And as we have been through the programme, if you want to get in touch, you can e mail and get us on social media. One fear has messaged and asked if we will talk about President Obamas debate speech. We will play some pa rt debate speech. We will play some part of that with the help of nick brya nt part of that with the help of nick bryant who was at the speech in new york. Donald Trumps Press Conference was in new york. In washington, the senate has been Holding Confirmation hearings for some of the nominees for the trump administration. Nearly all Cabinet Positions need senate approval, but rejections of major appointments are rare. Senatorjeff sessions is on his second day of questions. Hes nominated for attorney general. Elaine chao is nominated for transport secretary. The focus though was on rex tillerson. He is Donald Trumps nominee for secretary of state. He would have expected questions about russia. In his capacity as the head of exxon mobil, hes had extensive dealings there. He was given russias highest award for non citizens. He told senators that russia poses a danger, but he urged for cooperation on common interests, calling for an open and frank dialogue. He was also asked about russia hacking allegations. Based on your knowledge of russian leaders and russian politics, do you believe these activities could have happened without the knowledge and consent of Vladimir Putin . |j happened without the knowledge and consent of Vladimir Putin . I am not ina consent of Vladimir Putin . I am not in a position to make that determination. I know there is classified information. You have engaged in significant Business Activities in russia, so i am sure you are aware that very few things happen without Vladimir Putin giving his permission. Based on your views and experiences of russian politics, is it possible for something involving the States Election to have happened without Vladimir Putin knowing about it and authorising it . I think that is a fair assumption. Barbara plett usher, capitol hill. We will get into the detail in a minute, but this is a man who has been hugely successful in business but he has not been a politician or a diplomat, how can you measure his performance . I think he came across with a very good knowledge of International Affairs and world leaders, which is how he had been presented any way. He had a clear grasp of russia and its strategy, which would be expected because he has had close ties with the kremlin for years, so he knows the russians well. That is something that many senators will appreciate and he also showed a fair amount of knowledge of other of the main hotspots. He spoke about china, wanting to cooperate with china but taking a more muscular response to its building of islands in the south china sea. All things senators will be glad to hear. There were questions about the transition between being a businessman who is negotiating for his profit with International Bidders and representing american interests, which are much wider and include things like values and the pursuit of democracy and Good Governance and so on. He did talk about the importance of these values. It is not clear whether he has met those concerns, but it is something that was put to him. |j just wanted to play another clip of mr taylor said. Mr tillerson was also asked about exxon mobils policies on climate change. Iam not i am not asking you on behalf of exxonmobil, i am asking you whether those allegations about your knowledge of Climate Science and decision to fund and promote a view contrary to its awareness of the science, whether those allegations are true or false . The question would have to be put to exxonmobil. Do you lack the knowledge to answer my question or are you refusing . little of both. He is not being frank, barbara . He dodged the question and said he dodged the question. They are talking about Research Exxonmobil did that indicated the fossil feels damaged the climate and they suppressed that information because it hid their bottom line. They are being taken to court for it. I think he was not the head of exxonmobil at the time. He has acknowledged the damage that fossil feels good to the climate. It has come out in support of the Paris Climate Treaty and he said to the senate rethink that he felt action needed to be taken because the risk was high enough, although he didnt say what the action was. Healing him down on this particular issue, he clearly wasnt ready to publicly accept responsibility for the earlier position of this company. Help me out with the practicalities, how long do the hearings take and do they have to be done before Inauguration Day . If the senate says 0k, Inauguration Day . If the senate says ok, is that the end of the matter . The hearings take as long as it ta kes for the hearings take as long as it takes for the senators on the committee could ask all their questions. They will continue tomorrow. They dont have to be done by Inauguration Day, but if they are not done then there is a delay in the appointment of Cabinet Members so that this a dong of the new administration being able to take on its responsibilities. We appreciate you explain that. Speak to you soon. Lets break away from us politics and talk about sport. One of the stories of last years rio olympics was the fiji rugby 7s teams gold medal. It was the first gold medal the Pacific Island nation had ever won. Now their story has been made into a documentary. Its called sevens from heaven. Heres a little taste. It has been really tough. You get knocked down twice or more times than you can count. Easy people with their houses destroyed. Nothing left. They still had their tv on and they are still cheering. Fijians consider the second to religion. Sevens is the number one game. We prayed for the fiji team. Every man woman and child, they all know everything about the team because they follow it so fanatically. We are so unpredictable to other teams. You will be chasing shadows when we are on form. The team had a british coach, ben ryan. Hes been talking to the bbc. It has been an amazing journey and there are so many stories that arent in that movie. Literally daily therapy something there would bea daily therapy something there would be a curve ball thrown at you. Such an amazing journey we have been on. 29. 