this is bbc news. the headlines at 11:00pm: the bbc understands theresa may will reshuffle her cabinet at the beginning of next week. a downing street source dismisses newspaper reports concerning the fate of certain ministers as pure speculation. donald trump dismisses doubts over his mental stability, and describes the author of a new book about his presidency as a fraud. i consider it a work of fiction, and i think it's a disgrace that somebody‘s able to have something — do something like that. the libel laws are very weak in this country. if they were strong, it would be very helpful. you wouldn't have things like that happen, where you can say whatever comes to your head. an ambulance service apologises after an 81—year—old woman died while waiting nearly four hours for paramedics to arrive. airstrikes on a rebel—held area of syria are thought to have killed at least 17 civilians. also in the next hour: a record—breaking freeze for parts of the united states.

forecasters warn of a brutally cold weekend, with wind chills as low as minus a0 degrees celsius. mark hughes is sacked as stoke city manager, after they are knocked out of the fa cup by league two coventry. and we will be taking a look at tomorrow's front pages, including the sunday telegraph, which says the education secretary, justine greening, is one of those fighting to stay in post in a cabinet reshuffle. that is in the papers in half an hour. in the last hour, the bbc has learned that the prime minister, theresa may, will reshuffle her cabinet on monday and tuesday next week. there had been speculation that change was imminent, but no date had been confirmed. however, downing street has dismissed stories in the sunday newspapers about specific

names mentioned. number ten said the reports were pure speculation and guesswork. we will have all the details about some of those names that have been mentioned, and some that haven't, as they are covered in tomorrow's front pages, as well as other stories, just after 11:30pm this evening in the papers. our guestsjoining me tonight are eve pollard, the broadcaster and former fleet street editor, and the economics commentator and author dharshini david. donald trump has launched a new attack on the author who has accused him of being unstable and incompetent. the president told a news conference at camp david that the book by michael wolff was a work of fiction, saying he had been to the best colleges and been a tremendous success on television. he also repeated his denials that there had been any collusion with russia during the presidential election in 2016. david willis reports from washington. boarding a flight to camp david for meetings with senior members

of his party — the image of donald trump that republicans would like to project, one of order, professionalism and control. instead, the president is battling claims contained in this book that senior advisers share the view that he is mentally unfit for office. so the commander—in—chief took to social media to assert... later, he took aim at the book's author, michael wolff, who had been given access to the white house to write it. i consider it a work of fiction, and i think it's a disgrace that somebody‘s able to have something — do something like that. the libel laws are very weak in this country. if they were strong, it would be very helpful. you wouldn't have things like that

happen, where you can say whatever comes to your head. but, just so you know, i never interviewed with him in the white house at all. he was never in the oval office. we didn't have an interview. possibly the most damaging claim contained in the book is that the president lacks curiosity, doesn't read, doesn't listen, is like a child. they all came to the conclusion, gradually at first, and then faster and faster, that something was unbelievably amiss here, that this was more peculiar than they ever imagined it could be. the book portrays the white house in a constant state of chaos, reeling under the influence of a petulant, easily distracted commander—in—chief. but a leading member of the administration is taking issue with that depiction. never questioned his mentalfitness. i have no reason to question his mental fitness. we have different management styles. how i make decisions how i process information — i have to learn how he takes

information in, processes it and makes decisions. having successfully passed legislation just before christmas reforming america's taxation system, senior republicans were probably hoping that a new year would mark a new start for the trump administration. but, instead of moving forward on such key issues as immigration reform, the focus now is completely on the president, his personality, and whether he is mentally fit to hold office. earlier i spoke to daniel lippmann, co—writer of the daily newsletter politico playbook from washington, and i asked him how reliable are the contents of the book? so i know michael wolff personally. i had lunch with him as he was working on the book. he is not a fraud at all. and he does know donald trump. they know each other from new york media elite circles. and so — and he was let into the white house for months on end. he would take the train down from new york to dc, stay at a hotel near

the white house, and basically report to work and be a fly on the wall. and so trump should have known that this was happening, to stop him from writing his book, which has proved very damaging to his image. i assume you have read some, if not all, of the book. i have it right here! excellent, and what would your criticisms of it be, then? what are its shortcomings? so it is on the whole mostly right, and we hear the same things from some of our sources. but there are some inaccuracies, but they are mostly small details. this was rushed into production, because the publisher wanted it to get out there. some of the stuff he may have heard off the record, and then put on the record in the book, and there are some allegations of maybe quotations that were not correct.

