A spectacular war of words has broken out between donald trump and his former chief strategist steve bannon. Bannon is quoted in a new book accusing the president s son donald, jr of treason, for meeting during the Election Campaign with a group of russians whod promised him damaging material on hillary clinton. The president has responded that steve bannon had notjust lost his job at the white house he lost his mind as well. This from our north america correspondent peter bowes. They were once as thick as thieves. Steve bannon helped to shape the America First campaign that elected donald trump. In the white house he was a key player. He had the ear of the president. But his job as chief strategist was short lived and he returned to his previous position as the head of rightwing outlet breitbart news. He promised to be the president s wingman outside but this book reveals a different story. The most damaging claim is that steve bannon watched a meeting between donald trump junior and a bunch of russian lawyers during the campaign and considered it treasonous. Also a meeting between Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner. The three senior people in the campaign thought it was a good idea to meet with a Foreign Government inside trump tower in the Conference Room on the 25th floor with no lawyers bannon is quoted as saying. He then said that after the meeting they should have called the fbi immediately. The president hit back in a scathing statement. He said, steve bannon has nothing to do with me nor my presidency. When he was not only lost hisjob, he lost his mind. He goes on, steve was rarely in a one on one meeting with me and only pretends to have had influence to fool a few people with no access and no clue whom he he helped write looks. Sarah sanders has condemned the contents of the book as completely untrue. She says the meeting was not an act of treason. I think it is ridiculous accusation and i am sure we have addressed previously. If that is in reference to comments from mr bannon, and i would refer you to the ones previously on 60 minutes where he called the collusion with russia about this president a total farce. I think you need to look back at that. If anything has been inconsistent it has been bannon, certainly not the president nor this administration. The book also says the steve bannon believes the russians were taken after the meeting to meet donald trump. The president has always denied that happened. With the Ongoing Investigation into possible russian collusion in the president ial election, this explosive row between donald trump and his once trusted ally has left washington stunned. Our north america editor, jon sopel, is in washington. I thought it would take something to eclipse Donald Trumps tweet about kim jong un. It now seems that the president and steve bannon are engaged for who has the biggest bite and in the most powerful one. Button and. Let me read you a little more of what the president has said about his former chief strategist. Steve had little to do with our historic victory. He does not represent my base. He is only in it for himself. He was rarely in a one on one meeting with me and only pretends to have had influenced a full a few people. To fool. This is an unprecedented statement from president. So why the venom . Firstly because steve bannon has gone after family and secondly because it makes it much more difficult for donald trump to deny collusion with the russians when you have someone who was on the inside talking about treasonous and unpatriotic behaviour. There is one source of comfort for the white house, steve bannon continuing to be an influence after he was fired. No longer. He has now been cast out into darkness and the question is what does he do next . He will not go away quietly, he has his breitbart website and he will continue to be a thorn in the side. There was an earlier president who commented about a troublesome ally. Better to have him inside the tent looking out than outside the tent looking in. Although that is not exactly the quote. Lets take a look at some of the other stories making the news. Iran has accused the United States of meddling in its Domestic Affairs, after President Trump backed Anti Government protests. The Iranian Ambassador to the un said mr trump and his Vice President had incited unrest with what he called numerous absurd tweets. Earlier the head of irans revolutionary guards said the unrest was over. The computer chip maker, intel, says it is working to correct a vulnerability that could allow hackers to steal data from most modern computers. Intel said it was wrong to describe the problem as a flaw in its products and said other companies systems were also vulnerable. The french president , emmanuel macron, says his government will introduce legislation to combat fake news during Election Campaigns. The law would enable judges to block websites that spread fake news, and counter efforts by Foreign Governments to destabilise the democratic process. Storm eleanor has caused havoc. Two people drowned on the northern coast of spain as they were swept away by a huge wave. A skier was killed by a falling tree in the french alps and 15 were injured across the country. Tens of thousands have been affected by the power cuts and a trouble have been disrupted. Dutch authorities have for the first time shut major sea barriers in holland. Storm eleanor swept into france with brute force. Winds exceeding 150 kilometres an hour battered the northern coast. The Atlantic Ocean crashed over and through cedar fences. High tide at st malo in brittany saw waves flooding into the streets. In paris there was heavy driving rain. This is what the strongest winds in years can do to the