the author of fire and fury, a devastating book on donald trump's white house, says he stands by everything he wrote. michael wolff has dismissed the president's assertion that he never spoke to him, saying he spent three hours in conversation before and after mr trump's election. president trump tried to stop the book from being published, he's said it is "full of lies". a few hours ago, he flew to the presidential retreat at camp david, speaking briefly to media gathered on the white house lawn. hi everybody, and going over with the senators, we are going to camp david. we have a lot of teams to work on, a lot of things to accomplish, the stock market is up very, very big today. we set new records and i think they will continue to be set. the tax cuts are really kicking in far beyond what anyone thought. numerous companies have they come out and announced that they are going to make the payments to their employees, something that no one really had in mind. so we are very honoured by it. the market is good, the jobs mind. so we are very honoured by it. the market is good, thejobs reports we re the market is good, thejobs reports were really good and we think they are going to get really that over the next couple of months. again, we are going to camp david with a lot of the great republican senators and we are making america great a gander. thank you. thank you very much. —— great again. so, no mention there of fire and fury as president trump left for camp david. our north america editorjon sopel reports on the day's events. not quite harry potter, but at midnight last night, they were queuing to get their hands on fire and fury. and if donald trump had the powers of the young wizard, he'd have made this book disappear. but he doesn't, and this damning portrait is now available for everyone to read. what i'm most looking forward to is seeing what we all know is going on just below the surface. i'm expecting the white house to be as absolutely dysfunctional as the leaks would make it seem. i don't think anyone really gets tired of palace intrigue. the picture it paints of life in the west wing is unsparing — allegations of marital strain, of tears and tantrums, of dysfunction and improvisation. and at the epicentre of every storm, donald j trump. i will tell you the one description that everyone gave, everyone has in common — they all say he is like a child. and what they mean by that is he has a need for immediate gratification. it's all about him. and the gravest charge of all — wolff alleges that a number of his unnamed sources told him that the president was mentally unfit to remain in office, a charge that brought this response from the president's spokeswoman. it's disgraceful and laughable. if he was unfit, he probably wouldn't be sitting there and wouldn't have defeated the most qualified group of candidates that the republican party has ever seen. the president has been on twitter to rubbish the book saying: but that's not how michael wolff remembers it. i absolutely spoke to the president, whether he realised it was an interview or not, i don't know, but it certainly was not off the record. the author says he stands by every word. although with anonymous sources, it's hard to fact—check. the most remarkable thing about this is — given michael wolff's track record — why white house staff gave him access to the inner sanctum of the west wing for months on end as virtually a semi—resident. the author was asked this morning what he had to say about the threatening legal letter the president's lawyers had sent. his reply? "where do i send the box of chocolates?" jon sopel, bbc news, washington. supporters of mr trump have dismissed the book as phoney, with its depiction of a white house in chaos. sebastian gorka, who was a deputy assistant and strategist to the president, described it as blatant lies written by a political assassin. you need to have a look at the disclaimer that the book has on page ten of the business insider just published today. on page ten, the author, michael wolff, who has been caught lying repeatedly in the past in his previous books, states that he cannot verify the accuracy of anything that is in the book. if you did that as a journalist, you would be fired. this is just a tissue of lies which is about as realistic as harry potter. let me give you just one factual example. he states that on the day he won the election, the president did not know who john boehner, the speaker of the house, was in congress. any child with access to google can google donald j trump and john boehner and find photographs of those two men golfing together from two years ago. the idea that this person is reporting anything of factual import is just fallacious. again, he is a political hack, this is a storm in a teacup, and the book will be forgotten a week from now. our washington correspondent, anthony zurcher has been following the controversy over the book. here are his thoughts on whether sebastian gorka has a point about the disclaimer. well, michael wolff also said that he conducted over 200 interviews, many of which he recorded and has notes for. he says he stands by all of the reporting he did and is co mforta ble of the reporting he did and is comfortable with it. there have been criticisms, as sebastien pointed out, for some of michael wolff's past work is pushing the facts about as far as they can go and focusing more on flowery language than on actual on the ground reporting. but i think if you look at the book as a whole it matches up with a lot of what the mainstream reporting has been on donald trump and his presidency over the past year. it is no secret that there is then a lot of chaos within the white house, though that has been a lot of staff turnover as the president has seen disinterested in the occasion of governing. these shouldn't come as surprise is that we should look at the individual and a oates and the individual stories with a sceptical i. we cannot take it on face value and while donald trump pages and sceptics may embrace this book they have to look at it as a somewhat detached observer and not assume just because it agrees with their worldview that it necessarily is entirely accurate. anthony zurcher there. from a political storm to a winter storm. it's been causing travel chaos in the north—east of the united states and is being blamed for up to 18 deaths across the country. forecasters say the brutal cold will reach from new england across to