hello, i'm ros atkins with outside source. in the next few hours, both sides of the travel ban in america would take to the appeal court to fight their case. we explain how it works. vice president mike pence has had to break a tie in the senate and confirm betsy devos as education secretary. it is the first time it vice president has intervened in this way in us history. we also examine this claim from president trump. has gotten to the point where it is not even being reported and in many cases the dishonest press doesn't want to reported. the white house has produced a list of attacks which it says the media have underreported. we have taken a look at the list. we did report them. we look at claims from amnesty international the doctor 30,000 —— 13,000 syrians were executed at the prison in damascus. if you have any questions, we live in the bbc

newsroom. live in washington as well. get in touch. the contact details arejust here. for the trump presidency it's business as usual today. by that i meana business as usual today. by that i mean a cabinet confirmation, legal battles over its travel ban and defending claims it has made that are demonstrably untrue. we will get to those in a moment. first of all,, later an appeals court will hear arguments for and against the ban. it is suspended at the moment. we know some of the justice department's argument because last night it filed some statements. they say the president is best placed to make decisions about national security. it is incorrect to call it a ban on muslims because the seven

countries were identified further terror risk. let's back —— let's bring the bbc correspondent live from washington. a lot of us are getting confused as to where this appeals court fits into the other legal processes. help us out, please? sure. it started at the district court in seattle. that is the bottom rung of the federal system. the appeals court is one step up. they are reviewing a decision made by the district court to suspend the immigration order. ride above that is the supreme court. whatever this appeals court decides, whether to uphold the ban 01’ decides, whether to uphold the ban or strike it down, basically they wa nt to or strike it down, basically they want to see if there is a preponderance of evidence it could be illegal, that can be reviewed all the way up to the supreme court. whoever loses, will probably do that, although the trump administration may want to wait and let it go back down to the district court. a supreme court ruling now

would pretty much preclude any further legal action. thank you. a couple of other things. betsy devos has been confirmed as us education secretary. vice president mike pence had to intervene and resolve the matter because the senate vote was tied. this has never happened before in us history. this is when it happened. on this road the yeas and 50, the nays are 50. the senate being equally divided, the vice president votes in the affirmative and the nomination is confirmed. the first time in us history is vice president has had to be brought in to break a tie on a presidential cabinet nomination. the reason it was a tie may have been partly related to the fa ct may have been partly related to the fact that betsy devos had a difficult confirmation hearing. there were some awkward moments. this was one of them. uber —— you

can't say positively that guns shouldn't be in schools?” can't say positively that guns shouldn't be in schools? i will refer back to the senator and the school he was talking about. i would imagine that they are there is probably a gun in the school to protect from potential grizzlies. democrats are not happy about this appointment. here is senator al frank and speaking today.“ appointment. here is senator al frank and speaking today. if you watched her confirmation hearing, you would know that. it was the most embarrassing confirmation hearing i have ever seen. she could not answer the most basic questions about education. so i asked my republican colleagues, if betsy devos‘s performance in this hearing didn't

convince you that she lacks the qualifications for this job, what would have had to have happened in that hearing, in order to convince you? let's bring anthony back in. i don't think we are compromising bbc neutrality to say this was a difficult confirmation hearing. but the question al frank and is making it is, do the hearings make any difference or do the senators make up difference or do the senators make up their minds on different issues? partisanship factors in a great deal. this was one of donald trump's paton to. —— pics. it was not a good performance, not only because of the grizzly bear remark, but she showed unfamiliarity with some of the prominent debates within the educational world. but that really didn't makea educational world. but that really didn't make a difference because

they were 52 republicans, all it took were 58 to confirm —— 50. two of the republicans voted with the democrats. they were probably given a pass from leadership because they we re a pass from leadership because they were tough votes. they stuck to that 50 volts, with mike pence breaking the tie, and the republicans stood together. they didn't want to give donald trump that defeat. yesterday we reported on a donald trump speech in florida. in that speech he once again accused the media of dishonesty. he made this specific allegation. we've seen my happened in paris and nice. all over europe it's happening. it's gotten to a point where it's not even being reported. and in many cases, the very dishonest press doesn't want to reported. they have their reasons and you understand that. the president saying the media is deliberately completely ignoring

islamist terror attacks in europe. later on, his press secretary, sean spicer, backed the claims.” later on, his press secretary, sean spicer, backed the claims. i think the president's comments were very clear. members of the media don't always cover some of the events to the extent that they cover other events. a protest will get blown out of the water, yet a foiled attack doesn't necessarily get the same coverage. the president said attacks we re coverage. the president said attacks were being completely ignored. the press secretary slightly changed it to say they were being under reported. this is the next development. the white house released a list of 78 attacks it says we re released a list of 78 attacks it says were carried out by our mac inspired by islamic state. they were under reported by the media. let's do an outside source fact check. the bbc has gone through the entire list. my colleague, roland hughes, has published a very long article on the bbc news website. he works through all of those 78 items on the list. and for everyone that we

