an extraordinary new claim by president trump — he accuses barack obama of ordering the tapping of his phones. mr trump claims it took place during the us election campaign but offers no evidence. he compares it to watergate, calling the former president a "bad or sick guy". mr obama said the claim was "simply false". he's denied ordering any phone taps during his presidency. the election yesterday was in many ways a watershed election. sinn fein celebrate their best ever showing in elections to the northern ireland assembly. game set and match, murray. and sir andy murray claims another trophy, as he wins the dubai championships for the first time. good evening.

donald trump has accused barack obama of having his phones at trump tower in new york tapped, during last year's presidential election. in a series of messages on social media, president trump called mr obama a "sick man" and compared the alleged bugging to the watergate scandal. a spokesman for mr obama said claims that he had ordered surveillance of any us citizen were "simply false". our north america correspondent, nick byrant, reports. it was warm handshakes and friendly bonymaen on inauguration day as donald trump peacefully took power from barack obama, two men fiercely hostile in the election campaign, coming together in a show of presidential and personal civility, but early this morning donald trump launched the kind of public attack ona launched the kind of public attack on a predecessor which in modern times is completely without residence. terrible, he wrote in a

twitter tirade —— without precedent. abe road from rally outside his towel in new york, —— a pro trump rally outside his towel in new york but he made his allegations without offering any proof or saying they came from intelligence briefings or reading reports from a right—wing website, breitbart news. it is extraordinary for a president to allege this against anyone let alone his predecessor, without citing any evidence. a querrey former aide of barack obama evidence. a querrey former aide of ba rack obama has evidence. a querrey former aide of barack obama has shot back at donald trump, saying no president could order a wiretap, he says —— a key former aide. he says these things

we re former aide. he says these things were put in place to protect citizens by givers of the fbi opened an investigation which are still ongoing, looking into investigations between donald trump and the russians. the whole truth and nothing but the truth. this week the new attorney generaljeff sessions faced calls for his resignation for not disclosing meetings he held with the russian ambassador. donald trump osbert national—security adviser michael flynn had to resign last month because of conversations about us sanctions against the kremlin with the same ambassador —— national security adviser donald trump began this week with a wildly prized speech on capitol hill which was supposed to reset his presidency. but this is a speedy return to the kind of angry attacks that many think are far from presidential. nick is outside trump tower in new york tonight. we are getting used to extraordinary state m e nts we are getting used to extraordinary statements from this president, but

how surprised to have people been by this one? the president hasjust called his predecessor sick and bad, it is worth dwelling on this language can we have never heard anything like it before. the white house has not come up with any evidence to back that claim, and it has not said where the allegations have come from and that heightens the suspicion that he was reacting angrily to a news report that he read on a right wing website. it raises questions about his temperament, the response from obama was very restrained, and it raises questions about his judgment and it also shows he is prepared to trash one of the on written conventions of american politics which is this, american politics which is this, american presidents past and present do not launch highly personalised attacks on each other. this is an exclusive club, surprisingly chummy, and one of the reasons why is the people who have occupied the white house have such a high regard and

high respect for the office of the presidency and donald trump is signalling he is not bound by those conventions. thanks forjoining us. sinn fein are celebrating their best ever showing in elections to the northern ireland assembly. they've won 27 seats, just one less than the democratic unionists. sinn fein‘s ppesident, gerry adams, said it was a watershed election and the end to a permanent unionist majority in northern ireland. the two parties now have three weeks to agree a new power—sharing coalition. from belfast, chris buckler reports. sinn fein believe they have changed the political picture in northern ireland. if this election was a battle in the long fight between unionism and nationalism, they are claiming victory. clearly, the unionist majority in the assembly has been ended and the notion of a permanent or perpetual unionist majority has been demolished.

the dup are still stormont‘s biggest party, but they can only watch as republicans ate into their sizeable lead from the last election, just ten months ago. many voters were motivated by the harsh words of the campaign. at one stage the dup compared republicans to crocodiles. now they've bitten back. in order to go back into government, sinn fein are calling for arlene foster to step aside as first minister while a public inquiry takes place into a financial scandal linked to a botched green energy scheme. it is a demand that has angered mrs foster's party. now we have got to pick up the pieces after a brutal election and the party which has got most to be concerned about as to how to repair the damage is sinn fein. for so long the big beast of politics here, unionism is facing a fresh roarfrom nationalism.