the midwest and down to the carolinas. they say temperatures could reach minus a0 degrees celsius in some areas in the coming days. laura trevelyan in new york explains how people are coping. the morning after the snow cyclone and this was the scene in one part of. an all—out effort is under way to clear mountains of snow and the subzero conditions are making life very difficult. even the sea has frozen in areas of new england, yesterday ‘s blizzard and the frosty aftermath are producing record low temperatures. the winter hurricane conditions have brought not only heavy snowfall, but flooding too. in coastal massachusetts, strong winds coincided with a high tides so that in boston there was a three foot storm surge. the city's maher is blaming the changing climate. we are keeping an eye on those different flooding is and anybody wants to question global warning, see whether flood zones are. those zones didn't flood zones are. those zones didn't flood 30 years ago. in the beach town of revere and the floodwaters that engulf the streets are now frozen in place, trapping the cars in ice. the brutal conditions close in new york major airports, though they have now reopened. new yorkers are trying to take it all in their frozen strider. i am so bundled up, i have so many layers but phil ok rathaus of songs as i go quickly to work. i just rathaus of songs as i go quickly to work. ijust want it rathaus of songs as i go quickly to work. i just want it to be rathaus of songs as i go quickly to work. ijust want it to be over with, it has been too long and i wa nt with, it has been too long and i want it to be nice and warm again. the race is on to clear away the snow in manhattan before it turns into dangerous ice. the storm brought in all this cold air from arctic and so in its aftermath, we are due to have subzero temperatures for the next few days. it is so cold out here, —10 celsius, that already ican out here, —10 celsius, that already i can hardly feel my fingers or my toes. can you believe this is tallahassee florida and we are getting snow? they haven't seen so in almost three decades in that part of florida and the freezing temperatures are prompting many americans many americans to experiment. this particular trick is proving very popular in the deep freeze. the united states has been condemned for calling an emergency meeting of the un security council to discuss anti—government protests in iran. france and china said the unrest did not threaten global security. russia too was unhappy. smaller protests for and against the iranian government are continuing into a second week. at least 21 people have been killed in the past week. the rallies were triggered by rising food prices and poor living standards. authorities have since organised pro—government rallies to counter them. the us ambassador to the un told the security council america would not remain silent. i call on all of my colleagues to join me in amplifying the message of the iranian people. and i call on the iranian people. and i call on the government of iran to stop censoring the voice of the people and to restore the access to the internet, because in the end, the uranium people will determine their own destiny and let their be no doubt whatsoever you don't like, the united states stands unapologetically with those in iran who stand for prosperity of themselves, theirfamilies who stand for prosperity of themselves, their families and dignity for their nation. —— iranians. iran said calling the meeting was a foreign policy blunder by the trump administration. there is a long history of us bullying at the un, but this is a preposterous example to fuel the internal affairs of a nation, in this case the protest that the iranian government has addressed, without respecting the rights of the protesters and every attempt to deal with peacefully, despite violent infiltrators and direct encouragement, including by the president of the united states, is not the subject of debate by the world ‘s most important security order. dr mansour farhang is a former iranian ambassador to the un. earlier he was asked if the un debate would have any effect on what happens in iran. if there is any resolution china and russia will veto it. and even rape britain and france are not interested in being in the same camp, with respect to western relations with iran. it is actually helping some radicals in iran to claim that actually it was the american conspiracy to start the demonstrations. the impact of the american effort at the united nations or the rhetoric in general is to create the kind of insecurity in iran that would be very negative on the part of the iranians efforts to attract foreign capital. in that sense, the united states is actually damaging the political economy and not necessarily helping the demonstrators or the defenders of human rights in iran. there is absolutely no question that the demonstrators are showing that the socio— base of the regime is significantly declining, the vast majority of the demonstrators based on the information i have gathered. they come from the kind of social classes that is the working class, rural areas, not in the capital, the middle—class or the university, but the peripheral. the kind of people who used to be attracted to the rhetoric of the islamic republic. today they have turned against it because of the sub economic suffering, corruption and deepening of inequality of the iranians government. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: artificial intelligence, virtual reality and digital currencies were all big in 2017. we look at what to expect from tech trends this year. the japanese people are in mourning, following the death of their emperor, thousands emerged on the imperial palace when it announced he was dead. good grief. after half a century of delighting fans around the world, charlie brown and the rest of the gang are calling it quits. the singer paul simon start his tour of south africa tomorrow, in spite of protests and violence from some black activist groups. they say international artists should continue to boycott south at —— south africa until majority rule is established. teams try to lump up 01’ is established. teams try to lump up or you'll as france faces an international crisis. three weeks ago the authorities assured these areas that the oil would have at least he. it didn't. the worlds tallest skyscraper emerged today, has easily taken over its nearest rival. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: the author of a damning book on donald trump says he stands by everything he wrote in his depiction of a chaotic white house. brutally cold weather in the united states has killed at least 18 people. record—breaking low temperatures are expected this weekend. north korea has agreed to hold direct talks with the south next tuesday for the first time in two years. they're likely to focus mainly on next month's winter olympics, which are happening in south korea. just a day earlier, the us announced that it had agreed to seoul's request to delayjoint military exercises. those drills usually increase tensions with pyongyang. from seoul, sophie long sent this report. the first talks between the north and south korean governments to more than two years will take place here, the village of panmunjom, which straddles the border between the two countries in the demilitarised zone. the south ‘s offer high—level talks was accepted via fax. translation: regarding the agenda, both want to discuss the kim jane winter olympics and ways to improve ties between south and north korea ——john chang. it came hours after the united states and south korea want to go for a great to extend truck military drills. better exercises like this one are defensive. but the north korean leader sees them as rehearsals for innovation. but south korean and us marines are taking pa rt korean and us marines are taking part in this exercise in the mountains, they are training together to deal with winter conditions and temperatures of below minus 20. but these drills. the duration of the winter olympics and paralympics. the duration of the winter olympics and pa ralympics. the south duration of the winter olympics and paralympics. the south korean president moonjae—in has said the games could be a groundbreaking chance to the escalate tensions on the korean peninsula. this man hasn't seen his sister to 70 years. he and 61,000 others whose families remain divided by the border hope these talks could be the pro— viewed to change. translation: these talks could be the pro— viewed to change. translationzlj these talks could be the pro— viewed to change. translation: i am old now andi to change. translation: i am old now and i don't know how many more years i will live. it is the only wish that i meet my sister once and for all. this is the wish to not only me but all divided families. but others are sceptical about kim jong—un's motives. the commander of the us forces in south korea said they are keeping their expectations at an appropriate level. my mission remains the same — to quietly and under control operate a military force in greater and greater readiness in the event that it is the negative outcome not a positive one. but scepticism didn't stop president trump claiming credit for the potential falling off relations. does anyone really believe the talks and dialogue would be going on between north and south korea right now, he tweeted, if i wasn't firm, strong and willing to commit our total might against the north. sophie long, bbc news, seoul. every year, technology seems to play a bigger part in our lives. what's next? here's dave lee with his top tech trends for 2018. hello, i'm dave lee the bbc‘s reporter in silicon valley, and here is what to look out for in the tech world in 2018. first up, the ces in las vegas, the biggest tech show on the calendar, it begins onjanuary nine and you can expect huge announcement from companies like samsung and google, plus some intriguing ideas from companies you may not have heard of. this is all we have seen of an ai controlled car. another thing to look out early on is whether apple may become $1 trillion company. right now it is hovering around the 900 billion mark with sales of the iphone x looking to be very strong, it could send apple's share price soaring. late in the year were expecting them to launch its smartphone device, homepod. riba had a rotten year in 2017. a culture of sexism and harassment at the company and its ceo travis kalanick was given his marching orders. —— uber. the new boss has plenty on his plate and 2018, including a court battle with waymo. the accused uber of using its autonomous technology and making self driving cars of its own. the trial begins in feathery. lethebrook comes under pressure from politicians and the public to clamp down on fake news websites and russian propaganda. in 2018 it says it will hire around 10,000 extra people to moderate its network. youtube and twitter are also rolling out big changes in an attempt to minimise hate speech. all of the companies are being told they must be even quicker to remove terrorism related content. can they do it? is using social networks harming us? both are questions are some of the world ‘s most powerful companies must try to answer in 2018. they live there. —— dave lee there. sir ridley scott's true—life kidnap drama, all the money in the world, is destined to go down in cinema history as the film that kevin spacey was in, and then wasn't. spacey played the rich oil tycoon, john paul getty — but he was dropped from the film and replaced with christopher plummerjust six weeks before its release. it happened after accusations of sexual misconduct. will gompertz spoke to sir ridley. initially it was a commercial decision which would be maybe a little hand—in—hand with a moral decision but you cannot take the artist and actually, whatever a person decides to do in their private life it doesn't harm others you have to separate them from what they do as an artist or as a person, asa they do as an artist or as a person, as a clever person. mr getty? you are grandson. it has been kidnapped. “ on are grandson. it has been kidnapped. —— on your. are grandson. it has been kidnapped. -- on your. i've seen the movie and it is seamless but what was running through my head, is at a much different movie with macro to, —— plummer, not spacey? it was cool and chilli, christopher comes with a charm, a smile and his twinkle, so when in fact he is doing the same words, the same text as kevin, his twinkle and smiles they can somehow more effective. do you think it will, we are looking at a moment in hollywood where things actually are going to change, whether sexism will subside and women will get a fair crack of the whip, or do you think it is windowdressing? a bit of each. there will be an immediate change because they should be. it is wake ofa because they should