but the overall impression that trump's aides — they privately feel that he is almost like a child in how he deals with the world, that is totally true. and a lot of the stuff in the book is accurate, in terms of his daily habits, leaving the oval office at 6:30pm to go to the residence and watch television if he doesn't have a dinner. you wonder, then, what the atmosphere is like in the west wing, don't you, if the president realises this is the view now of many of his staff. yeah, he already doesn't trust a lot of the staff, because he thinks they're leaking all the time, and they are. that was worst in the first six months of the administration, when they didn't have much experience, and they were trying to figure out how washington works. but you need a trustworthy staff, and you need a boss that stands

by the staff. a lot of white house staffers, if you talk to them, they feel like he just tweets stuff in the morning which totally disrupts what they want to do, policy—wise. you mean saying whatever comes into your head, the thing that he criticised michael wolff for. where is this story going to go next? has it got legs, given that it is a book that everyone is reading, but only at the moment? yeah, i think the book may fade a little bit, in terms of public consciousness, but the issues it raises about trump are going to dog him until the end of his presidency. democrats have already brought a psychiatrist in to brief them, and a republican senator to talk about trump's mental fitness. so that could be grounds for removal by impeachment, or the 25th amendment of the constitution, which would mean that a majority of the cabinet and vice president pence would vote on whether to remove trump from office. that's a long ways away,

but i would not dismiss it totally out of hand, in terms of what could happen in the next few years. an ambulance service has apologised to the family of a pensioner who died after waiting nearly four hours for help to arrive. the 81—year—old woman had rung 999 complaining of chest pain. the east of england service said it was stretched, and had warned of the pressures its staff and the nhs were facing. the department of health has described what happened as completely unacceptable, and said it was right that the service is investigating. our correspondent sarah campbell reports from clacton, in essex. we don't know the name of the woman who died, but we do know some of the details of her tragic death. she rang 999 on tuesday evening, and waited and waited. after around an hour and a half, the ambulance service did ring her, but it wasn't for a further two hours before a crew finally arrived. they had to break into her house. they found her unconscious, not breathing, and she couldn't be saved.

the paramedics who found her are said be devastated. sirens. the period over new year was, according to the local ambulance service here in essex, the busiest ever. on the day in question, they received more than 4,000 999 calls, far more than usual. a statement in response to the death of the 81—year—old woman said: here in clacton, the local mp is demanding answers. i'm furious. it shouldn't happen. we need an inquiry, we need to get to the bottom of it and find out what happened, and make sure that it never happens to anybody again. and is the government doing enough, your government? we'll find out when we have that inquiry. this is the second death in recent days which has been linked to an overstretched service.

88—year—old josephine smalley died following a seven—hour wait for a bed at the queen alexandra hospital in portsmouth. in recent days, the health secretary and the prime minister have both apologised to patients after thousands of non—urgent operations were cancelled. the health service is pointing to a combination of winter flu and cold weather. the union representing health workers says wider pressures are also to blame. i think that there's chronic underfunding. it's endemic. it tells us that the public sector is under so much strain that it is now beginning to kill people. with temperatures once again dropping, the worry is that the health service simply won't be able to cope. theresa may has said that extra funding has been made available to the nhs, and insisted it is better prepared for winter than ever before. in relation to this particular death in clacton, the department of health issued a statement today saying, "it is completely unacceptable when care falls below the high standards we expect. and it's right the service

is investigating how things went so wrong in this tragic case". reports from syria say 17 people have been killed in air strikes in rebel—held eastern ghouta. aid workers say ten hospitals in the besieged stronghold close to the capital, damascus, as well as in the northern province of idlib, have been bombed by syrian government and russian warplanes over the last ten days. alan johnston reports. the race through the smashed streets, the dash into a ruined building. for the rescue workers, after the bombs fall, the routine is all too familiar here in the rebel—held enclave of eastern ghouta. higher up, people emerge from what might be a flat. perhaps they were at home when the bomb crashed down. the cries of shock and horror at it all echo through the wreckage.