9 of the population would watching and the team does well and we get by colleges when we do. Fireworks go on, fireworks are sent off. They are so passionately loyal about the team. There is a registry. The guys who wear the shirt are keen to not let anyone down. The village feeling, the team is very tight and very close and it is like being in a family. Genetically, they arejust so gifted and so talented and so humble that the pressure doesnt really affect the team. They will rise to it. Football. Kelly smith is englands all time leading scorer and shes announced her retirement. She scored 46 goals for england here she is on why its time to stop. It just feels like itjust feels like the time is right now. I think i have had a very good career at International Level and clu b career at International Level and club level, i have travelled the world. At the age of 38, the body is telling me that it needs to stop. I have had if you injuries along the way. It just feels have had if you injuries along the way. Itjust feels like the time is right. The game is in a magnificent place and it is good to step away at this time. Lets pick up on this with ollie foster. She did struggle an extraordinary shift in the game. She absolutely did. The success of the womens game, not just absolutely did. The success of the womens game, Notjust In Britain but in the world, she will be in the top 20 of all time players for what she has done for the game. Her success is even more remarkable because in the early days she played in some very dark days. She battled alcoholism that was brought on by some serious knee and leg injuries. She came through that, straightened herself out. 125 goals for arsenal during three spells at the team. She won 20 trophies with arsenal. She was the first english player to become professional when she went and spent time in the us where the womens game took off in the early days. She is going into coaching. She was to stay in the game and that will benefit arsenal who have given her a full time coaching job. Kelly smith is certainly the greatest player that the womens game has produced. She came through terrible adversity in her early days but at the ticket she says the time has come for her to stop. She was struggling with Knee Injuries and i am sure she will be a great coach. She will be going to arsenal, you mentioned. And we compare the mens and womens game . To what degree is the womens can expanding . Still expanding and not happy about that comparison. They are on their own trajectory. In the english game they have been mucking around with the schedule of the calendar. It is going back to mimic the mens game. They tried super league, it didnt quite work with Calendar Clashes and conflicts. They have this mini league coming up in the spring before everything starts again with the rest the world and the wicker mens lake. The womens game doing well. Crowds are growing, not as quickly as they would like, but it is in quickly as they would like, but it isina quickly as they would like, but it is in a healthy state. One career comes to end, this one doesnt seem to have an end in sight. This is kazu yoshi miura. He turns 50 next month and hes just signed a Contract Extension with the japanese Football Club yokohama fc. He made his pro debut in 1987 in brazil. Thats when lionel messi was born by the way. He did retire from International Footballjust the 17 years ago, but at club level on he goes. Well, i was mentioning if youre in ireland was asking why we havent mentioned President Obama. We are going to talk about him and his Farewell Speech in just a few minutes. There he is coming out to deliver it. We have a report on how it went. The Mounting Pressure on the nhs has been underlined by the head of nhs Hospital Trusts in england, whos told mps its time to stop pretending the nhs can afford to do everything with the money its given by government. His was one of a number of stark warnings today, as our Health Editor hugh pym reports. If theres one story which sums up the current state of the nhs, its pats, she couldnt get a local doctors visit and fearing she had pneumonia had to go to her local a e, but once she got there she had to wait 19 hours for a bed. I were crying, werent i, when we are were sat actually in the hospital . Yeah. Through tiredness of, you know, being there as long as we were. Pat has this message for politicians. Theres loads of hospitals thats in the same position go and see them and then say right, well sit down and see what we can do to make it better. The local Hospital Trust said on the day in question the pressure was higher than usual, but safety was monitored closely. Some hospitals are managing better than others. Here in exeter, senior consultants are at the front door of a e, ensuring only the sickest patients are admitted. They can send some straight home, keeping beds free for others. As soon as you admit an elderly patient to hospital, theres a risk that they are going to deteriorate, theyre going to lose muscle power