lot more activity going on, a lot more military vehicles. you can actually see the osce here. that is the international monitors which have been monitoring the conflict in eastern ukraine. they are in the area trying to sort of basically keep

tabs on the fighting. you can see in the background, residents again. local residents coming out of their flats. people live in this area and this is a daily reality for them, although the last two or three days have been much, much worse than usual. let‘s go to israel and the occupied palestinian territories. amona is an israeli outpost in the west bank which israel‘s courts says is illegal. today israeli police moved in to demolish the homes and move people out. the bbc‘s yollande knell was there. settlers tried to block the road to amona and barricaded themselves in their homes. many had to be dragged away by israeli police. about 50 families were living in this outpost, built in the west bank without israeli government approval. some had been given 20 years but had

been told to leave. it is a very sad situation that the government of israel was manipulated into. what can we say? i am on the verge of tea rs can we say? i am on the verge of tears right now. because this could have been avoided so easily. israel‘s high court ruled that amona was built on private palestinian land back in 2014 and ordered that it be demolished. the family is holding out here in amona have been joined by hundreds of israeli settlers. they have also had strong support from some in israel‘s government, but despite promises made by ministers, they have not been able to stop this evacuation from going ahead. and yet, in recent days, over 6000 new settler homes have been approved in the west bank and eastjerusalem, land the palestinians want for their state. settle m e nts palestinians want for their state. settlements are seen as illegal under international law, but israel

disagrees. the palestinians see no way out, frankly. they see an israeli government that is hysterically bent on imposing greater israel on historical palestine and destroying the chances of peace. this man watched from a distance. feelings of satisfaction have been shortly. actions to remove this outpost have come as other settle m e nts this outpost have come as other settlements are being rapidly expanded. an incredible story to bring you. scientists say patients with absolutely no control over their bodies have finally been able to communicate. a computer was used to read activity in the brains of people who are completely "locked in" — those whose brains are alert but they have lost the ability to move, talk or even blink. bbc news website health editor james gallagher explained how the process works. they put a cap on the head, and that

fires like inside the brain, which is trying to pick up what colour your blood is. why would you want to do that? it is quite easy — the more active your brain is, the more oxygen it draws out of your blood, which causes subtle changes in the colour. by looking at the colour of the blood in the brain, they can tell i like the brain is. if you train enough with the computer, it can learn to interpret what you‘re brain is doing or thinking. they can ask simple questions like what your name is, and your brain should be firing off, no, my name is not david. the computer learns that that is what it looks like when they are saying no, then they learn what it looks like when you say yes, and you can then ask questions. so the key is questions to which the a nswer so the key is questions to which the answer can only be yes or no? yes. imagine how big a deal that is, because these are patients who cannot communicate at all. there are some patients with motor neuron

disease who can have a limited form, but these people had none at all, so suddenly, by saying yes or no, they can answer simple questions, like are you in pain? do you want to see yourfamily now are you in pain? do you want to see your family now or should they come back later? they can start to answer questions like that. the daughter who asked them locked in dad for permission to marry, who hilariously said no. the only way they can be certain of the answer is to ask over and over again. the answer came back over and over, no, you cannot marry. they got married anyway, but don‘t tell dad! do they manage to get a picture of the state of mind of these people who have been trapped inside their bodies for many years in some cases? yes, they seem to be quite happy. these are patients who have chosen to live, to continue having all the

life support that keeps them alive, so life support that keeps them alive, so you would perhaps expect them not to reflect the whole pool of people with this disorder. from the perspective of a healthy person, there are constant debates about the right to die and people going, if i we re right to die and people going, if i were in that scenario, how would i feel? but here are people who are locked in saying that they are happy and content with life. extraordinary. what are the potentials of this technology? what else could be done? this is just the else could be done? this isjust the beginning. the long—term ambition is to be able to tell far more about what is going on inside the brain, to move on from this rudimentary communication. imagine this event —— this interview if every question had to be asked ten times! it will be easier to do and it will be easier to get beyond yes and no questions. and, right at the very end of the process, the desire is to be fully —— to be able

to fully reversed the locked in syndrome. that is a long way off. james has written a great piece on the bbc website. check that out if you want to know more about this story. there have been calls to lift the immigration ban in the us. there have been calls to lift the immigration ban in the usw there have been calls to lift the immigration ban in the us. it is obvious that, in my opinion, this is not the way, and it was clear in the statement, to best protect the us or any other country in relation to the serious concerns that exist about possibilities of terrorist infiltration. i don‘t think this is the effective way to do so, and i think that these measures should be removed, sooner rather than later. that was the appeal i made. the

controversial immigration ban, which affected three african countries — sudan, somalia and libya — and middle eastern countries, has caused chaos at airports. as we‘ve been reporting all week christian, how president trump‘s immigration ban caused confusion at us airports last weekend and caught up in that at washington‘s dulles airport was alaa — an iraqi immigrant — whose wife was flying in from iraq. at one point, though, a stranger appeared with a military medal and gave it to alaa. let‘s find out why. ididn‘t i didn‘t believe it was a purple heart in the beginning. it didn‘t seem heart in the beginning. it didn‘t seem real to me. it didn‘t seem real. i did two combat deployments. i was injured, including brain injury and shrapnel wounds. i was injured, including brain injury and shrapnel woundslj i was injured, including brain injury and shrapnel wounds. i worked with the americans in the embassy baghdad. i came to the united states in 2008 with a special immigrant visa. i was on my way back and i was