be. it is wake of a way overdue. you know, i've never experienced any of those things that you described. in my life and my company, frankly, i have women running my company and i have a lwa ys women running my company and i have always been a great supporter of strong women without actually ever thinking about it, which i think is the best way. ijust have great respect for women in general, maybe it came from my mum, i had a very strong mother who brought up three produced allwood sons and all of us are independent and tough. produced allwood sons and all of us are independent and toughm produced allwood sons and all of us are independent and tough. it is something you have witnessed a lot in hollywood, women being mistreated? never. never, never. and if it ever came in front of me i would immediately step on it. but not really, i have always treated every, you know, actor or actress with the greatest respect. sir ridley scott. a new run of a 140—year—old opera is weekend in florence. not, in itself, unusual. what is different about this interpretation of georges bizet‘s carmen is how it ends. those putting it on say they're taking a stand, to highlight italy's ongoing battle to stop violence against women. rylee carlson has the story. this is the final rehearsal before the curtain rises on the latest production of carmen. one of the world's most loved operas, it has been performed thousands of times. but there is something special about this run of the show. a new ending. translation macro —— this run of the show. a new ending. translation macro -- translation: carbon's decipher freedom becomes self defence. this is what is going to happen. there is no premeditation, it is simply self defence. carmen becomes the object of don jose's defence. carmen becomes the object of donjose's affection and she falls to someone else, he becomes wild with jealousy. in the last act, carmen is stabbed to death by don jose, but not this time. the director says he was hesitant initially but that it made sense the opera should change with the times. translation: we see carmen and the whole opera tormented by donjose's obsessive violence. he is not only jealous but also possessive. in the final moment when she is certain she will die she finds a way to defend herself with extreme gesture. this time to the heroines survives. able to shoot her would—be killer instead of becoming his victim. it is a stand against violence and the mistreatment of women, the new version of the show has already sold out. that music will be stuck in your head for the rest of the day, i tell you! don't forget you can get in touch with me and some of the team on twitter, i'm @benmbland. see you soon. hello there. following what has been a stormy start to 2018 the weekend hold something a little quiet of the most of us but calder and it will feel cold as well as the wind strengthens. of course it is getting cold is what we have seen through the day on friday is a smattering of snow on the hills. those were the front to continue southwards through the night so further snow and ice risks across many northern areas but further south, as directors fall close to freezing as well for toumpas morning and some showers around it poses a risk as well, some dense fog potentially through parts of southern areas but particularly across parts of wales, the midlands, east anglia, literature and have love york but not to be excluded further south either where we will keep a lot of showers through the day ahead and quite cloudy skies. as the wind starts to strengthen, it will be quite bitter. the wind is a feature further north but the list with the sunshine here it will be a sparkling start of the day. it will still be cold. wintry showers are still be cold. wintry showers are still there across parts of north—east england, is in scotland but the western scotland, northern ireland, the lion's share of the sunshine through the day ahead but a bright and across much of northern england, north wales perhaps, the north midlands later and before gullit, the wind strengthens and with the cloud covering the south and the showers, quite sharp at times, it will fill cold, for example if you are heading off to fleetwood against leicester in london to the fa cup it will be quite a bracing wind, particularly by the end of play. for most of us here 6— eight celsius but filling calder as the wind strengthens. the wind starts to ease and the sunshine further north but again 3— five degrees, it is cold air! caldaire continues its progress southwards during tonight, still though we have the cloud generally, showers close to the south coast, touch and go for frost but most areas will have a much colder night. one is ten, —12 in the glens of scotland, particularly with the story, but calderfurther particularly with the story, but calder further south and a risk that of some slippery whether we have had the showers. it looks like a sunny day on sunday but look at the north—easterly wind. it is biting. always the risk of a bit more clout of the south but lovely sunshine further north, just cold, temperatures, was struggling to get above freezing in a few areas because of the high pressure, light winds in the north, the strong north—easterly is in the south and these were the front sitting out in these were the front sitting out in the atlantic which will slowly start to come in next week but another day of largely dry weather, just picking up of largely dry weather, just picking up some cloud and freezing drizzle by monday. it looks more great by that stage. to get up—to—date, there is more of course on our website. a buy. this is bbc world news, the headlines: the author of a damning new book about donald trump's presidency says he stands by everything he wrote. michael wolff says the president behaves ‘like a child', who neither reads nor listens. mr trump has dismissed the book as ‘phony‘. brutally cold weather in the united states has killed at least 18 people. record—breaking low temperatures are expected this weekend across the east of the country. the storm has caused travel chaos. north and south korea are to hold high level talks next week, the first such meeting for two years. it was confirmed just hours after the us and south korea postponed joint military exercises. the us government's decision to freeze aid to pakistan could cost the country almost $2 billion, according to a senior pakistani official. the decision has sparked protests in pakistan. good