cover, we link to the coverage. the only ones we don't link to our events listed by the white house which we cannot find any evidence of them occurring. many of these events listed are major events. the charlie hebdo attack, the paris attacks of 2015 and the san bernardino attacks. i would imagine you remember those being widely covered by the media. the white house saying we are under reported. there are also lesser—known events listed by the white house. for instance, mentioned an incident in new york in 2015. a young mum was shot dead after wounding two police officers with an axe. you can find bbc news coverage of that story on the website from the time. pakistan got a mention. an incident in karachi in 2015. seven pakistani policemen were killed by

gunmen. if you go to the bbc website, you'll find coverage of the story. one another example, if we move from pakistan and bangladesh, and something that happened in november 20 15. the white house mentions an italian police —— priest was attacked by unknown assailants but survived. we mentioned the story. i could go on. on top of that, the list is littered with spelling mistakes that suggests they may not have even been timed to hit spell—check. all politicians make state m e nts spell—check. all politicians make statements that fall into grey areas, they interpret events to serve their agenda. this though is different. the president and his collea g u es different. the president and his colleagues are making claims that are easily shown to be entirely untrue and they have done so repeatedly. it does beg the question why. let's bring in anthony serco. i guess they have been —— being told to have told and in truth can hurt

you politically? this can be an example of donald trump's shoot from the hip style. why not say the media is covering up evidence that could support donald trump's proposed immigration action. it could also be a strategic explanation. he is getting the media to outline this whole list of attacks all over the world and detail them are bubbling more than his own white house managed to do. other people are saying, why didn't he talk about sub saharan terrorism or attacks in israel and the occupied territory? it may be advancing donald trump's goals. at the very least i think it has everybody talking about what was and wasn't covered, rather than what we're talking just a few days ago, which was the mishandling of the roll—out of the immigration order. one of the things i wanted to discuss was an attack that is not on the wide outlook —— the white house list, the bowling green massacre. perhaps the reason is it never

happened. you may have seen president strom's adviser, kellyanne conway, mentioning it last week on television. two iraqis came to this country, were radicalised and they we re country, were radicalised and they were behind the bowling green massacre. it didn't even get covered. the massacre never happened. kellyanne conway said afterwards it e afterwards it was an honest mistake. ! had meant green terrorists. if there bowling green terrorists. if there was a slip, it is a step that has happened in umber of time. before that interview, kellyanne conway also spoke to cosmopolitan magazine. in that, she said this. that mistake struck again when kellyanne conway spoke to tmc. president obama suspended the iraq

refugee programme for six months in 2011, and no one covered it. nobody noticed. he did that because i presume there were two iraqis who came here, got radicalised, joined isis and work the masterminds behind the bowling green attack on our grieving soldiers. three examples. kellyanne conway is one of the most important people within the trump administration. what you make of those three examples? i think she got a talking point stuck in her head and she kept going with it, even though it wasn't based on fact. she may have been conflating it with a shooting in chattanooga, tennessee, were some soldiers were killed at the recruiting station. tennessee, kentucky, states near each other. maybe she just confused them. no one checked on that area. no one saw those earlier comments about the bowling green massacre. it wasn't until recently most people notice. she got away with it, is stuck in her head and she went from there.

thank you, as ever. anthony life from washington. if you want extensive coverage of the trump administration, you can find it whenever you want through the bbc news app, which you can download if you have got a start form that smartphone. i want to talk about what amnesty international has said today about syria. it's revealed it has uncovered evidence that the syrian government is involved in the killing of 13,000 people. it alleges this happened at a military prison which is 30 kilometres north of the capital, damascus. this is a satellite image of the prison. it is... those who died were executed by hanging between 20112015, it is alleged. it is also claimed most of those who died were civilian opposition supporters. the bbc has spoken to a former prisoner who spent time at asotthalom. this is his account. the whole experience was terrible.