just months ago they seemed to be working together, but in unionist east belfast where the cs lewis square has been built in honour of the author, there is a certain concern about what is emerging. our whole government system is not working for the people who need it. because they are up there squabbling over very little, to be honest. republicans are out again in force, so they are. we should get off our backsides and get out and vote. once hailed as a champion of unionism, this statue stands outside stormont. today his political successors feel on their guard and no one is sure if a deal to restore power—sharing is within their grasp. the french carmaker, which owns peugeot and citroen, is reported to have reached an agreement to buy vauxhall from general motors. an official announcement is due on monday, but talk of a deal has raised concerns about the future of vauxhall‘s two uk factories at luton and ellesmere port.

more than 4,000 people are employed across the two sites. our business correspondent, joe lynam, reports. this vauxhall plant is one of the more efficient car—making factories in the world. 66% of the vehicles made here are exported, mostly to europe. but the workers here may have new bosses from monday, when it's likely that the company which makes peugeot cars, psa, confirms it's bought vauxhall and 0pel. but with too many factories in europe and not enough demand, psa is likely to have a long, hard look at which plants to keep open and that puts vauxhall under the microscope. vauxhall employs just under 2,000 staff in its ellesmere port plants which make astras. the whole area, the whole plant's really worried. because it's going to affect a lot of jobs in the area in ellesmere port. there's nothing here, is there, if vauxhall goes. there's nothing, is there? bad, really bad, mate. its van—making factory in luton employs 1,400 people.

i'm optimistic about the future of this plant, here in luton, but really, the prospects of car manufacturing in the uk will come down to the kind of deal we get out of brexit. in all, vauxhall makes just under 200,000 cars a year. psa has capacity to build more cars in its own plants. it doesn't need these plants in britain, and, of course, there are obstacles in the way with currency fluctuations, the problems posed by brexit with freedom of movement, freedom of movement of parts as well. the government says it is cautiously optimistic that it will be able to limit the job losses as a result of this deal, possibly by providing the kind of assurances it gave to nissan in sunderland. we don't know what those assurances are for sure, but there are quite a few british—based car makers that will be watching very carefully. only this week, nissan said it now needs £100 million to support car manufacturing in the north east.

bmw said it might make battery—powered minis in germany instead of britain, and ford looks like it could be shedding more than 1,000 jobs in wales. so the pressure will mount on theresa may to support the automotive sector at the very time she will be in intensive talks with the eu over brexit. joe lynam, bbc news, in luton. the prime minister of somalia says over 100 people from a drought—hit region in the country have died of hunger in the past two days. the drought was declared a national disaster on tuesday, and the united nations estimates that 5 million people are in need of aid. thousands have made their way to the capital in search of food. tens of thousands of people have marched in london to protest at what they say are cuts to nhs services. hospital staff, campaigners and union representatives joined the demonstration, with the labour leader, jeremy corbyn, addressing the crowd. 0rganisers claim theresa may's demands on austerity in the nhs represent a real risk to patients and safety, but the department of health says extra money is being invested. the foreign secretary boris

johnson has announced that he will visit moscow in the coming weeks, in an attempt to improve relations with russia. it will be the first such trip by a british ministerforfive years. 0ur diplomatic correspondent, james landale, is here. what do we know about what the foreign secretary hopes to achieve? he wants to improve the relationship with russia because at the moment it is poor. he is the first minister to go there from britain in five years and that illustrates that fact. he has accused the russians of war crimes in syria, calling for a demo outside the russian embassy in london, he has insisted there should be no relaxation of sanctions against the ukraine and in response, russian mc has mocked borisjohnson and said he's trying to a new cold war. —— russian embassy. the foreign 0ffice war. —— russian embassy. the foreign office are making it clear that this

is not a besetting of the relationship, cosying up to moscow —— resetting. they said he will be very robust in the areas where they disagree, but president trump has started talking about engaging with russia and the russian leader, the russian backed leader in syria is still in place and in that context the uk has got to have a less dysfunctional relationship with russia. james, thanks forjoining us. with all the sport, here's lizzie greenwood—hughes at the bbc sport centre. thanks very much. good evening. sir andy murray has won his first tournament of 2017. he beat fernando verdasco in straight sets to win the dubai championship and extend his lead at the top of the world rankings. patrick gearey has the details. the dubai tennis championships trophy is certainly one for a collector of andy murray's distinction, competed for under the gaze of the local royalty, and first

of all fernando verdasco force things his way and then murray steadied himself, adjusted and heaved the set more decisively in his direction. it became clear that verdasco had lost something he wouldn't find. the first set went to murray injust over wouldn't find. the first set went to murray in just over half an hour, but yet he had very been at his best, apart from the odd flourish rostock just as the best, apart from the odd flourish rostockjust as the spanish study have the point, murray whipped it away from him —— the spanish thought he had a point. the persian gulf between the players was clear to say, but for murray's coaches, victory comes as a cost will stop they put in a lot of hard work in a macro to help me perform in these competitions and i appreciate all of their help —— they put in a lot of ha rd their help —— they put in a lot of hard work to help me perform in these competitions. encore is still about lifting, not falling, another trophy, the 45th of his career, don't look down. —— on court.