and also they might get into the system of doing more and more investigations which actually doesnt necessarily alter their outcome. Theres no doubt of the huge strain on the nhs. Figures leaked to the bbc showed a big increase last week in the number of patients in england waiting 12 hours or more on trolleys because hospital beds werent available. Several hospitals fell far short of targets for a e waiting times, and medical profession leaders are warning that lives are at risk. Our Council Members specifically have said to me that this is the worst theyve ever seen. The main representative of englands hospitals had a stark warning for mps about the longer term implications. I think the biggest concern is, to be frank, if we carry on on the current trajectory, i think what we begin to bring into question is the entire sustainability of the nhs model. The nhs is always very busy early in the new year, this time even more so than usual. The question is will the pressure ease off any time soon . A burst of cold weather or, for example, an upsurge in flu cases could add to the high levels of Pressure Being experienced right now. Some say the nhs is in perpetual winter, with Patient Demand increasing throughout the year. Todays problems could yet intensify. Hugh pym, bbc news. Our lead story is that of donald trump has given his First Press Conference as President Elect to questions on a range of subjects. Central to his message was a rejection of the idea that russian intelligence holds any Compromising Information on him that would allow them to blackmail him. He said it was fake news. If you are outside of the uk it is would his american next. It will have a story of a painter he made a single image for every day President Obama was in office. That up to nearly 3000 paintings. Here in the uk it is the news at ten next. We will have more on the Financial Markets and the story we were talking about, the ftse 100 story we were talking about, the ftse100 continuing its record breaking streak. Here is a tweet from the account used by President Obama. He said that last as is the same as the first, believe that in my ability to change, but in yours. If you were watching this time yesterday we were looking forward to his farewell address. He is one of the most gifted speakers ever to occupy the white house. The Poet Laureate of his own presidency. And his farewell words were uttered in his adopted city of chicago, where he worked as a Community Organiser where he celebrated becoming commander in chief. Its good to be home he came here to define and defend his legacy. If i told you eight years ago that america would reverse a great recession. Shut down Irans NuclearWeapons Programme without firing a shot. Take out the mastermind of 9 11, you might have said that our sights were set too high. But thats what we did four more years became the chant. I cant do that crowd chants four more years. There were no direct attacks on donald trump, but much of the speech read like a rebuttal to the billionaires campaign to the President Elects twitter feed. Democracy can buckle when it gets into fear. That is why i rejected discrimination against muslim americans. Applause cheering who are just as patriotic as we are. Seldom has there been such a photogenic presidency. It has had the luck of a black camelot, and the thank you to his wife michelle left him struggling to contain his emotions. You took on a roll that you did not ask for. And, you made it your own. With grace, and with grit and style. And good humour. The great wordsmith rendered speechless, expressing himself with tears. And, he ended with three famous words which brought such hope that created such expectation. Yes, we can. Yes, we did. Yes, we can. Thank you, god bless. It was a presidency which began with a mountaintop experience of becoming the first black man to live in a white house built by slaves. But it ended in the valley, with the knowledge that donald trump will try to strangle his signature achievements, and tried to demolish his legacy. Ijust hope that President Elect Trump will take on some of his pointers and carry the torch of being fair to all people. But i know that will take some work, so we will wait on it. Barack obama is a leader who will have the word era attached to his name, but some will see it as a great failing of his presidency. That the name trump now looms so large. Nick bryant, bbc news, chicago. You can see clips from the speech and donald Trumps Press Conference they are on the bbc website. The winterfreeze in europe is hitting migrants particularly hard. In greece, temperatures plummeted to freezing levels not seen since the 1960s, with rare snow falling in the Capital Athens on tuesday. The bbcs Howard Johnson has travelled to a refugee camp in a village just outside athens. Its so cold at night. The situation is very bad. Its not good, very cold. Everybody has children. There is cold. Now, theres not water, nothing inside. I have just arrived at the malakasa refugee camp. Around a0 families are inside there. There is an impromptu demonstration here against the conditions in the camp this winter. We would have a look inside ourselves, but we were denied permission. Apparently there is a blanket ban on Media Filming inside the camp at the moment. The containers, they didnt have a door, they didnt have windows. Its very frustrating to me. Its not like people didnt know winter was coming. It comes every year. You know, just like clockwork, winter hits. In this particular camp, the only winterisation that has been done as far as infrastructure has been done by us. The first floor, so we could move the family is in from