capital. Crushed cars, collapsed scaffolding and downed power lines. Dangerous conditions closed ski resorts in the alps. One skier died after being hit by a falling tree. Translation i am devastated. We can predict avalanches or torrential rain but trees falling on the ski piste, were not used to that. It is tragic. Destruction has been widespread across northern europe. Tens of thousands of homes are without power. In switzerland, 25 people were stuck inside a cable car due to strong winds. Later they were rescued by helicopter. This train was blown off the track near lucerne injuring eight people. Hours earlier, ireland was the first to feel the power of the storm. High spring tides in galway and Gale Force Winds are a dangerous mix. In donegal, some enjoyed the wild weather. This is a dog in a sea of foam. In south west england, eleanor took a chunk out of the sea wall. I pulled the curtains back and saw a scene of utter devastation. You can see how close the house is, probably 50 yards away. I am amazed to see what happened. And through a second night here, large waves pose a serious threat. The sea is a powerful thing. It is a silent killer and it will have you as quick as a lick. This is the fourth major storm to hit europe in a month and it is not yet over. Some coastal areas in the uk and ireland remain on high flood alert. An operation has begun to recover the wreckage of a seaplane which crashed near sydney on new years eve, killing five members of a british family and the pilot. The aircraft has been submerged in more than a0 feet of water after coming down in the hawkesbury river. Our correspondent, phil mercer was watching the recovery operation. It began at dawn in waters to the north of where we are at west head in sydney. The salvage operation is going on atjerusalem bay near the town of cowan. Rescue divers are attaching inflatable bags to the wreckage. The aim is to bring it to the surface and from there will be pulled from the water by a crane and on a barge. Once it is on a vessel we expect it to travel through these waters to a wharf at pittwater that you can see behind me. Eventually the wreckage will be taken to canberra by air crash investigators and they say that their preliminary findings into the new years eve tragedy will be released in about one months time. The point of all of this, obviously, is that backplane is the best evidence as to what happened. It is the biggest clue. The authorities hope to find perhaps some mobile phone footage from the passengers that may yield clues that. There may be other digital data that will help their investigation because what they are doing is piecing together lots of different pieces of evidence to establish how and why a routine sightseeing flight from Sydney Harbour tojerusalem bay could end in utter catastrophe. The Safety Record of the company will be examined. The maintenance history of the aircraft, the background and experience of the pilot as well. Many Different Things and the authorities have also asked witnesses to the crash to send them any footage they have as well. It is a big jigsaw that they need to put together and as we say, ii arie findings are due in about one month but a comprehensive review of the tragedy could take much longer. Preliminary. The problem of plastics and the impact theyre having on our planet is a subject weve been exploring this week. According to a recent study 95 of plastic pollution in the worlds oceans comes from just ten rivers. One of them is the ganges in india. Our correspondent, Sanjoy Majumder reports from the banks of the holy city of varanasi. This looks like a drain carrying sewerage, but its actually a tributary of the ganges. The waste along its banks choking and contaminating one of the worlds greatest rivers. Every day wrappers, bottles, cups and other Plastic Waste is deposited here, slowly sliding into the water and then eventually flowing into the ganges. For centuries, some of indias greatest cities have been built along its banks, varanasi the oldest one of them. Its only when you come to the ancient city of varanasi that you realise how this mighty river, thats so central to the hindu faith, that sustains the lives and beliefs of nearly half a billion people, is as polluted as it is. The ganges is more than a river to indians, it is sacred to hindus who pray and worship along its banks and cremate their dead in it. From the time it flows out of the icy heights of the himalayas, until it gets here, its Crystal Clear waters give way to a fetid, muddy flow, contaminated by the millions who live along its banks. Five generations of sanjits family have lived along the ganges in varanasi, living witnesses to its gradual degradation. Translation theres an old saying here that the ganges belongs to everyone. You are free to do what you want, throw what you want, cremate dead bodies, bathe, wash, and youll achieve salvation. But we are being irresponsible, we do not have the right to pollute the ganges this way. Three years ago, the Indian Government pledged more than £2 billion to clean up the ganges, but much of the money remains unspent and the focus, in any case, is on treating sewerage and industrial effluents. So the only people trying to prevent Plastic Waste being dumped into the river are these scrap pickers. Translation every day we pick up about ten to 20 kilos of plastic. We have to sift through the rubbish and segregate the plastic. It is estimated that every year, 1. 