the injured are gathered up, but there have been reports of deaths, too, on this day of many air strikes in the enclave. aid workers say ten hospitals have been hit in recent days in ghouta, and here in the rebel—held province of idlib. eastern ghouta lies on the edge of damascus. from here, rebels can fire into the capital. government forces have had this area under siege for years. people here come under attack almost daily. there is every danger that tomorrow there will be more of the same. the department store house of fraser has confirmed it is asking landlords to reduce the rent it pays for some of its shops. the group is set to release christmas retail figures next week, with some analysts suggesting its takings over the christmas period were disappointing. joe lynam has more.

it is one of the key brands on our high streets, with 59 stores and more than 7,000 staff. we don't yet know how christmas was for house of fraser, but we know it has asked its landlords to slash the rent. but do shoppers still like the department store? it's got the shops i like to browse in, within the department store, so it's quite easy to just go from one place to the next. yeah, there's lot of good quality brands in there, and there's quite a lot of variety, as well. i think it has a good reputation for good quality products. but i know all of the high street has been affected at the moment, and isn't doing that well. i kind of think it's for older people, as well. i have that opinion, but maybe because it's more expensive. i don't know. last month, one credit agency said that house of fraser was now far more likely to default on its debts, adding to the issues faced

by the company. it is not unusual for retailers to seek rent reductions from their landlords. m&s and next are doing so already. in fact, traditional retailers are facing a host of challenges, including rising rents, especially in the big cities, the national living wage is going up, and that is pushing up costs, and of course online. £1 in every e6 is now spent shopping online. consumption is a vital part of the british economy. if consumers tighten their wallets, gdp suffers. conditions are pretty tough for households. inflation hit a five—year high in the run—up to christmas, and this is putting people's personal finances under a lot of pressure. our research showed that about 50% of consumers said they spent less this christmas than last year, and almost two thirds said they did some of their shopping online. next week, we will learn more about how christmas was for house of fraser. if it shows that shoppers reined in their spending, then pressure will grow on a i69—year—old brand. joe lynam, bbc news.

the headlines on bbc news: theresa may is extended to reshuffle the cabinet on monday and tuesday. downing street dismissed reports regarding the fate of certain ministers as pure speculation. donald trump calls a new book which raises doubts about his mental stability "a work of fiction" and dismisses its author as "a fraud". an ambulance service apologises following the death of an elderly woman who waited almost four hours for paramedics to arrive. sport now, and a full round up from the bbc sport centre. hello, nick. martine, hello. a lot of stoke fans are talking about a fresh start after the club finally pulled the pin on mark hughes' [ls—year tenure. it came after a shock fa cup defeat to league two side coventry. 25 fa cup third round ties were played on saturday but the biggest shock came for the potters. here's tim hague. the fa cup third round, many

football fan's favourite weekend of the season, but not if you support stoke city though. but before the protest ca m e stoke city though. but before the protest came a tie with leg to coventry city and it was the 1987 winners who went ahead. commentator: coventry lead! jordan will as! it will as's afternoon then went downhill when he allowed charlie to score his first goal in over one year, a replay for stoke after all perhaps. not so because a right back by the name ofjack rimmer then did this. grim! it's even! the shock is back on! he ended my cues's grim recent run in charge of the club. things were looking pretty miserable for bournemouth at home and 2—0 down to league one leaders wigan inside 30 minutes, but the 2013 hang on? so

nearly. they made it 2—1 before the 93rd minute, bournemouth‘s blushes we re 93rd minute, bournemouth‘s blushes were saved. by steve cox. his second goal in one week, his side's second draw ina goal in one week, his side's second draw in a week. and another draw, top of the championship balls against bottom of the premier league swa nsea, against bottom of the premier league swansea, yet there were more sendings off than goals, the first was ugly, the second cynical, but when it 10—10 or 11 — 11 bulls should have won this one, niall— mill it ended, the promotion hopefuls nor the relegation scrap is wa nted hopefuls nor the relegation scrap is wanted —— 0—0. the bbc‘s robbie savage played under hughes at blackburn rovers and wales, and said ultimately hughes would have saved stoke from relegation. premier league status for a club like stoke city is so important, they have got great people running