it's been an eventful day in the premier league. match of the day follows the news — except in scotland where it's sportscene first — so if you don't want to see the results now — you know what to do. liverpool are up to 3rd in the table after beating arsenal 3—1 at home. but the headlines will focus on arsenal's manager — arsene wenger — who's admitted his decision to drop top—scorer alexis sanchez backfired. elsewhere leicester continued their post—ranieri comeback while at old trafford — a 10 man bournemouth held manchester united to a draw. there were also wins for stoke, swansea, southampton and crystal palace — who are now out of the relegation zone. in the day's only scottish premiership match — motherwell beat kilmarnock and in the quarter finals of the scottish cup — rangers thrashed hamilton and hibs beat ayr united. wasps stung bath 24—3 to extend their lead at the top of rugby union's premiership. australian star kurtley beale was man of the match, scoring two tries in one of bath's worst home defeats in

the league for years. great britain's laura muir is the new european indoor 1500 metres champion. she dominated in belgrade, breaking the championship record to win her first major title. muir is also hoping to take gold in the 3000m tomorrow. 0h! fantastic, i'm just 0h! fantastic, i'mjust so 0h! fantastic, i'm just so happy. 0h! fantastic, i'mjust so happy. it feels like a long time coming, to wina feels like a long time coming, to win a medal, i'm so happy. and there were more celebrations for britain's runners in belgrade when richard kielty successfully defended his 60 metres title — finishing in 6.51; seconds. british paracyclist jody cundy has won his 13th world track title. he took gold in the 1 kilometre time trial in los angeles — winning by more than half a second. it stretches his unbeaten run in the event to 11 years. and that's the sport. you can see more on all of today's

stories on the bbc news channel. that's all from me, goodnight. hello, welcome to bbc news. sinn fein have closed in on the dup in the northern ireland assembly elections. they are now one seat behind them, with the dup just holding onto their position as the biggest party with 28 seats. our correspondent chris buckler is in belfast — earlier he told me a little bit more about what we could expect over the coming days and weeks, in light of the changed situation the dup now finds itself in. it is fair to say the dup have not had a great election but they remain the biggest party. but the wider context is not good for them. the last election was just last year, and they were returned with ten seats more than sinn fein. now that is down to just a single seat between the two parties. there has been a reduction in the number of assembly members, from 108 to 90, so it is not quite a reduction of nine seats, but nonetheless it is bad for them

and puts them into a different position going into these talks. the dup would still have the right to be first minister, they still hold a lot of strength. sinn fein, as you can see, feel very buoyed up by their result. and as a result we have two parties going in determined to hold their corners. the difficulty for everybody might be that there is a cementing of positions and that could make negotiations very hard. why is there this flagging up of needing more time to form the coalition? why is this a problem now? because three weeks is not a long time. and although these parties were working together in coalition and were talking about working for a shared future and doing a job of government here. just a matter of months ago. it has become clear since the collapse of that government

in january that really they were covering the cracks. they have deep divides over a lot of things. brexit, the irish language, education... the list goes on and on. and to get them back together again after the harsh words of that election, it will be tough. this has become personal as well as political. arlene foster's words of talking about republicans as crocodiles, "if you feed them they will come back for more", she said. if anything it fired up support for sinn fein. it got their voters out. and perhaps that was something of an own goal for unionists. but beyond that, sinn fein talking about arlene foster as having to step aside as first minister during these talks... sorry, after these these talks, while the inquiry goes on into the botched energy scheme, that is also personal, and something that will be difficult for the dup to take. ultimately, unionists have been wounded but they still have a certain amount of strength. that makes negotiations