there was beating, torture, verbal abuse and, of course, physical abuse. during my time there, we were only allowed to sleep in certain hours. and we had to wake but certain hours. we were only allowed to wear underwear, nothing else. we had one meal per day. torture was systematic and it can be at any time. they used different methods of torture. the so—called tyre was a common practice. your body is praised —— placed inside a large tyre which renders you a mobile before you are beaten. they can beat you anywhere, with their hands, feet and sometimes with electric sticks. on top of that, you are starving and you don't see the sun. many

prisoners have broken limbs. others have lost their hearing, and some even died under torture. my days there seemed like a hell with no end. the syrian president, bashar al—assad, hasn't responded to these claims. several months ago the new york times asked him about the killing and torturing of his own people. his reply to that accusation was... he says the real reason is toppling the government. the bbc arab group or at has been looking at the evidence that we have been provided with, that comes with these claims. amnesty international actually spoke to 31 detainees that were actually in the prison. she actually also spoke to three previous judges in syria, and doctors. it does sound

quite reliable. however, the scale that they're presenting is actually shocking. it's a huge scale. as they said that around 300 were executed every day. you have to remember, amnesty international is not allowed to operate inside syria since 2011, so the information they gathered was mainly from interviews over the phone, in turkey, jordan, people from the united states, or who are living in the uk. you have to bear that in mind, whether that is credible or might not. wouldn't prison exists, it would just deny the accu=atlfim’= prison exists, it would just deny the ggsggtienfi‘ as prison exists, it would just deny the segggetiefls?‘ as you the accusations? yes. as you mentioned, bashar al—assad or the government haven't denied that there isa government haven't denied that there is a prison. however, they always denied that they torture people in prisons. to be honest, growing up in syria, you hear those kinds of stories all the time. i used to hear

it from people who were in political opposition to the government, were in prison and left. a lot of them came out with mental health problems, if not physical. some of them, theirfamilies problems, if not physical. some of them, their families don't know where they are for years. it does happen. however, the scale of it is something to be discussed. i'm not really sure what the scale is. if you speak arabic, you can get coverage of all the stories on outside sport —— all of the story is an outside source on the website. the israeli parliament has signed a new law which will legalise jewish settle m e nts new law which will legalise jewish settlements built on private palestinian land. there has been extensive international criticism. we bring you all the details. the government has defeated an amendment to the final draft brexit agreement before it is put to the european parliament. opposition mps wanted to approve any treaty the government

wa nts to approve any treaty the government wants to put forward. vicky young has more. mps were desperately try to get more assurances that they would have a meaningful vote on all of this. they haven't won tonight, the labour side and the tory rebels. there were some pretty furious scenes as the vote was going on. i was sitting in the gallery. people like nicky morgan, a staunch remainer, she was furious, having a go at the chief whip, obviously not happy with what she had heard. she ended up abstaining. it has been a tricky night for the government. but they will be pretty pleased they managed to get through all of this. there will be a vote here when a deal is done. but it won't allow parliament to send theresa may back to the negotiating table. we're live in the bbc newsroom. a us

federal appeals court will hear arguments later over whether to restore president trump's travel ban on people from seven mainly muslim countries. the main stories from bbc world service. madonna has been granted permission to adopt a two more children from malawi. she has already got two malawian children. this is police dashcam video footage ofa this is police dashcam video footage of a meet your. there were more than 350 sightings in wisconsin. —— meatier. time for outside source business. things seem to be looking pretty good for general motors. it is the biggest car company in the us. they sold 10 million vehicles worldwide last year. that is a record. that was helped by particularly strong sales of pick—up trucks and suvs. looking at the topline, this seems

to be fantastic news for the company. are there any caveats you are seeing that these really great sales are happening in the united states of suvs and pick—up trucks, it offset all kinds of international wea kness it offset all kinds of international weakness with regards to weakness in the pound, that really hurt them. slowdown in latin american companies. and the slowdown in china. that meant that domestic league their profits were helped, giving them another record year. league their profits were helped, giving them another record yearlj would like to discuss the relationship between the ceo of gm and donald trump. this is a photo from last friday. a meeting of us business leaders hosted at the white house by president trump. the only ceo of a car company who was invited was mary barrett. she is next to the president. she is ceo of gm. she has got the prime spot in the whole

meeting. that suggests her relationship is good? it's really interesting because she was in fact at the white house and will be meeting with mr trump regularly. but interestingly, when it comes to the automobile makers, we have seen that mrtrump has automobile makers, we have seen that mr trump has really been going back —— going after them, wanting to see more cars built in the united states. we have seen companies like ford make announcements that they will not be making as many investments to mexico factories, but redirecting some of that investment into their domestic factories. but gm has not done the same thing. in fa ct, gm has not done the same thing. in fact, they already had a plan in place to build a factory in mexico, and it hasn't really changed that plan. it seems they have been able to avoid some of that pressure. other automobile makers have been feeling it. going forward it will be really interesting to watch, the relationship between the big three