they have got great people running the club, they don't sack managers often, they have two or three managers in 20 years or something so they are not a sacking club sofa them to sack him obviously they thought was a necessity and i understand it, but! thought was a necessity and i understand it, but i think they should have kept him up. liverpool have offered a 50 pound voucher to fans who bought a shirt with philippe coutinho's name on it. the club's offer comes after his departure to barcelona on a 142 million pound, 5.5—year deal. the fee is a british record and makes coutinho the second—most expensive footballer in history after his compatriot neymar. the brazilian playmaker made 201 appearances for liverpool and he was the club's leading goalscorer last season with 1a. northampton have ended their run of seven consecutive premiership defeats with a 22—19 win over gloucester at franklin's gardens. the visitors led for much of the match but a final—minute penalty try gave saints their first win since september. gloucester earned a losing bonus point, with tries forjames hanson and john afoa in addition

to their own penalty try. just four points in it at welford road as leicester ended their losing run. they beat bottom—of—the—table london irish. manu tuilagi with one of three leicester tries. elsewhere, there was a very narrow win for sale sharks, who beat harlequins by a single point to see them up to sixth place. ospreys won the welsh derby in the pro1li, beating cardiff blues by a single point. this piece of quick thinking from wales' fly half dan biggar set up what proved to be the winning score for ospreys and it was finished off byjustin tipuric. the blues mounted a late comeback, but the home side held on to win 29—28 in swansea. cardiff are still without a win there in 12 years. that's all the sport for now. nic, thank you very much. part of bristol university has been badly damaged in a fire. it started in the roof space

of a building that was being renovated, close to the university's historic wills memorial building, in the centre of bristol. the building was unoccupied and nobody was hurt. weather forecasters in the united states have warned that this weekend could bring record—breaking low temperatures in some parts of the north—east. the national weather service predicts wind chills as low as —40 celsius. tom donkin reports. it's been called a ‘bomb cyclone', and it's a weather system which has lived up to its name. on thursday, warm air carried an area of low pressure up the east coast of america to meet the already icy conditions. that combination exploded in snowfall and hurricane force winds to a large part of the us and canada. residents of boston were blanketed in more than 30cm of snow. and while that's largely stopped falling, the plummeting temperatures are now the biggest concern. here, it's forecast to drop below —30 degrees celsius. add to that the strong, icy winds,

and these are temperatures which feel more like —70 degrees, cold enough to freeze and burst pipes, like here in cincinnati. for some, a life on the streets has turned into a fight for survival. right now, this homeless shelter is taking in more than 100 people extra each night. people in the neighbourhood have been looking out for us. you know, because they... they come by bringing us sweatpants. they brought us clothes. they're totally looking out for us. socks, sweat pants, i mean, more than we even need! here in washington, the offer of a hot meal is notjust an act of kindness, but a lifeline. forecasters believe these dangerously low temperatures are set to linger throughout the weekend. the hope being that by early next week, we may see a return to readings somewhere above freezing and much closer to the seasonal norm.

the american astronautjohn young, who was one of 12 men to walk on the moon and who flew the first space shuttle mission, has died. he was 87. young enjoyed the longest career of any space astronaut, serving nasa for 42 years and visiting space six times, including on the apollo and gemini missions. on his retirement in 2004, nasa described mr young as a true american treasure. until now, cancer patients, many of them children, have had to go abroad to receive proton beam therapy — a highly advanced way of treating tumours. but by the end of the year the first nhs—run proton beam centre will be up and running at the christie hospital in manchester. the multimillion—pound project is nearing completion, and our health correspondent, dominic hughes has been to see it. you missed a whole, mum. six years

ago and lucas was fighting for his life, diagnosed with cancer, he was sent to the united states to receive a potentially life—saving treatment called proton in therapy. not being at home, being around strangers, it was awful. mum jodie says trouble in all the way to the united states was all the way to the united states was a challenge to the family. with an immune system damaged by chemotherapy, lucas fell seriously ill and almost died. just being there on your own, it is a lot to be going throughjust there on your own, it is a lot to be going through just dealing with the cancer rather than... image of family and your friends around you, you need to talk to. and of course to rap that time you are away from the support our friends and family. for a long period of time. i mean, the period of treatment is the least six weeks, and you are definitely six weeks, and you are definitely six and we were there for ten and we found it very difficult. up to now the nhs has sent patients who needed