very hard and tough, and three weeks is a lot of time to try to get through all of these difficulties. it's been reported the french carmaker which owns peugeot and citroen has reached an agreement to buy vauxhall from general motors. 4,000 people are employed at vauxhall‘s two uk factories — at luton and ellesmere port. 0ur correspondent megan paterson has been outside the vauxhall plant in ellesmere port throughout the day, where she's been gauging reaction to the reports from those who work there. you can see behind me, through the wire fences, rows and rows of brand—new vauxhall cars and vans and behind that a factory building. the people inside that building have been worried greatly by the news today. it is uncertainty for the future and what it means forjobs here, not just for the next few years but for the next few decades. the concern is psa is a french company and 14% of it is owned by the french state, and the worry here is that will mean jobs in france are protected,

meaning a risk to those here in ellesmere port and in luton. earlier we spoke to people in ellesmere port town centre, around ten minutes away from here. everyone was quick to say how crucial this employer is for the town and local area. lots of people saying there isn't another industry here to plug the gaps ifjobs were to go here. they had concern not just for those working in the building and theirfamilies, but also for small businesses in the supply chain and the cafes and shops that rely on this site being busy. over the last few months politicians and union representatives have stepped up the campaign to get guarantees for the workers here and in luton, to get protection for them. it looks certain now that that campaign will be stepped up over the next few days. we understand the jobs here would be protected until 2020, but what happens after that is a massive uncertainty. some clarity expected on monday with an announcement

about the takeover, but much negotiation expected to go on over the coming weeks to give people here some reassurance about the future. the united nations estimates that over the past seven days, 15,000 children have been forced out of the iraqi city of mosul, where a mass exodus of civilians is happening. iraqi government forces are pressing into the western side of the city, but are facing fierce resistance from so—called islamic state. the un says it has seen a significant increase in displacement in recent days. as david campanale now reports, the hamam al alil refugee camp is approaching maximum capacity. the desperate escape from fierce fighting in western mosul. an endless stream of thousands of people. these residents of iraq's second city have nothing on their feet. and un aid coordinators say they've escaped with nothing,

no luggage and the bare minimum of clothes. inside the city, islamic state are using car bombs, suicide attackers and snipers to resist the iraqi army's advance. as battles rage in these residential areas, civilians are being forced out from their homes. but as they run, they must first evade the merciless tactics of islamic state fighters, who openly admit residents are useful to them as human shields. translation: we fled at night. families which are caught fleeing are beaten, the men executed and women are sent back home. we hardly managed to escape. iraqi government forces, backed by western allies, are making headway against the islamists, and are advancing north of a sprawling military base near the city's airport. but mosul has 750,000 inhabitants. those displaced by the fighting

have to endure wet conditions as they wait for the military to organise buses or trucks near a checkpoint to the south of the city. translation: the number of people who have arrived at this point is around 1,000, including women, men and children. they're in a desperate condition. they're malnourished and in a dire need of water and food. they're in a very miserable condition and they need medical and health care. the camp intended for internally displaced people is now close to its maximum capacity, with 150,000 places already occupied. agencies are already calling the battle for mosul the worst humanitarian crisis they've seen globally in a decade, but they're expecting it may be about to get a lot worse, with is fighting to hold on to last foothold in iraq. construction is under way, the united nations says, to accommodate up to 250,000 people in just this one camp. and now we have the

weather forecast. whether france are swinging back and forth like a pension and that means no days are the same which is probably pretty good news if you're in scotland, because it was hardly worth stepping outside today —— weather fronts. the showers arrived and spode the end of the day, but the persistent rain has been across the persistent rain has been across the far north —— arrived and spoiled. the area of low pressure will continue across the northern isles. sandwiched in between the two, clearing skies, and a light frost is possible, but you should start the day of the decent spells

of sunshine. it is not expected to last, gale force winds and rain across the south west will push away steadily north and east in the morning. the best of the sunshine in the extreme north on sunday, a scattering of showers through scotland, but in comparison, better. decent start in northern ireland and also in the north of england. rain in wales and the midlands and the south—east corner by nine o'clock in the morning accompanied by strong winds, followed behind by scattered showers and sunny spells, although some of the showers will merge together for longer spells of rain and the winds will remain a feature. it will not be particularly pleasant. clusters of showers being driven along by the westerly winds. to the north we have some sunshine and a better day for northern ireland northern england and scotland. not quite as warm as today, 7—10 the overall high. into

the early half of next week it looks as though the unsettled theme is set to continue, one area of low pressure m oves to continue, one area of low pressure moves away, another with a glancing blow to the south—east, and it will be relatively quiet before another system waits in the wings for tuesday. that translates monday into tuesday as being rather a cloudy day on monday, heavy rain into the south—west early on but more persistent rain on tuesday.