auto—makers in the united states, and mrtrump, and how that relationship bills. thank you. we have a switch from new york to israel. on monday, the israeli parliament passed a law which retroactively legalises almost 4000 settlements. these are different pictures we have of settlements being built and areas being cleared as they go about the construction process. the palestinian president has called this an act of aggression. the un france, britain, is really opposition parties and the israeli attorney general have condemned it. america says it will hold —— will withhold comment until the bill has been reviewed by the israeli court. the settlements were built on privately owned palestinian land in the west bank. yolande knell is covering the story. settlers protest in last week in the west bank. israel's high court had ruled thatjewish

west bank. israel's high court had ruled that jewish families west bank. israel's high court had ruled thatjewish families build their homes here on private palestinian land. and after years of delay, police moved in to clear the site. now the israeli parliament has narrowly passed a highly controversial law to protect other outposts, built without government permits. a victory for nationalists, who stressed biblical ties to the land. we are voting tonight on our right to the land, under continuous connection of 3000 years. we are voting tonight for the connection between the jewish voting tonight for the connection between thejewish people and its land, the whole land is ours, all of it. a small outburst in the public gallery was quickly curbed. but opposition politicians and the government's top legal adviser believes this law is unconstitutional. translation: do not give your hand to this insane law that threatens to destroy israeli democracy, israel's international standing, that

threatens military commanders and leaders and stands in complete opposition to the opinion of the attorney general. many experts believe this law will not stand up to challenges in the israeli supreme court. but it is being seen as a sign of how the government feels emboldened. although there has been international condemnation of plans to expand settlements on land the palestinians want for a state, donald trump is taking a much softer sta nce donald trump is taking a much softer stance than former us presidents. talks in london meant the israeli prime minister was a wafer last night's vote. theresa may says she warned against the new legislation and expressed concerns about recent announcement of 6000 new settler homes. all settlements are seen as illegal under international law. but israel disagrees. palestinian officials want more done to stop them. if the international to you once been a briton state solution, they must act now. the whole scene now is

that neta nyahu is must act now. the whole scene now is that netanyahu is trying to deliver a lethal blow. not only to the existing prospect of a two state solution, but the future possibility. now the european union has put a summit with israel on hold. washington is expected to await a supreme court ruling before weighing in. just before we wrap—up this have come let's look at some of the stories we will be covering in the next half. the new england patriots getting back to boston in the freezing cold, celebrating that amazing comeback in the super bowl. and nicolas sarkozy has had some bad hello there. time for a unlikely look at some of the big weather stories around the globe. we are

going to start in australia. it has been a summer so far of extreme heat and intense storms in sydney. the story continues. sydney experience its warmest consecutive night for more than a hundred years at the weekend. temperature didn't drop much below 26 degrees. what comes after that heat is storms. this is a of ,-,: 254: of thunderstorms, sweat . . w. of thunderstorms, and sweet — 7 w— of thunderstorms, and flooding = rain and thunderstorms, and flooding scenes like this across the city. it has brought a drop in temperature back into the mid—20s. in the next few days the heat builds again. by friday, highs 38 degrees. across the other side of australia, this cloud could be a potentially developing cyclone. as it spins away to the north—west, it is dragging moisture down to the south—west. some of

those storms would be forcing across perth in the next few days. it is at this time of the year when pratt has a dry season. ten millimetres of rain ina a dry season. ten millimetres of rain in a month. you could see must travel that for the rest of the week. we are seeing certainly in excess of that in mauritius. tropical cyclone carlos. flooding, rough sees and damaging winds. they are moving out of the way. the seas will remain rough. there could be some storms but generally a big improvement. one area further west which could do with the rain at the moment is in cape town. this is the satellite image from tuesday. clear skies. months of below average rainfall in this area. reservoirs are dangerously low. and water restrictions in cape town have not only been extended, they have also been harsh and. into the us, an

interesting day on tuesday. unusual warmth towards the south and east. cold conditions in eastern and there new england. a cold front will sweep east. some intense storms and tornadoes possible. ice dan snow a big problem in new york, new england and eastern canada. snow is continuing to fall in the south—west. more rain is still to come. they could do with a letup from it now. stormy in the western mediterranean as we head into wednesday. in the north—east of europe it is about the chill. a little bit of that cold weather is heading our way. thomas has more in half an hour. hello, i'm ros atkins, this is outside source. let's look through some of the main stories here in the bbc newsroom. the legal stand—off over donald trump's travel ban continues — in the next few hours both sides will take to an appeals court.

meanwhile, the president's pick for education secretary has been confirmed — but only after his vice president broke a tie in the senate. the senate, being equally divided, the vice president votes in the affirmative and the nomination is confirmed. the supreme leader of iran has said that donald trump has helped show the world ‘the true face' of america — and he didn't mean it as a compliment. we will talk to bbc persian about that. and nicholas sarkozy wanted to be president of france again — instead he's been ordered to appear