proton beam therapy abroad. after yea rs of proton beam therapy abroad. after years of planning and fundraising it will soon be available in the uk, inside a specially built centre at christie hospital in manchester at medicine and physics meet. offering a new way to treat life—threatening cancers. young patients will benefit most from the treatment because their tissues are growing and very sensitive to radiation. but there are also tumours which sometimes sits next to critical structures in the body like the skull or around the body like the skull or around the spine and this technology enables us to be able to give a treatment does to those patients while avoiding those critical structures. with standard radiotherapy, a beam travels through the tumour that can damage sensitive tissues in front, behind and around it. but proton beam is much smaller and stops at the tumour causing less damage to otherwise healthy tissue. we are now below what they call the

treatment gantry where patients will be seen, and this really is the gut of this huge 200 ton machine, and it is one of three that are being built here in manchester but down here you really get a sense of the scale of this project. the protons which come from the heart of an atom are generated in a particle accelerator known as a cyclotron. travelling at a speed of 100,000 miles per second, they are directed with pinpoint a ccu ra cy they are directed with pinpoint accuracy at the tumour. put it on. six years on, lucas is cancer free and full of beans. with the manchester centre coming onstream later this year and a second one in london to follow, hope is that those needing the life—saving treatment of proton beam therapy will soon be able to access it closer to home. dominic hughes, bbc news, manchester. we will be taking a look

at the front pages of the papers in just the moment but now, the weather forecast. the main thing is the cold weather which is with us, temperatures have been really falling quickly out they are the clear skies across many parts of the country and are really frosty morning i think sunday. this was the view in north yorkshire taken by one of our weather watchers on saturday and frosty conditions likely widely across the country with high pressure in charge, clearing away at the cloud and a few drizzly showers we've seen across southern parts of england. temperatures by dawn on sunday even in our towns and cities below freezing, we could see them at —6 -10 freezing, we could see them at —6 —10 across the countryside in scotla nd —10 across the countryside in scotland and a small child's that those temperatures could get somewhere close to —15 degrees first thing sunday mornings are a cold start wherever you are, or chart for icy stretches. not quite as cold, more of a breeze for the northern isles of scotland with some showers but crystal clear skies and a really sharp frost across much of scotland,

northern ireland and northern england. or chart was an ice but we would have had those daytime showers and potentially still a few showers across parts of north—east and east of england. not quite as cold towards the south—east, this is 9am, four degrees also in london but a cold north—easterly wind blowing to the windchill also and lots of sunshine across wales and as we move through the day then barely a around but a small chance of an isolated challa kere and but a small chance of an isolated challakere and despair. the afternoon, the wind will ease, not quite as windy in the south of that has been, temperatures between zero and five or six degrees of most of us, wrap up warm and five or six degrees of most of us, wrap up warm on and five or six degrees of most of us, wrap up warm on sunday if you're heading out for a walk, a wintry day ahead. then a cold night sunday into monday, not quite as cold in the far south with cloud pushing in but clear skies elsewhere across the country so again a really sharp frost to start on monday morning and also some icy stretches on untreated surfaces. monday we will keep the sunshine across scotland, northern ireland and northern england. further south, the cloud creeps

slowly northward so it will feel cold under the cloud, temperatures of around six degrees at best. the blue colours indicate the cold air which is with us, under into tuesday, yellow stuff to reappear, indicating something a little more mild as we moved into tuesday so by the tom lee get to choose date a lot of dry, cold, settled weather, a little more cloud, temperatures on the up! little more cloud, temperatures on the up i think from the west as we start to see something a little bit wet and windy arriving so very cold over the next few days, more u nsettled over the next few days, more unsettled but mild for the west later in the week. hello, this is bbc news with martine croxall. we will be taking a look at tomorrow morning's papers in a moment. first the headlines: the bbc understands theresa may will reshuffle her cabinet at the beginning of next week. a downing street source has dismissed newspaper reports concerning the fate of certain ministers as pure speculation. donald trump has dismissed claims in a new book that those around him question his fitness for office. mr trump said his success in business, television and politics were evidence of his capabilities.

an ambulance service has apologised to the family of an elderly woman who died after almost a four—hour wait for paramedics. a spokesperson for the department of health said it was a tragic case, and completely unacceptable. reports from syria say 17 civilians have been killed in air raids