the tent. And, basically, none of the large organisations could manage to do anything with the infrastructure. Im good. Because i have five blankets. In the morning, i get up. Im just cold. Today, there is a snow fight. Girls and boys fighting with the snow. Weve time just before we go to bring you some of the key moments earlier today in President Elect Trumps First Press Conference in half a year. There was a time when it was assumed he made changes ways. There is an assumption that when he was the nominee that if you were to win the election he might approach matters ina election he might approach matters in a different way. It is becoming very clear that donald trump is very much the same month we have always seen. I think it is a disgrace and i say that and that is something that nazi germany would have done and did do. It isa germany would have done and did do. It is a disgrace that information that was false and fake and never happened but released to the public. If putin likes of donald trump, i consider that an asset, not a liability, because we have a horrible relationship with russia. Russia can help us fight islamic state. As far as mothers feed, which isa state. As far as mothers feed, which is a philip ryan of garbage, i think they will suffer the consequences. As far as they will suffer the consequences. As faras cnn they will suffer the consequences. As far as cnn going out of their way to build up. Quiet. Quite. She is asking a question. Dont be rude. Dont be rude. I am not going to give you a question. You are fake news. Trump becomes president on january 20. I will see tomorrow at the same time. Quite a lot going on with the weather over the next few days and there are numerous that offers Weather Warnings in force. Bear that in mind if you have some travel plans. That is the case for the day on thursday. Strong winds and some snow in the forecast may hamper your travel plans. Stay tuned and keep updated on bbc local radio. Here is the big picture. The pressure to the south of the uk, the pressure to the north. In between a squeeze on the axel pons. The blustery day in scotland. Frequent wintry showers. Wintry weather in england and ireland. As the main bombs into colder it would turn to snow. It was the really cold, particularly in the north of the uk. Feeling like it is a good few degrees below freezing. In the evening, a mix of rain, sleet and snow works its way anglia and the south east. There could be so lying by the end of the day. It will include frosted with further wintry showers. By dawn on friday, a degree or so either side of freezing. Rural spot with several degrees below. It will be cold and potentially icy on friday. Friday itself, another windy day. Strong wind coming down from the north. It will bring wintry showers to the western coasts, northern coast and to the east as well. A billion strong when in the north sea coast, generating large waves. There could be overtopping of coastal defences. Move inland and it could be a decent day. Cold and windy. Five or 6 degrees but it will feel like it is about freezing. Further north with the well below. Fight it out into saturday, the wind comes in from the north west but the air is coming from the mid atlantic so it will be less cold for the first part of the weekend. Some cloud and rain. Six or 8 degrees here. Brighterfurther east cloud and rain. Six or 8 degrees here. Brighter further east but quite cold. Two or three degrees and the north sea coast. The manager eric will come in for many in the second part of the weekend. It comes with a fair bit of cloud and rain. It would be quite glad to start the day in the south east of england. East anglia as well. The wind will become lighter with time. Turning mantra from the west. 10 degrees for belfast in cardiff. 67 in the east. Through monday there will be a fair bit of cloud and rain. The brain could be heavy for a time and it would be slow to get its weight to the far south east but studied will be eventually. 10 degrees for plymouth and belfast. Six and seven for newcastle and for norwich. As we head into monday night and tuesday, Patchy Rain Which was fizzle out in the south east. I pressure building in. A big blow toward the north west of the uk. But lowe might bring wind and rain in the early part of next week across the north and west of the uk. For many others i pressure will dominate. Underneath that it could be quite cold with patchy force and fog. The high will drift toward the near continent but it will still be found on our shores. A cold easterly wind that could Bring Solutions to the east coast. To the north and west it looks like it will be relatively mild with cold, wind and rain. Cold and frosty further south and east. The next week, u nsettled, south and east. The next week, unsettled, if you wintry showers in the east of england and still some overnight fork and it will be quite cold for most of this. Tonight at ten, donald trump uses his first News Conference since the election to attack americas intelligence agencies. He responds with anger to claims that russia has obtained Compromising Information about him and his links with president putin. It is all fake news. Its phoney stuff. It didnt happen and it was gotten by opponents of ours. And he turns his fire on americas intelligence agencies, in effect accusing them of leaking the claims. Released by, maybe the intelligence agencies, who knows . But maybe the intelligence agencies, which would be a tremendous blot on their record, if they in fact did that, a tremendous blot. Well have details of an eventful News Conference, just nine days before donald trump is sworn in as president. Also tonight