2 billion pounds of Plastic Waste is dumped into the ganges, much of it carried into the bay of bengal where the river eventually empties out. Sanjoy majumder, bbc news, varanasi. Stay with us on bbc news, still to come a bionic limb developed in italy. The most ambitious financial and political change ever attempted has got under way with the introduction of the euro. Tomorrow in holland, were going to use money we picked up in belgium today, and then we will be in france and again it will be the same money. Its just got to be the way to go. George harrison, the former beatle, is recovering in hospital after being stabbed at his oxfordshire home. A 33 year old man from liverpool is being interviewed by police on suspicion of attempted murder. I think it was good. You. Just good . No, fantastic thats better. This is bbc news. The latest headlines donald trump has said his former chief strategist has lost his mind the president s response to reports that steve bannon has accused mr trumps son donald junior and his son in law Jared Kushner of treason. Lets stay with that story now. And joining me now for more on that story is mark follman, editor of motherjones, a political and Investigative Journalism magazine. Very good to talk to you. How accurate do you think this book is . It is reportedly based on more than 200 interviews. As you know the White House Press secretary said it is filled with false and misleading accounts. If it is true steve bannon has completely changed his tune on the russia meeting. Yes, well, it is ha rd to the russia meeting. Yes, well, it is hard to say what exactly is true and isnt in the book but certainly it echoes a lot of the things we have seen reported in the press over the last year and Many American news outlets from the new york times, cnn, Washington Post and the author had cnn, Washington Post and the author ha d a ccess cnn, Washington Post and the author had access to steve bannon and the white house. But what we are hearing and seeing from bannon is extraordinary, as you say, in terms of perspective on the russian investigation, really articulating what a lot of the public can already see in plain sight, that this investigation is directed at Money Laundering and Donald Trumps in a circle and the perspective of the meeting in trump tower is it was a betrayal of Us National Security with a Foreign Government so it is a remarkable shift indeed. And what do you think it changes and how far is it likely to take the investigation, if bannon is to be believed, the book to be believed, much harderfor the Trump Campaign to deny collusion, isnt it, and bannon says the family is vulnerable to Money Laundering accusation. Frankly, i think that was all true already, and regardless of what bannons motivation may be, having made these comments, a lot of this is already on the public record, in the indictments, in the plea deal is that the Mueller Investigation has done with former trump sta, so really he is just choosing to articulate what we can already see in terms of where the sprawling investigation is heading staffers. And it is very serious. Yet againi staffers. And it is very serious. Yet again i suppose it is worth noting that with his statement attacking steve bannon mr trump has succeeded in making the story more about that row than about whats in the book. Do you think that is temporary, though . the book. Do you think that is temporary, though . I do, and i think often people want to credit trump for being strategic with those kinds of shifts in the news cycle but from my perspective it is more a matter of just the constant chaos my perspective it is more a matter ofjust the constant chaos and im not sure it is really any better for him. Frankly i think that a large quantity of the American Public is sick of all this drama and chaos. I heard that articulated from Trump Supporters i have spoken with recently, just really want is to stop. So the fact that trump made it a battle with bannon today doesnt necessarily help him either. Itjust continues a political dynamic that have started to wear thin with the public. And yet we are all kind of getting used to one more extraordinary, incredible thing after another. How much do you think this is likely to change anything . It is an interesting question, right. Just when you think it couldnt get more chaotic and crazy, it seems to, so on the one hand we seem like we are getting more used to this style of politics but on the other, a day like today is just remarkable. You have the president of the United States coming out and saying in explicit terms that his former chief strategist is insane. That is basically what he said. He had nothing to do with the presidency, which is of course not remotely believable. Bannon was part of the inner circle for the better pa rt of the inner circle for the better part of his first year in office. So it has really reached another remarkable moment today. Thank you so remarkable moment today. Thank you so much. Americas east coast is bracing for a rare winter storm that is expected to create blizzard like conditions. Schools have been shut and some flights cancelled as forecasters warn of strong winds and heavy snowfalls. It follows more than a week of record low temperatures recorded across the us. Kathryn armstrong reports. When water features become Ice Sculptures freezing temperatures creating a rare sight for both locals and tourists visiting new yorks bryant park. Certainly nothing like this in australia. Coldest it gets in sydney is probably about six degrees. So coming here and its 10, i2, its yeah, its pretty unbelievable. I was asking myself, is it real . Yes. Further south, those who were used to a much milder winter are experiencing their own weather firsts. Its pretty wild. Ive never seen palm trees with snow on them before. What do you think . Its weve never seen this much snow down here, ever, i dont think. His family is from down here, and everyone is completely freaking out. Parts of america have been coping with unseasonabl