working on the floor and i saw the coverage atjfk. working on the floor and i saw the coverage at jfk. outrage at jfk airport, where two men from the right were detained. airport, where two men from the right were detainedlj airport, where two men from the right were detained. i know it does international flights. right were detained. i know it does internationalflights. i right were detained. i know it does international flights. i searched to see something was happening, and before we knew it, were halfway there. singing . i thought the system should be working, and she was a green card holder. then i met this wonderful man. i got this, i got this from an american fellow. this is what american fellow. this is what america is all about. i was asked, do you go to protest? my thought was

not necessarily to give him the purple heart, it was, what do i have that represents the support to me? i wa nted that represents the support to me? i wanted you to leave with the true american sentiment. it is probably the most precious gift i ever received in my life. it is going to be on display somewhere in this house, but also, it‘s going to be a story, a story i keep telling. the purple heart, to me, represents something that will always be part of me. i don‘t need the medal, i have the scars on my body to represent the experiences i encountered. it was literally me just trying to give him something that was important. it made me happy. it did make my family happy. it forever changed our lives, in a way. what an amazing story emerging from the chaos at some american airports

over the weekend. just leave you with some rare footage filmed by scientists on hawaii, shoving an unusual phenomenon, because a lava flow from a volcano which has been active since 1983 has formed into a fire hose and poured through cracks in the cliffs into the pacific ocean. jets of steam can be seen towering into the air as the molten rock hits the water. if you want to get more run our main stories, that vote in the british house of commons giving the green light to the brexit process , giving the green light to the brexit process, that is all the on website for you, as well as the latest on donald trump‘s top team, their confirmation processes, including the confirmation of the new secretary of state, rex tillerson. thank you for watching. we are back at the same time tomorrow. for weeks, we were talking about dry

weather, persistent high pressure in the uk, but if you watched darren yesterday evening, he had the proof that the statistics are right and it has been a very dry january. the start of february, we have weather fronts lined up in the atlantic bring more rain. we had rain through the day on wednesday. we have low pressure brewing for thursday, which will bring windier weather. by friday, we could notch up another level. there is potentially a storm on the way, potentially a named one. we had some sunshine through the day. this is one shot that we had through with sunshine. there may be sunshine in the north of scotland and some frost first thing on thursday, but for most of us, a gloomy start with rain and wind. the gales are worth mentioning for eastern parts of northern ireland, western fringes of england and wales and scotland, because there could be

severe gales, so yes, and scotland, because there could be severe gales, so yes, some and scotland, because there could be severe gales, so yes, some notable weather on thursday. this is friday‘s potential storm. there is some disagreement between the computer models, which is what is giving us a headache. some of them ta ke giving us a headache. some of them take the storm across northern france, the channel islands, potentially causing disruptive weather. other models take it across the southern half of the uk, so clearly, it will cause disruption wherever it hits, but it could give us some wherever it hits, but it could give us some nasty weather on friday, with gale force winds inland and storm force winds on the coast. that low— pressure storm force winds on the coast. that low—pressure then moves out the way, but obviously, where that goes, it has a knock—on effect on what happens on saturday, and indeed sunday. at the moment it looks as though once that low—pressure moves away, someone trueness on though once that low—pressure moves away, someone trueness on its heels, we could see the low—pressures

scooting across southern areas. windy weather on saturday. another load potentially moves across the south into sunday. we will drag in some colder air, which gives the potential for wintry weather over the hills. we will promote rugby be concerned with the strength of the wind and the amount of rain that will come on top of a couple of already wet days. the temperatures are not high in the north. by monday, there arejust are not high in the north. by monday, there are just the signs of those low—pressures starting to slow down and move further north, so you can see that anchoring low—pressure up can see that anchoring low—pressure up towards iceland. the next low— pressure up towards iceland. the next low—pressure is winding its way up the western side of the uk initially, before pushing the rain further east. that is because the jet stream may well change into the beginning of next week. through the latter pa rt beginning of next week. through the latter part of this week, it steers those low—pressures to the

north—west, and possibly later next week we might get a blocked weather pattern that we had in recent weeks through january, which is pattern that we had in recent weeks throuthanuary, which is when the high pressure across scandinavia and that cold air stops the low—pressure from progressing. between now and then, a lot to play for. a lot of mild, wetand then, a lot to play for. a lot of mild, wet and windy weather to come in the next few days, and then the transition to colder air. warnings are already issued. stay tuned for more. inafirst in a first step is journey towards brexit. an overwhelming majority in favour of the bill allowing the government to start negotiating by the end of march. conservative mps are overjoyed. this shows that we can go on to this negotiation with self confidence and ambition, and from my point of view, i do want to try to bridge some of the gaps and heal some of the wounds. who defied their leader‘s orders.

my constituency voted strongly to remain. i think if we‘re going to connect westminster back with the community, as the representative of york central, i need to bring that voice back into westminster.